Catholic Crafts

My grandmother was in the Workers of Mary when I was a girl.  One of the things they would do is get together and make rosaries and scapulars to sell.  Those ladies were all so crafty, they made everything, it was a virtue.  So when they got together to do their Mary work, it's not surprising that they decided to make Catholic crafts. 

I have a big box of vintage French prayer cards that I won on Ebay years ago, literally hundreds of them.  They are amazing, the illustrations and printing are exquisite.  Some of them are even hand painted, presumably by French nuns.  Those French nuns could have taught the Workers of Mary a thing or two about Catholic crafts.

So when I got a notion to make Communion rosettes, I hunted through the box and picked out some of the Communion souvenir ones to use.  Also in the box was a scapular, still in the packaging, that I must have bought at some point.  It just appealed to me, a little felty thing on a string.  I adore felty things and holy pictures and string, and soon I was making scapulars.  I thought for a minute that it might be a completely mental thing to make, but then I remembered the Workers of Mary, my Grandma and her old lady buddies all sitting around nattering while making rosaries and scapulars, and then it seemed kind of nice.

My fascination with Catholic accoutrements has little or nothing to do with the Church, it's just about my Grandma and making pretty things.  Everything is about making pretty things.

Learn more about my Communion rosettes and scapulars in my Etsy shop.