Celebrate the Queenship of Mary

from the Paper Dali archives

Download a coloring page of Mary, Queen of the Rosary. (It's in a PDF. If you click the pic above and print it, it won't look exactly right. Download instead, please.)

What's Up, Dali?

Look deeeep into his eyes!

Your eyes do not deceive you. It is a free printable Salvador Dali Brown Paper Toy. Download it, and make him glare at the folks disturbing your genius moments in your office.

Isn't he rockin' awesome? I know. I think so, too.

Now, someone recently asked me, "Why is your site called Paper Dali?"  And this is the perfect time to answer that question.

1.) I like puns. And the whole Dali/dolly thing amuses me. Especially because it's actually Dah-LEE in Spanish. Yes, this really does make me giggle.

2.) I appreciate Dali's "Why not?" sort of attitude regarding art.

When I started Paper Dali a few years ago, I thought no one would ever swing by. I only started the site because, well, then my family would stop bugging me to do so. So, I couldn't name the place Paper I'm Amazing or Paper Genius Artist Person or Paper Chagall. Therefore, I chose a crazy artist who did all kinds of kooky works of art, and some folks liked him, and some folks didn't. But he kept creating art because it met a deep personal need.

And now, I'll download a paper doll of Dali to remind me to keep on keepin' on. Thanks, Brown Communications Group!

Crafting Activism: Christmas in Dixie Project

Craft Hope recently announced its newest project for crafting folks who like to use their talents to help others. It's a sweet, Christmas-cheer-spreading sort of project. You can read more about this project at Jade's site.

You don't have to sew at the caliber of Betsy Ross to participate. You just have to be able to do some basic sewing, crocheting, or knitting. Sewing a stocking to bring some Christmas sweetness to tornado survivors definitely sounds like something a family, scout troop, church group, etc. can do together!

Some resources to help with the project are:

• Family Fun's Classic Stocking pattern
• Craft & Fabric Stocking printable pattern
• About.com Sewing's basic stocking pattern
• Classic pattern (We're using this one!)

If you decide to make one, leave a link here, so I can check out what you made. I'd love to see if anyone participates. And I'll be sure to share our stockings, too.

xoxox
Vee

The Assumption of the Blessed Mother: Craft

This post is also appearing on CatholicMom.com. Swing on by and show some bloggy love if you get the chance!

At my Catholic moms' group last weekend, I asked my good friends if they could help me brainstorm a craft for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Diane had this lovely idea for something with pull tabs. Then Lisa said, "Now, you just need to draw it!" So, I did.

This is how the craft will look like when it is finished. See, before you pull the tab, you have Mary at the end of her earthly life, and the quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church at the top ...

But then, you just give the tab a little pull, and you have Mary assumed into Heaven, with the rest of the Catechism of the Catholic Church passage showing:

The craft is super-easy because that's how I roll. And all you need is your computer, printer, paper, and colored pencils or markers. (My daughter colored the above pictures.)

Interested in making one for August 15, too? Then here you go, friends!

Directions:

(Please note: My ink was running out, so that's why the photos look in sepia tones. The PDF is a regular black and white document.)

Step 1. Print out the downloadable 3-page PDF for this project. (Please download it and then print it out. If you just work from the preview window, not everything will line up right.)

Step 2. Color now, if you want to. 

Step 3. Cut out the windows in Part A. Also, cut across the top where indicated.

Step 4. Cut out the pull-tab. 

Step 5. Add glue along the edges of  the last page ... (Don't forget to cut along the top where indicated on this page as well.)

Step 6. Then place the first page on top of it. It should look like this:

Step 7. Insert the pull tab into the middle. It will look like this. Be sure to have trimmed the pages before putting the pull tab in. The pages will be shorter than a regular one, so the pull-tab can stick out at the top. Your first part will look like this:

Step 8. And then, you'll pull the tab to show the assumption of the Blessed Mother into heaven.

Step. 9. Discuss the Assumption of the Blessed Mother together.

Step 10. Say a Hail Mary together and place the project somewhere special as a reminder on August 15 of this wonderful feast day. (Don't forget to pray for Paper Dali. Know I pray for everyone who uses my crafts and coloring pages, too.)

If you do the craft, pretty please send me a pic or a link to your post so that I can take a look at it, too. I'm taking photos with my BlackBerry, so the quality is a bit meh. And I'd love to swap in better ones!

Saint Maximilian Kolbe: New Coloring Sheet and Podcast

This post is dedicated to my little Max in heaven. 

August 14 is the feast day of one of my favorite saints, Maximilian Kolbe. I first heard of him a long time ago. When I received the sacrament of Confirmation, the bishop gave a riveting homily about the recently canonized Saint Maximilian Kolbe, a martyr during World War II. After listening to the homily, I adopted St. Maximilian as my spiritual father, and Papa Kolbe has never let me down.

What drew me to him was his steadfast devotion to the Lord and how he used his gift of writing and editing to share the faith during a dark time in history. It is no coincidence, I think, that I became a writer and an editor, too. As the patron saint of editors, Maximilian holds a special place in my heart.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe for Young Children
Now, this year's post about Saint Maximilian Kolbe is dedicated to younger kids. The circumstances of his death are gritty, and so I want to offer a child-friendly version of his life. It is not a watered-down version of his life, but it does not have all the details that older children and teens may want to hear. (If they do want those details, they can find them in my older Saint Maximilian Kolbe post.)

Download the full-size version of the Maximilian Kolbe coloring page here. 

The story of Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe ends with his greatest sacrifice, that of his laying down his life for a friend. It's an amazing story, one that people always remember about him. And when he is shown in paintings or in religious pictures, St. Maximilian Kolbe is almost always in a prison uniform.

However, heroic acts of love usually do not happen out of nowhere. They come from a life of choosing to show love in smaller, quieter ways.  Maximilian Kolbe was a martyr because his entire life had been spent in doing small things with great love.

He was born on January 8, 1894 in in Poland, which was part of the Russian Empire at the time. He was the second son of Julius and Maria Kolbe. He was not called Maximilian at that time ... he would choose that name later. He was baptized as Raymond.

Now, when Raymond was 10 years old, an event happened that changed his life and outlook forever. In a letter many years later, after Max's death, his mother wrote the following to a friend:

"We had a small, hidden altar, where he often went to pray without letting anyone notice. As he prayed, he would cry. Generally, he acted in a manner older than his age, being always recollected and serious. He would pray with tears in his eyes. I was concerned that he might perhaps be sick, so I asked him, 'What is the matter with you?' And I began to insist, 'You must tell everything to your mother.'

"Trembling with emotion and with tears in his eyes, he told me: 'When you scolded me, Mama, I prayed very much to the Madonna to tell me what would become of me. And later, in church, I prayed to her again. Then the Madonna appeared to me, holding two crowns in her hands: one white and one red. She looked on me with affection and asked me if I wanted those two crowns. The white one meant that I would remain pure, and the red, that I would be a martyr. I told her I accepted both. Then the Madonna looked at me sweetly and disappeared.'"

Raymond's life changed forever. He prayed more, drew closer to the Blessed Mother, and was a loving, obedient son.

When he finished elementary school, he was not planning to go to high school. Why not? Well, high school was very, very expensive and rarely attended in Poland during that time when Russia ruled over it. His family chose to educate his older brother; Raymond would stay home and help the family with their weaving business.

But one fateful day, his mother, who was a midwife, meaning she helped moms deliver their babies, needed some special medicinal powder from the pharmacy. and so, she asked Raymond to go get some for her. When he went, he spoke to the pharmacy about the powder, using some Latin words, and the pharmacist was suddenly aware of how bright the boy was. He offered to educate Raymond for free.

It was definitely a gift from God, a guiding to the next phase of his life. He was a bright student, quick to learn, and devout in his love for the Blessed Mother.

In 1907, he entered the Franciscan junior seminary in Poland and did very well in mathematics and physics. Outraged at the spread of evil in the world during this time, he considered joining the military, but decided to answer the call to religious life instead. On Sept.4, 1910, he took the name Maximilian and became a novice. His final vows happened on Nov. 1, 1914.


He studied in Rome for years, though he was often sick. He got sick was tuburculosis, which weakened his lungs for the rest of his life.  But he kept dedicated to the spreading of the Gospel.

He started up the Immaculate Movement (also known as the Crusade of Mary Immaculate). The focus of it was to be a knight of the Virgin Mary. Just like a knight, the men would go and fight against evil and injustices. Armed with their weapons, which was the rosary,  Miraculous Medals, and prayers, these knights spread the word about the Miraculous Medals and devoted themselves to the conversion of sinners.

Maximilian Kolbe is known as the patron saint of editors because of all the writing and publishing he did. In addition to the Knight of the Immaculate magazine, he also printed a daily Catholic newspaper, the Little Daily. Later, he also printed a Japanese version if the Knight. He wrote to wake people up, to get them excited about the faith, to care. And they did.

In 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland. They arested the priests but then let them return, thinking they would stop publishing their magazines ... or at least, stop talking about Jesus. But they didn't. Papa Kolbe kept publishing his newspapers and he even provided shelter to refugees from Greater Poland, including  2,000 Jews whom he hid in his own friary from Nazi persecution.

Angered over the Catholic message in Father Kolbe's work, the Nazis took over the area, and shut down the printing presses. Papa Kolbe was arrested by the German Gestapo and imprisoned. On May 25, 1941, he was transferred to Auschwitz, one of the worst prison camps. He was given a number, he was prisoner 16670.


He suffered constantly there, for the Nazis hated everyone who wasn't a Nazi, and they especially hated priests. He didn't complain but whenever possible, he would hear confessions and would use the wine and bits of bread smuggled into the prison to celebrate mass. Even though the camp was a place of great suffering, Father Kolbe brought hope and peace to others.

Another prisoner said, "During the stay of the servant of God in the camp, I never noticed that he nourished any hatred for the Germans. On the contrary, not only did he pray for them, but he also exhorted us to pray for their conversion. We were all amazed at the extraordinary virtue that we saw in that man: faith, the constant spirit of prayer, great humility, and the spirit of fellowship pushed to the point of sharing his own food rations with the other prisoners. He lived every day only for God. He drew us to God and desired that we live well and that we put up with the life of the camp. He really had within himself a kind of magnet, which drew us to him, to God, to the most holy mother. Often, he spoke to us of God, and inculcated in us the truth that God is good and merciful. He desired to convert the whole camp."

In July 1941, a prisoner escaped. The rule was that 10 people would be punished every time someone escaped. Because a man had disappeared, 10 other men would now receive punishment.

One prisoner shouted, "Goodbye, my dear wife! Goodbye, my dear children!"

Another prisoner stepped forward. It was Father Maximilian. "I want to go instead of this man who was selected," Papa Kolbe said. "He has a wife and family. I am alone. I am a Catholic priest."

The Nazi guard accepted the change.

The prisoners were led to an underground cell to be punished. During that time, Maximilian led them into songs and hymns. One guard (who was really another prisoner forced to stand guard) later told Church officials: "From the cells of the condemned men, every day, there were heard prayers in a loud voice, the rosary, and religious hymns, in which even prisoners in other cells sang ... The ardent prayers and hymns to the most Holy Virgin resounded through the whole subterranean area. It seemed to me that I was in church."

 For 10 days, he helped people to grow closer to the Lord and get ready to see him soon. Then on August 14, Maximilian died.

On October 10, 1982, Pope John Paul II canonized St. Maximilian Kolbe.  The man whose place that Maximillian took was there. He himself lived to be 94 years old, having spent his life telling everyone about the great priest, the loving martyr, Maximilian Kolbe.

Now, let us pray and ask for the intercession of Saint Maximilian Kolbe:

O Lord Jesus Christ, who said, "Greater love than this no man has that a man lay down his life for his friends,"through the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe whose life illustrated such love, we beseech you to grant us our petitions . . . Through the Militia Immaculata movement, which Maximilian founded, he spread a fervent devotion to Our Lady throughout the world. He gave up his life for a total stranger and loved his persecutors, giving us an example of unselfish love for all men---a love that was inspired by true devotion to Mary.

Grant, O Lord Jesus, that we too may give ourselves entirely without reserve to the love and service of our Heavenly Queen in order to better love and serve our fellowman in imitation of your humble servant, Maximilian. Amen.

And in honor of the Blessed Mother whom Saint Maximilian Kolbe loves so much ... We pray: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners. Now and at the hour of our death. Amen."

New Gig at CatholicMom.com

I'm delighted to share that today I'm joining the ranks of contributing columnists at the superfabulous CatholicMom.com. My coloring pages and crafting ideas will be shared there monthly.

The same posts will be here, too, but CatholicMom.com is so wildly popular and far-reaching in scope that it makes me happy to think of sharing my folksy little drawings and creative what-nots with more families.

Swing by and say howdy-do if you have a moment!

Saint Clare of Assisi: Embroidery Project

Check out Lena's lovely post!

Lena at JOYfilled Family had this gorgeous post for a Saint Clare of Assisi doll for her Little Flowers Group. She is so cute and simple to make and would be a fun activity to do on Saint Clare's feast day.

Get all the details on her blog!

Paper Dali Podcast (ep. 2): Making Time to Be Creative

It's not easy to find time to be creative when you're juggling the different vocations of wife, mom, educator, worker bee, etc., but it is possible. In this Paper Dali podcast, I offer my seven tips (in just 9 minutes) for finding time to be write creatively amid the demands of daily life. And the tips work well even if you're not a writer, but have another creative calling ...

p.s. A rougher version of this podcast aired last year, but that was the experimental, meh version.

Paper Dali Podcast: The Saint Clare Story for Children

As a companion to the Saint Clare of Assisi paper doll/coloring page that I posted, I cobbled together a quick podcast about this wonderful saint. Children can learn about her in just a little more than 5 minutes.

Just click on the play arrow beneath the window below. (If the player doesn't work for you, try this link!)
Enjoy the listen!

Edited to add: I put the podcast in Box.net and will share it here: (The other format was not working well. Eep.) You can also feel free to click here to listen to it!

Saint Clare of Assisi

This paper doll now appears in the Saints Coloring Book, Vol. 2. You can find out the details at the Paper Dali Etsy shop.

Beloved Saint Clare's feast day is August 11. In honor of her special day, I uncapped a Sharpie and drew her to share with y'all.