Blessing Dresses

With my last two daughters, I made blessing dresses for them.  I really enjoyed making them, especially since I had five boys first!  It is so much fun to sew for girls and I liked coming up with different designs. 

For my first daughter, I made a simple, yet dainty dress.  I added a layer of lace over the bodice to add texture.   I also added little flowers to the front and the sleeves.  When I tried the dress on her, the sleeves seemed way too big for her little arms, so I gathered them by hand.  I love the way the dress flowed at the bottom!

For my second daughter,  I wanted to try a different look.  I changed the sleeves altogether and they fit so much better.  I keep the bodice plain, but added a layer of lace at the bottom of it.  The skirt part is what sets this dress apart from the other.  I made roses out of the fabric and gathered the bottom of the skirt in various places and then attached the roses.  I think that it gave it a princess feel to the dress.

Now, since we are going to bless my third daughter sometime next month, I am dreaming and designing another dress.  I'm thinking of going for more of a vintage look.  I will definitely post pictures.  I am really excited to see the finished product...but I have to get started on it first.  :)

Last Minute General Conference Ideas

As many of you know, we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and this is one of my favorite weekends of the year!  We will have the privilege of listening to General Conference and hear talks given by our Prophet and Apostles.  But, it is not the easiest thing to listen when you have little children running around!  So we decided to put together some last minute General Conference Ideas! My favorite idea is General Conference Activity Bags posted by Craft Critters.

She made these felt bags and put pictures of the Apostles on them.  When that particular Apostle speaks you get the goodie in the bag.  This is such a great way to keep your children paying attention on who is speaking and also gets them to know who each Apostle is.  You can always use paper bags instead of making these nice felt bags.

The Latter-Day Memory Game is another great idea on keeping your children entertained.

Cookie Nut Creations has some great printables for The Candy Jar.  This is a game where you have labels on different candy jars.  When your child hears the word on the jar they get to have a candy from it.  The thing I like about Cookie Nut Creation's labels is that they have pictures on them so your toddlers can play!

There are also General Conference Packets for your children to color.  Oopsey Daisy has a really cute one.

A Mama B's has a adorable idea called Conference Pennies.  She puts a jar of pennies out and everytime her child hears a particular word like prayer, scriptures, Jesus Christ, etc.  She gets to pick out one penny.  At the end of each session her child gets to buy something special from the "Conference Store". 

I hope that everyone enjoys General Conference!  What are some things you do to entertain your children?

"Name That Temple" Challenge

Here is a great Family Home Evening idea that I saw today on the LDS.org website.  It is an activity where you name the temples.  I thought I would do pretty well on it because I recently did an Enrichment Activity on temples.  I definitely did not do as well as I though I would!

Go HERE to start your "Name That Temple" Challenge!

Real Life - Scriptures

Every day I try my best to read my Scriptures, I'm not perfect by any means, but I try my best.  A few months ago, I accepted a challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 40 days.  This meant that I had to read about 30 minutes everyday.  I did this challenge while my boys were in school.  So I decided that I would read after they left for the day (when it was quiet) which means that I have my two little girls with me that are ages 1 and 3.  If my one year old was awake, I would give her a bottle and hold her while I read.  

I started noticing that my 3 year old would sit on the other couch quietly and pick up the smallest Book of Mormon that she could find and start to "read".  She always would make sure that she had a baby on her lap as well.  

I started thinking about this and just had to smile because that is probably exactly what I look like to her: a quiet baby in my lap while I read from my scriptures.  

Isn't the influence of a Mother so important to children?  Our children are watching us every minute of everyday and they take what they see and it becomes a part of who they are.  What a tremendous responsibility!  It is a bit over whelming, scary, exciting and such an honor!  Wow!  Words can't even describe the role of a Mother!

I am inspired by so many wonderful women.  Whether I see you on the street, at school, shopping, in church, family, friends and even through blogging.  Whether you have little children, teenaged children, grown children, or no children at all.  You all have so many wonderful qualities and are truly examples to those you meet.  I wanted to thank you all for the examples that you have set.  You are truly inspiring!

Happy Easter

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Easter! 

This coming weekend, let us not forget the true meaning of Easter.  Here is a video that is worth watching and then you can ponder what the Savior means to you personally.  This video is done beautifully and I know you will enjoy it.

Happy Easter!

General Conference- VT Ideas

General Conference in next weekend- here are some gift ideas for your Visiting Teaching in case you have not done it yet.  

Here is a General Conference Packet that I did for my sisters last conference.You can find the entire post HERE!

Here is another General Conference Goodie Bag done by Everyday Food Storage.

Blue Skies Ahead also had a really cute idea for a General Conference Gift.  You can find it HERE.

All of these ideas are SUPER cute and cheap to do.  Giving little things like this to your sisters really goes along way.  Good luck with your Visiting Teaching!

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Visiting Teaching- December 2011

This month for my visiting teaching I found this site with a really cute idea.  I always like to give my sisters a little something- especially the ones that I cannot get a hold of and won't answer the door.  It is nice to leave something at their door.   

HERE is the site.  

I just changed it up a little so I didn't have to buy a whole bunch of stuff. 

You can find the Visiting Teaching Message HERE.

The finished Project- called Surprise Snowball

Here are the things I included in the Snowball...

Andies Mints

Pretzels

Kit-Kat Candy Bar

Crayons

Sunflower Seeds

Yeast

My favorite- A Glass Ornament with a Atlas cut up in it.

Here is all of my Surprise Snowballs

All of my sisters LOVED them and it was nice that every gift had something to do with the lesson.

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Nativity Block

A couple years ago, our Relief Society made these Nativity Blocks.  Since then, it has been one of my favorite Christmas decorations and they were super easy to make. 

You can get the glass blocks at Hobby Lobby and one of my friends cut out the vinyl of the Nativity Scene.  The glass block has a hole at the bottom of it where I put the Christmas Lights and some ribbon inside.  Then I just tied a bow around the block and was done!  

Super easy and cute!!

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CTR Blocks

I made these CTR Blocks a couple weeks ago and they were SUPER easy.  My children love to play with them and they stand for Choose The Right!  A win/win if you ask me. Here they are...

What you need:

4in x 4in blocks

Scrap Book Paper (cut 3in x 3 in)

Vinyl Letters 

Mod Podge 

Spray Paint

Sand Paper

Directions:

1. Spray Paint the blocks- (it does not need to be very thick because you are going to sand it down.)

2. Sand down the edges of the blocks.

3. Mod Podge the Scrap Book Paper onto the blocks.  A tutorial on how to Mod Podge can be found HERE.

4. Put the Vinyl Letter on the Paper.

You are DONE! 

Mesa Arizona Temple Picture on Canvas

I just had to jump on the band wagon and show you all the picture that I mod podged of the Mesa Arizona Temple.  

I got my picture from Mindy Evans Photography.  She has pictures of various temples in various sizes that you can download for free!  They are all so beautiful!

I put my picture on a canvas that I had laying around.  Before I attached the picture, I painted the sides of the canvas black.  Then I mod podged the picture.  I deliberately left brush strokes on the picture because I liked the texture.

For more detailed instructions, see Bridget's and Brooke's post.

Click here to see the picture Bridget did of the Snowflake Arizona Temple.

And click here for the temple Brooke did of the Salt Lake Temple and Lubbock Texas Temple.

Temple Picture with Homemade Mod Podge

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Here is my Temple Picture of the Snowflake, AZ Temple. I used my Homemade Mod Podge recipe on this project and wanted everyone see how easy and well it turned out.

Hopefully my instructions make sense to everyone.

Before you start you need a few things:

10 x 12 board that is sanded and painted black

Homemade Mod Podge (click for the recipe)

8x10 Picture (Temple pictures found here)

(I printed it out on regular printer paper with my inkjet printer)

Hanging Hook (a pop top lid works great also)

Spatula or Credit Card (with a smooth, flat edge for smoothing out picture)

Paper Towels

Opt. Flowers:

Old Hymn Book or Old Sheet Music

Scissors

Clear Tape

Thumb Tacks

I started out ripping the white edge of the paper around all 4 edges.

Then I added a large drop of Mod Podge on the middle of the black board and evenly smeared it around the whole board.

I carefully centered the picture on to the board and started rubbing the Mod Podge into the picture. You may have to add more on top of the picture.

Then you get your spatula and smooth out the picture. We DO NOT want any bubbles under the picture.

Then I got a paper towel and cleaned up any excess Mod Podge that was on the top and sides.

Dab gently...

There you have it. Now let it dry...

Off to making the hymn book flowers...

I had an old hymn book that our church handed out, they were being replaced with new ones. So I picked out a song that I didn't know and gently ripped out the page.

(Make sure you don't know the song on both pages. I found a song that I didn't know and ripped it out, but the song on the back was "Do What Is Right"! Really? Is that a sign?... :oP...)

Now cut 3 different sizes of circles out. I used 2 pages.

Now you are going to cut a swirly cut round and around, like a snail shell...

I did a straight cut on 2 and a wavy cut on one.

Then, from the center, start gathering up the flower to make a tight circle.

There it is. Now let it go...

It pops open.

Here on the bottom, you need to add a clear piece of tape to the pointed end. You really can't see it in the picture, there is some there...

Heres the flower...

Now squish it down and ...

...Fluff up the edges to your satisfaction.

Here are the flowers.

Now you take the thumb tacks and push them in the center of the flowers.

Just like that...

Place them on your board where you would like them. Push them on tight and adjust the flowers how you would like them. (Some more fluffing may be needed)

Now add your hanging hook or a centered hot glued pop top lid. (Make sure it is Centered)

Sorry I don't have a picture of that.

Then you have a beautiful Picture to Grace your home.

Check out Brooke's Version HERE!