Mini Prayer Shrines

I would love to say that I came up with this idea, but it really was inspired by Pinterest which led me to this blog post.  My shrines are not nearly as pretty as hers, I don't have original icon art, and I don't know how she wrapped the whole tin so neatly in paper, but here is my version of mini prayer shrines:

First collect yourself some empty Altoid tines (or something similar).

Next grab some scrap paper, holy cards, prayers, stickers, etc.
Then cover the outside and inside of the tins with pretty-prayer-inspiring words and pictures.  You can store a candle or rosary or prayer intentions inside, open it up, and set up to create a holy atmosphere for a time of prayer.

Here are a few examples:

This one is in honor of Mary.  It has an antique prayer card reflecting on how Mary's joy was found in Jesus. The other side has some "found" 3-D items- a metal tag, chunky letters, ribbon, an image of Madonna of the Streets under a glass bead, etc.  It would be fun to let kids collage 3-D and 2-D items inside the tin.  I used Alene's Tacky Glue for everything and it held, but I am sure that hot glue would be great too if you were able to use it safely with kids.

This one doubled as a Rosary case.

Here's one with a favorite Scripture verse and picture of Christ.  I also glued in a little metal cross charm.

This is the outside- Christ knocking on our hearts, a gentle reminder to pray.

Here is one dedicated to praying for our priests.  It has a quote about the holiness of a priest and the people that he leads and also some quotes from St. John Vianney, the patron Saint of priests.

And here's the outside:

I think that kids would really like these because you could be so creative and individual with them.  They also are super small and portable, so they could easily be set up on a desk or dresser or bedside table.  There are an infinite number of possibilities!