Here are the files:
Cake Banner & Cupcake Toppers PDF
Instructions:
Download file.
Print on 8.5x11 white cardstock.
Cut out illustrations.
For Cake Banner:
Punch a small hole at the corner of each pennant (so 2 holes on each).
Punch one single small hole at the top of Mary.
Cut two 12 inch pieces of string and thread is through the punched holes.
Attach the ends of the strings to long skewers or chopsticks.
Place into your delicious cake!
For Cupcake Toppers:
Using clear tape, tape the cutouts of Our Lady of Fatima onto toothpicks.
I’d love to see your photos! Be sure to tag @gratiadesignco!
_________________________
Also, I’ve kind of been on a bundt cake kick lately! Anyone else 😂??? I don’t know why, but I just love the simplicity of them and the rustic, old-fashioned look. So for anyone who’d like to try a delicious Almond Bundt Cake recipe (which happens to also be Gluten Free, or you can make it with regular AP flour!) I’ve included it below! It’s almost like a pound cake, but with less butter and a hint of an almond flavor. Using an almond flour blend makes it super moist. Great for breakfast, an afternoon tea-time snack or dessert!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
4 eggs
2/3 cup milk
*If you want to make a cake that’s not Gluten Free, just substitute regular All Purpose flour for the 1-to-1 GF flour
Directions
Preheat oven to 325º F.
In a medium bowl, whisk together 1-to-1 flour and almond flour.
In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, butter, salt, baking powder, and extracts until smooth.
One at a time, beat in the eggs. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl. Mixture should be light and fluffy.
Stir in a third of the flour and then half of the milk to the mixture. Keep alternating and end with the flour mixture.
Thoroughly grease a bundt pan using shortening or butter. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan. Tap the pan on the counter to remove air bubbles.
Bake for 50-55 minutes. Top of the cake should spring back when touched lightly and a toothpick should come out clean when inserted.
Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack for 30 minutes before removing from pan.
After removing from pan, garnish with powdered sugar.
]]>
Woah do I need to be praying these words now more than ever! In a time where everything feels so uncertain, in the world around us and in my own personal life, I am faced with an opportunity to surrender it all to Christ and let HIM take care of it. And let me just say, that does NOT come naturally to me at all. I want to be in control. I want to know the outcome. I want to “do” everything in my power to fix things.
Last week, I learned of a new novena called “The Surrender Novena” on the Apostoli Viae website. Despite my nature to want to hold on and grasp control instead of letting go, praying with this novena has helped me let go little by little. As part of the novena, you meditate on the words “O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!” By repeating these words over and over, I start to feel the calming peace of Christ take over me. The anxieties of the present times begin to fade. I wanted to share this novena with you in the hopes that you too can experience the peace that praying it has brought to me. No matter what situations you face in life, Jesus is inviting you to surrender it all to Him.
To pray the novena, begin with the prayer (written below) for each day and repeat the following phrase ten times: “O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!” The word “novena” is derived from the Latin word “novem” meaning “nine” and it refers to nine days of prayer.
(original source on Apostoli Viae)
Why do you confuse yourselves by worrying? Leave the care of your affairs to me and everything will be peaceful. I say to you in truth that every act of true, blind, complete surrender to me produces the effect that you desire and resolves all difficult situations.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything! (10 times)
Surrender to me does not mean to fret, to be upset, or to lose hope, nor does it mean offering to me a worried prayer asking me to follow you and change your worry into prayer. It is against this surrender, deeply against it, to worry, to be nervous and to desire to think about the consequences of anything. It is like the confusion that children feel when they ask their mother to see to their needs, and then try to take care of those needs for themselves so that their childlike efforts get in their mother’s way.
Surrender means to placidly close the eyes of the soul, to turn away from thoughts of tribulation and to put yourself in my care, so that only I act, saying “You take care of it.”
O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything! (10 times)
How many things I do when the soul, in so much spiritual and material need, turns to me, looks at me and says to me, “You take care of it”, then closes its eyes and rests. In pain you pray for me to act, but that I act in the way you want. You do not turn to me, instead, you want me to adapt your ideas. You are not sick people who ask the doctor to cure you, but rather sick people who tell the doctor how to.
So do not act this way, but pray as I taught you in the our Father: “Hallowed be thy Name”, that is, be glorified in my need. “Thy kingdom come”, that is, let all that is in us and in the world be in accord with your kingdom. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, that is, in our need, decide as you see fit for our temporal and eternal life. If you say to me truly: “Thy will be done”, which is the same as saying: “You take care of it”, I will intervene with all my omnipotence, and I will resolve the most difficult situations.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything! (10 times)
You see evil growing instead of weakening? Do not worry. Close your eyes and say to me with faith: “Thy will be done. You take care of it”. I say to you that I will take care of it, and that I will intervene as does a doctor and I will accomplish miracles when they are needed. Do you see that the sick person is getting worse? Do not be upset, but close your eyes and say, “You take care of it.” I say to you that I will take care of it, and that there is no medicine more powerful than my loving intervention. By my love, I promise this to you.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything! (10 times)
And when I must lead you on a path different from the one you see, I will prepare you; I will carry you in my arms; I will let you find yourself, like children who have fallen asleep in their mother’s arms, on the other bank of the river. What troubles you and hurts you immensely are your reason, your thoughts and worry, and your desire at all costs to deal with what afflicts you.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything! (10 times)
You are sleepless; you want to judge everything, direct everything and see to everything and you surrender to human strength, or worse—to men themselves, trusting in their intervention—this is what hinders my words and my views. Oh how much I wish from you this surrender, to help you; and how I suffer when I see you so agitated! Satan tries to do exactly this: to agitate you and to remove you from my protection and to throw you into the jaws of human initiative. So, trust only in me, rest in me, surrender to me in everything.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything! (10 times)
I perform miracles in proportion to your full surrender to me and to your not thinking of yourselves. I sow treasure troves of graces when you are in the deepest poverty. No person of reason, no thinker, has ever performed miracles, not even among the saints. He does divine works whosoever surrenders to God. So don’t think about it any more, because your mind is acute and for you it is very hard to see evil and to trust in me and to not think of yourself. Do this for all your needs, do this all of you and you will see great continual silent miracles. I will take care of things, I promise this to you.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything! (10 times)
Close your eyes and let yourself be carried away on the flowing current of my grace; close your eyes and do not think of the present, turning your thoughts away from the future just as you would from temptation. Repose in me, believing in my goodness, and I promise you by my love that if you say “You take care of it” I will take care of it all; I will console you, liberate you and guide you.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything! (10 times)
Pray always in readiness to surrender, and you will receive from it great peace and great rewards, even when I confer on you the grace of immolation, of repentance, and of love. Then what does suffering matter? It seems impossible to you? Close your eyes and say with all your soul, “Jesus, you take care of it.” Do not be afraid, I will take care of things and you will bless my name by humbling yourself. A thousand prayers cannot equal one single act of surrender, remember this well. There is no novena more effective than this.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything! (10 times)
Mother, I am yours now and forever.
Through you and with you I always want to belong completely to Jesus.
]]>
As I sit here in the quiet, in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak that seems to be worsening in our world by the moment, I keep debating whether or not this is the right time for me to share what has been on my heart for quite sometime now. There are so many people suffering so greatly with this virus and my heart aches for those that have to be isolated in hospitals and in their homes, many having to die alone, and I cannot even imagine the isolation they must be experiencing.
As I ponder their suffering, I am tempted to feel that my own suffering is nothing in comparison to theirs and I begin to feel guilty over my personal heartbreak at the news of yet another month without getting pregnant. It is tempting to think that my suffering is insignificant and that I should be focusing instead on all I have to be grateful for at a time like this. But that is a lie, and while yes, I should always be focusing on having a heart of gratitude, it is also important to acknowledge my own crosses, no matter how “small” they may seem to me in comparison with other people’s crosses. Infertility isn’t so small of a cross, it’s a huge suffering that many women silently carry, and I have felt God stirring my heart lately to share my journey with it.
Right now, I’m not really sure how to go about sharing my story or exactly what pieces of it God desires for me to share. But, I have felt a strong tug in my heart to become more open about my own journey with infertility in case there is anyone out there with similar struggles who is longing to find community, support, and understanding.
Sister, if you are struggling with infertility, no matter how short or long your struggle has been for, you are not alone. If you ever want to talk, I am here. I am looking forward to where God is leading me in this and to sharing more with you soon. Peace and God’s blessings to you!
]]>Let us cling to faith over fear in these times especially. God is in control and His goodness will always triumph.
]]>