Loving Note for Mary / Notita de Amor para la Virgen Maria

In honor of today being the Assumption of Mary, I am sharing this from the archives.

To help my little guy keep track of the rosary prayers, I put together this little envelope o' loving. The idea is for Sebastian to see how prayers are sent forth. The big red heart is for the Our Father, and the 10 little hearts are the Hail Mary prayers.

This craft is very simple to make.

Materials:

red felt

white felt

brown felt

black thread & needle

scraps of pretty fabric if you'd like

1. Cut out two squares of white felt.

2. Cut out 10 small red hearts.

3. Cut out five big hearts.

4. Cut out a tiny red heart.

5. Cut out a small brown square.

6. For the envelope: Stitch a giant V shape from end to end (see picture) to make it look envelope-y. Then stitch the brown square to the center of that. Then stitch the red heart to that. Put the two white squares together and sew up the sides except the top, so the child can place the hearts in the envelope.

7. For the red hearts, I made them doubled up, meaning two red hearts sewn together. I did this for durability. And also, I had that pretty scrap of fabric that seemed perfect for such a craft.

And that's it! As each prayer is said, the little one puts the small (or large) heart ♥ into the envelope. I hope our rosary-praying time will be a little quieter now or, at least, little hands will keep busy with this activity.

Miguel Pro makes another appearance on this blog. ♥

One of the sweetest pleasures of sharing my Paper Dali figures is getting emails (or reading posts) about how moms (and kids!) are incorporating the dolls into the liturgical year, studies ... or just having fun with them.

As I was reading Rosario's blog, Beads4Prayer, the other day, I kept thinking about her post regarding priestly vestments and the liturgical year. I wanted to do something for our own home altar and use what we have, but couldn't find anything.

Three days later, I look at her blog to see what's new. And to my surprise, Blessed Miguel Pro (in his Paper Dali form) was in the newest post.

I can do this now! Doesn't he look wonderful? It was sweet to see Paper Dali Miguel Pro out and about and doing the unexpected. How very like Miguel Pro.

I'd post more about this idea, but Rosario says it best. Be sure to drop by her blog and say hello. Special thanks for the mention and sharing the picture, Rosario.

Viva Cristo Rey!

Felt Craft: Saint Lucia Doll & Star Boy

As requested, here are my directions for the little dolls above. I made them on the spur of the moment, so the directions aren't perfect, but you can get the general idea from them.

Materials needed for the St. Lucia Doll:
a wooden doll pin
yellow yarn
glittery red pipe cleaner
glittery green pipe cleaner
glittery gold pipe cleaner
white felt
peach felt
thin-tipped markers (not thick because they smudge the face)
pink highlighter
hot-glue gun (THE most important crafting item of all)
scissors

Before you do anything else: Draw a little face on her using paint or thin-tipped markers. (FYI: Try this out first on another hidden part of the wood, so you know whether the color will smudge. A pink highlighter, by the way, is awesome for rosy cheeks. A Sharpie is terrible for eyes, for they end up smearing the color.) It's best to draw the face first, for you don't want to have invested a lot of time in the doll then goof on the face and have all that time wasted.

1.) I took a scrap of white felt, wrapped it around the doll pin (aka "body")and trimmed it to make it look like a gown. Once I was satisfied, I put down the white felt and put the hot glue on the wooden body and QUICKLY put wrapped the white felt on her as I had just done.
2.) Cut out little half-circles from the peach felt for her hands.
3.) Cut out white triangles for her sleeves.
4.) Hot-glue each half-circle hand to the bottom of the sleeve.
5.) Hot-glue the sleeves to her sides for arms.
6.) Measure out a long piece of yellow yarn for her hair.
7.) Hot-glue the top of her head and QUICKLY swirl the yarn on her head in a circle.
8.) Measure out long sections of yarn and braided it then tie each end of it.
9.) Hot -glue on the top of her head then put the braid there, so it looks nice.
10.) Cut out a bit of glittery green pipe cleaner to wrap around her head as a wreath (but don't attach it yet).
11.) Cut out little pieces of glittery gold pipe cleaner for the candles.
12.) Attach the "candles" to the green "wreath" just by tucking them at the end.
13.) Wrap the wreath around her head so it looks nice.
14.) Wrap a bit of glittery red pipe cleaner for her belt.
15.) Admire your handiwork!


Materials for the Star Boy:
hot glue gun
a wooden doll pin
yellow yarn
white felt
little blue star cut from blue felt
markers (thin-tipped for his face)
scrap of "boyish" material
peach felt

Before you do anything else: Draw a little face on him using paint or thin-tipped markers. (FYI: Try this out first on another hidden part of the wood, so you know whether the color will smudge. A pink highlighter, by the way, is awesome for rosy cheeks. A Sharpie is terrible for eyes, for they end up smearing the color.) It's best to draw the face first, for you don't want to have invested a lot of time in the doll then goof on the face and have all that time wasted.

1.) Cut out a scrap of the boyish material, wrap it around the doll pin (aka "body") and trimmed it to make it look like a gown. Once satisfied, I put down the scrap and put the hot glue on the wooden body and QUICKLY wrapped the material around him as I had just practiced.
.2.) Cut out little half-circles from the peach felt for his hands.
3.) Cut out triangles from the boyish material for his sleeves.
4.) Hot-glue each half-circle hand to the bottom of the sleeve.
5.) Hot-glue the sleeves to his sides for arms.
6.) Measure out short bits of yarn for his hair.
7.) Hot-glue the top of his head and QUICKLY drape the yarn over his head, so it looks like a pageboy haircut. As soon as it cools, trim the hair to the desired length.
8.) Cut a triangle of white felt and roll it up like a cone for his hat. (You might have to do this several times to make sure it fits him.) Once you have the desired fit, hot-glue it so it stays.
9.) Hot-glue the stars to Star Boy's hat.
10.) Hot-glue the top of Star Boy's head and QUICKLY place the hat on it.
11.) Admire your work. : )