Advent 2018: Activities and Coloring Book

Advent always seems a little further than it is to me ... and suddenly, I flip the calendar and there it is! A new Advent season in preparation for Christmas. Fortunately, Advent is also my favorite liturgical season, so I've drawn, written, and thought about it throughout the whole year.

My Etsy shop is well-stocked for the 2018 Advent season, which begins on Sunday, December 2, with favorites, such as Jesse Tree ornaments (in different sizes and shapes), and the digital coloring books that launched my shop, Christmas in Sweden and Las Posadas Christmas.

I've also updated my Advent Activities & Coloring book with some new drawings for you as well as hand-picked other favorites from previous publications.

Here's a peek at some of the included pages:

The Immaculate Conception Coloring Page

Saint Lucia Coloring Page

Make Your Own Advent Wreath Coloring Page & Activity

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To get this digital Advent coloring and activity book for just $10, visit my Etsy shop, purchase, and download it all superfast! (And if you're a religious instructor, DRE, or small-group leader, I've also the same digital book available with licensing permission for all your students for just $17.

Have a color-book-filled Advent!
Vee

Advent 2014: Coloring Pages and Activities

Looking for some new coloring pages to help you celebrate Advent? Me, too! My children were ready for new pages to color and use, so I revamped the activity book by drawing 19 new coloring pages, swapping out some activities for others, and including a handful of classic drawings.

Here's a peek at what's inside the Advent 2014: 24 Coloring Pages and Activities PDF:

The Advent 2014 Coloring Pages and Activity Book includes:

•  First Sunday of Advent
•  Second Sunday of Advent
•  Third Sunday of Advent
•  Fourth Sunday of Advent
•  Advent Playset Countdown
•  St. Nicholas
•  Favorite Carols
•  Good Deeds Manger
•  Immaculate Conception
•  Juan Diego
•  Juan Diego's Tilma
•  Advent Wreath
•  Our Lady of Guadalupe
•  Who Are You Helping This Season?
•  St. Lucia
•  Notecards From Secret Santa
•  Shepherd Coloring Page
•  Sheep Coloring Page
•  Melchior the Wise Man Coloring Page
•  Balthazar the Wise Man Coloring Page
•  Gaspar the Wise Man Coloring Page
•  Angel Coloring Page
•  St. Joseph Coloring Page
•  Mary Coloring Page

 To find out more or to purchase the Advent 2014: Coloring Pages and Activities PDF, check out The Paper Dali Shop on Etsy.

Brand-New Jesse Tree Ornaments for Advent 2014 [Printables]

"Advent has a twofold character: as a season to prepare for Christmas when Christ’s first coming to us is remembered; as a season when that remembrance directs the mind and heart to await Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time. Advent is thus a period for devout and joyful expectation.” (“The Liturgical Year,” Congregation for Divine Worship) 

On the first day of December, my children and I start to practice the tradition of the Jesse Tree.

We download Jesse Tree ornament coloring pages, read the Scripture verse for the day, then color the day’s ornament... all the way to December 24.

Each Jesse Tree ornament and its accompanying verse is meant to help us grow closer to Christ and our understanding of significant Biblical events leading to Jesus’s birth.

After using the same illustrations for the past few years, though, I decided to draw new Jesse Tree ornaments for Advent 2014.

Each ornament is the size of a CD and has a reference to a related Bible verse beside it.

(I didn’t write down the Scripture reading itself, for I didn’t want to lose the appeal of reading from a worn, beloved Bible.)


The new Jesse Tree printable ornaments PDF is available right now for the same price of a latte.

Here’s a peek at two pages from my new printable Jesse Tree ornaments PDF.

Quick Tips for Using Your Jesse Tree Ornaments

• Print out your Jesse Tree drawings ahead of time.
• Inexpensive display areas for your ornaments can include a branch from your backyard, a construction-paper Christmas tree taped to the wall, a paper tree outline on your refrigerator door, an unadorned Christmas tree, and a Christmas wreath.
• Spend a little cash if you can and get a set of magnetic tape to use the Jesse Tree ornaments on your fridge door or dry-erase board.
• Our family’s go-to cheap “lamination” is packing tape.
• Don’t stress out over missing a day. Either make up for it the next day or skip it.
• Remember that the Jesse Tree ornament coloring time is to be prayerful but fun.

Have any more ideas to add? Feel free to add them in the comments below.

St. Lucia and Christmas in Sweden paper doll play set

Hello, all! If you're looking for an inexpensive but fun and color-filled way to celebrate Saint Lucia Day (and Christmas), check out the "Christmas in Sweden" set that I've in the Etsy store. It's only $8.

This 30-page PDF set features color PDFs and black-and-white PDFs of...

• Lloyd, the Daddy paper doll, in jeans and a casual long-sleeved shirt 
• Diane, the Mommy paper doll, in embroidered khaki pants and purple jacket
• Sofia, the daughter, in jeans and a pretty pink shirt
• Benjamin, the son, in his dark-orange football jersey and jeans 
• Swedish-print pajamas for Daddy on the eve of Saint Lucia's feast day 
• A holly-green and gold nightgown and pink bunny slippers for Mommy
• A Saint Lucia paper doll outfit with a tray of rolls and four mugs 
• A Star Boy paper doll outfit with matching hat and starry staff 
• Jultomten (similiar to the U.S. Santa Claus) 
• Julbock (the Yule Goat) 
• A four-page Christmas tree template, perfectly sized for the dolls 
• Swedish ornaments (apple, star, Dala horse, tomten, tree-topper, bird, etc. 

The PDF is only $8 and will be sent via email. Happy Saint Lucia Day!

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

"Christmas in Sweden" --- $4 for complete set

"Christmas in Sweden" is an exclusive downloadable paper doll set that is a hearty 30 pages long. For just $4, you receive color PDFs and black-and-white PDFs of the following:

• Lloyd, the Daddy paper doll, in jeans and a casual long-sleeved shirt
• Diane, the Mommy paper doll, in embroidered khaki pants and purple jacket
• Sofia, the daughter, in jeans and a pretty pink shirt
• Benjamin, the son, in his dark-orange football jersey and jeans
• Swedish-print pajamas for Daddy on the eve of Saint Lucia's feast day
• a holly-green and gold nightgown and pink bunny slippers for Mommy
  
• a Saint Lucia paper doll outfit with a tray of rolls and four mugs
• a Star Boy paper doll outfit with matching hat and starry staff
• Jultomten (similiar to the U.S. Santa Claus)
• Julbock (the Yule Goat)
• a four-page Christmas tree template, perfectly sized for the dolls
• Swedish ornaments (apple, star, Dala horse, tomten, tree-topper, bird, etc.

To purchase this e-book, click here.

"Las Posadas (A Mexican Christmas)" Downloadable Paper Doll Set

Celebrate Las Posadas with the Rodriguez family. This exclusive Paper Dali set is only $4 and comes packed with fun for a Mexican Christmas. Visit The Paper Dali Shop for details and to purchase it. Thanks!

Balthazar

Update: This printable is now part of the "25 Days in December: An Advent Coloring and Activity Book."  Visit my Etsy shop to purchase the coloring book for just $8!