Monthly Archives: August 2014

Prayer Bead Workshops

Chaplet of St. Francis of Assisi Workshop

For adults

The cost is $14 per kit.

“Prepare your heart to suffer all that this world throws at you—humbly and patiently.” St. Francis

Francis came to us during a time when the clergy was corrupt and the church was no longer respected. The church had become like society—rich, self-serving and stuffy. Public worship was reduced to ceremony with not much depth. It was Francis who brought ideas of reform.

He followed the Gospels after giving up all his worldly riches and finding love in poverty. Francis saw the Gospels as a ‘guidebook’ for living, as they are the way to God and serve as an example of how to live life in spirit and deed. Francis wants us to become the ‘living gospel’ – living, sharing, and offering the Good News to those around us. Give to the poor and you’ll have treasure in heaven.

Francis began a movement, “Band of Little Brothers”, living by the Gospels. Here began the Franciscan spirituality—simple, peace-filled, joyful living in harmony with God and nature with great concern and care for the poor. Always give thanks and praise to God, for His blessings, grace filled moments, His mercy and His love. Also, having trust in knowing that God’s unconditional love for us runs deep and is constant in our pain and suffering.

After receiving the Stigmata, Francis went from town to town preaching, evangelizing and performing miracles. Unfortunately, he found himself tormented in darkness and took to living in a cave, where he composed the Canticle of the Sun. Joy returned to him and in his last year, Francis wrote letters as his way of evangelizing because he could no longer travel.

I have prepared and posted a synopsis of “The Life of St. Francis of Assisi” by Paul Sabatier that provides some additional details of the life of St. Francis of Assisi.

I have also prepared and posted a synopsis of “Praying with Francis of Assisi by Joseph M. Stoutzenberger and John D. Bohrer that provides additional details on the spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi.

Get closer to St. Francis of Assisi by praying this chaplet and asking for his intercession.

In this workshop, following my instructions, each participant will make their own Chaplet of St. Francis of Assis, which consists of 5 sets of 3 beads (Hail Mary, Our Father, and Glory Be), a centre bead and a tail with 2 beads, ending with either a felted woolen cross or a woolen beaded tassel. You can choose your own beads and felted woolen end, or choose a kit that I have put together if you’re not too sure about your colour choices. Each chaplet kit comes with a prayer page and plastic storage bag. After the chaplet is strung together, we pray the chaplet as a group.

For more information or if you would like to host a Wool of the Lamb Prayer Bead workshop, visit my Kristin’s Workshops page or contact me.

Wool of the Lamb Prayer Beads

Find Peace With Wool Of The Lamb Prayer Beads

Wool of the Lamb Prayer Beads Offer Peace

When we think of a Rosary we are most familiar with a metal crucifix or a medal of a saint. Wool of the Lamb Prayer Beads use soft, colourful wool instead. I felt my knitted and crocheted designs, all by hand, and then add them to a Rosary or one of my many Chaplets. I make many ‘ends’, such as sheep, a cross, a stemmed rose, a shamrock, a heart, a little pouch, and a Holy Water vial. I also make beaded tassels with either a glass bead or a hand made woolen bead. I enjoy coming up with new designs as my list continues to grow (and my collection of wool seems to be growing too).

I use colourful glass beads—different shapes and sizes. All of my bead strands are hand strung on heavy, braided line that is long lasting and does not stretch easily. Each strand comes with its own prayer page, instructing how to pray the chaplet (or rosary), including a photo and step by step directions all in a storage bag.

Holding Wool of the Lamb Prayer Beads in your hands while praying or meditating offers you comfort. The softness of the wool feels good to the touch. The ritual of repeating a prayer on each bead helps you to relax, breathe deeply and calm yourself, especially when the day has too many demands.

The practice of being prayerful has many advantages. First and foremost, you will gain a better relationship with God. Speaking to Him and inviting Him into your life is what God wants most from us. As you do this more often, you will begin to see blessings in your life that you hadn’t noticed before. If you let Him, God will bless you with His love and His mercy will take flight in your heart. You will begin to see changes in yourself—patience, kindness and care to those around you. You may even feel more peaceful, more tolerant and a whole lot calmer. Any problems you face during your day or in your life will be easier to tackle. Being prayerful will change your life, one bead at a time.

For more information, visit my Wool of the Lamb Prayer Beads page or contact me.

Felted Wool

Felted Sculpture That You Wear

Wool is a wonderful thing. Sculpting my hand-knit and crotched designs by felting, unleashes my creative side. The more I work with wool, the more ideas I have. There are so many beautiful colours and textures—the possibilities are endless. My woolen pieces go through a multistep process, whereby I either knit or crochet a design, subject it to a technique of wet and/or needle felting and then lastly, adding beads. I often pair unexpected colours together that make a truly unique piece.

I began making necklaces as a way to learn about wool; its behaviour and its abilities, as a way to make my prayer bead designs. What emerged were unique and pretty pieces of wearable fibre artwork. By adding beads or broken jewellery pieces, my necklaces began to take on a life of their own. I have a series of necklace themes that I create in many colour combinations. They are Basket of Flowers, Round Medallion, Rectangle, Rectangle Fringe, Trinity, Links, and Divine Mercy. I can customize any design to suit you. They are hand-made, one-of-a-kind pieces that you wear around your neck.

I also make Reclaimed Jewellery necklaces that use old or broken jewellery pieces to my felted designs. If you have a special piece of jewellery that is perhaps broken or parts missing, I may be able to give it new life.

Using both my prayer bead woolen ends and my necklace pieces, I create charming little woolen key chains as well, such as shamrock, sheep, rose, and flower medallion. (My list continues to grow)

I also make custom orders.

For more information, visit my Felted Wool page or contact me.

Pastel Paintings

Pastel Paintings Bring Joy

Living in Rockwood, Ontario (near Guelph) allows me to stay in touch with nature on a daily basis. Surrounding myself among trees, fields, rocks, natural waterways, horses, cattle and sheep are calming forces in my life. Seeing sheep grazing in their field, the wind in the trees, winter shadows on a snowy landscape and pathways that lead to light. These are the things that inspire me to paint.

When I open up my box of pastels, the colours just sing- waiting to become one of these images. Each group of colours reminds me of the four seasons: whites, blues and greys for winter; bright greens for spring; deep greens, pinks and yellow for summer and ochres, purples, deep reds and oranges for autumn. As I begin a new painting, it takes on a life of its own—a little snapshot of a particular time, during a particular season at a certain place. What wasn’t there before, now exists as a reminder of where I have been and what I have seen. And that allows me to share it with the world around me.

For more information, visit my Pastel Paintings page or contact me.

Kristin's Cards

Handmade Cards For All Occasions

Each card is an original piece of artwork. Using beautiful Japanese papers and a pair of scissors, I cut out shapes and designs that are floating around in my imagination. Using colourful threads, I hand stitch the papers together—adding beads and sequence as I go. The only glue I use is to adhere the little art piece to the cardstock.

Charming and whimsical are words that come to mind when you see these hand-created cards. They are blank inside for you to add your own sentiment—or you can keep the card for yourself and frame it. Each card is approximately 11cm X 14cm with matching envelope. Each card is cream coloured textured linen.

I make all sorts of themes such as birthday, Christmas, Mother’s Day, 1st Communion and other religious themes, wedding and everyday.

For more information, visit my Hand Made Cards page or contact me.

Kristin's Shows

Visit Kristin At A Show

I welcome you to come and see me at the shows that I am participating in. I often have my latest designs– both necklaces and chaplets available that may not be on my website just yet.

I display all my products for you to see and purchase—Wool of the Lamb Prayer Beads, felted wool necklaces, key chains and other woolen items, my beaded and hand-stitched paper cards, plus my bead bags showcasing my pastel paintings. Depending on the show, my paintings may be on display for purchase as well.

I look forward to meeting you.

For more information, visit my Shows page or contact me.

Prayer Bead Workshops

Host A Prayer Bead Workshop

Are you a creative type? Are you interested in beading? Are you interested in praying in a new way?

Well, perhaps Wool of the Lamb Prayer Bead Workshop is for you!

Using my designs and unique felted wool pieces, you can create your own bead strand. We begin by discussing the theme of the bead strand. With my instruction, you string your own chaplet with the beads of your choice, or kits that I have put together. I supply all the necessary tools for the workshop, such as string, beads, felted piece, prayer page and storage bag. Then as a group, we pray the chaplet together to complete the workshop.

It is a great way to

  • Deepen your prayer life
  • Gain a better understanding of God through prayer
  • Learn about Saints and the history of our Catholic Faith
  • Offer our Catholic Faithful a continuous personal faith development
  • Share our faith and pray as a community

Workshop For Children – Grades 4—6

Chaplet of the Eight Evangelical Virtues of Mary Workshop

A great way to teach children about Mary and how we can become more like her.

Workshops for Adults

Chaplet of St. Francis Workshop

Get to know St. Francis and begin to understand why our Pope Francis has chosen to be his follower.

I have several other chaplets ready to be a workshop.

For more information or if you would like to host a Wool of the Lamb Prayer Bead workshop, visit my Kristin’s Workshops page or contact me.