Celebrate St. Martin of Tours {Free Martinmas Lantern Printable!}

Today is Martinmas (the feast day of St. Martin of Tours)!  St. Martin was a Roman soldier (and later became a Bishop) born in 316 A.D. He was forced into the military when he was quite young.  He is most well known for the famous story in which he encountered a beggar on a cold wintery day.  Filled with compassion for this shivering man, Martin cut his cloak in half, giving part of it to the beggar.  Later that night he dreamed that the beggar was Jesus himself.

In many countries, Martinmas is celebrated by children processing with paper lanterns at night. They sing songs, receive candy and build bonfires as well.  To honor this tradition, I thought it would be fun to make a paper lantern printable for children to cut, color and light (using an artificial candle, that is!). Today, the feast of St. Martin coincides with Veterans Day, which is nice since he is the patron saint of soldiers.  There is a prayer for soldiers included on one of the panels of the lantern, which would be nice to pray this evening.

Below is the printable.  Simply click on the link and you will be directed to Google Docs:

St. Martin of Tours Printable Lantern

 (The printable is a microsoft word document)

Here is how to assemble your lantern:

1.  After printing (and coloring!) your lantern, cut and discard top section of page along thick black "scalloped" lines.   

2. Fold lantern into 4 vertical sections along dotted lines.  Cut along folded lines from the bottom up to the solid line.  This will create 4 flaps that will become the bottom of your lantern.

3. Fold bottom flaps along solid lines, placing glue on the inner bottom of each flap (I used glue stick).  Place one flap on top of the other, holding in place for a few second to let glue dry.

4. Place tape along the opening of the lantern walls to close remaining gap.  Your lantern is now complete and ready to illuminate!

5.  If you want your lantern to have a handle (nice for children to process with!), simply cut a thin strip of paper, cardstock or ribbon, and tape across any 2 opposite walls of the lantern.

6.  Place a battery-operated artificial tea light candle inside and enjoy the pretty luminary you made!

And remember to say the pray in honor of our soldiers this Veterans Day! 

Happy Martinmas!

Giving Trees {A Simple Kids Craft for Thanksgiving!}

With Thanksgiving approaching, there are many beautiful crafts and activities to do to show our thanks.  But along with giving thanks for all that we have, why not also do an activity about giving to others?  "Giving Trees" are a wonderful way for little ones to think of ways to serve others this Fall as as Thanksgiving draws closer.  Inspired by the book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, along with wanting a craft to celebrate the feast day of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (November 17th), I came up with the idea of making a giving tree.  The base is made from a paper lunch bag, and on the leaves are written ways to give to others.  Simple and sweet!

One of my favorite children's stories!

The trees are very easy to make, and you only need a few basic supplies:

Supplies:

--a brown paper lunch bag (I used the larger size)

--scissors

--autumn colored cardstock, cut into leaf shapes

--a hole punch

Instructions:

1) Open your brown paper lunch bag and set it on the table. 

2)  Grab your bag around the center and twist in one direction, while keeping the bottom of bag (your tree base) pressed firmly on the table.  While twisting center of bag, be sure the base will stand upright.  If you wish, you may tuck the corners of the bag so they are not visible, making it look round, instead of rectangular.

3) Fan open the top of your bag and make about 8 vertical slits with your scissors, down toward the center of your "tree trunk". These strips will become your tree branches.  They should be approx. one inch wide and 4 inches long (this craft is very forgiving so don't stress over counting and measuring!)

4) Scrunch each strip with your hands, twisting tightly in any one direction to form your tree branches.  You may wish to shape them by giving them a bit of a curve, like a real tree branch.  This is the fun part!

5)  Once all of your branches are formed, be sure to twist the tips of each branch very tightly, so that your paper leaves will be able to slide onto the branches easily.

6)  Cut some simple fall leaf shapes from your cardstock.  Punch a hole in the top of each leaf.

7)  Write various ways to give to others on each leaf.

8)  Marvel at the simple beauty of your Giving Tree...and then get givin'! :)

Here's a quick at-a-glance reference of each step:

That's all!  Easy, right?  They look really pretty placed in a group together (like a forest!), and would make a beautiful centerpiece for a kid's table on Thanksgiving.  

And, of course, you must read The Giving Tree together, to make this activity complete. :)  And, for my Catholic friends, if you wish to incorporate this activity with St. Elizabeth of Hungary's feast day, the Loyola Book of Saints (a wonderful book which arranges saint stories by theme!) has a lovely story about her life of giving, and Charlotte from Waltzing Matilda has a beautiful coloring sheet that you could use as well.

Happy Crafting!

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The Walking Game {a.k.a. Easy Kid Fun!}

A couple of days ago the kids were feeling a little restless--you know, the dreaded pre-dinner witching hour was beginning to strike.  As I often do in times such as these, I decided to read aloud (one of our favorite pastimes).  I grabbed the latest issue of Spider magazine (another favorite!) and got to it.  One of the stories was called "The Walking Game" by Linfred Longenecker.  Intrigued, I started to read.

Love Spider magazine.  LOVE.

The story tells of some rowdy siblings who are getting annoyed with one another (the spooky E.S.P.-esque realization that I had picked this story in the midst of sibling crankies was not lost on me!).  The mom decides that, in order to remedy the squabbles, the kids need to play the "Walking Game",  in which they head outside in different directions, returning home once they were no longer feeling annoyed.  The assignment works like a charm, and the kids come back refreshed with unique treasures in hand, resulting in a nice dinner together.

Ummmmm, yeah.  This girl needs some serious cheering up come witching hour.  What was it that Shakespeare said... "though she be but small, she be fierce"!

 Genius!!  I immediately needed to put this idea to the test!  After finishing the story I sent the kids outside in different directions to collect 3 things each, that we would arrange on the table as a dinnertime centerpiece. I know.  I veered from the original story.  But just a little.  Keep in mind that our yard is not nearly as interesting as the one in the story, in which the kids come back with all kinds of spectacular garden fruits and flowers!  So, I figured I'd add in the treasure-hunting aspect.  IT WORKED.  Worked like a charm, it did!  The kids thought it was uber-fun to see what they could find, and loved the added intrigue of keeping it a secret from one another.  They all came back with cute little finds (cute for a considerably boring yard in late October, anyway!), and had a blast arranging their treasure for our centerpiece.  Then we had a nice (and peaceful!) dinner together...and the rest is history!

Our centerpiece :)

Witching Hour: 0,  Mom: 1.

In fact, the kids loved it so much that they asked to do it again the next day!

Witching Hour: 0,  Mom: 2.

So, if you find yourself desperate to occupy the littles some late afternoon, I highly recommend giving the Walking Game a try!  You could easily modify it to become an indoor hunt on bad weather days--just send them to different areas of the house to find something special.  Or, if you want to get crafty, you could have them each make something to use instead.  And if you want to get even more creative, you could have them each find or make something specific (e.g. something red, something symbolizing a favorite activity, something holiday-themed, etc.)  The possibilities are endless!  For us it struck that perfect balance of feeling special (an official centerpiece!) with mystery/ rivalry (who will find the coolest stuff?  What will everyone else pick??).  If you want to read the original story to add to the fun, I found it online here: The Walking Game.  Try it, it worked for me!

Easy and fun...a win-win!

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A {simple & sweet!} Mother's Day Gift Idea...

With Mother's Day fast approaching you may be looking for some ideas to do with the kiddos for all of the special moms in your life.  I just thought I'd share our gift idea with you!  Over the years we've done several things from crafts to garden plants to personalized items.  This year I thought it would be sweet to have the kids come up with different things they love about their Grandma and present them gift-style.  After brain-storming for a bit I thought we could put together a Ball jar of "52 Reasons why We Love Grandma." (I know, I know--my Ball-jar obsession continues! LOL!)  It's very simple, and, when read once a week, lasts the whole year through!  If you'd like to make your own jar, here's what you do:

1) Type a list of 52 things your kids love about the gift recipient.  Be sure to space each sentence far enough apart that they will make a nice-sized strip once cut--don't crowd them too closely!

2)  Print list on double-sided scrapbook paper.  Make sure one side of your paper is light enough that the text won't be too difficult to read! (of course, regular paper works, too, but scrapbook paper just looks so pretty in the jar!)

3)  Cut strips apart and fold them however you like, placing them in jar.

4)  Embellish your jar with whatever embellishments you like!  We used some ribbon, additional scrapbook paper and a personalized round label to give ours a finished look.

5) Give your completed gift and feel the love! :)

Although we made our jar for Mother's Day, it would make a lovely gift for any occasion--a birthday, anniversary, etc.!

Happy jar-making, and wishing you all a wonderful Mother's Day!

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A {sweet and simple} Valentine's Idea...

I've seen several variations of this popular craft idea on the internet as well as Pinterest and thought it was high time I finally made one myself! Behold, I present to you the:

"Re-purposed-frame-turned-dry-erase-board!"

Some operate as errand boards:

Source: realsimple.com via Cari on Pinterest

Others as calendars:

Source: theaestheticwriter.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

but my personal favorite is the "I love you because..." board:

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Erin on Pinterest

It's just a sweet and simple way to bring a bit of sunshine to your relationship each day. We've had ours for a few weeks now and it has truly been a blessing! It's so quick and easy to use and it's out in the open, which makes it easy to remember. In other words it doesn't end up becoming one of those well-intentioned things that winds up collecting dust in some dark dingy forgotten-about drawer! (Love coupons anyone? His & Hers Communication Journal?! I *always* forget about those kinds of things! Please tell me I'm not the only "out of sight out of mind" person in the world! Am I?!?) Ahem...anyway, moving on. :)


I thought this little frame would make a wonderful and affordable Valentine's gift! Here's what mine looks like:

simple and sweet :)

You can stick it anywhere you think you'll use it most. Ours lives on a nightstand in our bedroom. It's very easy to use in the morning or at night, and since we're not in that room very often it's a nice way to surprise one another when we enter. If you plan to use it as a Valentine's gift it would be lovely to decorate with all kinds of pink cupids, hearts and all of that good "Valentinesy" stuff (I make up my own words from time to time!). Ours happens to be blue to match our bedroom decor. If you want to go really crazy you could even print off a set of 12-one for each month of the year! The sky is the limit! Let those creative juices flow, baby!


I used a couple of coordinating scrapbook papers to make mine and printed the message across the top in a font I liked. I would recommend using a light colored paper without too much "jazz" going on, or else it'll be difficult to read your messages. Once your design is complete just pop it into your frame, grab a dry-erase marker and you're ready to go!

If you decide to give this a try I'd *love* to hear about it!

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Tater Tots and Jello
Works for Me Wednesday
Women Living Well Wednesday
Raising Homemakers

Love is in the Air!

I've always been a sucker for Valentine's Day. Maybe it's because I'm a bit of a sap, or maybe because my anniversary is the day after, but mostly I think I love it because, heck--it's a reason to celebrate in the middle of winter! (I think from some of my previous posts you might be getting the idea by now that winter is NOT my favorite season lol!) And of course I love that it's a whole day devoted to love. So, we try to do it up for V-Day, and I just thought I'd share a few of the things we've been doing around the house to make it look festive!


I jazzed up our entertainment center cabinets with a love banner, heart doilies and scrapbook paper:




(We don't have a fireplace so I like to decorate this area of our living room as a focal point.)

Added some touches of red glitter for a little bling. :) This Willow Tree figurine is perfect this time of year! (I *heart* Willow Tree!)

I also made this little bunting thanks to some Pinterest inspiration (pinspiration!):

It was very easy to make! Just some scrapbook paper, twine, a heart punch and...Viola! It's the little things like this that just brighten up a room, isn't it?

Here's the original pin that inspired me (although mine is actually quite different!):

Source: familyoffarmers.blogspot.com via Brenda on Pinterest

I also wanted to use this beautiful paper I had leftover from our wedding invitations (gasp!) 9 years ago! It has real flower petals and bits of evergreen embedded in it. I love it! So I made some little dangly floating hearts and hung them between our kitchen and living room. They're especially meaningful to me since they remind me of our wedding!

Here is what they look like up close:

aaaah, so romantic. :)

After seeing a bunch of pins floating around Pinterest on paper flowers, I thought what better time to try them than Valentine's Day? So, I took the plunge and gave them a shot. I'm totally hooked! They are SO easy and elegant! I have to say though, that the pins I found for spiral paper flowers were a little information-light. Most of them just consisted of pictures without much description like this:

Source: blog.craftzine.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

(When I tried clicking on the referring site for this particular pin, it was unavailable!)

And while this is very helpful in somewhat demystifying the how-to of paper flower making, I prefer something with a little more detail. So, I learned somewhat by trial and error on this one, and am therefore, now an expert! (Ha!) But I thought I would attempt to give you a more thorough tutorial than the ones I found. Here's how I made them:

You Will Need:

--thin paper colored on both sides (or white will do for white flowers of course!)
--glue gun
--scissors
--long branches (to use as stems)
--a vase

Directions for Assembly:

1) Start by selecting your paper. Take it from me: cardstock is NOT GOOD to use! It's too thick to roll nicely and ends up looking all wonky. I would recommend thinner paper (think printer paper) that's colored on both sides. Double-sided scrapbook paper or origami paper would both work, too. I used a combination of pink and white printer paper for mine.

(This is what will happen if you try using cardstock. No good!)

2) Determine the size of the flower you want. My flowers are about 2 inches in diameter. To make flowers this size I would recommend using a circle about 5-6 inches in diameter (I was able to make 2 flowers per sheet this way.). For teeny tiny buds you'd need about a 3" circle.


3) Draw a circle on your paper and free-hand a spiral beginning from the outside of the circle working your way in toward the center. Don't stress over imperfections. They actually make the flower look really nice! Stop your spiral about 1/2 inch from the center. I found that starting with a very thin spiral on the outside (approx. 1/8"), expanding to a larger "looser" spiral toward the center (approx. 1/2") made for a prettier flower that was easier to shape. (Note: I just free-handed cutting the spiral to avoid pencil marks. But if you really want to draw prior to cutting, just make be sure to erase any remaining marks or else they will show.)

Notice how imperfect my circle and spiral are? Just go for it!

4) Now it's time for the fun part! Starting from the outside of the circle working toward the center, begin to tightly roll your paper into a spiral. I got mine started by curling it with my finger nails (much like one would do with scissors and curling ribbon), but you could also use a knitting needle, skewer or chopstick if you want something to aid your initial winding. Don't worry about trying to form your flower into the perfect flower shape just yet. That will come later. For now, simply wind until you've reached the center of the circle.





5) Once you've finishing winding, gently cup the spiral in your hands and release it a little to allow it to loosen up a bit. Once you do this you should find that the center is still quite tightly wound and that the outer edges are very loose. Now you can hand-shape the flower to the exact size, tightness and shape you want.

My flower suddenly turned white! LOL! Sorry 'bout that. I took pictures of various steps while making more than one flower. So, some pics are pink, others white. :)

shaping my flower. Aww, so purty!

6) Now it's time to glue. While holding your flower in place with one hand, place a dab of glue from your glue gun to the outer "flap" of your flower. Hold in place for a few seconds while glue sets. Once the outer flower is glued you may need to add a few additional dabs of glue to the inner layers if they're not holding their shape (e.g. if the center is flying out of the flower!). Note: be very sparing and careful with your glue application as too much glue will show on your finished flowers! Try to avoid "glue strings" by pulling them away before they dry.

place dab of glue to outer edge of flower shown here.

7) Next you will affix the stem. Turn your glued flower over, exposing the base where the stem will attach. Snip a tiny hole on the bottom to create a space for your stem. Once your hole is ready to go, place a generous amount of hot glue onto the tip of your stem. Quickly and carefully insert twig through hole approx. 1/4" through the center of your flower, holding in place until glue dries. While glue is still wet be sure to arrange your flower onto stem at desired angle. Once glue dries you may need to reinforce with a second application of glue at base of flower. (Don't worry, this probably sounds more complicated than it really is! I just like thorough instructions when I try new crafts, so I'm including all of the extra tidbits of information I discovered along the way!)

Don't worry about getting your hole just right-it won't show once you fill it in with glue!

glue time!

insert twig into center of flower

add extra glue to base as necessary.

ta-da!

admire your handiwork! :) (*and ignore the mess that is my kitchen in the background lol!)

8) Once you've created your blooms, set them in a vase of choice and enjoy! :)

My kids told me they *almost* look real! :)


So, that's what we've been up to lately around here! What have you been doing to spread a little love around your home?

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