YW in Excellence

Tonight was our Young Women in Excellence program. It's where the Young Women present the programs they've been working on for personal progress. Personal Progress is a program the girls have the choice to do. The purpose is to bring them closer to Heavenly Father. I am actually doing it too. When I was in YW the program was a little different. It used to take all 6 years and have one big project. Now, you can do it in as little as a year, but each of the goals are more personal. For example, the one I'm working on right now is praying morning and evening for 3 weeks, it has a few scriptures to read, and you're supposed to record in your journal about your experience. I've always said my prayers at night, and a lot during the day, but making an extra effort in the morning has made so much difference in my life. I feel like I've been a better mother and a better wife. Receiving answers to my prayers has been a lot easier than it used to be. Just doing this ONE goal has helped me realize my Heavenly Father's love for me. I didn't always feel that way. I remember when Xander would wake up a lot in the middle of the night and just cry and fuss and I would pray so hard to let him sleep, then think that Heavenly Father didn't care about my sleep. Then I would remember how blessed I am. I mean, some of the pioneers  had it SO hard. They would have 12 children, but only have 4 or 5 live past the age of 2. ANd here I was complaining about a lously nights sleep.
I've since learned how deeply He loves me. Do you realize that if I were the only person on the face of the planet, He still would have sent Christ to earth. And Christ loves me so much, that even if they didn't think I'd ever repent, He still would have suffered and died for me. That is pretty powerful. I know that life isn't easy and that we go through a ton of pain, some more than others, but I know that we don't always understand the reasons. "There must needs be oposition in all things." We can't know joy if we've never experienced pain. We can't be happy if we've never felt sad. We can't appreciate health if we haven't been sick. I'm not saying that every sickness is going to be healed in this life. But I believe that  He wants us to return to him. I know that I can be with my family for eternity if we live the way we should. That brings me so much comfort. It helps me through my hardest times.
I didn't mean to go off on a tangent, I just have been thinking about this a lot lately.
Oh, I almost forgot, our theme tonight was COLOR ME BEAUTIFUL, so I made the girls a coloring book and we covered little boxes of crayons for them. Here is a sampling of the color pages.

You can find the images HERE on Bebo

 (though you do have to go look through the images for them).

OR, Green Jello and Carrots 

 

 

has a WAY cute set of clipart that you might be able to use for sale.

Have fun!!

It's true

BYU lost the game tonight. It makes me sad because of the way it was played. It wasn't even fun to watch.

Adventures in Advents

So, after seeing My Little Mochi's pocket Advent calendar on one pretty thing, I've been entranced by the idea of getting my kids to stop asking "Is Christmas today?" like my kids do. So I decided to make one of the gum ones for Xander, though mine didn't turn out as cute. (post pic later). For Jules, I found a decorative Christmas tree that I'm sticking 24 dum-dums in. Then last night, while falling asleep, I thought of a genius idea for myself.... An ornament advent! I will make one ornament each day from Dec1-Christmas Eve. No 2 the same. You can bet  I'll be getting most of the ideas from O.P.T. Anyone caring to join me, I'd LOOOOOVE to have you post your pics on my Flickr group! Ones that catch my eye or inspire me will be showcased here on my blog!

Oh, Roger had another cool advent calendar idea- use egg cartons, put a little toy in each spot (you need two), cover with thin tissue paper, write numbers on, tada- something to punch through.

Go BYU!

I have been creating!

First and Foremost, because of the BIG GAME on Saturday, I made a BYU Paisley Coloring Page for everyone!!!

Next, here is a hat/purse set I made for my niece

And a few days ago, I posted a link to THIS notebook tutorial. WELL...... I made one!!

Also from Design Sponge, I am thinking about making THIS for a funky gift!

Oh no!

I knew this day would come. I've been expecting it, dreading it, but doing nothing about it. And now it's here. I have very bad eating habits. VERY bad. I could have dessert for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dessert and not complain. The only time I have any real desire to eat real food is dinner. I knew it would cause me to gain weight, it's inevitable. I'm not exercising right now (I was told it would decrease milk production). I do try to do little things- like park at the far end of the parking lot so I have extra to walk, and stuff like that, but it's obviously not enough. When I woke up this morning and went into the bathroom, I looked in the mirror...... my face! I have gained weight in my face. FREAKED me out. Now I'm serious about doing better, but I don't know what all I CAN do. I know what NEEDS to be done, don't get me wrong. I know that I need to eat a good breakfast, decent lunch, fruits and veggies for snacks, no food after 8PM and exercise. I KNOW all that. But it's so much easier said than done. I don't have a whole lot of will-power and pretty much no extra money, so it's not like I can just go stock my fridge w/ fruits & veggies....

Please help! I mean, I know not very many people read this, but if any of you have the slightest suggestion, I'm asking you to PLEASE help me out....

Here or there?

I need opinions! I am starting a series of 7 Digi-scrap kits (One for each of the YW values). I have the first one done and want to post it for free. Should I do it here at this blog or at my old blog? The reason I ask about the old blog is because that is where I used to have almost daily new digi-scrap kits. I haven't done that for like a year, though, so I don't know if anybody actually checks it.....

Coloring Page 1

Ok, so I love to color! But I'm a little old for my kids' coloring books, plus they get boring with such huge areas to color. So I decided to make some using digital scrapbook stuff, brushes, and free clipart. If you would like details or would like to see proper credit on any of these specific pages, let me know, I'm happy to share. Thanks to all those w/ much better sketching talent than I have that have been willing to share their art!

Just click on it and it will open a page w/ the full size image on it. Expect a big hunkin majority of the pages to include paisley. :D
It's only 9 PM and my hubby is asleep on the couch, so I think we're going to retire upstairs. I have some crocheting to do. I'll post pics soon!

Another Christmas idea for hubby

So, I was just looking up date ideas because we might go out tonight and a couple of them will take some preparation, but be SO fun! So maybe I'll make him a date box. One of the dates, I'd like to go around town and take pics, kinda like a scavenger hunt. Then when we GO on the date, I can take pics of him in front of the places. If he doesn't get them all at once, it doesn't really matter much, does it?!

What's this? Me being domestic? *shock*

I made another, YES ANOTHER, yummy recipe tonight.

I call it Breakfast Lasagna
Ingredients:
 sausage
 salsa
 tortillas
 eggs
 milk
 cheese
 sour cream
Preheat oven to 350*
Cook sausage. Drain grease. Add salsa (to taste). Spread 1/3 of it in the bottom of a pan. Empty the rest into a big bowl. Put a layer of tortillas on top of that. Scramble some eggs (I made 2 8x8 pans, so I used an entire dozen eggs). Add milk as you scramble to make it stretch a little further. Spread half of the eggs on top of the tortilla. Add another 1/3 of the meat mixture, then another layer of tortillas. Mix remaining meat sauce and remaining eggs together. Put on top of tortilla layer. Add a layer of cheese. Put in oven 5-10 min, till cheese is melted. When serving, serve w/ sour cream. Green peppers would be yummy in the meat mixture too, but that all depends on how spicy your sausage is.

Enjoy!

Genius Cards

Ok, so here is my super genius idea that I'm so cranking out for my kids' friends Christmas gifts.

Memory games using the Cricut machine. No, I don't have one, and no, it's not 100% necessary, but that's a lot of cutting w/ out. Or you could use the big punches. Or die cut machines. Just to show you what i'm thinking, I'm making a non-cricut tut.

You'll need:

Punch of your choice

Various patterned paper

Solid Cardstock

Glue

Step 1:

Decide how many matches you want. This will depend on the age of the reciever. Let's, for sake of tutorial, say you want 3 matches. Punch out 6 pieces from the cardstock.

 

Step 2: Pick out three different patterned paper. Punch two shapes from each of the patterned papers. Note: if the punch, die cut, or whatever shape you're using isn't symmetrical, you need to make sure the cardstock is the same color on both sides or punch the patterned paper upside down.

 

Step 3: Glue the patterned paper to the cardstock

 

Now you have a set of memory cards! Cute, eh?!

Variations:

Use stickers instead of patterned paper (you can get a book of stickers that repeat themselves from the $ store)

Make marble magnets, but on the bottom of the magnets, place matching stickers. Now it's a memory game to go. Or to play on the fridge.

One done!

I made this toy for my nephew for Christmas

I used this pattern HERE

K, so my kids favorite magazine is Oriental Trading
catalogs. I happened to snag a couple before my kids got to them and
got some really cute ideas for this Christmas. I'm too cheap to buy
anything, esp of the cheap nature of much of their stuff, so I marked
things I'd like to make!!

So, if you'll open a new tab and browse with me, you'll see my current favorites

1)- Marshmallow Snowman Sticks

 The scarves are kinda ugly, but here is my thought. I love the square look of them, so I'm thinking homemade Marshmallows (recipe by Alton Brown here).
When you cut them, cut the 3 different sizes, after cooled, stick em on
a kabob skewer, then decorate. How cute would fruit roll-up or Fruit-by
the foot scarves be? Just cut 'em down to size. Then use mini chocolate
chips or frosting for the dots. TA DA. You could even do the
crystallized thing by sprinkling sugar on them!

2) Jelly Kabobs-

Same kind of idea, except instead of marshmallow, use fruit snacks. Handmade (Kristin has a recipe on Reclaiming the Home)
in simple shapes but w/ Christmas colors or just plain store bought. If
you were REALLY craft you could decorate them w/ frosting, but I'm SO
not even going there.

3)Christmas Sheet Cookie Ornaments-

Still not sure where you'd find tiny cookie sheets, I suppose you could
get a thin sheet of metal that I've heard are great for use in magnet
boards. Cut them into small pieces, the handles would probably have to
go. You might even be able to mold the edges, but I don't know since
I've never used the metal.Get teh roll of magnets, cut into teeny tiny
shapes and paint 'em.....

4) Christmas Stocking Ornaments-

HOW cute are those?  Did someone say scrap fabric?

5)Nativity Ornament

Now, if you buy it from OT, it's automatically in a craft kit, but
you're buying 12 of them. So, you know.... Now I don't know where to
get those little wooden people, but one time I made little baby Jesus's
out of scrap cloth and a hot glue'd wooden bed, you could probably do
the same thing for Mary and Joseph & add pipe cleaner hands or felt
hands (mitten hands, perhaps)

6) Gingerbread Houses-

Still undecided about these. I'm thinking my kids really might like this. Me? I'd rather go THIS direction, using instructions I actually found for a Halloween House on O.P.T.  My fav G house, though, is THIS one, but  I've never seen foam that thick

7) Igloo Play set-

Still don't know how I'd work the dolls, but penguins can be amigurumi, as can the igloo itself. Along the same idea, this one might be fun, too, but sewn, not crocheted b/c that would be complicated.

8) Peppermint Pillows-

Again, not much thought put into this yet, but it could be easy and crocheted OR sewn

9) Flowerpot Candles-

Are you in love yet? Hamd Paint, fill w/ wax OR visit the dollar store for votives

I hope you like these ideas!!