May Altar for Mary

I wanted to share some ideas for making a May altar for your home. May is the month of Mary, so that's why May altars revolve around her :-)

  

I started by laying down some blue fabric I had because blue is Mary's color. Then I added a floral wreath leftover from our wedding, and a Mary statue. I just got this beautiful statue discounted at Ross for $3 because she's missing a hand. I'm going to make her a new hand from sculptey when I have the time, but I think she's fine for now.

Then I added a candelabra with blue candles, a blue rosary,

and my blue cross from the Dollar Tree. Again, blue for Mary.

We also added a rose and a pot of flowers we planted.

Flowers for our lady!

If you think you don't have a Mary statue, go raid your nativity set.

So in conclusion, here are some ideas for May altars:

• Mary Statue
• Lots of blue
• Lots of flowers
• Mary holy cards
• Mary books
• Rosaries
• Candles
• Crosses

Now here are some other great May altars I found!

By Sun and Candlelight took this pile of craft materials
and turned it into a beautiful May Altar! You have to see it!

Cottage Blessings has great directions for 

crafting Miniature May Altars! So cute for kids!

Sweetness and Light decorated their mantel May Mantel for 

the Mary. They even crafted this flower garland!

Any more May altar ideas? Feel free to leave links to your May altar in the comments so we can see those, too! :-)

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Mary Kids Activities

I bumped my own post for today to run some things that readers submitted. You guys are too great with the stuff that you do and send me! Thanks for sharing with all of us! :-)

St. Brigid's Academy shares an entire
May Crowning Lesson with us!

{{squeel in delight!}} This includes opening songs, how to make Mary crowns for little girls (with free printables), instructions for making may baskets with doilies with a special Marian activity, Mary and rosary coloring sheets, this amazing printable Mary statue and more. Click over to see it all!

Family at the Foot of the Cross submitted these beautiful Mary prayer cards that are free to print from Catholic Modesty. I also love this May Magnificat Poem that Tiffany shares.  

And finally, Highland Dove has the most incredible list of Mary links that I have ever seen in one place, along with a bunch of pictures of Mary May baskets. Click over to see tons of fabulous stuff! 

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May Day Basket Ideas

May Day is the first day of May. It's a celebration of May flowers and springtime. It's not a Catholic thing or even a Christian thing. Totally secular. But I did find a lot of people who put a Catholic twist on it :-)

Traditions for May Day include dancing around the May pole, and making May baskets for neighbors! You can read more about May Baskets here. I have seen a lot of good ideas out there- too many to post them all! Here are some of my favorite Catholic May Day Ideas :-)

Jeanne from Inspiring Ideas never disappoints. I love the little

tag on this one- "Blessings to you this May Day" :-)

Cottage Blessings made some georgeous Marian May baskets!

St. Joseph the Worker also has his feast on May 1, so they
made some baskets for him as well :-)

Here are some more May Day Posts from Cottage Blessings.

Her ideas are amazing. Don't miss this post either! It gives
tips on making the cones with kids.

Fantastic Toys has these printable cones. They're meant for Easter

but I think they'd make great cones for May Day Baskets!

I love the idea at Lord Make Me a Saint to include flower seeds.

Go East, They Said has the cutest idea for May baskets

that includes plantable flowers! Cute and easy- I love it!

I love the inclusion of these religious home made bookmarks 

from Pondered in My Heart.

Skip to my Lou used brown drink holders from McDonald's 

for their My Baskets and shows how they decorated them.

(found via Crafty Crow)

Also at Skip to my Lou, this template for the cone and 

tag for the basket are free to print! :-)

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May Crowning Ideas for the Home

May is the month of Mary. It is a tradition in the Catholic church to crown Mary with flowers during the month of May. It can be done at any time during the month, but May 1 (also known as "May Day") is a very popular day for it ;-) You can use real flowers, or make a crown from fake flowers. Here are some ideas if you're looking to have a May crowning at home!

Here's a tutorial on making a crown from fake flowers

on One Hour Craft. Blue roses would be a great choice of flower!

 Find a great tutorial on making a crown from real flowers

on Project Wedding.

I love this idea for a May Crowning Snack! I found this 

over on Praying for Grace.

Collect what you need to make your own crown for Mary at 

The Dollar Tree with Family at the Foot of the Cross.

Under Her Starry Mantel shares how to make this May Crown.

Find a lot of beautiful May Crowning Ideas at

Under Her Starry Mantel.

Find a beautiful Home May Crowning on Wildflowers and Marbles.

Don't miss all these amazing May Crowing Resources

from The Catholic Toolbox! :-)

Lots of May Crowning Ideas over on Waltzing Matilda 

including this Mary punch :-)

Find a May Day Craft over on Cottage Blessings.

Find an interactive rosary activity to include in your May Crowning

over on Hang on Baby Jesus This is Gonna Get Bumpy.

And last but not least, check out these amazing cupcakes!
There are no directions about making them, but I thought they'd
be magnificent at a May Crowning! If any of you make them or
figure it out, let us know how to do it ourselves :-)
*Updated to say- Kate left us some directions in the comments!*

Another option is to bring flowers to a Mary statue at your church. This can be a really fun thing to do with the kids, especially if you pick the flowers yourselves first! :-)

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St. Mark Feast Day Ideas for Kids

St. Mark's feast day is coming up on April 25. His symbol is the lion. It's usually a winged lion, but I didn't find any of those on the internet- lol! So here are some lion ideas to celebrate his feast day with your kids. Be creative and add wings to what you can. Then send me the pictures ;-)

I love this lion sandwich from Little Nummies!

If I made this, I would add white cheese for wings.

Find St. Mark's Lion Coloring page on Cathedral Coloring

along with a lot of other cool coloring pages.

Check out this lion craft made from soda bottles on 

Family Fun! Don't forget to give him some wings ;-)

Head over to Bless Us O Lord to make these lion cupcakes.

I love this hand print lion craft from Just for Fun.

So in love this this paper cup lion craft! :-)

Again, don't forget to add wings for St. Mark.

Check out this cute guy from Busy Bee Kids Crafts

with a noodle main.

And if you're feeling like attempting something awesome,

try baking this lion cake from Parenting Magazine.

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St. George and the Dragon Crafts

Here are some fun ideas for celebrating St. George's feast day (April 23) with kids! Most of them are not actually "St. George Crafts", but are knights and dragons, so use your imaginations ;-)

I love this knight from That Artist Woman. She gives step by

step instructions on how to make him, and a printable template! 

This free St. George Coloring Page (along with all the others from 

Catholic Heritage) is absolutely beautiful! Love the details.

Make this paper plate dragon craft with

Cool Kid Craft Ideas.

Find this dragon art lesson over on

Teach Kids Art.

Decrease to Increase celebrated St. George's day

by making this hand print art along with a cute cake!

This dragon craft from Arts & Crafts Ideas

looks like a lot of fun!

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Dragon Cakes for St. George

It seems to be quite a popular idea to make a dragon cake to celebrate St. George's feast day with kids! What a fun idea :-) In the Catholic church, St. George's feast day is April 23, so you have 1 week to make your plans and pick up supplies for your fire breathing cake!

I'm going to start with Family Fun. Here are some great

directions on how to make a dragon cake.

Now lets check out some St. George Dragon Cakes ;-)

Go East They Said has a great post on making their dragon cake.
I love these "swords" for slaying!!! :-)

I love how God's Canvas used up some leftover Easter candy

to make theirs and made the dragon from red velvet cake

for "added effect" ;-)

Here's a Dragon Cake from Bless Us O Lord.

Love this cupcake variation with a dragon toy 

from Bountiful Blessings.

This blue dragon from Waltzing Matilda is just way too cute!

6 Hands 2 Hold has a different variation on a dragon cake 

using some toys.

Find these dragon cupcakes made in honor of  St. George's Day

on By Sun and Candlelight.

Here's another dragon cake from Bountiful Blessings.

Found this guy over on Lord, Make Me a Saint.

Courtney made this dragon cake for St. George's Day
with a bubble tape tongue :-P

I love this cake from Celebrating the Liturgical Year

because it includes St. George! Click over to see the

cute dragon cake he's getting ready to slay ;-)

Homestead & Bread made these adorable
St. George's Day brownies! Love the variety!

If you make a dragon cake for St. George's day (or already have a post about one I missed) leave the link in the comments! I will keep adding pictures :-) How much fun to see everyone's cakes!

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