Primary Sharing Time Jan- week 2

I always feel like I want to share any ideas I have with others. Today's post may be too late to help many folks, but since I was sick most of the week this is when you get it.

My responsibility as Primary 1st counselor is to not only write the Sacrament meeting program but to do the 2nd week sharing time. I'm frequently at a loss with the small amount of help from the 2015 outline so I have to search for other ideas.

I hope this can help others in their calling.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God

I will follow the outline in the Primary sharing time booklet for week 2.

For Jr Primary I will have additional pictures of Jesus displayed. We will talk about Jesus, who is the Son of God and read the scriptures outlined. Then sing Tell Me The Stories of Jesus.

I will pass out these small coloring books to the children and let them draw their own pictures of their favorite stories of Jesus.

You should be able to right click the image and do a save as. Then print on your computer. I printed mine on 8.5 x 11.  Then added one blank sheet of paper and  cut both papers in thirds horizontally, fold in half and staple on the fold.

Noel Sign and Barnwood Christmas Trees Tutorial

My very crafty friend, Breanne, recently posted her darling Noel sign and wood Christmas trees on Facebook and offered to host a craft day to make them. I was so impressed with my finished products that I asked her if I could write up a tutorial for these cute porch decorations!

Sadly, I don't have any *in the making photos* to share (it was freezy-cold that day!) but I think with the directions and a few illustrations you can figure it out.

Noel Sign

Materials needed-
• 3- 4 foot x 1x4” boards (I got the good grade at Home Depot and didn’t have to do any sanding)
• 3- 9-10” x 1x2” boards
• Letters N O E L cut from Contact paper using a Cricut machine. Mine are about 8" wide (I suppose you could print letters on a computer, trace them on the Contact paper and hand cut)
• White acrylic paint (Keep in mind that you can buy the 4oz size of *trial* paint and have them custom mix your colors. I used the Behr paint and primer in one for this since I already had it)
• Red acrylic paint (I ended up using some old craft acrylic paint I had on hand. It needed two coats and I used the better part of 3- 4oz bottles)
• Staples and air compressor stapler OR other fasteners- screws etc
• Wood glue
• Paint stirrers (to be used as spacers)

Clamp all three 1”x4” boards together and trim the ends flush, only taking off a small amount so your boards are all even.

Place boards; face down, on a table or other flat surface. Make sure that the ends are all even. Use paint stirrers as spacers between the boards. Place one of the 1” x 2” x 9-10” boards horizontally. Adjust to fit the width of your sign. (My finished sign, with spaces, measured 10.5”). Spread a small line of wood glue under the cross-wise 1x2”, then staple support to back of sign with several staples. Repeat for remaining supports.

Paint the front, top and sides of the sign white. Allow paint to dry for several hours. (I have to go do something else or I get too impatient!)

Before peeling the back off of your contact paper do some preliminary spacing of the letters. When you are satisfied, remove the back and stick them to the sign.

Now here is the *Auntie P Trick*... with only a small amount of white paint on your brush, paint around the edges of the contact paper. The white paint will seep under the edges of the contact paper where it hasn’t adhered to the sign and prevent the RED paint from bleeding under. Ha! She is a genius! (You can use this trick anywhere with painter’s tape too!). Let the paint dry. (Step away from the sign!)

Now paint the front, sides and top with red paint. It may take two coats depending on your type of paint.

When dry carefully peel off the contact paper and viola! White letters on a red sign!

Barnwood Christmas Trees

Materials needed-
• Old weathered wood or pallets- any width (mine are 1x4”)
• Staples and air compressor staple gun OR other fasteners, screw, etc
• Wood glue
• The ability to cut 45° angle with a compound miter saw, or a miter box and hand saw, or cut them free-hand using a saw (that might add to the charm)

Choose a board for the upright (trunk**) part of your Christmas tree that will be as tall as you would like (as you can see, I did two different sizes)

Cut the top piece (branch) of the tree by making two 45° angle cuts to form a triangle. Flip the board vertically to make the second cut.

Measure the bottom of the triangle. Subtract 2” from that number. That will be the length of the top of second branch.

The length of the top of the NEXT branch will always be 2” shorter than the bottom of the PREVIOUS branch.

Continue cutting, remembering to flip the board vertically until you have as many branches as desired.

Starting with the top piece run a bead of wood glue on the *trunk* under that branch, then staple in place. I used a paint stirrer to get the spacing even between branches. When you’ve finished attaching of all your branches leave your tree flat until the glue has dried or it will run.

** With my first tree I didn’t cut the top of the trunk to form a triangle and since my wood is old and brittle the top piece split :(. On the smaller tree I cut the top of the trunk to give the whole piece support)

Baby-Fiona Month Stickers

I mentioned that I'd made month stickers for Fiona. I finished months 1-8 yesterday before going to take her photos for month 1. Today, after preparing for Primary sharing time this Sunday, I finished up months 9-12.

I started collecting digital scrapbook papers, elements, etc. about five years ago. I have the most wonderful

never-gets-used-up-stash EVER!

I'm still amazed at the generosity of so many talented designers. Almost all of my digital papers were FREE or at a very low cost.

I incorporate polka-dots into each design and each month corresponds with the holiday of that month (ie-Fiona will be three months old in December- so red and green). I am so pleased with the results!

I made a layer template (thank you Jessica Sprague for all of the wonderful classes I took with you! I learned SO MUCH!!)

If anyone is interested I will share my template with them. Sadly I don't feel that I can share the finished stickers since I drew from so many people's digital work.

The nice thing about the digital template is that you just open it in PhotoShop then drag your digital papers above the mask and *clip* the paper to the mask.

** AND I believe in giving credit, where credit is due...

1-  Shabby Princess French Countryside FrenchCountryside_SP_paper (1).jpg & FrenchCountryside_SP_paper (6).jpg

2-  Misty Mareda @ Little Dreamer Designs mmareda_paper5.jpg, Shabby Princess FrenchCountryside_CR_paper (3).jpg

3-  Designer Digitals Jen Adams Donnelly Giving Thanks- JAD_20061112_AdChallenge_Grateful.jpg & JAD_20061112_AdChallenge_Thankful.jpg

4-  Sweet Shoppe Designs Carnival dmogstad-carnival-paper.jpg, Dirty Feet Designs aka Heather Benson (the best I could find here was a Facebook page that MIGHT be this designer) dfd-dotsgrunge-p8.jpg

5-  Shabby Princess SP_SeasonalSampler_Amore_Paper_Hearts.jpg, & SP_SeasonalSampler_Amore_Paper_Stripes.jpg

6-  Designer Digitals Jackie Eckles Breathe Nature: JHE_BreatheNature_Paper6.jpg & JHE_BreatheNature_Paper7.jpg

7- Designer Digitals Dana Zarling dz-adchall-5-4-paper2.jpg, Shabby Princess SP_RummageChic_Paper_Plaid.jpg

8-  Shabby Princess SP_OliviaCollection_Paper_VanillaFloral.jpg, Designer Digitals Jackie Eckles Breathe Nature JHE_BreatheNature_Paper7.jpg

9- Shabby Princess SP_SpringBreeze_Paper_BigCircles.jpg & SP_SpringBreeze_Paper_Stripes.jpg

10- ScrapArtist Mystery Scrap Challenge (this is what I have for the TOU but couldn't find a website) SA_muse_gmiller-acidrainbow-paper.jpg, Shabby Princess ShabbyP_Celebrate_StripedPaper.jpg

11-  Sweet Shoppe Designs Carnival: hroselli-carnival-paper-dots.jpg & aslagle-carnival-paper.jpg

12-  Jessica Sprague Type+Writer online class kit: NotebookCoordinates-1.jpg, & KHMize-PacificPoint-Stripes.jpg

(Whew, do you have any idea how long it takes to note each of these? But not nearly as long as it took these wonderful individuals to create them!)

Zuppa Toscana

I made this recipe for Zuppa Toscana a few nights ago and it was a marvelous hit!!! It is a wonderful rich, hearty soup. If you like Olive Garden's zuppa you will love this. I tweaked the original recipe to make on the stove top instead of in a crockpot.

Zuppa Toscana **

1 lb. Italian sausages (use spicy to get that signature Olive Garden flavor)
4-6 russet potatoes, diced
1 onion, chopped
1/4 c. REAL bacon pieces (optional)
2 Tbsp minced garlic (about 3-4 cloves)
32 oz. chicken broth
1 c. water
1 c. kale or Swiss chard, chopped
1 c. heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp flour

Brown sausage links and onion in a sauté pan. Cut links in half lengthwise, then cut slices.

Place diced potatoes, garlic, water, and chicken broth in large dutch oven or pot. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until potatoes are almost tender. Add sausage and onions and continue cooking until potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes. Whisk together flour into cream removing lumps. Add cream and chopped kale to the crock pot, stir.
Cook another 5-10 minutes until broth is thickened. Add more cream if desired.

BEST. SOUP. EVER!!!!




** Disclaimer: I got this recipe (and photo) from Facebook posted by Jessica Lee Anderson. I don't know if she *cooked-up* this recipe or was reposting. What I do know is that this is wonderfully yummy soup and you should make some.

Paper Snowflake Tut

I frequently get bitten by a creative bug... this time it is cutting paper snowflakes. Remember doing this as a child? I do and I loved it! I saw one pin on Pinterest that became my muse. I did some Google searches and found more sites that taught *how-to* and gave design ideas. (Go HERE if you want to see them)

How could you NOT love a fun and inexpensive craft like this?  This is my second paisley designed snowflake (read on to find out what happened to the first one)



So here we go... you'll need a few simple tools: You must have scissors, pencil and paper! Optional- an exacto-knife, paper cutter, eraser, a little trash can and cutting mat.



Start by folding a corner of an 8.5" x 11" piece of white paper diagonally to the edge so you have a triangle with an extra strip down one end. I just use cheap copy paper.

EDIT- This link is included in the previous group above, but I just tried Tom's way of folding the paper and like it better than the one shown here. Take a look HERE.



Cut off that extra strip.  Scissors work just fine, but I have my handy-dandy paper cutter that I like to use.  (You can cut a bunch of paper in 8.5" squares if you want to speed up the process)



Now fold that big triangle in half again.



Now here is the important step... we want to make 6-pointed snowflakes, just like nature. To do this you have to make the next fold at a 30 degree angle (one third of 90 degrees). I figured out with my quilting ruler that on this size square that 30 degrees is just a titch over 3" from the double folded side.  Make a little pencil mark at 3".



My paper cutter has two blade, a cutting blade and a scoring blade, so I used the scoring blade to score the line. You don't have to do this (or you can do it with a ruler and a stylus). I find that it is easier for me to make straight folds this way... but I do tend to be a bit picky. You can just wing it and fold it without scoring.



Fold along the scored line from the point to the mark.



Open the side you just folded in and fold the other side into the fold line. (I scored this one too)



Trim off the extra points.



Now you are ready to draw on your design... or just start cutting. Be sure to leave some of the folded edges intact. Remember you have to have a continuous line to keep all of your snowflake together. (I learned the hard way!) Now comes the fun! Start cutting. What kind of scissors you use is totally personal preference.



Now this is the tricky part- carefully cut out your design. This is quite easy and straight forward if you don't have any inside cuts. I use a hole punch or an exacto-knife to get a start on these inside cuts. I find that sometimes it is easier to open the layers and only cut a couple at a time.  Do whatever works for you.



Oh, but be so careful if you use a knife! Don't be like me and bleed on your snowflake.



When you've finished your cutting (you'll notice I make changes as I cut) you can gently erase your pencil marks. But be so careful. If you make light marks they hardly show up on the finished snowflake.



And again with the carefully... unfold your finished snowflake carefully, frequently the cutting sticks the edges together. Ta-da!



I can't like all of the folds so I iron my snowflakes. Use a dry, hot iron. Don't slide the iron, pick it up and move it to a new area. Sliding will rip your creation.



Now go tape your beautiful snowflake on the window! But if you want to take the screen off of the window DO IT BEFORE YOU TAPE ON YOUR SNOWFLAKES! (You don't want to open the window if you have snowflakes on the dead pane).

This is what is left of my first paisley snowflake and its star-studded friend. Don't be like me... sniff...

"Take A Picture..."

"... it will last longer!!"

We all know that playground taunt when one is stared at. But today I have a very real need for that advice! I'm making another wedding quilt! Spencer and Deborah are getting married on November 12th!

I asked them for their color choices and received an answer that "I can live with"... BROWN & GREEN! Oh my, how I love that color combination. It may be hard to part with this lovely when I'm finished.

My problem comes in the fact that when I want to make a scrappy-looking quilt, you know the kind that looks totally random, I'm not able to just approach it in a random way. What would happen if two block of the same color got positioned together? No, NO, NO... that will never do for an OCD girl like me.

So out comes my design wall (read- a large flannel sheet tacked up on the wall) and hours of careful placement and arrangement. But when you are talking about 336 pieces of fabric do you know how easily that design wall plan ends up in a muddled mess... I speak from experience here... it happens with too much regularity to suit me. So after having a minor anxiety moment I devised a plan. Not a new plan, of course, I've used it before with great success.

TAKE A PICTURE... IT WILL LAST LONGER...

I took photos of the design wall, from left to right of the first half of the quilt (yes, it is king sized), then uploaded them to my computer. Luckily I have a laptop, so I brought it in, set it up on the end of the ironing board and referred to it for careful RE-placement of my design. (Notice that my design wall has to turn a corner... that's what happens when you think sew big!)



I take one row at a time and stack the pieces on my ironing board, still arranged in my carefully placed blocks. I chain piece the three sub-segments together.  This is an offset block it goes together in two steps. When I get to the second step where I sew segments A & B together I pin their companion segment C to them to avoid more confusion!



Now you may wonder why I'm writing all of this out so carefully. Yes, I love to share good ideas... but mostly it is because next time I get into that minor anxiety moment and I'm thinking "I sure wish I could remember how I solved this problem last time" I will have the answer right here on my blog.

256- Grape Tendril

I started my grape harvest on Saturday. It took me a minute to remember that, this time of year the days start to run together. We picked 5 3-gallon buckets of grapes; all of which have been given away, devoured or turned into raisins. And that 5 buckets barely scratched the surface.



So today found me out there again in need of a machete! Those vines are crazy! I trimmed some of them so I could get to the grapes from the sidewalk side of the fence. I will wait until early spring to trim the inside. Can you believe that this little stretch of grape vines is so prolific?



What a blessing to have fresh garden produce to share! Can't you just taste the sweetness of these lovelies?

254- Drive-by Fruiting

I never cease to be amazed at the bounty that my little scant quarter acre of land produces!

Of course, this is harvest time and my favorite thing to do is share my bounty with others. Some years we have more than others but even in the *lean* years we have way too much for just the two of us.

So today I called Kevin-Kay's folks to see if they wanted some peaches. Then I made up *drive-by fruiting* boxes for our kids in Orem. I knew that Doug's family has a plethora of peaches so I took them a 3-gallon BYU Creamery ice cream bucket filled with grapes. The boxes went to Camille and Kevin and Desi and Alex.

237- Miserly

I find myself feeling miserly this last couple of weeks with my photos. I don't want to just throw them all up there on one day... or perhaps not at all.

For example, I haven't shared with you the photo of my finger after I tried to clump it off with the splitting maul last Tuesday or the *now it's healing photo*. You will all probably thank me for that one.

Yesterday Gordon and I went to $2 Tuesday at Thanksgiving Point to see the gardens. It was a perfect day weather wise... a high of 82. We've yet to see 100 degrees here in Springville and Salt Lake City has only had 2 100+ degree days this summer. And living where we do in the Wasatch Range we won't be getting any more 100 degree days this year, thank goodness.

So today I share a beautiful coleus. It is one of my favorite plants whether inside or out. So pretty, so vibrant... and this one? with zebra stripes... perhaps my favorite yet.


FONT- Albemarle Swash, ACTION- DPMoms Perfect Workflow,(A2D)_LomoV2, BRUSH- RhonnaFarrer_2ps_SnapShot_Horizontal6, FRAME- (made from brushes) RhonnaFarrer_2ps_SnapShotOVERLAY- Sun Shower (right)

Come back tomorrow and I will show you some more garden photos.

244- Grapes

Early this spring I posted a photo of my bare grape vines. I likened them unto the Savior, who is the true vine, from whom we receive strength and nourishment.

This year I have been blessed with a bumper crop of grapes. So far there I've picked a strawberry flat full for the grandkids and neighbors have filled 7-8 five-gallon buckets!... and there are still gobs of grapes left.

I went out this morning and got the light coming in through the grape arbor... what a beautiful sight. As I've worked on this photo (and the new Sept frame) and done housework I've reflected on how easy it is to share the "fruit of my vines" but am I as quick to share the "Fruit of the True Vine"? I hope that I am.

037 Sprinkles

(If you normally read my blog in a reader you may need to go to my blog to see the photos today. For some reason they aren't showing up on the reader... sorry)
This morning I was talking on the phone with my sister watching the rain from my workroom window. I have this little lake [you've heard of Lake Louise? well, this one is Lake Lewis ;)]. I love to watch the raindrops hit my little lake and create their concentric circles.

I threw on my coat over my pj's, still on the phone, and went out to the middle of the street to squat down and get *just that right shot*. [do you suppose anyone saw me? do I care? apparently not!]

Then I tried out a defogging technique by Noel Culbertson... oh my,did it every make a wonderful difference! I love the way it pulled out the details (thus, getting rid of the fog!) I am always so heartened by the generosity of so many talented people who freely share their talents with the rest of us. You know... there really are LOTS of good people out there! I am so thankful that I know that!



This is the view from my workroom window... have I mentioned before how much I love it?