There’s gotta be a cute way to store DVD’s right? I asked my guy to build these little DVD houses for me, and he did!!! I think they’d look even cuter with little chimneys.
See that pink section – those are our Barbie movies!!!
These looked really cute in our last house. They sat on the ledge around the family room with little pine trees and other cute doodads around them. Now, during our building house/transition time, they just sit on the floor – not looking as cute, but still doing their job.
My baby really likes them this height!!!
She pulls them all off many times each day!!! We put some of her baby books in front of the DVD’s to distract her. Yeah – great plan! But it didn’t work. She just sits there longer, reading books between yanking off more DVD’s.
Thanks Mac – you know, I’d rather be creating than cleaning up your messes – again!!!
Having a craft hanging around that works for all seasons is a great plan!
I made this one at Shauna’s craft class and my daughter made the blue one. I stenciled some words onto mine, inspired by something similar I’d seen in a Country Sampler magazine a few years back.
You can get these wooden frames and insert pieces from Micheals.
Anyway, to make an all-season frame, I decided to attach my snowflake with velcro.
Then I chose a few other shapes to use for the rest of the year. The flower covers spring and summer. Simply attach a piece of velcro to each backside. I suggest doing the snowflake first as it’s the most awkward shape to fit.
I especially love it when it’s time to take out the snowflake and insert the flower! Oh happy day, the long winter is over!
Isn’t that just so “happy”?
After painting these inserts, I sanded them and etched them with a blade before staining them.
And Autumn is pretty cute too – this one always seems to be on display for the shortest amount of time.
The biggest problem with this craft is remembering where I stored the out-of-season pieces. If I was smart, I’d velcro them to the back of the frame!
Every year, at least a month before Christmas, we start our Wish List. It’s one piece of paper divided into sections – one section for each person. There they write what they wish for (one piece of paper makes it easy for me to grab and take shopping).
Back in 2006, I wrote “World Peace” in my section of my wish list. I must have just watched Miss Congeniality or something! And truthfully, I really wasn’t expecting to get “World Peace” for Christmas! So, imagine my surprise when I actually got “World Peace” from my imaginative oldest daughter for Christmas!!!
This is what she wrote on the back . . .And now . . . are you ready to see what “World Peace” looks like?
I unpacked these little blue blocks the other day. But today I added the Be My Valentine words, because we all know that day of love is coming up in less than a month!!!
Originally I made the blocks for a Relief Society Party.
The purpose of Relief Society being: 1) Increase Faith 2) Strengthen Family and 3) Provide Relief.
Now that I don’t need the R.S. words anymore,
I thought it would be fun to make a bunch more words for the family to be creative with.
So I printed these on cardstock and distressed the edges. I keep thinking of more I should add, so I have a list for people to add more words as they think of them.
Here are a few other loving variations . . .
But right now there is only one possible message that could be on the blocks . . .. . . as she wrote her English Diploma exam today, with Math and Chemistry to follow next week. With them counting for 50% of her final grade, that’s a lot of pressure.
We have two Christmas trees every year. We refer to one of them as our “Nativity Tree”. It’s got white lights and lots of gold and silver on it, and all ornaments somehow remind us of the Savior.
Under the tree are some small gold and silver boxes – one for each person in the family. On Christmas Eve we all take a bit to time to think of what gift we will give the Savior this year – some way to help us grow closer to Him and to improve ourselves. We write this on a piece of paper that is in our box – and also look back on our past “gifts” to the Savior. It’s a good time for personal reflection!
One year I thought that it would be neat to receive “gifts from the Savior”. I didn’t mention it to anyone in my family, so they were a little surprised to wake up on Christmas morning to find gifts under the Nativity Tree! (All our gifts go under the colourful tree – the tree with the other types of ornaments you collect over the years and that the kids have made!)The gifts under the Nativity Tree are all wrapped in plain paper and they each have a scripture or saying on it that is pertinent to that person, or to the gift. We always take time to read the scripture before opening the gift.
I usually buy the gifts from a church bookstore, but that can get pretty pricey. With this year being a house-building year for us with not a lot of extra cash laying around, I decided to make gifts. We might not have had cash laying around, but we did have plenty of wood laying around!
For example . . .. . . this is what my guys gift started like! It’s a chunk of solid oak that was cut off the bottom of a newel post on the stairs. What would you make with that?
Now before I started any projects, I asked everyone what their favourite scriptures or quotes were, and their favourite colours, so I could make something meaningful to them.
My guy likes Mosiah 4:19
“For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”
This is what I came up with for him . . .. . . a candle holder, with his favourite part of the scripture.
It’s simply words stamped onto cardstock, then distressed and mod podged onto the stained piece of oak. He loves it, even though he wondered if I dulled his drill bit drilling the hole in the top!!!
My gift was thoughtfully made for me by me at my friend’s craft classes – thanks again Kd!!!I love this quote and picture of the temple. I was going to give it to one of my girls, but then I realized “Hey, I want it!!!” And if I keep it, each one of them will be able to benefit from the message!
Elle’s gift was probably my biggest challenge! She liked a really long scripture, and the whole thing was so good, I didn’t want to shorten anything. (You can read it in the pictures!)
Her favourite scripture right now is Doctrine and Covenants 98:1-3.
I decide to make her a candle holder too, but hers was a soft wood and didn’t dull the drill bit!!!I printed out her scripture – one verse per side of the wooden block. Mod podged on scrapbook paper in her favourite colours and glued on the little clothes pins. I like the clothes pins because that way she can easily change her scriptures, or add pictures, or anything else inspiring.
Warning: remove ribbon if you’re going to burn the candle!
Yes – it turned out pretty cute!!!
The next three daughters were easier – they all got long pieces of wood to go over a door or window.
Min got Proverbs 3:5-6 (one of my favourites too!)
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct they paths.”
Jo got Alma 26:12.
“Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak;
therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God,
for in His strength I can do all things . . .”
Lee chose 1 Timothy 4:12.
“Be thou an example of the believers,
in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
Jen got a picture of the temple too. I printed hers from this site.Then it was simply mod podged onto a piece of 2×6 with all the cute other little details to match her room.
Laying a piece of cloth over the mod podge while it’s still wet (pressing it down and then peeling it off right away) gives a nice canvassy looking finish.
Kat’s gift was actually made by my mom! Thanks mom!!!
Six puzzles to keep me her quiet in church! These are about one inch squares and each side has a picture on it. It’s pretty challenging!
And finally, Mac got a popsicle stick puzzle.
One side has a picture and the other side has . . .. . . a message! And again, mod podge is the secret ingredient!
And the final, finally . . .. . . a picture of the Savior by Liz Lemon Swindle – an amazing artist.
She says of this picture,
“During His ministry, Christ healed a blind man. The leaders of the Jews called the man before them and demanded he renounce Christ. When he refused, they cast him out.
When Jesus heard what the leaders had done, He immediately went looking for this man (John 9:35). I could see the determination on Christ’s face as He made His way through the crowd. I draw comfort from knowing that if He will search after him, He will search after me.”
This 8×10 picture was free during the “Every home should have a picture of Christ” campaign. All I had to do was frame it!
This tradition that we started a few years ago has quickly become one of my favourite parts of the holidays. Tears are often shed and the Spirit is felt as we celebrate our Savior’s birth.
I like long wooden signs!!! I find them an easy way to have inspirational message in my home because they fit so nicely in often unused places – like over a door or window, or above and below pictures.
If they’re going to specific people, I often ask for a phrase preference and colour preference. Then I paint and plan it out on paper to make sure the spacing works.
These were some my sister’s requested . . .Isn’t “Did You Think to Pray?” a great one to have over your bedroom door (it’s okay, one of my sisters actually has a red and gold bedroom!)
“Live Without Regret” is one of my favourite quotes from Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley.
The wonky buttons actually match my sister’s area rug!!!
Another sis has six sons and a daughter and thinks of her home as a “Missionary Training Center”.
And I attached a Future Missionary tag with burlap.
The ladies I Visit Teach got these “Joy to the World” signs this Christmas.
Notice the green one (how could you not?) That’s my one – I made it many years ago and it’s reversible – looks the same as the others on the other side. It was perfect for a ledge in my house that was visible from both sides.
Just a close up of the etchings on the wood. The letters are just done with an alphabet stencil from Michaels.
And a few more . . .
“There is Beauty all Around” was the most sung Family Home Evening song in my guys home. So now this little sign hangs above his parents dining room window.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart” is just a great scripture for us all to remember all the time.
I mod podged a picture of the Lord onto a heart.
And finally, “Family is Everything” because, it really is!!!
I had fun making signs this past Christmas (kinda helped to have that precut pile of wood piled up in the workshop!!!).
When Pres. Deiter F. Uchtdorf gave his magnificent talk at the 2011 Relief Society Broadcast (you can read it here), I knew I needed to make myself a visual reminder of the things he said. I wanted to “Forget Not” his inspiring words!!!
And this is what I ended up with!
And I LOVE it!!!
I started with this really rough piece of 2×6 (I wanted a rough look!) and some 2×4’s. I sanded and spray painted and sanded a bit more. Made myself a forget-me-not flower template and printed my words out on the computer.
I’ve never tried the carbon paper method before but it worked really well. I just put a piece of carbon paper between my computer printed words and the wood, and traced around the letters. It left me a nice little outline of my letters on the wood. Now I just had to hand paint in the lines.
I only hand-painted my big words – the others were just printed on the computer and then distressed and mod podged onto the blocks of wood along with scrapbook paper.
I stained my blocks before I added any paper though – I’ve had bad luck with stain and mod podged paper before, so I always stain first, and it always turns out!!!
Isn’t it cute? I used burnt umber oil paint to colour my leaves and add a little more distressing.
And the blocks can be arranged many different ways, much to the children’s delight!
A close-up of the Forget-Me-Not flower (at least, my version of it – I googled it and there are tons of varieties of this little flower!!!) and the etchings.
And now it sits on my dresser and I see it whenever I leave my bedroom, reminding me daily of what I need to “Forget Not”.
Just four days ago, my guy grabbed the bottom piece – the one that says “The difference between good and foolish sacrifices” and brought it to me in bed. I was still in sleep mode at 8:20am – on the last Saturday of Christmas holidays! He suggest that my foolish sacrifice was lounging around in bed when I should be getting up and going to support my daughter at her basketball game. And he was right! I got ready in ten minutes and ate my breakfast in the car as we drove the half hour drive. We got seated just in time for the opening jump ball.
My daughter Min made these blocks to display at her very first Young Women in Excellence evening (she’s now a second year Laurel working on her Honor Bee). She’d been twelve for a month and needed a project right away. Since we always have wood around, we decided on a 2×4 project. She picked a favourite phrase and then stamped it onto painted 2×4’s, and did some sanding and staining.
The neat thing about these blocks is that they’re reversible!
She chose a scripture for the other side:
Psalms 66:1 “Make a joyful noise unto God”
I like this scripture – it doesn’t say we have to be in tune or have perfect pitch – it just says to be joyful as we praise our Heavenly Father.
And I enjoyed seeing this in Min’s room while she was practicing her flute over and over and over and over and . . .
This fun stamp set came from Stampin’ Up – it’s one of my favourite alphabets! There are letters on each side of the blocks, and another set of matching numbers.
Now it’s time to get creative with the blocks and see what other phrases we can come up with . . .
Haha! Okay, maybe not!
This one’s much better . . .
. . . a beautiful reminder especially at Thanksgiving.
I read about this idea somewhere just before New Years 2010. The idea is to choose a word for the year and let that be your theme word and your motivation. I loved the idea – so much more likely to succeed than New Year’s Resolutions!
So my word for 2010 was . . .. . . PATIENCE. And yes, I’m still working on it and probably always will be!!! I need reminders, so I decorated this little wooden block with my word, the year, and a scripture. It sits with Mason on my bedside table, reminding me every day of the year about PATIENCE.
My word for 2011 is . . .. . . DELIGHT. The scripture says “Let thy soul delight . . .” and that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do this year. I’m finding it quite DELIGHTful as I look more for the positive in things and what causes me DELIGHT in this journey through life.
My word is just printed off the computer and then mod podged along with scrapbook paper onto the block. I’ll be able to fit four years worth of words on every block. What a collection I’ll have at the end of my life – by then I should be absolutely perfect at everything!!!
About five years ago I was the Activity Days leader in our ward for girls aged 8 and 9. I came up with this wood craft because
1) I love wood crafts and,
2) because I wanted the girls to have something that could sit in their rooms and be pretty, but also remind them to have Faith In God. It needed to be something that wasn’t too challenging or messy!!! And because I could only fit eight around my table at once, we did it in two shifts. I think the biggest challenge for the girls was choosing their three colours and button centers.
I cut the wood and made word stencils. All the girls had to do was their base coat, sanding and stenciling. I handled the blade for etching the flowers, and did all the staining.
Embroidery thread in the button centers looks extra cute too.
Aren’t they adorable? I got lucky – had two daughters in my group so they each got one, and they still proudly display them in their rooms.
Today my heart was touched as I attended the funerals of two fourteen year old girls in my town. There, on the table amidst all of Jorden’s pictures, awards and memories, were her Faith In God blocks that she had made in my Activity Day group so many years ago. Hers were light purple with pink words and white flowers. Their message stood out loud and clear on the table they were displayed on:
Faith in God.
And now that is what their families cling to – their faith in Heavenly Father and His great Plan of Happiness. And they know that they will see their beloved daughters again.
See that pink section – those are our Barbie movies!!!
These looked really cute in our last house. They sat on the ledge around the family room with little pine trees and other cute doodads around them. Now, during our building house/transition time, they just sit on the floor – not looking as cute, but still doing their job.
She pulls them all off many times each day!!! We put some of her baby books in front of the DVD’s to distract her. Yeah – great plan! But it didn’t work. She just sits there longer, reading books between yanking off more DVD’s.
Thanks Mac – you know, I’d rather be creating than cleaning up your messes – again!!!
