Painted Saints: September Edition!

Better late than never!  I know that it’s the THIRD week of September already, but I wanted to post some of the new wooden painted saints that I created recently.  We have Blessed Mother Teresa and Saint Padre Pio (and Mother Mary, see 2nd picture below) for September saints…and well, Jesus is ALWAYS in season, right?      I am working on another post for yet MORE ideas to incorporate these little wooden saints into the regular crafts, activities, traditions and routines that we already enjoy with our kids. See What to do with Painted Saints…part 1 and check out how we use them in Checkers, Snakes & Ladders and Trouble to add a little Catholic culture ro regular family fun!   Watch for new ways that we plan to incorporate our own little growing army of painted saints.  We’re thinking about chore charts and treasure hunts… Advent countdowns and nativities… and another popular tradition that we can’t wait to convert 2 Catholic!  Make sure that you are subscribed by email to Equipping Catholic Familes for future posts!

Thanks to all those who entered in our Back to Catechism Class
Cathletics Craft Kit Giveaway!
Congratulations to Susan, Michelle, Yenyen and Annie!  All FOUR winners have been contacted and have chosen their favorite Cathletics Craft Kit to receive by PDF and use with their families or CCD classes.  Congratulations!
 

 
 
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FREE Dragon Slayers Progress Report

I just love this book!  Dragon Slayers is an imaginative and inspiring book to help train 8-12 year olds in the virtuous task of Dragon Slaying! Sir Wyvern Pugilist instructs with humor and diligence how to identify sins and vices in the form of dragons, learn tactics to withstand their attacks through Scripture and the proper use of the Armor of God.  He also introduces our ultimate mentors:  the Dragon Slayers of Old (the Saints) and the Chief Dragon Slayer Himself (Jesus). It is such a creative book, complete with an enrollment certificate, profiles of successful Dragon Slayers and the dragons and helpful advice and encouragement along the way. This book will captivate your 8-12 year old, and you might just find yourself reading eagerly along with them! This is an awesome gift for your child, niece, nephew or Godchild!  It’s a thoughtful book that will teach them about the sins and vices we can all fall into, as well as the virtues we are all working on, in a format that is enticing, imaginative and humorous, and anything BUT a boring lecture.

So sorry, Dragon Slayers is no longer available.

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Back to Catechism Class {GIVEAWAY}

Enter to win your choice of Cathletics Craft Kit (PDF Download), from the TEN available at the Arma Dei Shoppe! Print at home and copy for a WHOLE CLASS or for all the children who live in your house!   TEN Craft Kits to Choose from! FOUR WINNERS WILL BE SELECTED! Catechism Catcher ~ Catechism Cube ~ Catholic Family Calendar ~ Catholic Lingo Bingo (English or Spanish) ~Color Me Catholic ~ Journey with Jesus through the Sacraments ~ Journey with Jesus through Confirmation Lace-Up Missal (English and Spanish) ~ Spiritual Bouquet

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Back to School Special: Teach Catechism the FUN way!

  Yesterday was the big day! First day of Grade 11, Grade 9 and Grade 6 and French Immersion Grade 1 at a new school! The little one stays home with me, but desperately wants to be part of all the excitement!   It’s a great time to get organized for Religious Ed programs!  I thought I’d offer this special deal:  

Purchase TWO Cathletics Craft Kits by PDF download

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I Spy…September!

Here’s my I Spy…September!

I’m just curious…which collage do you like the best so far?

 Check out I Spy…August!

  Check out I Spy…July!

 Check out I Spy…Holy Coins

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The Good …and the Awesome: our trip to Disney and Universal!

Equipping Catholic Families has been pretty quiet lately…as we have just returned from our first ever trip to Disney with the kids, along with my brother and mom!

Just a few surprises on our trip!

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Adam and Mother Mary: Feast of the Assumption!

We moved to our house in 2002 and we still marvel at what a blessing this house has been with the big backyard for our family with all these kids.  Frisbee, soccer, a splash pad and clubhouse in the summer… and our rink and luge run in the winter.  All year round, Mary watches over the kids and our house from the Mary Garden in the corner. For all the trouble he gets into, we have discovered that 2 year old Adam has a neat little devotion to Our Lady.  He visits Mary at least once a day and gives her hugs and kisses. Happy Feast of the Assumption! read more...for Equipping Catholic Families!

Cool 2B Catholic Crayon Batik

Ever since I reviewed Suzy’s Crayon Batik and Faux Stained Glass Tutorial, I have wanted to try my hand at Crayon Batik!  I bought a couple cheap t-shirts while my kids sorted through our old crayons, peeling the wrappers and placing them by color in an old muffin tin. We melted the crayons in the oven. That’s a strong smell…you will want to open the windows and put on the fan. The muffin tin is also very hot…remind the kids to keep hands away from the metal and the hot wax! We quickly learned that painting with wax takes some patience!  Every few minutes, the wax cools down and gets lumpy and becomes very difficult to paint with.  We would then put the muffin tin back in the oven to re-melt the wax.  We also cleaned the brushes in boiling water to melt the hardened wax. When we were finished painting with the wax, we liked how vibrant the colors were!  The t-shirt at this stage was pretty clumpy with the hardened wax all over it. Ironing eliminates the hard clumps of wax, but also softens and mutes the colors a little bit.  We noticed that the painting now had a more airbrushed effect with softer, kind of fuzzy outlines.

We decided to add puffy paint to outline our letters for a more finished effect.
Do you like the airbrushed or outlined look best?

This is my first attempt at a picture tutorial for pinterest!  Please pin! read more...for Equipping Catholic Families!

What to do with Painted Saints! …part 1

I have enjoyed painting my collection of wooden saint dolls…you can read more about the Painted Peg People and how I have painted both favorite patron saints and members of our family. 

To justify the happy time I have spent painting these little figures, I thought I’d offer a couple more suggestions for what to do with Painted Saints (while not-so-subtly adopting these patrons saints as members of our family). 
I know…alot to expect from little wooden toys, but they give us an excuse to get reaquainted with our real holy hero intercessors in Heaven.

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Cataloguing the Family Holy Card Collection

Over the years, we have collected a good supply of holy cards.  These are beautiful little cards of various saints, often with a little prayer or devotion on the back.  Others, given out at a funeral Mass, remind us of a loved one who passed away, as their information is on the other side of the card.  It’s a shame to hide these away in a box, even though I am referring to them quite often, looking for images of the saints for crafts on my blog like:  

I Spy…the Saints collages,
painted wooden saints
Saints games
and Saint crafts
featuring these awesome holy heroes.

For my purposes, I have found it helpful to organize the holy cards by monthly feast days. I used a photo box…and for the first time ever used the little divider pages included! As my collection isn’t SO vast, I have found enough room in the box to include one of my copies of the Lives of the Saints, for easy reference.

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