Fakin' It

First Communion Etsy Finds

It's Etsy Saturday.

My middle child is going to have his First Holy Communion this year and I am so excited! I think it is extra special for me because it has been only 4 years since I joined the Catholic Church and took part in these Blessed Sacraments. And I so want my excitement to spill over onto my children.

I have already started scouting out some unique gifts on Etsy.

I have reviewed this Etsy seller before.  Saintly Silver has the most wonderful little felt softie dolls and what makes these extra special is that you can personalize the hair color and cut, and the skin and eye color.

 
 Two years ago for my oldest son's First Reconciliation I bought him this cool stamped copper necklace from Bracelets By Linda. He still loves to wear it and it has held up excellently.

 

On the day of First Communion we gave our son a nice rosary in this beautiful Walnut box from Forever Etchings. You can also have it personalized with the date. It's such a special keepsake.

 

Not having been raised as a Catholic, I had no idea what a big to-do  First Communion was. You need to have a party and a cake and invite anyone with the word "parent" in their names, grandparent, great grandparent, God parent... I really like the look of these invites from Delightfully Noted. They can be used for Baptism or First Communion. I am not a fan of flowery frilly stuff, so these are perfect.

 

While it would be simpler, I really don't want to get my second son the exact same things we bought for our first son. I think this hand stamped necklace from K Cannucciari has some similarities to the first but still unique and masculine.

My husband and I had a heck of a time picking out a rosary. I thought most of them looked really girly. Both of my boys really enjoy going to rosary club so I want them to have a rosary to take with them each week that they really like and feel a connection to. I recently came across these two which I think most boys would appreciate. (Apparently, I really like the word "really")

The first is from Personalized Rosary and done in a baseball theme which can also include the child's name.

 
This second rosary is one I know my J would go crazy for. It's made by Memento Moose and has my son's favorite colors and made with one of his favorite toys, LEGOS!

 

Thanks for visiting Fakin It. May God Bless you always.

Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas 2

At my daughter's school, the PTO plans a week of appreciation for the teachers and staff. L doesn't have school Mondays so we gave out the decorative notepads  on Tuesday. $5 for 8 gifts is not bad but I had to come up with two more days of gifts without spending any additional money.

 
How stinkin cute are these?! Seriously, I literally patted myself on the shoulder for a job well done. Yeah Me! I wish I could take credit for the concept, but I am not a complete genius. Just genius enough to know a good idea when I see it, and then to steal it. Mwahaha! (I'm fine with you calling me evil genius, as long as the word genius is associated with me) Hmm, how many times have I typed the word "genius" so far? Genius! Genius! Genius! So if you want to see what true genius looks like, please check out Sunghee's blog Creativity in Progress. AMAZING! Did I mention she's a creative GENIUS?

 
 
These are most of the supplies, tea bags which I had left over in the cupboard. (I have switched to loose leaf). Plastic Easter eggs, from Easter. Lollipop treat bags left over from last time I made cake pops. Paper, buttons , fiber and Stickles from my scrapbook stash. What you don't see is a loaded weapon. You got it, my handy dandy 9 gauge glue gun. Watch out bloggers, cuz I'm armed and dangerous.

 
This is the teapot tag, I attached. It was made with my Cricut, using the A Child's Year cartridge. I used the teaparty tag setting at 2". This tag says "for a TEA-rific Speech Tx". Another one said "for a wonderful TEAcher." Get it? Tea bags in tea cups for the TEAcher? I know, I'm a genius! (hee hee)

 
I decorated the tags with Stickles and put the first letter of the last name on the outside. All wrapped up and ready for giving. You could also fill these with candy for a cute tea party favor.

Thanks for stopping by Fakin It. Come back tomorrow for one last teacher appreciation gift!

This post is linked with:

Someday Crafts (button in sidebar)

Todays Creative Blog

May Day Magic Surprise

I found a new blog that I love!! It's called Nothing But Country and I found this cool idea and pdf there.

 
The kids received flower pots and veggie seeds for Easter and these magic jelly beans were included. My husband printed these out for me at work b/c the color part of my printer doesn't work. The kids were guessing that the "seeds" would grow more jelly beans or jelly bean trees.

 
When we finally had a day without rain we went outside to start planting. WARNING: gardening can be dangerous and protective head gear should be worn at all times.

 
At this point the kids used gardening shovels and topped off their seeds with more dirt. Then.....we waited...and waited...and waited...

 
TaaDaa! These were supposed to bloom on May first for May Day but we were camping. The kids were excited to find this surprise on the kitchen table this morning when they came downstairs before school. However, they did not believe the flower suckers grew from the jelly bean seeds, not even my four-yr-old. Apparently, using kid logic, if I had removed the plastic wrapping from the suckers, it would have been totally believable. I tried to tell them it was a protective casing like when the green bean plant grows it sheds its seed casing. They didn't buy it. It was still fun and definitely worth the effort!

I found the flower bundles at CVS in the Easter section.

Happy May Day everyone. I hope the flowers are blooming at your house too!

Resurrection Muffin Tin Lunch

Welcome to Muffin Tin Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I know for some of you Easter is over, but we are still celebrating His Resurrection.

This is the lunch we had on Good Friday.

 

1. Resurrection Roll (dessert)
2. Oil used to treat Jesus' body for burial (syrup)
3. Leather straps used to whip Jesus 39 times (turkey bacon)
4. Crown of thorns (Mandarin oranges and pretzels)
5. Blood Money given to Judas (red pancakes)
6. Nails for the cross (blue pancake)

We made the Resurrection rolls together which was a great way to introduce the lunch and discuss the Easter story. You can find out how to make them here at Catholic Icing's blog. They were super yummy. My middle child was literally freaking out when the marshmallow inside (Jesus' body) disappeared, just as Jesus was missing from the tomb on the 3rd day.

 
Rather than read a book, I took the boys to the Living Stations of the Cross at our Church. It was actually the first time for all 3 of us and very moving.

Have a wonderful week ! To see more wonderful Muffin Tin lunch ideas please click on the Muffin Tin Mom button in the sidebar.

Giving Jar

 
 

Over Christmas break I read the novels The Christmas Jars and The Christmas Jars Reunion by Jason F. Wright. They are truly inspiring books about the power of giving and selflessness. The premise is to start a jar every Christmas and add spare change to it throughout the year. At the next Christmas, pass the filled jar along anonymously to someone in need.

I didn't get my jar started this past Christmas, but figured it's never too late to start. During lent our  church and school hand out "rice bowls" which was the second inspiration for this project.

 
I started with a pasta sauce jar. I made the rice bowl, chopsticks, bamboo, and Kanji words God and love with the Pagoda Cricut cartridge. I had the panda material left over from my daughter's Hundred Wishes Quilt and the ribbon came from my scrapbooking supplies.

 

Glossy Modge Podge was used to adhere and coat the paper cuttings and the glue gun was used to keep the fabric in the lid.

Encourage the kids to add their spare change to jar along with yours. Also let them help make the decision as to where the money is most needed. They are never too young to learn the joy of giving.

 

 "It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving."

 -Mother Teresa   

This post is linked with:

Someday Crafts (button in sidebar)   

Fireflies and Jelly Beans     

Catholic Icing