Category: imported

Homemade Nativities: Links of Light Bulbs (7) + linky!

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Add your own Homemade Nativity to the linky below!

(3) Shower of Roses Paper Nativity

(5) Felt Nativity from youcanmakethis.com pattern and instructions by pdf

(6) Edible Nativity from AOK Corral

(7) Magnetic Nativity from CutoutandKeep.net

(8) Modelled Nativity from Melanies Crafts

(9) Paper Nativity Dolls from MakingFriends.com
Choose one of the Nativity Activity Buttons below and submit your own Homemade Nativity to the linky below! Thanks for linking back to this page to share our latest link-up with your subscribers!

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Links of Light Bulbs is brought to you by EquippingCatholicFamilies.com, a division of Arma Dei.

Nativity Activity Linky

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Homemade Nativities

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My clothes peg people are missing now…I’ll post a new (close-up) photo when I find them. They are made with traditional wooden clothes pegs, a painted face (with facial features added with sharpie) and material.  The arms are pipe cleaners.  These are sample crafts from
A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families.

What’s the theme here?  Where’s Baby Jesus?  These are all Nativity figures I have made over the years with toilet paper rolls, egg cartons and wooden pegs…but Baby Jesus is missing in each one! 
I need to start re-making Him…

I remember the egg carton Baby Jesus, was just a small piece of the egg carton for a cradle, with construction paper “straw” sticking out behind a fabric bundle of baby. 
I’ll  post pictures when I either find my original or make a new one.

I find that Baby Jesus either gets misplaced by one of my kids parading him around the house during Advent (before Baby Jesus is supposed to be in the manger), or in transit from one of the Catholic conferences we attend. We have actually had the odd sample craft
made from A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families
stolen from our booth display!

These Holy Family Felt Friends are made with felt over a pipe-cleaner body, felt clothes, embroidery floss hair and facial features.  I know, I need to make a Baby Jesus version here as well.

I added a quick Baby Jesus for this post.

I made this Nativity before we were married and it’s our special one-of-a-kind family Nativity.  I think I found a pattern for the little bodies and then I improvised for the clothing. (Can you tell ? =) 
I engineered the manger myself with the little skylight for the star to poke through.
The brown manger material already had verticle lines in it, so I quilted it to make it a little more durable.  The manger also has a couple wooden dowels in it, but it’s not too “stable”.  I usually use a little pillow to prop it up.  I didn’t make the tree, but it looks cute with the set.  I like the lighting on the close-up picture…I think it looks like they’re sitting by the fire.
Linked up to the Nativity Activity Linky!

Win a FREE printable to teach the NEW MASS!

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Subscribe to EquippingCatholicFamilies or comment on this post for a chance to win a free printable!
Subscribe AND comment for double chances to win!
“Like” our facebook page for yet another chance to win!

The New Roman Missal starts THIS WEEKEND!

Color Me Catholic:
New Roman Missal Edition!
Cathletics Craft Kit TM      

Monica McConkey (Author)
Price: $16 U.S. plus shipping
Look inside Color Me Catholic
Check out the **NEW**VIDEO**
Color Me Catholic Tutorial 

Visit our Craft Kit Printables Online Store to save money and purchase your PDF version right away and print it on your own home printer!
Price: $14 U.S.
Instructions and templates to create 10 mini-booklets, each offering 8 mini coloring pages of treasured Vessels, Vestments & Symbols, Church Furnishings, Parts of the Mass and Sacraments & Sacramentals plus 8 pages of phrases from the New Roman Missal Mass in sequential order. 
A template is also included to create a folder to hold the booklets.

The full collection allows for exposure to most of the text of the Mass (especially all the “People’s Parts”) and many images, easily reviewed over 10 Masses.  Why not re-circulate the booklets for the next 10 Masses, for even better familiarity, getting kids to look and listen during Mass?
Product Details

1 color cover, 20 black and white templates (double-sided printing), 3 black and white templates for the instructions and folder, permission to photocopy for single household or single class term use, all contained in a clear plastic 11″x 9″ envelope.

Publisher:  Arma Dei (2011)

Language:  English
Product Dimension:  9″x11″
Shipping Weight: 95g
Paper Version Price: $16 + shipping

or visit our Craft Kit Printables Online Store to save money and print your own kit for $14.

Subscribe to EquippingCatholicFamilies or comment on this post for a chance to win a free printable!
Subscribe to EquippingCatholicFamilies or comment on this post for a chance to win a free printable!
Subscribe AND comment for double chances to win!
“Like” our facebook page for yet another chance to win!
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I am a wife, Mom of 5+ kids, a designer, an architecture school survivor, an author and a crafter and I think it’s cool to be Catholic. My husband and I founded a Catholic apostolate called Arma Dei, creating solid Catholic, fun teaching tools and gifts to celebrate and teach the Catholic Faith. I like to find activities and crafts that kids like to do…and convert them to be Catholic!  I also like to pass along other family-building ideas and traditions…to help justify the time I spend putting into them. =) 

We live in Canada in the same, cute little town I grew up in.  We convert our swingset into a splash pad in the summer and our clubhouse becomes the launchpad for a luge run  that wraps around a hockey rink in our backyard, each winter.  We are the only people I know, who shovel the snow in our backyard before we clear our driveway.

My DEBUT on Suzy’s Artsy Craftsy Sitcom: a few things that most folks don’t know about me

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Check out the rest of my big interview on Suzy’s Artsy Craftsy Sitcom!
Suzy: Can you tell us a few things that most folks don’t know about you?
Monica: We removed a wood burning stove from our house to use the stone corner platform for a stage, regularly hosting open mike, mainly for our own family. I am the only member of my family who doesn’t leap for the spotlight to perform a song or imitation.
My husband’s late Uncle Hugh created the Kool-Aid Walking Pitcher guy who crashed through walls with refreshment.

Monica: We often shovel the snow in our backyard before our driveway, in the winter, to create a luge run! It winds around a backyard hockey rink and inevitably hosts a Superhero, Olympic or Knight birthday party for our son, Joe.

Check out the rest of my big interview on Suzy’s Artsy Craftsy Sitcom!
A pleasure meeting you, Suzy…and Tom Selleck and his Movember followers, Brad, Bill and Bieber.

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John Eklund writes of the journey of Frederick, who, in the midst of personal crisis feels compelled to record historical events and figures within the context of a third installment of the Bible: The Third Testament.  Presented through the thoughts, conversations and discoveries of his main character, John Eklund’s approach removes himself from presumption: because after all, who in this day and age could write an addition to the Bible, that would be widely accepted as a necessary and Holy Spirit-inspired expansion of the Bible?

We walk beside the main character as he struggles through personal issues, adding credibility and humanity to his awesome task.  Although I was not expecting as much of a personal story of the main character, as an historical presentation of the last 2000 years within the context of the Church, Fred’s journey is honest and heart-wrenching and it’s difficult not to invest in his story.  We are reminded of the humanity of the Biblical writers and their struggles (think of Job!) and we are refreshed by the solace Fred finds in recording our Church history.

I found the historical accounts of events and the lives of the saints interesting and informative.  I enjoyed reading new stories about saints I am familiar with as much as I enjoyed the connections between historical events and figures I knew very little about. 

While the occasional conversation/inner thought seemed a little contrived and the juxtaposition of other source quotes and Fred’s summaries of events sometimes felt repetitive,  I want to read this book Fred is working on, in its entirety! I am eager to read his ordered and detailed account of the last 2000 years and to be inspired by his judgment of what events and which historical figures make the cut!

Impressed with the outline provided on the last few pages of this book, I am eager to read the book within this book: “The Third Testament” allegedly written by the main character Fred… and I’m confident many will find it compelling!

New Mass next weekend! A peek inside Color Me Catholic!

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 The New Roman Missal starts November 26/27, 2011!
Find out how to WIN a free printable here!

Color Me Catholic:
New Roman Missal Edition!
Cathletics Craft Kit TM      

Monica McConkey (Author)
Price: $16 U.S. plus shipping
Look inside Color Me Catholic
Check out the **NEW**VIDEO**
Color Me Catholic Tutorial 

Visit our Craft Kit Printables Online Store to save money and purchase your PDF version right away and print it on your own home printer!
Price: $14 U.S.
Instructions and templates to create 10 mini-booklets, each offering 8 mini coloring pages of treasured Vessels, Vestments & Symbols, Church Furnishings, Parts of the Mass and Sacraments & Sacramentals plus 8 pages of phrases from the New Roman Missal Mass in sequential order. 
A template is also included to create a folder to hold the booklets.

The full collection allows for exposure to most of the text of the Mass (especially all the “People’s Parts”) and many images, easily reviewed over 10 Masses.  Why not re-circulate the booklets for the next 10 Masses, for even better familiarity, getting kids to look and listen during Mass?
Product Details

1 color cover, 20 black and white templates (double-sided printing), 3 black and white templates for the instructions and folder, permission to photocopy for single household or single class term use, all contained in a clear plastic 11″x 9″ envelope.

Publisher:  Arma Dei (2011)

Language:  English
Product Dimension:  9″x11″
Shipping Weight: 95g
Paper Version Price: $16 + shipping

or visit our Craft Kit Printables Online Store to save money and print your own kit for $14.

Catho-LINKY Links of Catholic Linkies (7)

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(1) New for Pinterest Fans! Cool 2B Catholic Pinterest PINBOARD Share
Add your own Catholic Pinboards!
Check out other Pinterester’s collections of Catholic Pins!

(2) Add your own posts about activities, crafts and traditions
celebrating the Saints in the Cele-LINKY with the SAINTS!

(3) Add your own favorite games and crafts
that have been Converted 2 Catholic!

(4) Ask for help from the Saints with these special prayers!
Add your own favorite prayers…both classic and spontaneous to the
Favorite Prayer Share!

(5) Catholic Conferences  Add your favorite Catholic (and Christian) conferences for homeschoolers, Religious Educators and retreats or special events for all Catholics.

(6) Advent Calendar Linky from Equipping Catholic Families
(7) Nativity Activity Linky from Equipping Catholic Families
(8) First Friday Linky from Catholic Icing
(9) Links to the Liturgical Calendar from Familia Catolica
(10) Little Flowers’ Club Link Up by Shower of Roses
(11) Blue Knights Boys’ Club Link Up by Shower of Roses
Leave a comment with your own favorite Catholic Link-Up!
Please specify if it is seasonal or perpetually OPEN and let me know if you have a special button.
Links of Light Bulbs is brought to you by Equipping Catholic Families, a division of Arma Dei.

Knitted Nativity: sorry if you don’t have an Auntie Ingrid!

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Linked up to the Nativity Activity Linky!

Auntie Ingrid has knitted amazing gifts for us over the years.  She knitted outfits for my brother and me…and those same outfits have been worn by my kids!  She is known for her amazing baby blankets…and I’m proud to say that our family with 5 kids probably has the biggest collection!

Then there was the hat she gave Kelly last Christmas.  Kelly has officially worn the pom-poms off that hat, but continues to wear it winter, spring, summer AND fall. We WILL sew the pom-poms back on soon.

And then there’s “Bunny”.  Adam’s best friend is a little bunny that Auntie Ingrid made for his birthday.  “Bunny” even made a special “solo” trip by UPS from Columbus, Ohio to our home in Canada, when we accidentally left him behind at the hotel, on our trip last month.

Auntie Ingrid has officially outdone herself.

Although I was wondering why everyone was starting with the Christmas decorations so darn soon, I am now ready to bust out the Advent calendar and nativity…how could I not…when we just received THIS?

(Sorry, if you don’t have an Auntie Ingrid.)

There is no way I can put this back in the box for even a week!
The kids are already playing with it and Baby Jesus has already explored our whole house.

From what I understand, Auntie Ingrid used these patterns from Jean Greenhowe.
I also noticed a different pattern in a book called Knitivity.  I wish I knew how to knit!!

Again, sorry if you don’t have an Auntie Ingrid.
Linked up to the Nativity Activity Linky!