Menu Board

I have been wanting to get meal planning a little more organized. I dread planning the weekly menu and grocery list. I found a bunch of ideas on Pinterest and put a few if my favorites together to create this

  

Depending on your craft supplies this craft could cost you less than five dollars. I used:

A foam board

Scrapbook paper

Stickers

My recipes 

Each envelope has meals inside for breakfast lunch and dinner. Each card has a meal idea on one side and the items needed for that meal on the other.

I pick meals use them to make my shopping list and to let my family know what is for dinner. Most of my meals I make without a recipe but the ones that I need a recipe for I wrote where the recipe is on the card next to the items needed.

Growth Chart

I have been wanting to make one of these for a while now. 

We are a military family and we will be moving around for the rest of our lives. 

I really wanted to have a door or something to mark the growth of my kids but I know that we wont have a home like that so this was my solution. I can track my kids growth in every place we live. 

This is what I used:

Wood: I used a 1x6 that is 6ft tall. I got mine from Home Depot it was already finished. 

Numbers cut on Cricut.

Square

Tape measure

Sharpie

Hammer and something to hang it on the wall.

First I used my tape measure to make marks ever inch all the way up my board.

Once I have marks ever inch then I used my square and sharpie to make marks like this.

My mark lengths were in this order.

1 inch

1 inch

1 1/4 inch

1 inch

1 inch

1 1/2 inch

1 inch 

1 inch 

1 1/4 inch 

1 inch

1 inch

2 inches

I hope the make sense so at the half foot mark my line was an inch and a half long and at the foot line my mark was 2 inches long. 

Then I put my Cricut number next to the 2 inch lines.

With my numbers I did not start at 0 I started at 6 inches. So number 1 is only 6 inches from the bottom. When I hang it on the wall I want the bottom to be six inches from the floor.

I measured six inches from the floor and made a mark on my wall with a pencil. 

Then I put my metal piece to hang it up on the back and used the tooth paste technique to know where to put the nail in the wall to hang my board. 

Toothpaste Technique

Once it is hanging you can measure your kiddos!

Cool right! I think so :)

Easy Baby Blankets

These are some fun easy blankets!

They are so basic that if you don't know a lot about sewing (like me) this will be a good project. You could also use this to teach younger crafters!

I used: 

Two pieces of flannel. (I just got enough material to make them square)

Sewing machine.

First put your pieces for material front to front. Make sure they are the same size. Then sew around the edge stay close to the edge. Leave a section open to turn your blanket right side out. 

Once you have turned it right side out iron the blanket around the edges to that it will be easy to sew again. Sew around the edges and close the section that you left open. 

 You could be done if you wanted I sewed around one more time for looks. :)

You can find some fun flannel and make some super cute combinations!

You could also make them smaller for baby blankets for your little ones babies. Your Kid and her baby could have matching blankets!

Heartfelt Wall Hangings

Over the weekend my mom and I visited our new favorite craft store! Heartfelt Wall Hangings is a cute little vinyl and craft shop in West Jordan Ut. Each month Heidi offers a free craft  related to the fallowing month. This month it is a Thanksgiving craft. She offers classes each day where you can come to her shop and work on your free craft and any other crafts you purchase. She offers all her paints, sander, glitter spray and help to make your vinyl craft.

This is her free craft for October. Is simple yet so cute to get your home ready for Thanksgiving!

While we were there we found these cute blocks too!

Each month the "O" changes to fit the season or holiday. I will be going back in November to make one with a ornament and snowflake for December and January. Here is an example of each month. 

 

We will be going back for more free crafts and all the other cute ideas they have at Heartfelt!

Baby Shower

Last week my sweet friends through me a baby shower. It was the cutest thing ever.

We had delicious food and amazing decorations.

 My dear friend made these pom poms and the monogram for the nursery. 

The pom poms are made from tissue paper and pipe cleaners.

 We had chicken salad sandwiches, fruits and veggies (in cute vases), ice cream with any topping you can think of, and candy lots of candy (my fave!!). Everything was labeled with cards that had chalkboard paint so that they can be reused again.

 This was made with tissue paper and sticks. Super fun and simple!

 All of my amazing friends I've made since moving here to Omaha! Thanks for coming.

These two ladies are the B.E.S.T. best of all the R.E.S.T. rest! Thank you for an AMAZING day. 

Temple in Every Room

To you parents of young children, may I share with you some sage advice from President Spencer W. Kimball. Said he: “It would be a fine thing if … parents would have in every bedroom in their house a picture of the temple so [their children] from the time [they are] infant[s] could look at the picture every day [until] it becomes a part of [their lives]. When [they reach] the age that [they need] to make [the] very important decision [concerning going to the temple], it will have already been made.”⁶ 


From President Thomas S. Monson's talk The Holy Temple- A Beacon to the World




We've been told to have a picture of the temple in every room in our house. We have one that I really enjoy. 

My husband and I were married in the Jordan River Temple about three and  half years ago. I was given a plaque with this metal piece of the Jordan River Temple. I liked it a lot but the wood board that it was on did not quite go with my house decor. It was purple. So I took the temple off and placed it in this frame with some scrap material I had. 
I love it because it is something that I created and I can change the background to fit any room in my house. I love to create new things plus it's great to actually have it hanging in our house.

Woodland Mobile

 Before my sister made me the invites for my baby shower I knew I wanted a woodland theme for our little girls' room. We got a play pen with a bassinet for her to sleep in until we get a crib or another bed and this one came with a mobile. There were little white bears on it that I did not like. So, yesterday I took the time and made these cute little felt animals for it.

 They are just made from felt and I added little embellishments, stuffed 'em with for fluff left over from making a pillow and blanket stitched them up. It was fun and easy to make.

Look how cute they are hanging over the play pen! We can't wait until she's here.

New Beginnings

We have blogged about our religion several times here on this blog and we have some links to find out more information
   with this link you can find out a lot more about what I believe specifically and here you can find out more about our church.
Today I am going to blog about an organization we have in our church for youth. A few months ago I was asked to be a leader for the young women in our ward. As a church we have something every year for the young women called New Beginnings. This is where the Theme that we will be focusing on all year in introduced, and new girls that will be turning 12 and joining young women's are introduced to what we do.

This year our Theme is Arise and Shine Forth  this comes from a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that says "Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations" the link above is an article how we are going to use this through out the year to teach the youth about being an example to others. 

So what does this have to do with our craft blog well let me tell you... 

I found these printables on this blog and a few ideas from pinterest and came up with

these. They are pillow cases that we are going to give the young women at New Beginnings. 

Here is how I did it

Super easy I found my image

Then I got these fabric transfers at Wal-mart for about $7 

and my pillow cases for 2 for $4 also at Wal-mart. 

Just follow the instructions for the transfers that are in the box iron on your image to your pillow case and 

you get some super cute pillows! Now the girls can wake up each morning and have a reminder to arise and be an example to others!

The fabric transfers are super easy to use and can be used for so many things!

I also made some invitations for the girls to give their parents to invite them to new beginnings here is how they turned out...

Front

back

Super easy and fun for the girls to help make and then give to their parents!

Christmas Crafts

I have been crafting a little this December but I didn't want to blog about it because I was doing most of it as gifts. 

I got this idea from Mon Petit Violon she had a ton a great patterns. If you decide to try this one I would recommend making them smaller than your shoe size.  

I got this idea from Sarah Ortega she explains in great detail how to make these. I did one for my Mom, sister and my self. My Mom's is in the center there is a bead for each of her children. I thought about doing birth stone colors but we all have a red birthstone so I did favorite colors instead. My sisters in the brown one and it has one bead. She is expecting her first child in April, and the birthstone in April is a diamond, so I did a clear bead. Mine has two beads one for my daughter who was born in November and one for my second child who is due in May. 

For these I just used a washer, scrapbook paper and mod podge. I cut them out with a whole punch and scissors. They were super simple, I just did a layer of mod podge on the washer and a few layers on top.  

This idea came from pinterest. I saw this quote and loved it. I made this for both my Mom and my Mother-in-law! 

Entertainment Stand

I have been wanting to get a new entertainment center for a while now. After pricing them out, I just couldn't do it. Last week a friend of mine and I went to a salvage yard and we found this beauty for $30.

I bought it knowing that I would paint it and maybe make a few minor adjustments. You cant beat that deal.

To get started on this project I sanded all the surfaces that I was going to paint so that the paint would adhere to the wood. We bought paint that had primer with it so that we wouldn't spend more money than we needed.

I white-washed just the surfaces that would be seen when the drawers were closed or could be easily spotted when they were open.

I did this inside because it was so cold outside. I had a space heater on and the door open to make it tolerable.

Antiquing it was fun and difficult. I had never done this antique technique and never on a project this big. The antique glaze was made combining four parts glaze and one part paint. I used a dark brown, almost black color. Paint the glaze in places that you would see normal wear and tear and wipe it off with a damp cotton rag.

Then we just added a polyurethane coat. I did this outside, oil based paints have crazy fumes. All we need now, besides awesome knobs, is the ENTERTAINMENT.

 The hubby likes this project a bunch. I enjoy it myself. Its also a plus that even with all of the supplies to paint it, it was not as pricey as some I've been looking at.