Catholic Bloggers Colossal Share-a-thon & Giveaway

February 10, 2012 by 2 Comments
Opening Monday February 13, 2012 at Catholic Bloggers Network! Check out the First Ever Catholic Bloggers Share-A-Thon! These are the prizes that I have contributed to the giant give-away… but there are PLENTY more awesome prizes to win …all donated by our own Catholic Bloggers! 4 Chances to Win Arma Dei products! 1.

A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families (book)

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Filed Under: Catholic Bloggers

HAPPY SAINT valentines

February 4, 2012 by 10 Comments
When Victor from =&0=& graciously gave me permission to use his awesome saint pictures in a craft, I was so excited!  I just love this company and their adorable saint pictures! Immediately, I wanted to make a cuter version of my=&1=&=&2=&with frozen juice lids.  These would make an awesome matching game to help my 5 year old learn more about the saints…(she has already started playing with them!) …and the circle format is perfect with my 2.5″ hole punch! With Valentine’s Day coming up,=&3=&=&4=&Valentine Cards! I formatted the pictures and printed them myself and used a 2.5″ hole punch to cut out the circular images. I printed “HAPPY SAINTS Valentine Day!” on red paper and we’re thinking about embellishing the little cards with hearts made with my little heart hole punch. Instead of Happy St. Valentine…how about HAPPY SAINTS Valentine Day!  These are WAY cooler=&5=& =&6=&than Barbie or Buzz Lightyear!  My daughter can give these away…and I know that the kids will love them!  Maybe just one little card will entice a child to learn more about the Communion of Saints! Happy Saints has a wonderful collection of these adorable saints, identifying each saint in the illustration and offering a favorite quote.  Check out their =&7=& available…both e-books and greeting cards that will make you HAPPY!  Thank-you to Victor for letting me use these adorable pictures!  How about “liking” the Happy Saints Facebook page…or subscribing to Happy Saints?  You’ll be among the first to know when new Saint pictures are released! I’m linking up to Converted 2 Catholicand CeleLINKY thru the SAINTS and Catholic Icing’s First Friday Link-up. Check them out and add your Catholic crafts too! read more...for Equipping Catholic Families!
Filed Under: Saints

What are you doing for Lent? {LINK-UP}

January 31, 2012 by 8 Comments
April 1:  HOLY WEEK is here! Holy Week Fiestas de Enlaces

Here’s your chance to link-up your favorite Holy Week posts…with time for others to prepare for their own special Holy Week, maybe with a little help from YOUR post! This is the same page as the Fiestas de Enlaces Lent Link-Up…but feel free to grab this button and link back to this page.

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Filed Under: link-up, Catholic Bloggers Network

Guest Post for St Brigid’s Feastday Feb 1

January 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Tomorrow is February 1st…the Feast of St Brigid!  I thought it would be appropriate to have my daughter Kelly offer a guest post.This was Kelly’s (grade 4) speech in 2008 at St Brigid School. Lion, dog, cow.  What do these living things have in common?  For one thing, they are all animals.  If you’re a genius, maybe you were thinking they’re all mascots, and that’s true. The lion is the mascot of St. Mark’s Catholic School.  The dog is our mascot. A bulldog to be exact. 

And, last but not the least, the cow is the mascot of Williams College in Massachusetts.  But not just any cow, (get this!) a purple cow with gold polka-dots, named Ephelia!

But, what if, our school mascot was also a cow?
Teachers and students, my speech will explain why I think our school mascot should be a cow.
I would expect that some people here don’t know what a mascot is or don’t understand the point of them.  But I can explain all that.  A mascot is an animal or person that represents something and is sometimes used to make another team nervous and build school spirit.
Now that you know all that, it’s time for me to talk about why I don’t really like our bulldog.  On the one hand, the bulldog seems too frightening and I have to admit, it’s also pretty ugly.  Next, I think this bulldog wastes to much of its time being shocking that it’s hardly active.  I’ve heard nearly every teacher at the school say “it’s not about winning, but having fun!”, so why do we need a really fierce mascot?  Why can’t we just have a fun mascot?  Like…a cow.
OK, now you’re probably wondering how exactly a cow is fun and, I reckon you’re still wondering why our school mascot should be a cow.  Well, I can explain that too.  Cows are fun because of their cool spots and the awesome sound they make.  They are intelligent and can sense danger before other animals.  They’re tough because they can withstand the weather, even when we have indoor routine.  They are patient and persistent.  As you know, they give us milk which has vitamins A, B, C, D and E.
It would make sense for a cow to be our mascot because St Brigid lived in Ireland and like lots of other people in Ireland, she lived on a farm. It was common to have lots of cows in the pasture. 
However, it was said that St. Brigid and her family owned a white red-eared cow that provided them with all the food St. Brigid needed, to grow.  She also gave milk and other food from the farm to the poor.  One time, she gave water to a thirsty stranger, and it turned into milk!  Maybe all these stories explain why a cow is sometimes used as a symbol of St. Brigid.
And that is the exact type of cow that should be our school mascot…a white, red-eared cow.  Isn’t that perfect? 
I mean, our main school color is red!
I’d like to go on, but my time is up.  Thanks for listening.

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Filed Under: link-up, Catholic Bloggers Network

and the winner is…

January 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
…queue the Happy Dance… …and the winner for the 2012 Bilingual Bingo GIVEAWAY is… Sherri M from Baton Rouge, Louisiana! Congratulations to Sherri! She won our Catholic Bilingual Bingo GIVEAWAY! She chose to receive the Catholic Lingo Bingo in English…and the

Color Me Catholic: New Roman Missal Edition!

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Filed Under: Catholic Crafts, giveaway

Kelly Comics to Kelly’s Pastels

January 29, 2012 by 1 Comment

We just posted this on The Catholic Illustrator’s Guild…
13 year old Kelly has switched to pastels. 
She is now using pastels for sketches, school projects, caricatures…you name it.
You should see her bedroom wall. =)

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Filed Under: Kelly Comics

Catholic Lingo Bingo!NEW Spanish Version!

January 26, 2012 by 6 Comments
This is a BIG deal, considering that up here in Canada, our second language is FRENCH! We have had many requests to translate our products and THANKS to my friendXhonane of Familia Católica, we our releasing our FIRST Spanish Cathletics Craft Kit!
Check out my friend Xhonane’s REVIEW and GIVEAWAY of
Lingo Bingo Católico at Familia Católica,
Versión electrónica en Español
Xhonane graciously agreed to help with the translation of the Catholic Lingo Bingo craft kit! 
She has been so wonderful to work with and the Spanish Version of Catholic Lingo Bingo is now available for sale on her site as well!  She is offering a special deal on her new e-book  Libro “El Año Liturgico en Familia” as well, along with a special GIVEAWAY!
I love to see how Xhonane has used the Catholic Lingo Bingo Craft Kit with her family.  She even gives her specific approach to teaching the Vessels and Vestments and the various ways that the kit can be used as a Bingo Game and as a Matching Game.

Catholic Lingo Bingo!
Cathletics Craft Kit TM

Monica McConkey (Author) Price: $15 U.S. Look inside the Catholic Lingo Bingo English   Spanish Purchase NOW and receive INSTANTLY to print at home! Downloadable PDF version  Price: $13 U.S.

Purchase Catholic Lingo Bingo:

NEW: Versión en Español Price $10 U.S. (Limited Time!)
Purchase Catholic Lingo Bingo: Spanish  

Product Details 1 color cover, 16 black and white templates including instructions, master set and 15  (ready-to-color 8.5″x11″) bingo cards, permission to photocopy for single household or single class term use, all contained in a clear plastic11″x 9″ envelope. This kit includes a Bingo game, teaching the Vessels, Vestments and Sacramentals.  The templates can also be used for a matching game.

Publisher:  Arma Dei (2011)

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Filed Under: Catholic Crafts

a Treasure Chest in a Book: a Family Tradition

January 25, 2012 by 1 Comment

Build your own Family Culture and Traditions…and start during Ordinary Time!

Collect family artifacts and treasures: keep a collection of family documents, classic photos, newspaper articles, certificates, letters from the toothfairy or letters to Santa, programs from funeral Masses, graduations, wedding invitations, birthday invitations, letters of acceptance, report cards…even if they are photocopies of the real thing! This is what we created our Family Treasure Chest for! These and other family-centric activities, crafts and traditions  can be found in A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families. Altered Collage Books:  a Treasure Chest in a Book! Years ago, I was fascinated by the books Griffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence. “Thus begins the strange and intriguing correspondence of Griffin and Sabine.  It is a story that is partly a romance, partly a mystery, and completely a work of art.  Each page contains a new card or letter…the complete correspondence tells an extraordinary story in an extraordinary way.” The whole book is packed with stamped letters and postcards, with striking images and artwork. =&3=& Intrigued by the Griffin and Sabine books, I began my own altered collage books: one for each child, in a story book that reminded me of them! Click this link at www.littlebit.com for some resources to make your own altered collage books !

I decided to use “Enchantment in the Garden”, adding pictures from “The Fairy Tale Catalogue”.

I was enthused by the illustrations in the books.  In this one, I cut a window in one page, to show the illustration in the next.  I glued the pages together and added gesso to make it a little dream-like.

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Filed Under: family traditions, ordinary time

7 Cool Things about the Catholic Bloggers Network!

January 20, 2012 by 3 Comments
(1) The Link your Blog page offers the opportunity for all Catholic Bloggers to link their blogs and since it’s in the form of a Linky, the little thumbnail and title give clues to what the blogs are about.

(2) The facebook, twitter and Pinterest link-ups on the Network page, offer opportunities to link social media addresses, building connections between new Catholic friends and to strengthen the Catholic Social Media Community!

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Filed Under: link-up, Catholic Bloggers Network

Catholic Bloggers 4 Life

January 17, 2012 by 3 Comments

       

        

Upcoming Link-Up for Pro-Life Blog Posts on January 22, 2012…

Stay tuned for details or check out the Catholic Bloggers Network on Facebook. read more...for Equipping Catholic Families!
Filed Under: link-up, Catholic Bloggers Network
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