April Visiting Teaching Message

Next month, the Visiting Teaching message is on

The Purpose of the Relief Society. 

The Relief Society was organized to help us increase in faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and provide relief by serving the Lord and others.

To make this fun message to share with your sisters, all you need is

a 9" x 9" sheet of paper {cardstock works best}

A stapler

about 12" of ribbon

Easter grass and a few easter treats

These downloads:

VTApril2011

The Best Lemon Cake Ever

Start by folding the left side of the 9" x 9" sheet half way in from the corner like this:

Then do the other side.

Hold it together while you staple, first the left side, then inside the cone on the right.

Like this:

Next, gather your supplies and fill the cone.

Affix the ribbon on the sides with a stapler and you are done!

Happy April Visiting Teaching!

Quick Project

Whenever I start sewing something, it seems like my kids always want to sew, too.  The other day, I decided to devote an evening to kids' sewing projects.  We ended up with these fun aprons and a few small pillows.

They were pretty easy to make and sewed up really quick.

MMMMonday!

I realize that I'm about 3 years behind on this one, but today, I made my first batch of

Oreo Truffles!

If you have apparently been under a rock like me, here's how easy they are:

One package Oreo Cookies

One 8 oz. cream cheese

16 oz. melted semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mash up the Oreos, then pull out about 1/2 cup of them for later.  Mix mashed up Oreos with cream cheese.  Roll mixture into tiny {about 1 inch} balls, then coat in melted chocolate chips.  Sprinkle reserved Oreo crumbs onto truffles, then refridgerate about 1 hour.  Gain about 5 lbs. eating them. :)

{My kids loved cleaning up the extras...}

Latest Project

So...do you remember this little beauty?

I picked it up at the thrift store a few weeks ago.

I bought it because we have a "media closet" with all of our media machines {dvr, dvd, vhs{!}, surround sound, wii, etc. etc.} and I thought it would be nice to store the movies in there, too.

Previously, our movies were stored in the armoire, stacked three rows deep on two seperate shelves.

I always thought it would be great to put shelves in the media closet for dvds and such so everything would be together {and so my two youngest wouldn't keep emptying them all onto the floor while searching for one movie}, and so that we could see each title.

So when I saw this old doorless cabinet-turned-bookshelf thingy, I knew it would be perfect for that purpose and space.

Only problem was...it was too deep...and a leeeittle bit too long.

So I had to remodel it.

I started by taking off the back, and sawing off the back half of each shelf.  This sounds simple, but the stupid hand saw's battery kept dying, so the process went a little like this:

saw 14 inches

switch batteries

saw 32 inches

give husband dirty look for not keeping batteries charged

wait 10 minutes

saw 2 whole shelves!

swich batteries

saw 18 inches

go inside because it is dark

wait a week and a half because it is raining and cold

...you get the picture.

I finally finished it yesterday!

I decided to paint it turquoise and put a gel stain on it.

I ended up having to cut 3" of one of the corners off so that it would fit in the {slanted} closet.

I love the cracks and nail holes and the overall crappiness of it.

I also love that it fits in that spot so well.

I'm pretty happy with the results...

...and that it is finally finished!

Sweetness.

Last week was our Relief Society Birthday Celebration!

The Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was formed 169 years ago in Nauvoo, Illinois, by the prophet Joseph Smith.

This year, we had a pioneer theme, and had pioneer inspired food, activities, and decorations. 

{we drank home made rootbeer out of mason jars, while learning about past church Relief Society Presidents}

 

{we had homemade soups, jams and butter with our bread)

{we decorated with quilts, burlap and wildflowers, pie plates, dutch ovens, jute, etc...think Little House on the Prarie...}

{after learning to make cornhusk dolls and clothespin dolls, learning to crochet, and playing pioneer games, everyone took home some jam}

It turned out to be a really fun night!

Just a quick post to let you know about a fabric giveaway at Material Girls Quilt Shop.

It ends today so hurry up!

One of my biggest problem areas at my house is my living room.  It has a funky {not in a good way} layout and really, the couch can only go in one place.  Sad, I know.  So after 5 years of the same arrangement, it was looking pretty stale.  I was in a rut.

So I begged  respectfully pleaded with my cousin, Wendy, who is a very talented interior decorator to come and give me some ideas on how to tweak my house so that it looked and functioned better.

I know that I had before pictures somewhere, but now I can't find them, so these will have to do.

Look past all the beautiful people to that sad, sad living room.  The couch usually doesn't go there, but I was trying it there to see if it would work.  It didn't.

In this one, you can see that the chairs are sort of back where they usually are, but kind of just sit over there, all lifeless and blah.

So you can see, I really needed some expert advice.

Wendy came and we just moved a few things around. 

Then we moved them back. 

Then we moved them out and brought things from other parts of the house in.

And this is what we ended up with:

Now I know some of you are saying "That really doesn't look much different than it did before."

This is true. 

The furniture is placed in pretty much the same location, but notice we swapped out the black chairs {that I never really loved} for these two other chairs that I already had in different rooms. 

 It feels so different.

We took the plant off of the table and added a lamp, some photos and the frog.

{This is my favorite part} we hung fancy-framed artwork in the faux fireplace.

We brought in some of my favorite things to the mantle

We brought this great comfy chair from downstairs and placed the cheetah ottoman in front of it.

{more favorite things}

It may not look completely different, but the room feels different because new life was breathed into it.

Thank you, thank you Wendy!

I'm thinking maybe I'll make some slipcovers for the chairs to lighten things up for spring/summer.  What do you think?

If your rooms are feeling stale, don't be afraid to rearrange, replace, remove, and add the things you love that are hiding in other parts of the house. 

Be fearless!

My cousins decorating business is called Good Egg Interiors.  Her rates are reasonable and she is great to work with.  If you would like her information, send me a note and I will get you hooked up.

To coop or not to coop? 

That is the question.

I've been trying to get over my aversion to raising chickens.

From a self-reliance standpoint, I think it's a great idea.

But I also have lots of concerns.

#1-The mess.  Those of you who already have chickens, what is the mess level?

#2-Taking care of them.  Is it a huge commitment to feed, care, and clean up after them?

{can you tell i'm worried about the mess?}

And most importantly,

#3-Where the coop would go and how it would look in my yard. 

Superficial, I know, but the yard's just starting to look nice and I worry about junking it up.

With something like this:

I've been trying to find some nice coops to inspire me. 

What do you think of these?

samsworkshop.com

...I bet I can totally talk my husband into building one of these chicken mansions...

If we get chickens, I'll probably end up with something in between.

Does anyone know of any cute coop blueprint sites?

Scattered.

That's how I feel lately.

Here are a few of the things I've been up to:

I made a new spring wreath.  I wrapped cream burlap around a grapevine wreath and added some forsythia.  I'm not sure how much I love it yet.

I made some more flowers.  I do love these.

I've been working on January's block of the month {yeah, I know it's March} from Chitter Chatter Designs.  I still need to finish sewing flowers on and then embroider the whole thing.  And do February's block.  And March's.

I've been planning and gathering stuff for our upcoming Relief Society Birthday celebration.  We have a pioneer theme this year and these are table toppers.  I think it's going to be a fun night.

Here's the invitation.  Jamie Holt and I made 140 million of them yesterday.

And remember this sad little window?

I finished the shade for it.

I  picked up this shelf at the thrift store.  I have big plans for it.

I've also been busy chasing after these two little crazies.

{He and his brother were preparing our FHE lesson on Abinadi...:)}

...and to top it all off, I have a major case of spring fever...

Oh yeah.  Remember my pledge to have my office orginized three weeks ago?  I haven't gotten to it yet.

{sigh}