We covered a few things during this month’s meeting (recording available on our YouTube page) including our fundraising effort to get to the Eucharistic Congress in July. We talked about planning end of year ceremonies and/or parties. And we invited you to come to Little Flowers Camp! But we especially talked about craft ideas.
Crafts can be a wonderful addition to your meetings if you have members who like to do them and a parent/older teen ready to help. Some leaders feel as if they are a struggle as they don’t feel they are crafty enough to do it successfully.
Most of our virtues don’t lend themselves to a specific ‘craft’. That is not the purpose of virtues or our programs! It is important to remember the craft is meant to be a visual reminder of the virtue, its saint and flower along with the Scripture verse to be memorized. The crafts can be hung in their bedroom, decorate the house or even given away to someone they love.
With a few small changes most crafts would be great for any virtue, any month. These transformations are easy to do by having the members write the virtue and the saint on the craft. They can add the flower and Scripture verse and even incorporate the virtue’s color on the craft. For younger ones you can make copies of these to be cut out and glued on. Flower stickers, saints’ holy cards, religious stickers, etc. can be used for embellishments and before you know it – You have just made a Behold Club member craft!
From the list of 50 Crafts below, I have found 18 that seem to the easiest to transform –
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/craft-ideas/g39762537/crafts-for-kids/
These are my choices that are the easiest to adapt. The numbers listed are for the number of the craft on the list and are NOT out of order. 🙂
Craft #1. Embellished Bow – ribbon is virtue color, add verses with sharpie marker, even attach a saint’s holy card?
- Monster Sock? How about Saint Sock? Use the virtue color, add the essential information. These can decorate their room or even be hung outside?
- Paper Bag Kite. Like the monster sock above.
- Cardboard Suns. Could the sun become cardboard flowers? Make them smaller, adding the important details?
- Candles! These could be done as pillar candles as well. You can print out the scripture verses, etc. to pin at the bottom of a pillar candle. Just be sure to remove it if the candle is going to be lit.
- Toilet paper or paper towel roll. Print out the Scripture verse, etc. in fancy print to be glue onto the roll. They can be painted in the virtue color or covered with construction paper.
- FAVORITE! Have them make the sun catchers and then they can write the verse, etc. on them with a dark marker. You can cut them into the shape of a heart, dove, chalice & host or monstrance.
- Bunny Bags become a club bag. Does someone have cricut machine to make a rose, St. Therese or other saint image? Each virtue, saint and scripture verse can be added throughout the year.
- Could the octopus become a flower? Or make them the Sun/Son with verse on the circle? Saint’s name on one of the sticks?
- We have done the flip flops with the verse, saint written around the edge of the shoe rather on the top. There a number of Scriptures about walking with God you can add (Micah 6:8).
- Animal Bookmarks become saints with holy cards or flowers or verses.
- Water Bottle Flowers – they can write the verses, saint, etc. on the petals. One might be enough.
- Heart Collage can be made into a flower shape easily or leave as it, add the verse and saint to small pieces of paper to add. Put a magnet on the back and on the fridge it goes or add a pin on the back to wear, put on a jacket or backpack.
- FAVORITE! Matisse Felt Board. Did you know he made a Stations of the Cross? https://aleteia.org/2018/10/11/the-catholic-chapel-that-was-designed-by-the-artist-matisse/ Felt flowers, crosses, doves, other Catholic images could be cut out and used.
- Salt Dough Hangers – In addition to the hearts, do you have flower cookie cutters?
- Glue Blobs – use sharpies to add the saint, verse and virtue after the glue has dried.
- Butterfly – Flower shape?
- Felt Hair Ties in color of virtue.
Another favorite site for inspiration – https://modpodgerocksblog.com They have great ideas for paper plates as well!
Finally, in regard to crafts you might consider reaching out to local nursing homes, retirement homes for religious, etc. to see if the members’ lovely creations might be welcomed to add some color and cheer to the home. Perhaps there is a lonely resident with no visitors who might like a new decoration each month.
Our other craft suggestions:
https://catalog.beholdpublications.com/?s=craft&post_type=product&v=2320522a6676
God Bless and know you are in our prayers!
Image: Unsplash.com/ dragos-gontariu
