"Forget Not"

Here is something I whipped up after listening to Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf at Women's Conference. I loved his talk. It was perfect! All the info I cut and pasted from lds.com. I wanted to make sure I was correct.

Chore Chart

This is the chore chart I came up with. I used my Cricut to cut out the words with contact paper and stuck them on top and then chose some scrapbook paper for underneath. I used a decorative scissor to do the wavy pattern and then a small hole punch to make the holes.

I think it turned out really cute. My daughter wanted to help write her chores.

I Heart Faces Challenge - Beautiful Eyes

 Here is my entry in this weeks I Heart Faces photo challenge.  (Click on the picture to see it much clearer.)  I got this picture of my son after church one day.  He is wearing a teal shirt and it brought the blue in his eyes out so well.  I had so many compliments about his suit all day so I had to capture it.  Isn't he so handsome?

Check out the other entries over at I Heart Faces.  Click on the picture below!

My FIL's Artwork

My Father-in-law is amazing with wood and this is what he made for his office. It is huge. It's probably a couple of feet wide.
Do you see all the grooves and paint that he used?

Chore Chart

I decided I needed a chore chart for my kids to help them remember what they need to do. Here is what I came up with.
I took a frame and used scrapbook paper underneath. Then I used my SCAL program to design the names and then cut them out on my Cricut.
I think it turned out so cute!

A bowl full of lemons.: May Silhouette Giveaway!!

A bowl full of lemons.: May Silhouette Giveaway!!: "Im so grateful to be able to give away Silhouette SD machines on my blog. This week, I am offering another chance at a giveaway! This set ..."

Menu Board

 

So, I have a really hard time figuring out what to make for dinner.  My husband has been the cook for over 8 years and now is wanting me to start making dinners.  It's kind of hard and I didn't think it would be.  Well, I have been trying to figure out what would help me make it easier and I think I have found it. 

At first I thought I would just make a framed week menu but I would've had to write in the recipes and I think I would forget to use it.  

This is the best idea.  I found some really good tutorials.

A Girl And A Glue Gun has a great tutorial.  She also has another post with pictures of finished ones.  Really cute!

Ucreate has a good tutorial too.  Based off of AGAAGG's tutorial with some helpful hints and some do's and dont's!

If you are looking for the clear calendar sheets they have a pack of 16 for $5 over at Oriental Trading Co.

Get some gals together and make your own. 

I Heart Faces Challenge - May Flowers

 

This week is a little different on I Heart Faces.  This week we didn't need a face in the picture and it's not being judged.  Just for fun.  I had actually taken this picture not too long ago and with some slight processing it turned out really pretty.  I didn't have to do much because SOOC it was almost perfect.  

Check out other entries at:

Lanyards

I thought it would be great for those of you who live near me (or anyone else who would like one) to have a lanyard to hold your cards to the pool.  It costs $5 if you would like me to make you one.  Let me know which fabric you would like.

In the second picture I only have three of the bottom left flowery pattern and one of the brown damask in the bottom right.  Let me know what you want.

I Heart Faces - Soft and Sweet

Here is my entry for this weeks challenge at I Heart Faces.  The theme was Soft and Sweet.  What is more soft (and squishy) and sweet than a baby.  This baby was so cute.  I love his little cheeks.

Click the camera to see more entries!

Paper Punched Eggs

I just found this on Nikki In Stitches.  So cute!  Find the tutorial here.

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Wind

Here is my contribution to this week's challenge at I Heart Faces.  The wind kept on getting her hair all over her face and this one survived the struggle.  Just enough wind.  Check out the other submissions at:

Clothing Swap

Today was the day!  I hosted the first clothing swap and it was spectacular.  I feel bad that a lot of people decided not to participate.  There was a TON of clothes there.  You will see from the pictures how grand it was.  I was going through every room in my house (including the garage) and getting rid of.  I have two kids ages 6 and almost 3.  Who knows when/if we will have another kid and by the time we did the clothes that my kids wore would be out of style or I just wouldn't want to use them anymore.  So, out with the old and in with.....well.....empty plastic boxes.  Woo hoo!  I sent out an invitation to all the ladies that lived near me to my clothing swap.  Here are the rules so you know what I did.

1. To participate you must give. Meaning, if you want to come and get things then please bring stuff to share. This is all free. Also, make sure what you are donating are things that you for sure want to get rid of.

2. You must bring items that are in clean and working order. No one wants broken, ripped, damaged, stained or worn-to-threads items. Plus, I don't want to be left with it all at the end.

3. You must bring items that can be donated to Deseret Industries or Goodwill when this is all over.

4. When you bring things over to my house please have them already in their sections. Meaning clothes (preferably by section: baby, toddler, girl, boy, woman, maternity), jewelry, books and toys. I don't want to spend time separating.

5. For toys - If you have small toys like Barbie items please put them all together in a Ziploc bag. Also make sure there are matches to it all. I don't want one shoe without the other;-) If you have anything that needs a battery please make sure it is working when you bring it so that people can see that and test it out.
Here is a list of things that you can bring. Make sure everything works.

It was fun going through all the clothes and I ended up keeping about 15ish outfits between the two kids for their hope chest.  It's always fun to see what you wore when you were little.  Plus I couldn't get rid of my favorites.  Just so you know:  Pretty much all you see in this room is what came from me.  A few things here and there came from the other people.  I can't believe how many shoes my kids have.  Well, the clothes too.  


I had about half of the room in infant-24 month girl clothes and shoes.  The clothes on the right of this first picture was 2T-5T girls clothes.  In the two tables in the middle were infant-2T boy clothes. 

I ended up putting signs on the walls or windows that said the sizes.  That helped a lot. 

This whole section was 12-24 month clothes.

This room was for the adults.  You can see the purses in the bottom left hand corner. 

I had a lot I got rid of in this room as well.  I piled up maternity clothes and others that I just wasn't wearing.  I also had about 10 pairs of shoes I cleaned out.  On the couches were women's shirts, skirts, and dresses.

Obviously this is where the pants ended up. 

OK, so I went through my kids rooms and found tons that I wanted to see gone.  My daughter was so willing to part with her toys I could have cleaned out more but she plays with everything else so I stopped.  At least we could organize her room.  That was nice.

I had a ton of infant toys that were just sitting around so I added them to the bunch.
All in all it was a great day.  Crazy.  I wish more people would have participated because we took loads to DI (like Goodwill).  It's funny.  Most of the infant-24 month clothes didn't get touched.  Most of the people that participated had older kids.  Oh well.  Their loss.  It feels so good to have a more organized, less cluttered home.  I still have to go through my craft room but that will be a different night and I will be selling instead of giving away.  Although it may feel like I'm giving them away since they will be marked way down.  I just want to get rid of more stuff.  Organize even more. 
This will be happening again but not to this scale (since I don't have that much stuff anymore) and it will just be one thing.  Like jewelry, or books, or men's clothes, or home decorations, etc.....  I think more and more people will start to do this.  It's fun and you get new stuff (to you.)  Plus you get to have a girl's night. 

Clothing Swap

I have been inspired, after talking to a friend, to do a clothing swap.  She was telling me that there is a huge one that she goes to every year and comes back with bags and bags of stuff.  Well, that sounded awesome.  It was all free and she got to get rid of stuff too.
I decided that I wanted to do it.  Well I went a little crazy in my house.  I went through every room in my house and pulled out everything I wanted to get rid of.  Let's just say that I am major spring cleaning and it feels SO good to do it.
I have been holding on to clothes that my kids grew out of since my 6 year old was a baby.  I only have the two kids and who knows if/when we will have another one.  By the time I were to have another child (if I got pregnant now) my oldest would be 7 and then all the clothes I loved then would not be what I will love now.  So, I cleaned out EVERYTHING that didn't fit my kids now.  That is a lot of clothes.  So, I have infant-5T clothes from my daughter and infant-24 month from my son. I also have toys that they don't play with anymore that I am getting rid of.  On top of those, I have my clothes, shoes, purses, books, and homeware I'm giving away. 

This is about half of what I am getting rid of.  Awesome right?  I am not going to know what to do with all the space.  Be organized maybe?  I will have about 15 bins that will have nothing in them after this.  Hmmmm.  What to put in them. 

So, get inspired.  Do some cleaning.  Do a swap. 
I will post about the swap.  It will be happening in two days. 
Just for your information.  This is a swap that has only items that can be donated after it's done.  Meaning that all items donated needs to be in clean and in working order.  No rips, stains, broken, etc...
Bring items to share, take things home.  For free.  Everything else will be donated to Deseret Industries/Goodwill.  A good cause all around.
This is one of those swaps that's going to be crazy but I plan on having more after this.  Only more specific.  This time it is all clothing, toys, books, and jewelry.  The next one would maybe just be home decor.  Or maybe men's clothes, or shoes, or whatever everyone is interested in swapping. 

Magnetic Board

I was blog hopping this morning when I came across this.  It is a cookie sheet that she painted.  It is a magnetic board for all her daughter's princess magnets.  So cute.  I love it!  She also has other ideas to paint on it and a ton of magnet ideas too!
Go to A Girl and a Glue Gun to see the tutorial she did.

 

Church Book from Magazines

I have been trying to figure out what to take to church for my kids so that they have something to look at and will be quiet so that we can hear the speakers.  If you are LDS then you will recognize the magazines I will be talking about.  If not, sorry.  I'm sure you could do this with other magazines that have children's activities and stories.

Before I talk about the Friend I am going to do a blip on the Ensign.  You know how there is a Gospel Art Kit that you can buy?  Well, It was too much for me (until they put it all in a book) so I started to rip out all the pictures and putting them in a binder.  I would put them in sections.  Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon,  Doctrine and Covenants and extras.  The extras included pictures of the Temples, churches, or other beautiful art.

Here are some of the pictures I put in the binder.  The binder has gotten so big that I will need to start a new one.  It has been very helpful especially when I was the Primary Chorister.  I also teach the stories of the scriptures with these pictures. 

Ok, here is what I did with the Friend.  I have a huge book now (2 years worth) so I will be starting another of this as well.  So, I took the Friend and went through it and found stories, coloring pages, pictures, songs, etc... and took them out.  Then I put them by section.

On the front of the binder I put all the coloring pages together.  Easy enough to pull out and color.

Then there was the Matt and Mandy stories all together.

Little stories that teach the children values.

Stories of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Pictures with a scripture.  One section that had art with a scripture and another section for pictures that show the kids how to implement the scripture in every day life.

Then there is the music.

On the back cover I put all the Hidden Picture pages together.  So if my kids wanted to do those instead of color, they were easy to get to.

My kids love to read so it wasn't a surprise to see my cute daughter sitting there for an hour looking at the book. 

I just disliked the idea of throwing the magazines away and not using them again so I found a way.  Now I have one place for all these things and not a bunch of magazines all over the place.  Try it!  Also, if you want to see past months then check out the church website where you can download any of these things and print them off. 

Easy Sewing (and Cheap!)

I saw this post by Filth Wizardry about teaching her daughter how to sew by using shelf liner, needles, and yarn. I thought that was a great way to do it. She drew on the shelf liner where her daughter would sew and let her do it.
This is a close-up of what her daughter finished. Pretty good job!
If you would like to know how she did it and her explanation go here: Sewing and Embroidery for Kids.