Craft Plans and Ideas for Wreath IV

I am getting ready to host our first meeting for the year and have been busy creating our plans for the year.   Here are the links to all the crafts that I have either found or created for my Little Flowers Girls' Club to make as we work our way through Wreath IV: 

"Wisdom of the Saints" Journal

St. Catherine of Alexandria Holy Water Fonts

IHS Candle Craft

Starlight Cookies
*We will adapt this idea from over at Catholic Cuisine for our 4th meeting, for the gift of "Counsel" (following recipes!).  I purchased a light blue cloud fabric for the jars, tying in the color/jewel of "aquamarine" and the symbol of "clouds."

Woven Crosses and/or Marian Banner - Fluer de Lys
*These craft kits will be ordered from Illuminated Ink!  Either one of these would work perfectly for St. Joan of Arc and the Gift of Fortitude.

St. Therese Sacrifice Beads

Spiritual Bouquets and/or Marian May Baskets
*I love these little printable cards for Spiritual Bouquets and these Marian May Baskets! The girls will make the Spiritual Bouquets to give to their own Fathers and our local priests, as suggested in one of the Member's Guide assignments for this last meeting.

St. Therese, the Little Flower, Pray for us!

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Little-Flowers-Blue-Knights-News-Sept---Discounts.html?soid=1102382270107&aid=BKd8Sirw9TM

Click here for the September Newsletter and discounts from Behold Publications, LLC:

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Little-Flowers-Blue-Knights-News-Sept---Discounts.html?soid=1102382270107&aid=BKd8Sirw9TM

The Flowers of Wreath III Cupcakes

First of all, I would like to thank Joan and Rachel for inviting me to be a contributor here at the Little Flowers Girls' Club blog!   For the past three years I have been leading a Little Flowers Girls' Club for my girls and some of their friends.  It has been such a rewarding experience and my girls have absolutley loved being Little Flowers.

In addition to the suggestions in the Leader's Manuals, I started creating a series of Notebook Pages to go along with each virtue/saint, and also have really enjoyed coming up with snacks (or "Catholic Cuisine!") that  tied in the Saint and/or Flower for each meeting.

This past year, for Wreath III, I ended up sticking with a flower theme, and was able to come up with a cupcake for each of the 9 meetings.   Sometimes I would have all the supplies ready for the girls to decorate their own cupcakes (which the girls loved) and other times I had the cupcakes pre-decorated.  I've posted about them in my individual posts about each meeting, but I thought I would consolidate them all into one post as well, to share with you all here.  Now to finish up my plans for Wreath IV before our first meeting later this month!

Meeting One :: Mary & Martha,  Eutrapelia, Dandelion

Dandelion Cupcakes
Our Complete Meeting for Eutrapelia

Pumpkin Cupcakes topped with Cream Cheese Frosting

 and decorated as Common Dandelions

Served with "Dandelion Yellow" Punch

Meeting Two :: Ruth & Naomi, Friendliness, Morning Glory

Morning Glory Cupcakes

Our Complete Meeting for Friendliness

Cupcakes decorated with white icing, Blue and Yellow Sparkle Decorating Gel, and yellow Skittles

Meeting Three :: St. Margaret of Scotland, Initiative, Black Eyed Susan

Black Eyed Susan Cupcakes

Our Complete Meeting for Initiative

Orange Muffins topped with Cream Cheese Frosting, to be decorated by the Little Flowers with homemade Black Eyed Susan Chocolates (using this candy mold and candy melts) and the options of green mint meltaways, green color mist and/or green glitter gel.

Meeting Four :: St. Zita or Proverbs 31 Woman, Orderliness, Cranberry

Cranberry Cupcakes
Our Complete Meeting for Orderliness

To make these delicious cupcakes, I used a package of Yellow Cake Mix, replacing the water with Orange Juice and added 1 cup of frozen cranberries and 1 cup of white chocolate chips.  We topped them with some Cream Cheese Frosting, homemade Sugared Cranberries (Craisins would be a simple alternative), and served them with Sparkling Cranberry Juice.  

Meeting Five :: St. Felicity and Her Seven Sons, Self-Control, Amaryllis

Pink Amaryllis Cupcakes
Our Complete Meeting for Self-Control

I started with Pink Cupcakes, with the help of a Strawberry Cake Mix, topped with Frosting.  Using this Lily Mold I then topped the cupcakes with Pink (the color for this virtue) Amaryllis Flowers (the flower for this virtue) homemade with Pink and Yellow Candy Melts.  

Meeting Six :: St. Anne, Mother of the Blessed Mother, Responsibility, Mum

Mum Cupcakes
Our Complete Meeting for Responsibility

These cupcakes were inspired by a recipe in What's New, Cupcake?: Ingeniously Simple Designs for Every Occasion.   They would be great to make this coming weekend for Mother's Day, anytime this month for our Blessed Mother during her month of May, or in July for the feast of St. Anne.  I posted the directions over at Catholic Cuisine!

Meeting Seven :: St. Bathildis, Patience, Lily of the Valley

Lily of the Valley Cupcakes

Our Complete Meeting for Patience

Chocolate Frosted Cupcakes, decorated with White Chocolate Chips and green frosting or Sparkle Gel.  

Meeting Eight :: Mary Mother of God, Cheerfulness, Blue Phlox

Blue Phlox Cupcakes

Our Complete Meeting for Cheerfulness

I wasn't sure how I was going to decorate the cupcakes this month. . . After looking at various images online of Blue Phlox Flowers I ended up making a little bit of blue frosting.  Using a round frosting tip, I put five drops (my kids said they looked like hershey kisses) on each cupcake, then, using the tip of a knife, I pulled the frosting drops towards the center, creating the flowers.   I am a total amateur at this sort of thing, but I thought they turned out nicely!

The Blue is for Our Blessed Mother and the Five Petals represent the five dimensions of Cheerfulness:  Marian, Courageous, Heroic, Consistent, and Contagious.

Meeting Nine :: St. Julie Billiart, Fortitude, Hyacinth

Pink Hyacinth Cupcakes

Our Complete Meeting for Fortitude

When I was looking for ideas, Charlotte mentioned that Pink Popcorn came to mind.  I thought that was a perfect idea, but since I didn't have all the ingredients I opted to make the pink hyacinths using some pink Smooth & Melty Petite Mints (I had purchased a few bags at 75% off in January from Hickory Farms and had one left) along with a little green frosting for the leaves.  I also sprayed the white base frosting with a little green, before adding the candies.  I thought they turned out cute, and they were very yummy despite the fact that my six year old pointed out that "the chocolate cake even looks like dirt!"

You can view all of my posts for Wreath III here. 

St. Therese, the Little Flower of Jesus, 

Pray for Us!