Pinterest 'wins' from Christmas!

Now that Christmas is over I can post about the stuff I wanted to keep a surprise! I went a little nuts this year on projects (what year don't I go nuts?) but I really enjoyed making the gifts for my family and friends. I think this Christmas may have been my favorite so far since I put so much focus on the giving part. Of course, the receiving part was great, too, and I'm going to post about that on our family blog sometime in the next few days for journaling purposes.

So, here's the beginning of a run down on the projects you missed while I was keeping secrets...

First: the T-Shirts

I found the ideas for almost all my projects on Pinterest. I did a whole bunch of shirts for people based on designs from there, but using iron-on transfers instead of the fancier methods. Iron-ons don't always look as nice but since I was doing so many, I wanted to use a method I'd done before. I completely forgot to take pictures of my actual finished T's so here are the inspiration photos (some from Pinterest, some from elsewhere) and some exported jpegs of the files I used.

For soon-to-be-born and new babies of family and friends:

For our nieces:

  For my brother in law:

For my siblings and our nephews:

Another nephew:

 

These two were for a couple of good friends of ours who we refer to as the boys' "Godfather"

and "Fairy Godmother."

I'm particularly proud of this last one because I came up with the concept and the phrase for the back of the shirt all by myself.

I bought the shirts at Hobby Lobby (link) and Walmart (couldn't find a link to the actual pack I got, but just go to the mens underwear section and they have good prices for undershirts that work well for doing iron-ons).

The shirts were just the beginning of our gifting endeavors this year. Stay tuned for more this week!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas-time

My camera has gone on a little vacation, and I can't post anything about the homemade gifts I'm giving for Christmas without ruining some surprises, anyway. (Although just about everything I'm doing can be found in the glorious mess that is my Christmas & Easter Pinterest page. If you find yourself at a loss for last minute homemade ideas, DEFINITELY check out that page!) Soooo...here is a revisiting of my best past projects that could be used for Christmas gifting or decor.

Original Post: Easter Design

Original Post: Irish Blessing Subway Art

Original Post: More Easter Time Art

Original Post: Put Your Photos on Canvas

Original Post: A pseudo-tutorial (ish)...thing (The Living Christ Frame)

Just one more week to go! I'm so excited for Christmas this year!

"...Laundry" Printables

I hadn't done a free printable in a while and I've had this idea rolling around in my head for months. So here you go. Two options. Laid out to be 8x10's. Print and frame and hang next to your washing machine. Wry smiles guaranteed. :-)

Click. Save. Print.

Click. Save. Print.

Calling all children's story authors!

Hey all! I hoped you've already checked out knowonder like I told you to a few weeks ago. If you haven't then pleeeease do so now! My sister and I both starting working for the magazine and have had stories published recently. My story was just posted today so go read it and let me know what you think! It's a little Halloween story called Wait Til Simon Comes. My sister's story was posted a couple of weeks ago and it's called Matchless Melanie.

The magazine can always use new authors. So spread the word and get working on your own material to submit. Go back and read the archived stories to get a feel for what we're looking for and then get writing! Can't wait to hear from you!

My "Done List"

I've been spending a lot of time on Pinterest lately. (I know I'm not the only one!) That site has got to be one of the most addictive things ever! At least for an OCD *nut* like me. I finally decided that I needed to make some "rules" for myself to channel my pinning obsession. My main rule includes the use of my "To-Do List" board. It's a board where I repin things I've pinned onto my other boards that I would like to actually do or make in the immediate future. This gives me easy access to my immediate goals so when I'm in a productive mood, I can cut right to the chase instead of getting lost in an endless sea of pins. The "rule" I've been trying to live by is that I'm not allowed to pin anything new unless I've done something off my "To-Do" board in the last week. In other words, if I go a whole week without actually USING the resources I'm pinning, I'm not allowed to waste time adding more. 

This is an exclusively self-imposed rule. I really can't say if I've been officially sticking to the week time frame or not, but having this goal in the back of my head has helped at least some. The only real documentation I have so far of the things I've done is moving them from the To-Do board to my Tried It and Loved It or Experiences Worth Having boards. So I wanted to post more about it on here and motivate myself to keep going. So here are the things I've done since I started this goal-oriented approach to pinning. :-)

Recipes Cooked (with Kevin's help):

    

Long-term Project Begun:

Ingredients Purchased:

     

Family Activities Done:

(Link to pictures on family blog)

If any one happens to read this and is inspired to make a similar board (or just set more goals), I do have a piece of advice: start small. It's GOOD to put recipes on your "To-do" list that won't require major shopping trips; ones that use stuff you have on hand already. Pin things you're already planning on doing anyway, like I did with the Corn Dawgs family activity. This is NOT "cheating". This is just a way to find motivation by having linked resources handy and to aid in making your inner awesomeness an outer reality. The awesomeness is something you already have, the list is just a way to remind yourself. As my old buddy C.S. Lewis always says, "Do not mistake it for the thing itself: and if it does not help you, drop it."

Kevin and I gave talks in Sacrament Meeting this past Sunday so I wanted to take a minute for a little journaling about that.

We were asked to watch General Conference (Oct. 1st and 2nd) and come up with our own topic based on a talk that stood out to us. We both really liked the very first talk of the Saturday morning session. It was about using the scriptures. Not just reading, but studying and even memorizing our favorite verses.

As Kevin called me out when his talk began, I "cheated" and used two other talks in mine as well. In the end I decided on these three -

The Power of Scripture
RICHARD G. SCOTT
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

A Witness
HENRY B. EYRING
First Counselor in the First Presidency

The Book of Mormon—a Book from God
TAD R. CALLISTER
Of the Presidency of the Seventy

Elder Scott talks about the complete standard works and about his love for the Old and New Testaments in addition to the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. President Eyring tells a story about how even as an apostle he needs the remarkable example shown by different people in the Book of Mormon. President Callister's talk is about the Book of Mormon as well and receiving a basic testimony of its truth.

I jumped around a lot in my own talk and gave a couple of personal examples, like when I took Moroni's challenge myself and how hard it is for me to be consistent with reading my scriptures every day.  A couple of my favorite quotes from the Conference talks are -

"Great power can come from memorizing scriptures. To memorize a scripture is to forge a new friendship. It is like discovering a new individual who can help in time of need, give inspiration and comfort, and be a source of motivation for needed change. For example, committing to memory this psalm has been for me a source of power and understanding" - Elder Scott

"Pondering a passage of scripture can be a key to unlock revelation and the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Scriptures can calm an agitated soul, giving peace, hope, and a restoration of confidence in one’s ability to overcome the challenges of life. They have potent power to heal emotional challenges when there is faith in the Savior. They can accelerate physical healing." Elder Scott

"Would you like to have emblazoned on your soul an undeniable witness that the Savior descended beneath your sins and that there is no sin, no mortal plight outside the merciful reach of His Atonement—that for each of your struggles He has a remedy of superior healing power? Then read the Book of Mormon." - President Callister

"Your copy of the Book of Mormon may be hidden from your view by cares and attention to all you have accumulated in your journey. I plead with you to drink deeply and often from its pages. It has in it the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the only way home to God." - President Eyring

There was no coordination between us but it turned out that Kevin and I picked completely different quotes to use from Elder Scott's talk, so there wasn't really any overlap in ours talks when we gave them. I spoke for most of the time and only gave Kevin about 8 minutes for his talk but he had said that would be ok. He really enjoyed the second half of Elder Scott's talk because he basically just gave references for some of his personal favorite scriptures and talked about what they meant to him. So that's what Kevin ended up doing with his 8 minutes. The scriptures he talked about were -

Matthew 5:44
Mosiah 2:41
2 Nephi 25:26

The 2nd counselor in the stake presidency, President Jones, was visiting our ward that Sunday so he was there for our talks, too. He found Kevin and me individually after sacrament meeting to tell us he liked our talks. I thought it was funny because he told me I was "lively". I guess that means he wasn't bored :-). I hope everyone else in the congregation felt the same way even though I talked so long. He also asked me where I was from and when I said "mostly Kansas," he said "Well, welcome to the south." I always really enjoy President Jones' talks in stake conference so I appreciated his compliments even extra.

I hope everyone else enjoyed General Conference as much as I did. I actually enjoyed having to go back and study so soon afterwards so I could prepare a talk. Now I just need to follow my own advice and get back to reading like I should.

Something I was thinking about today

It is not a mother’s job to see her children the way the world sees them. No matter the reasons, there will be tens, hundreds, THOUSANDS of people out there who will be more than willing to tell our precious babies that they are not good enough: not talented enough, not outspoken enough, not calm enough, not quick enough. A entire horde of influences will do all within their power to lead them to believe that they don’t fit the ideal and they need to be different, bigger, better, stronger, smarter, faster. There will be plenty of that, so a mother need not fill the role. A mother’s job is to turn her back on all that nonsense. Her job is to teach her children what it is to love and be loved. It’s to embrace the truth that a mother’s love is blind. To start at day one and then continue to kiss, and hug, and gush over her children long after she has become an embarrassment to them. To make such a habit out of adoring and appreciating her children that they know to expect nothing else.  Of course, she should strive to help them to grow and, yes, to be better. But not for the sake of the world that would “fix” them or break them.  A mother’s job is to see her children as what they are, angels with the potential to be gods.

Read to a Child!

You may have noticed the new button at the top of my right hand column. If you haven't already, you should absolutely check it out! It's a link to a free online magazine that features a new story to read to your kids every single day!

"knowonder!" magazine was founded by Phillip Chipping a few years ago and he just started it back up again last month. The site is full of awesome resources for kids and parents alike. And guess who's helping him lead the charge...?

My mom! (Check out the "Our Team" page)

The woman who read to me and made up stories so I could star in my very own fairy tales. I'm so excited for this new project and I'm hoping to be involved as much as possible with getting "knowonder!" off the ground for real. So go check it out! For me, for my mom, sure, sure; but mostly for YOU! Read to your kids! Submit your own writing! Get your child's stories published!

Move it people! Get that imagination going!

Reverse Life Cycle for Moms

There is a quote by a man named Robert Benson called The Life Cycle and I've seen it floating around the internet for quite a few years. This probably means you all have seen it already also but in case you haven't...drum roll please...

“I think that the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get that out of the way, then live twenty years in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You go to college until you’re ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a little child, you play, you have no responsibilities, You become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating, and you finish off as a gleam in someone’s eye!”

I thought this was quite amusing the first time I read it, probably 10 or 15 odd years ago. It still gives me a little chuckle but it occurred to me today that it was lacking a little in relatability to my own personal life. I spent most of today making phone calls and jumping through hoops and doing laps in preparation for jumping others in reference to my kids' various healthcare needs. I was feeling ever so slightly (intensely) exasperated by the fact that moms don't receive training for this stuff. I know that the idea that there isn't a manual is not original but I guess what I was really thinking about was a mommy internship. 

So here's my take on Benson's idea.

Reverse Life Cycle for Moms

“I think that the life cycle is all backward. You should die first, get that out of the way, then live twenty years in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young, you celebrate 50 years of marriage. You receive diamond earrings from your husband, endless praise from your adoring children and go on a trip to Italy. You watch your grandchildren being raised until you know enough to raise your own children. Now you get a diamond ring to go with your earrings. You go to college until you’re ready for high school. You go to grade school, become a little child, you play, you have no responsibilities. You become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating, and you finish off as a gleam in someone’s eye!”