All Families Need a Stable Foundation

A while ago I promised a "Stable Foundation" picture that my daughter was creating. It was delivered today, Christmas Eve. 

I am grateful for the stable foundation of the teachings of the Savior in my life. I feel honored and blessed as I get to know Him and His purposes more clearly. He inspires me to live a quality life and He desires me to reach out and love others. When I truly embrace His teachings, that is when I have joy, as His teachings are always about caring for others, seeking peace, and bringing about goodness. What a wonderful gift to all. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Quick Neighbor Gift Idea

Hello! Welcome to my blog!

I don't know if you are like me this year - but a lot of things I like to do for Christmas kind of fell by the way side. Did Christmas sneak up fast this year or what?  Every year it seems like I need some quick gift ideas. Here is an idea that I saw on another blog - but I did not bookmark it so I could give credit where credit is due. I can't even remember if the idea was for a neighbor or not - as this idea can be used for a lot of different recipients. If you need a quick gift - here is a tag for you below to add to a bottle of soda. I did wrap some paper around the pop label to hide the label as it wasn't very festive. I printed the tags on kraft card stock and tied a ribbon to the top of the bottle. 

Right click on the image below, open in new window, copy, paste to desired program, resize as desired, print and cut.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a Merry Christmas!!

Gift Topper Ideas and Wrapping with Kraft Paper

 Gift wrapping is one of my favorite things to do!! I love kraft paper and I LOVE getting creative with gift toppers. Here are some ideas that I have done:

I love black and white ribbon with kraft paper. This ribbon was actually Halloween stock that I got for a good discount at Michael's. I added a kraft paper tag and a rusted out jingle bell to this gift. Check out  the tutorial on how to rust medal HERE!

These gift toppers pictured above and below are clay ornaments (made from baking soda clay - click here for recipe and tutorial). I then Mod podged a piece of book page on the tag that I had stamped and colored. I attached the ornaments with jute.

The next two gifts were fun to decorate!

 I like to buy ribbon from a fabric store and it is amazing the variety that can be found there and sometimes for a great deal. I liked the black and white gingham that I found - and I love to put red with black and white. I purchased a ceramic bird ornament that came complete with a clip so it was easy to attach to a bit of greenery and the ribbon.

I love how this gift turned out for my sister. I used champagne ribbon purchased from a fabric store. I found some odds and ends greenery from a really old candle set that I was going to throw out because it was cheesy looking- however the greenery was worth saving. I printed out a music sheet image onto card stock and cut two skates from my Cricut. I inked the skates edges, put a hole in the top, added a bit of tulling, and added pearl string to attached to the ribbon. I also added iridescent glitter to the skates. I love how this turned out.

I hope these ideas help you with some creative gift wrapping. Remember to have fun!!!

Merry Christmas!

Gift Wrap Survival Kit For Your Man

Last year I made a gift wrap survival kit for a present. One of my followers suggested that this would make a perfect idea for the man in your life or your kid's. I thought that was a wonderful idea and I needed to make one for my husband. I have a confession to make. I LOVE beautifully gift wrapped presents - which I strive to give - and to be honest I feel a little bummed out when my presents are thrown into a dollar store bag. So yes, I will admit this is a bit of a self indulgent gift from me to my husband in the hopes that the gifts under the tree have eye candy appeal.

I bought wrapping paper and ribbon that I liked. I printed out some tags, and used a couple stamped images to make tags that matched the wrapping paper. After I cut out the tags I glittered the edges with Mod Podge and champagne glitter. The really cool tag above in the center is a free digi stamp download that I found via Pinterest. Here is a link to get the free stamp - CLICK HERE. The tags on the bottom are free printable from
  The Winter Wonderland Holiday Tags by Three Little Monkeys Studio.
The other tags are from stamps.

I gathered all the little bits and put it in a clear plastic bag with a zipper (left over from a sheet set). Then I stapled on a print out from the survival kit I made last year (CLICK HERE to go to the link). I gave my hubby the bag, boxes and gift wrap and he was thrilled. When I came home from work that day he had all his gifts wrapped and he said he actually enjoyed wrapping the presents this year. And I must say - they look fabulous!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Christmas 2012 Card - Make Your Own, It's Easy!!

Here is this year's Christmas card that I made. I don't have any fancy program - I use my slideshow program called Keynote. CLICK HERE for the tutorial...

Now, for the particulars. Start with a full page color black. Add desired background, resizing it to show some of the black for a frame. I included the background I used below.

I used the fonts Rage and Circus for "Christmas"making them different sizes. I added a white shadow to each letter (go into "Inspector" click on shapes, click on shadow, change color as desired)

The other font I used is Harrington. The snowflakes are from the font "Flakey" and I used the opaque option in the inspector to fade them a little. I put black boxes around the pictures and the mid section.

Here are cards I made for the last two years...

Thanks for stopping by!!

Advent Calendar Boxes

Can you believe it is December 1st already? Time to get out the advent calendars. I discovered  these awesome advent boxes a few years ago. I thought I would try a little different version of them this year.

The one pictured above I covered in cork. I used thick cork for the top and bottom (I found this at a dollar store) and thin cork to cover the match boxes. I glued some silver decorations that I got from a dollar store on, and used screw brads and black brads for the drawer pulls. I glued wooden beads to the bottom. This is a more masculine box that I am giving to my nephew.

I made this silhouette advent box for my niece. This is my favorite advent box yet. I cut the silhouettes from the "Child's Year" Cricut cartridge. I mod podged champagne glitter on black brads leaving the black to frame the brad. I painted the wood beads that I glued on the bottom - black. Before I glued the top on the box I glued a long piece of ribbon in between the layers, and then tied a bow on the top.

CLICK HERE for the tutorial I made a couple years ago. Some things I did different this time: 1)Instead of hot glue, I used mod podge to glue all the papers on. Next time I will try using mod podge to adhere the match boxes together. 2) I painted the cube with a background color to cover the matchbook colors. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Large Christmas Countdown Blocks

Welcome to my blog! Here is another craft that was done at our Super Saturday. 

What I liked about these Christmas Countdown blocks is that they are large. The blocks are made from 4x4's and the base is made from a 2x6. All papers were cut slightly smaller than the blocks, and the edges were inked. The papers were mod podged on to the blocks, then the numbers, then a top layer of mod podge. It is important to wait twenty minutes between layers to prevent bubbling. The numbers were cut from a Cricut, and I used the cartridge "A Child's Year", size 3. 

Block 1 needs numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  

Block 2 needs numbers 0, 1, 2, 6, 7, 8. 

The six works as a 9 as well. 

The Christmas Countdown label was laser photocopied onto ivory paper and mod podged on to the painted base. I used the font "Impervious".  

Thanks for stopping by!

Stable Foundation Free Download

In my previous blog post, I showed a picture of a Christmas craft I made at a Super Saturday at my church. I had a lot of requests for the file. Unfortunately it is not my file to give. Although this is not as nice as my friend had made, I am posting this image as an option for a free download. I have also asked my daughter to draw one for me (she is an awesome artist) so I can make some more gifts. When she finishes this project, I will post that one. I promise it will be awesome!!

Right click on image, open image in new window. Copy and paste to desired publishing program. Resize as desired, print. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to...

'Lil Luna

All Families Need a Stable Foundation

Hello! With the first week of November slipping away quickly I thought I would do my first Christmas post. I was helping to organize a Christmas craft day for the women's group at my church and this was one of my favorite projects. My friend made this image with her Creative Memories program, printed them off at Staples, and the only thing that needed to be done was paint  pre-cut plywood, and Mod Podge the picture on. The picture is 8x8. I loved this saying and my friend did a wonderful job at putting this project together. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to....

'Lil Luna

What Mormon's Believe - The First and Great Commandment

Hello! Welcome to my blog. My name is Sue. In an effort to shed some light on what the Church I belong to believes, I am doing a post every Sunday with the topic - What do Mormon's believe? 

Here are the Quote art pieces from two previous posts.

 

 Semi-annually my church holds a General Conference. For the next few months, my Sunday blog posts (this one is a day late)will review the teachings of the most recent conference. Today’s quote art is from the talk that I am reviewing today titled “The First and Great Commandment” by Jeffrey R. Holland. You can read and view the whole talk by clicking HERE. 

To me, this talk is about what loving the Lord our God really means. I love how Jeffrey R. Holland related the story of the apostles after the Savior’s death. They went about their lives as they did before, they went fishing. The Savior came to see them again - and while eating a dinner provided by yet another miracle Jesus performed, Peter was asked three times if he loved the Savior more than the fish. Each time Peter answered in the affirmative and each time the Savior responded, “Feed my Sheep.” The reason He asked that is because Peter went about his previous work, not the work the Savior called him to do. Relating this to my own life I need to ask, has my life changed since I have come to know the Savior? Am I working at not only providing for myself but reaching out to others? The things that are important to the Savior should be important to me, if I love Him. I will leave you with the paragraph from this talk that I hope to incorporate into my life more.

"So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back. After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. The Crucifixion, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it. It was this truth, this reality, that allowed a handful of Galilean fishermen-turned-again-Apostles without “a single synagogue or sword” to leave those nets a second time and go on to shape the history of the world in which we now live."

This talk is so impressive when heard so I encourage you to watch it HERE. Jeffrey R. Holland certainly brings the gospel of Jesus Christ to life.

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to...

'Lil Luna

Turn a Plastic Produce Container into a Goodie Basket

Happy Friday! Halloween is coming upon us extremely quickly. I like to recycle lots of items that come  into my work and I loved these produce containers because they had a handle. Instantly I envisioned a goodie basket of some sort and this is what I came up with.

I Mod Podged newspaper all over the lid and base of the container. When it was dry, I  trimmed the excess paper off the lid /base that I over lapped during the gluing process and I cut out the hole for the handle. I cut out some images and words with my Cricut and glued them in various places. The "Boo" was adhered with pop dots. I added some glitter to the Boo!

Now I need to add some goodies and pick a recipient to receive a treat - or should I do a trick?

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to...

Tatertots and Jello

What Do Mormon's Believe? Purposely Live Each Day

Hello! Welcome to my blog. My name is Sue. In an effort to shed some light on what the Church I belong to believes, I am doing a post every Sunday with the topic - What do Mormon's believe? 

To see the previous posts click on the links below:

1)What Do Mormon's Believe?

2) Men and the Mormon Church

3) Women and the Mormon Church.

4) God Speaks to Man Today

 Semi-annually my church holds a General Conference. For the next few months, my Sunday blog posts will review the teachings of the most recent conference. The first talk I am going to review is called “Of Regrets and Resolutions” by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. You can read and view the whole talk by clicking HERE. 

This talk was about regrets individuals may encounter and how to live to not have those regrets. Ultimately we do that by following the Savior's example to purposely live each day. 

Some common regrets people have:

- I WISH I HAD SPENT MORE TIME WITH THE PEOPLE I LOVE

- I WISH I HAD LIVED UP TO MY POTENTIAL

- I WISH I HAD LET MYSELF BE HAPPIER

Here are a few quotes from this talk that stuck out to me:

 “The foundational principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ can affect our life’s direction for good, if only we will apply them.”

 We should devote our time to worthwhile pursuits rather than wasting time on things that are “fleeting, inconsequential or superficial.” 

“Let us resolve to follow the Savior and work with diligence to become the person we were designed to become.” 

“No matter our circumstances, no matter our challenges or trials, there is something in each day to embrace and cherish. There is something in each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see and appreciate it.” 

“Many of the deepest regrets of tomorrow can be prevented by following the Savior today.” 

“...we cannot take for granted one single day. I pray that we will not wait until we are ready to die before we truly learn to live.”

We are in charge of our own happiness. This does not mean that we will never encounter sadness and disappointment, but we do choose how we will react in those circumstances.  If our days are filled with purpose our hearts will swell with content rather than regret. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Linking up to...

Tatertots and Jello

Halloween Peat Pot Kitty

Hello! Welcome to my blog! I bought some peat pots a while back to make some crafts with. This is my first craft - Halloween candy holders. 

Here is what I did:

1. I painted the peat pots black. I cut ears and a little hair and hot glued them to the inside top.

2. I made the eyes out of flat glass marbles. I glued yellow scrapbook paper that I had previously drawn bulging lines on to the back of the marbles. I hot glued the eyes on the pot, and then a mini pom pom for the nose. To offset the weight of the eyes, I glued a flat marble on the inside of the pot - otherwise the candy holders tip.

3. I painted on a mouth and whiskers with a white sharpie fine tipped paint pen.

Now I need to fill them with candy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to...

Tatertots and Jello

Thanksgiving Inspiration Rocks

 Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! I have pinned quite a few rocks with quotes and today I decided to make some myself. 

I painted the smoothest rocks I could find (from my favorite beach) with off-white household acrylic paint. I started hand writing on one of the rocks and discovered that I am terrible at it. Read on to find out how I got nice printing on the rocks.

I made a few quotes with fonts and clip art I liked:

After printing the quotes on scrap paper, this is what I did to transfer the printing on the rocks:

Then I added a little bit of color with Sharpies.

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to...

Tip Junkie

What Do Mormon's Believe? God Speaks to Man Today

Hello! Welcome to my blog. My name is Sue. In an effort to shed some light on what members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe, I am doing a post every week with the topic - What do Mormon's believe? Along with each post I am making quote art from talks given by leaders from my church.
 The quote today is from the talk titled, 
"An High Priest of Good Things to Come"  
by Jeffrey R. Holland.

To see my previous posts click on the links below:

1)What Do Mormon's Believe?Intro

2) Men and the Mormon Church

3) Women in the Mormon Church.

Todays post is an invitation to check out the Church’s teachings. Semi-annually my church holds a General Conference that can be viewed on the internet. Click the video below for a preview and then follow the link to the Conference that will be held live on October 6th and 7th but can also be viewed in the archives afterwards. 

We believe that Jesus Christ is the Head of our Church and that He directs this church through a living prophet. When I was not a member and this idea was told to me, I thought this was a crazy thing. Prophets were guys with long beards and they lived a long time ago, right? What I love about this church is that they teach their beliefs, and then they encourage the individual to seek answers for themselves. In other words - don’t take anyone’s word for it - rather, find out for yourself. I did not believe in the notion of a living prophet overnight. It was a process. Here are some questions/thoughts one might consider when pondering if there should or should not be a living prophet:

- Do you believe that God ever spoke to anyone?

- Do you believe that throughout the Bible history it was standard procedure for God to speak to man?

- Do you believe that standard procedure stopped, and if so, why?

- Has God lost His power? Does He not love us anymore? Has He left us to find our own way in the dark? Has man made such rapid strides and are so well educated that we don't need God to direct us anymore?

- We have all the instruction God has ever needed to give us recorded in the scriptures, and it is okay if all sorts of churches define those words differently for different times and circumstances.

(most of these questions are an excerpt from a talk titled “Profile of a Prophet” from Hugh B Brown.)  

The following quote from John Taylor is one that helped me seriously consider the idea of a living prophet.

We require a living tree—a living fountain—living intelligence, proceeding from the living priesthood in heaven, through the living priesthood on earth. And from the time that Adam first received a communication from God, to the time that John, on the isle of Patmos, received his communication, or Joseph Smith had the heavens opened to him, it always required new revelations, adapted to the peculiar circumstances in which the churches or individuals were placed. Adam's revelation did not instruct Noah to build his ark; nor did Noah's revelation tell Lot to forsake Sodom; nor did either of these speak of the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt. These all had revelations for themselves, and so did Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jesus, Peter, Paul, John, and Joseph. And so must we, or we shall make a shipwreck. 

Another item to consider is that the Bible says there will be many false prophets, so how does one know a true prophet or if there is a prophet at all? One thing all who believe in God can agree on is that truth comes from one source - God, and if we lack wisdom, we can ask of God and
He will guide us. (James 1:5)
I have heard some say that Mormon's are secretive - but I strongly disagree. We have missionaries across the globe that strive to educate people on what we believe. We have websites that have information available for those who desire to look. Mormon.org has all sorts of answers to questions people may have, and one can even chat online with members if one has other questions or concerns. Lds.org has a huge library of teachings, talks, Sunday lessons that people can check out.

I encourage you to check out some of the talks that will be on the World Wide broadcast (available in many languages) October 6th and 7th and later in archives.
General Conference Link

Thanks for stopping by!

Pool Noodle Fall Wreath

Hello! Welcome to my blog! 

I bought a pool noodle over the summer and I finally made a wreath with it. I hot glued a cork into the end holes of the noodle and hot glued the cork and the ends of the noodle to adhere it into a circle (and I had to hold it for a few minutes until the glue cooled). Then I wrapped the noodle with some awesome orange jute that I found at Value Village for a lovely deal.  This craft is so easy and I recommend trying it out. This is a genius idea - thank you to whoever came up with it.

I made a banner for the wreath. The banner is made out of burlap and I printed the lettering off my computer. Check out my printing on burlap post by CLICKING HERE.

Here is a jpeg file if you would like to print out the banner. 

Right click, copy image, paste into your favorite program, resize to desired size, print. 

Why don't you try it yourself?

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to....
Under the Table and Dreaming

What Do Mormon's Believe? Women in the Church

Hi! My name is Sue! Welcome to my blog! I am a woman who belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some may refer to me as a Mormon woman.  It is interesting to hear the “surprise” in some people’s voices when they find out I am Mormon. It makes me wonder if they are surprised because of what society has painted a Mormon woman to be - and who we actually are. 

It is a different story.

My daughter and I - Fall 2011

I joined this Church when I was twenty-eight. I observed this church for seven years before I became one of it’s members. I did not join it on a whim and I strongly disagree with anyone who says that Mormon women do not have a mind or a voice. I would not have become a member of this church if I thought for one moment that the men perceived themselves as better than women and if the women were treated as second class citizens. I have never felt so empowered as a woman. I have been involved in some amazing projects and have carried out incredible responsibilities that I would have thought that I couldn’t do before I was a member of this church. I continue to strive to become the person that we as members of the church are encouraged to be. I love how the women are taught not apologize for being a woman but rather to embrace womanhood.  We should not feel the need to redefine who we are as women - but rejoice in who we are and in our feminine qualities.  We do not need to be more like men to feel like we are accomplishing something in society, we need to enhance the gifts we have been given as women - as we do so - society will be enhanced. 

To continue with my series - What do Mormon’s Believe?  I encourage you to investigate from all kinds of sources of what women in the Mormon church are like. I know that you will find major discrepancies in your findings as I did when I wanted to know more about the Mormon Church. I’m not going to tell you what to think as I know you can make your own decisions. What I will do is tell you what I believe, I will tell you some of my experiences and I will direct you to some facts and teachings about my church. 

Here are some interesting facts you may or may not know:

- Mormon women in Utah enjoyed the right to vote as early as 1870—a time in American history when many women rejected political involvement as the proper domain of men, and fully five decades before the achievement of U.S. women’s suffrage. 
Source Washington Post

-Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon became the first woman ever elected as a state senator in the United States in the State of Utah.

Source - Famous Mormon Women

For a church who some believe hold women down, the history of women in this church says otherwise to me, but I you encourage you to look into it for yourself.  

I suggest you read the history and work of Relief Society (the women’s organization in the church).

CLICK HERE for the free online book.

I have heard it said that the Mormon church is male centered. I beg to differ. In fact, I am going to be so bold as to say the church is more women centered.  The church doctrine we follow is what the Apostle Paul taught that “neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:11). In the sight of God, and in the marriage relationship, men and women are equally important.

Although we love and honor men in our church, there does seem to be more focus on women. In my congregation there are hardly any “activities” put on for men.  There are way more activities for women.  These activities are encouraged to promote teachings and activities that strengthen women. We enjoy annual conferences held for women, 18 and over, and young women 12-18. There is also an annual women’s conference held at BYU - all focused on strengthening women. I encourage you to check out the home page for this conference where you will be able to find archives of what has been presented at these conferences in the past.
CLICK HERE

And last but not least, I would like you to meet some Mormon women. 

CLICK HERE to visit Mormon.org to see what other women in the church say about gender equality.

CLICK HERE to visit my profile on Mormon.org

Below are some videos of a variety of Mormon women. This will give you some perspective of who we are from the mouths of people who go to the Mormon Church. There are more to watch on You Tube as well. Thanks for stopping by!

Pretzel Mummies - And How to Make Your Own Candy Eyes

I saw some adorable pretzel mummies made by Midwestern Girl and I just had to make them myself. Please go to her blog by CLICKING HERE to see her adorable mummies and she gives instructions on how to make them. I could not find the candy eyes. Although this deterred me from making these adorable creatures for a while I decided to try making my own. 

These were surprisingly easy to make. I piped blobs of royal icing on waxed paper. (CLICK HERE for a royal icing recipe.) Then I put a spoonful of icing on a yogurt container lid, added a little bit of water, and colored the icing brown (I would have used black if I had it). While the icing blobs were still soft - I dabbed the end of a toothpick into the brown icing and dabbed it on to the white icing blobs. I let these dry overnight so they were really hard before I starting decorating with them. 

When I placed the eyes on the pretzel ( I glued them down with melted chocolate) I liked using one eye that was bigger and one eye that was smaller for a pair. It gave for a more zombie affect. The picture of a the cup is showing a technique that I saw on Pinterest. I used a sandwich bag to put my melted chocolate in and then I cut a tiny hole in one of the corners. I draped the sandwich bag over the cup and scooped the melted chocolate in. This got the chocolate right to the bottom of the bag without touching the sides. You might already do this - but I was just thrilled to find this tip out as I filled piping bags the hard way before.

I packaged the pretzels up and put them in a home made treat bag (click here for tutorial). I gave this treat to one of my friends boys - so I put the saying "Be good to your mummy" on the bag.

I made the tag by wrapping streamer (that I ripped in half lengthwise)  around a blank tag and pasted  googlie eyes on. Pretty simple!

Thanks for stopping by!!