Visiting Teaching Message {May 2013}

Conference Preserves are back! 

For those of you who are new, a year ago I created Conference Preserves to keep and share thoughts from General Conference with the sisters that I visit teach.

So many of you enjoyed creating and giving the preserves, that I put together another batch for conference last fall, and now have a new batch for April’s Conference.

If you would like to make your own set of Conference Preserves to give or to keep, here’s what to do.

First, Print the thoughts.

 The links can be found here, here, and here. 

I used some cute paper that was white on one side, and printed on the other side.  You could use any paper—plain, printed, white, colored, or cardstock—whatever you want.

Cut the thoughts out along the dotted lines, then fold in half.

Place in a jar, add a sweet treat, and affix the label  to the top of the jar, {I used my scalloped circle punch, but you can just cut it out with scissors} or punch a hole in it and tie it around the top.  You can also add a ribbon or decorate it any way you would like.

Happy Visiting Teaching!

P.S. If anyone is interested in printing a 8x10 copy of any of these thoughts, please e-mail me and I will add a link to that thought here.

So Berry Nice!

My daughter’s sunbeam teachers are moving.

She loves them so much and will miss them, so we put together a little good-bye gift. 

While I was making it, I realized that it might be a good idea for teacher gifts at the end of the school year, so I decided to share, in case anyone else was looking for an idea.

It’s a very simple idea:

1. Buy some berries.

2. Print this card.

3. Sign it.

4. Tie a ribbon around it.

5. Give it away!

Have a great day!

Around the Yard

One thing about moving in the Fall, is that you don’t really get to see what is going on in the yard until Springtime.  When we got here last November, it got cold soon after, and we were busy unpacking and getting settled and I actually didn’t walk around in the “wild” part of our yard until about March.

Finally, it has warmed up a little and we have been able to spend a little bit more time outside in the yard, and the more time we spend the more we can see that needs to be done.

Last Saturday, we spent lots of time weeding, and clearing out flower beds.  We moved a tree, chopped down some sage brush, placed our bees in their new area, and found a giant leak in one of the sprinklers.

There are lots of differences between the yard at our new house and the yard at our old house.  We had put in the time to plant grass, put in a patio, plant a garden, trees, and flowers, we had a fire pit, fences, and a deck that we loved.  The kids had a lot of grassy area to play in.

The new house has some great features.  It is a little larger than our old yard and a few of the trees are larger, so that is nice. 

There is plenty of grass for the kids to play on, and there is the wild part of our yard where they can climb and hide and explore.  There are a few nice shrubs and lots and lots of rocks. 

At our old house, all of the rocks were underground, and every time you had to dig a hole, you could plan on moving a large rock before you were done.  During the winter, small rocks seemed to bubble to the surface, and every spring, there would be new rocks to clear out of gardens and flower beds.  At the new house, the dirt is pretty nice, but the people who lived here before had several boulders placed in the landscaping.  This is a new thing for us and I am currently in the process of cleaning out winter stuff {dried leaves, weeds, etc.} and looking for good native plants that will grow in the rocks with lots of afternoon sun hitting them.

  I am also on the hunt for deer-resistant plants, as there are several deer that live in the dry creek by our home.

For now, though, I am enjoying all of the new plants that are popping up.  I’m not sure what most of them are-- most likely, they are horrible weeds, but I can’t wait to see what happens.

Yellow

Remember when we did a quick facebook poll to decide which color this lamp should be?

It finally got warm enough outside to spray paint it. 

I have a deep love for turquoise, so naturally, I painted it turquoise. 

{I was going to put a picture of the turquoise lamp here, but for some strange reason, I didn’t take a picture of it.  Weird, I know.}

But it wasn’t right.  It looked like it was trying to be a lamp from the early 90’s at a cheap hotel in Miami. 

I tossed around a kelly green or bright orange, but the lamp really wanted to be…yellow.

So I painted it yellow.

Perfect.

Yard Sale Season!

One reason that I love spring is because all of the yard sale signs start popping up again.  I went to my first good yard sale of the season today.  I found lots of great stuff {two springform pans, a nice leather bag, a lunchbox, a {working!}calculator, a large roll of alphabet stickers, a silver nativity, an alarm clock, a large picture frame and--Bella’s choice--a rocket} and walked up to the lady running the sale.

I said, “how much for this stuff?” I said.

She said “hmm…looks like you are at about $4.”

Now, I love a great deal just like the next girl, but I felt a little guilty only paying $4 for all of that.

So I said … “Are you sure?”

And she looked at me and said “This isn’t Dillards, you know, it’s a yard sale.”

Oh, how I love yard sales!

Mini Jar Cupcakes

The other day, I needed to make a treat for a church activity.  I had jars, and have seen all of the jar cakes floating around Pinterest, and have been looking for a reason to try them.

They were really easy to make, and they turned out really cute…and yummy.

To make your own, start with some little jars.  These are 4 oz. jelly jars.  I sprayed them with cooking spray, and placed them on a cookie sheet.  Next I made a cake mix, and then filled the jars.  I had enough batter to fill 24 jars and 24 slots in a mini muffin tin.

When they were done baking, I let them cool, then added some fresh strawberries, a dob of ganache, and some chocolate chips.  We added whipped cream just before serving them. 

I will definitely be experimenting with jar cupcakes again—the possibilities are endless.

Have you made jar cakes?  Which kinds are your favorite?

March Visiting Teaching Message {Bloom}

In March’s message, President Thomas S. Monson encourages us to “reach out and rescue those who need our help and lift them to the higher road and the better way.” He continues, “It is the Lord’s work, and when we are on the Lord’s errand…we are entitled to the Lord’s help.”

We can help our sisters find their way back to the gospel by being a friend and example, and by loving them.  Our love and friendship can help our sisters to BLOOM in the gospel.

For the message this month, I created a little booklet with the Visiting Teaching message from the Ensign in it.  I found some cute paper {a regular weight paper folds better than cardstock for this project}, and printed the message, then cut around the outside edge,

folded along the remaining lines, {if you are using cardstock, fold both directions.  Make sure your creases are sharp}

and used an exacto knife {scissors would work, too} to cut along the dotted line.

Fold into a booklet

{I used double stick tape to secure the insides of the book’s pages, but you don’t have to do this step if you don’t want}, attach to skewer or popsicle stick,

adorn,

and place it into a potted flower.

 Happy Visiting Teaching!