Sweetness and Light

Feast of St. Agnes, Little Flowers Girls Club

I've been organizing and leading monthly Little Flowers Girls Club meetings for Violet and eleven other little darlings aged 4 to 10 since this past November - and, yes, I'm very much a rookie, but have so enjoyed our little group and we have been having such great fun!

I wanted to share what we did for our first meeting related to St. Catherine of Siena, as well as our meeting this past Saturday, appropriately based on St. Agnes! Her feast is coming up this Sunday, January 21st!  St. Agnes is such a wonderful saint for girls to learn about and emulate.  She is meek and mild and gentle, just like the lamb her name represents!  (Our December meeting was based on St. Monica and was shared here!)

Of course our crafts were mostly inspired by my favorite Alice at Cottage Blessings with a little tweaking of mine!  We chose to make these beautiful St. Agnes Hearts and also some Bridal Favor Hearts filled with symbols of her very short life.  Here is how Violet's beautiful creations turned out, and all the girls were so creative and truly enjoyed making these especially!

Here are the two crafts, Violet has them displayed on her Marian Shelf in her bedroom!

This shows the St. Agnes Hearts, and each of the girls are going to add either a St. Agnes narration, prayer, or special devotion and place it between the two foam hearts, then secure it with a ribbon through punched holes.

These beautiful clear Bridal Favor Hearts worked so well for this simple but meaningful craft! They each filled the hearts with some cotton wool for Agnes namesake and gentleness, then placed a heart charm with the word "LOVE" stamped onto it and tied with red yarn (as I failed to purchase red ribbon) and then on the reverse side they inserted a beautiful white satin and beaded faux flower for Agnes's purity. Many of the girls tied their charm on the outside of their favor, but Violet like hers inside. The red ribbon signifies her martyrdom, and the charm her Love of God! After craft and discussion time the girls were so excited to decorate these yummy cupcake treats!! (The Lambs, of course)!

I hope this gives you some ideas for your Feast of St. Agnes in addition to the other Saints mentioned above. And remember, you can do any of these crafts for the Feasts, not just for a Little Flowers Group. Thanks for visiting and May God Bless you in your day!

Our Little Flowers Day!

'It's verdure trails the Ivy shoot
Along the ground from root to root!
Or climbing high with random maze
O'er elm and ash and alder strays,
And round each trunk a network weaves,
Fantastic, and each bough with leaves
Of countless shapes, entwines and studs
With pale green blooms and half formed buds.
The Ivy, of our native flowers
That now among the latest pours
It's pale green bloom, and ripes it's seed
Of black and shining balls to feed,
Impervious to the winter's frost
The little bird's afflicted host;
The Ivy, fairest plant to seize
And promptest on the neighboring trees.
O'er bale and branch with leaves that shine
All glossy bright, tenacious twine
And the else naked woodland scene
Clothe with a raiment Fresh and Green. ~ Bishop Mant~

We had our 2nd Little Flowers Girls Club today and it was very special!  Our theme was Hope, Saint Monica and the Ivy and I thought this poem very appropriate.  The girls had a splendid time painting and decorating some "Hope Chests" and learning about this very important Saint of Mothers and Married Women.  I was excited that Ivy was the "flower" for this month as it tied in nicely with the beginning of Advent.

We took some very simple $1.00 wood boxes from Michael's Craft Store and the painted and decorated with little wooden pre-painted Ivy leaves.  Here is Violet's beautiful Hope Chest that she plans to keep some special keepsakes in that remind her to Hope in the Lord!!