I have been so inspired by a series of lovely posts by Alice at Cottage Blessings. She and her children are creating simply beautiful and meaningful crafts to honor our Lady all month long. Most generously, Alice is taking the time to post photos of the completed projects and clearly describe the steps in each craft.
Well, I have been happily taking detailed notes, and gathering the necessary materials (some from the craft store, a few from the Catholic shop, mostly things we have around the house) in anticipation of joining Alice and other 4Real friends, in making many Marian crafts this May! I am just so excited, I set up a corner (inspiration - Alice!) with all the collected materials, and now my boys' interest has been piqued:
Here are some photos of the crafts we worked on today (May Day):
The May Day basket we made for my mum ... again, this idea came from Alice (The Plastic Cup Challenge)! The boys coated the cup with glue and stuck on bits of torn tissue paper. (Oh you should have seen Earlybird with that glue!) I braided a rainbow yarn handle and we filled it with some flowers from the garden! Mum loved it!
I am very happy with the craft above, for its purpose as much as its appearance. To be perfectly honest, I did most of the work myself (the boys did help choose the colors and embellishments). I had been looking for a way to keep their rosaries near at hand, yet in a special and safe space (up till now they have hung them on their bed posts). Alice's Miniature May Altar was just the ticket. Right now our shelf is stationed on our classroom bulletin board, until dear husband can get it up in their room tonight. (But I couldn't wait to get a picture!)
The above craft is still very much in progress ... but hopefully will be close to completion as we near Mother's Day. The wooden boxes on the left are hinged; we plan to paint them a soft color, perhaps decorate them a bit, and make them into nice rosary boxes. The felt I'm embellishing on the right is a practice piece (I can't tell you when I last sewed) ... if I can manage it, we'd like to line the boxes with embroidered bits of felt. I'll let you know how that one turns out ...
I have also enjoyed reading the many wonderful ideas in a recent 4Real thread of ideas for celebrating Mary in May. And a wonderful book I am reading, Mary's Flowers, has been a great resource to us as we work on our own Mary garden. I recently posted at Marigolds for Mama (my garden blog) about our journey to finding just the right statue of our Lady for the garden (see here).
And so let me end this post by saying ...
Have a blessed and beautiful May!
