A little Craft Mojo

Not sure how I found a little bit of my lost Craft Mojo but I did. And it kind of exploded!!! I've created some super crafty things lately. I'm so excited about them. I forgot how happy it makes me to be creating! Love it!

Snowman Pillow made from flannel

 Carrot from straws and Easter Eggs from crochet thread

 I love this Sign!!! I painted it on a canvas to make it look like wood.

 My USA Map I did with my friends

 And of course my latest Make & Take Project- Risen Tile

 I bought this 2 items and then wrote on it. But it is so cute 

that several of my friends bought them and had me write on them as well. 

I am loving chalkboards lately. They make me so happy!

I'm collecting things to decorate my wall above my stairs. I finally printed off this family picture of when we did our own Groundbreaking Ceremony on our new house. Then I added a cute vinyl saying: "Wherever we are Together- We are Home!" I love it!

Yeah for Craft Mojo!

St. Paddy's Day

Our "Lucky" Holiday came and went before I could even process. Crazy! But we did dress up for an annual festive picture.

And made a fun GREEN dinner with a little gold for everyone!

Also...
I did decorated the house with all my cute rainbows and green and gold stuff. But somehow we took it all down before I realized I didn't take any pictures. Here's proof though that I now have to get all back into the boxes. LOL

I do love all the Holidays!

TOFW in Idaho

This weekend I had the privilege of attending another TOFW with 2 of my favorite girlfriends in Idaho Falls.

After I drove down, got my stuff settled at Amber's & did a little girl shopping- we met up with Brooke & her sisters for dinner. They're some fun ladies!

Amber and I headed over to save seats at the Event Center. It was fun to be able to sit by everyone. At the end of that evening, I also got to go down to the stage and meet Hilary Weeks. I love her so much! Her songs speak to my heart. She's amazing! What beautiful ladies to be with.

We also did lunch together on Saturday. It was super nice of Brooke & her family to let Amber & I tag along with them. Brooke lost both her parents this last year. I can't even imagine how hard it has been for her. But what a legacy all these beautiful women are to her parents and the lives they lived. I felt very privileged to be in their presence.

It was a fabulous TOFW event. The speakers were so perfect for my life right now.
Just a little of what I got out of my time here-

FRIDAY NIGHT

Hilary Weeks: Music Artist Hold on/Never Hold back in regard to Compliments. Advise: Always look up. Don't forget that you're already enough. Pick up the phone when you're missing home.

Michael McLean: My Unexpected Encounter with Jesus Maybe God is speaking to you differently than He has before. He talked about his father's funeral- With how great the Father is- He left His Son to do His work alone. If we've ever felt abandoned- we are in good company!-(ex. Joseph Smith, John the Baptist, Michael McLean, Jesus Christ)

Mary Cook: Living Your Circumstances Choose your love & love your Choice! Live gratefully. Live Ye! Ezekiel 18:32 Where's your focus? Serve Others

SATURDAY

Alissa Parker: Discovering the Angels Around You Read the talk Ministering Angels by Jeffery Holland Oct 2008. Do you see it?? We are all connected!

Calee Reed: Music Artist The Break always comes before the blossom. Put the glass down!- How heavy burdens feel depends on how long we hold them on our own

Mary Ellen Edmunds: I Am Well If You Are Well We help someone & it helps us. Love One Another. Mosiah 18:9-10 Meet together Oft- Know what's going on with each other

Tim Ballard: Being a Light When darkness knocks- I will be able to knock it back! If you shine your light- Darkness can;'t be there. By small & simple things- great things come to pass

Emily Watts: Motherhood: Am I Doing it Right? In Principles- Great Clarity/ In Practices- Great Charity Parenting of God: Allows consequences to come but doesn't stop loving us. Take a picture & laugh about it! Principles: 1: My twin top priorities are God & my family 2: Love Wins  3: God can help me but I have t let Him in

We also had the opportunity to participate in a Service project to make Alphabet Flash Cards for Refugees.We did a lot of coloring while we listened to the speakers!

I am so glad I was able to go this weekend. I laughed, I cried, I shared, I served. I am so grateful for Amber & Brooke in my life and the chance I had to get reacquainted with them at such an awesome event. Love you ladies!!! XO Let's not let 7 years go by before we share this experience again!

TOFW: Girlfriends are the Best! & Remembering the Past

I just love Amber and Brooke!!! I have missed them so much! We picked up like not a day has pasted. I loved every minute. We laughed so hard!!! We cried! We crafted! Best weekend ever!!! Love you ladies!!!
It was also so fun to stay at Amber's new place and get reacquainted with her little family. They are all getting so big. It's so crazy to see her with a little one again. What a cute boy!

This weekend, we also got reminiscing about the old days and went back to see when we first started going to TOFW. It was 9 years ago!!! Can you believe that????? We must be OLD!!! LOL

I hadn't even starting blogging when we 1st went. BUT that doesn't mean I didn't take tons of pictures. LOL! So... in honor of our 9th Anniversary- I wrote up a post about it just for you. ;)

Our very 1st TOFW we attended was in 2007in Minneapolis, MN. Read about it HERE.

We went again in 2009. I had started blogging so this one is super detailed. Read about-
Getting Down there HERE.
Friday night HERE.
Partying all night HERE.
Saturday HERE.
Sweet Memories HERE.

I love the memories!!!!!

TOFW: Craft Night

What get together with my 2 best creative buddies would be complete without doing a craft project??

A couple weeks ago- Amber sent me an idea of this US map done with fabric that maybe we could do together while I visited her in Idaho. So cute! Let's do it!

So I started getting things together and deciding how I would tweak it to make it my own. (Cuz I'm a tweaker! LOL)
I have this frame that my dad gave me that I swapped out for one that went better with my decor but wanted to use this one as well since it was a gift from him. It seemed the perfect size to fit my new project. I visited my favorite little print shop and had them blow up a map for me that would fit. And printed a even bigger one for Amber.

I began by hanging my map on the window backwards so that I could trace it and make the "wrong" side of the states visible to trace later. Then I thought that if I just traced my pieces on wonder under- then I'd be ahead enough that I could help Amber with hers when I got there. It made me realize that we needed the maps printed backwards. So I made another trip to have them print them backwards for me. It saved tons of time!! Plus I numbered all of them in the order they should be laid on the background to make them all fit.

It was so cute sitting there all traced that it was practically begging me to find fabric for it! So I did. I was just going to pick out the fabric to take down with me.

But somehow my iron just needed me to put those shapes on the right fabric. LOL Besides can you imagine how much less stuff I have to pack if I don't have to take all of those piles of fabric down?? (that's what I told myself) Then it led to cutting them out so I could see how cute they were. Then that led to thinking- how would I get them all down there without losing some of the tiny pieces. That's logical, right?

Needless to say- I just couldn't help myself! I ironed them on. Then decided to just quickly sew around them all so they wouldn't fall off.

So.. yes! I basically just finished it before I even left for ID. Dang! I must have a disease. At least it's a "finisher" disease, right?
It did make me super excited to go down and see what my friends maps would look like. And in hind sight- it was way helpful to have a knowledge of what to do. Plus I was totally free to help them cut, trace, iron, etc. Super helpful since we are not the night owls we used to be!!!

Here's our little craft retreat in the basement of Amber's place. So much fun!!! I miss sewing and crafting with these ladies!!! SOOOO much! Love you gals! XO (Plus our little cooler buddy that hung out with us)

After returning home- I decided to add some words and get mine all in the frame! It turned out so darling!!! A perfect decor for July! Can't wait!!!

Family POWER Boards

We have really struggled this last year or so as to the best way to combat the "Electronic Zombies" that live in our home. It seriously is so hard to allow kids to enjoy and experience this day and age's technology with out being completely taken over! I finally came up with these Family POWER boards. (like BINGO except I wanted it to be a little more meaningful) Everyday the kids have to do their normal things- like homework and chores and dinner jobs but then additionally they have to do 3 things off their POWER boards before they can get on their electronics. For every 5 in a row they complete- they earn a treat from our Family POWER candy jar. If they go the extra mile and get a blackout- there is a special treat in store. It will be different incentive every week but we are thinking of things like *king-size candy bar *date night with mom & dad *gift card to favorite store *stay up late for a movie/snuggle with mom & dad *etc. Also- every week, we wipe the boards off and switch them so it's always new and exciting, right? Wish us luck for our new adventure in parenting!
I thought for sure the older kids would fight me about it but so far everyone's participating. It's helped us all be a little more productive & active. Go family power!!!

Here's the boards I made on my scrapbook program. So fun!

Quotes are all different. I love them!

"By small means, the Lord can bring about great things."

" If you let HIM be the leader of your family, things WILL work out!"

"Try & keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible."

The past is behind, LEARN from it. The future is ahead, PLAN for it. The present is here, LIVE it.

Justice's Hideout Bed

When we moved into our house, Justice ended up with no bed. He had an idea of what he wanted but it required Brett & him to make it themselves. They wrote up a plan, bought the wood and then time got away from us. The last couple weeks, we have resurrected our vision. The kids & I have been doing a lot of painting lately.

(No pictures to show but...) Then Brett & Justice spent Saturday putting it all together. They have a couple missing pieces for a headboard and the protective side boards but it's sturdy and complete enough to use! Justice & I then put up some faux leather we'd bought a couple years ago to make his bed into a hidden fort.The whole bottom is open underneath. You have to get into the hideout by climbing in the end. We made it so it can roll up to reveal a small doorway underneath the support bar. Justice LOVES it!!!!

Make & Take Tiles

I had my 2nd Make & Take tonight. We made these 6 x 6 tiles for Easter. Not as many came this time because of other conflicts. But love getting together with these ladies. Fun times!

Organizing is my Calling

Last year, after my Richard passed away and I lost my job, I found myself with no spending money and a whole lot of time on my hands. In perfect timing, a friend of mine was looking for someone to do a little organizing of her home. I had some free time and could use a little fun money so it worked out perfectly. I have discovered that Organizing is my Calling in life. It makes me sooo happy!!!! I seriously look forward to diving in- making a mess and putting it all back so it looks awesome! Call me crazy but I love it!!!

Although Brett is always giving me a hard time because I forget to take any "before" pictures. I just get too excited to get started, I guess!!! Too funny!

Black Hands

We have the Payne kids over every Wednesday while their parents serve at Church. The kids have a great time together! (except when barbie body parts start getting pulled off or fire alarms scare the crap out of everyone! LOL) Tonight, the kids helped me with a painting project. They got a little wild and painted more than my boards. Silly kids! Glad they were willing to help me though & had a little creative fun!

Laminating Queen

I volunteer every Wednesday at the school. Every other week I rotate between Victoria and Glory's classes. Last year I was the Copy Queen but this year, I've been promoted???? to the Laminating Queen. All the teachers know that on Wednesdays, I'll be in the teacher's lounge- laminating!!! ;) And all the kiddos know that I'll be at lunch with my girls. It's so fun to spend time with them!

Victoria's Double Digit Bday

Victoria turned 10 today!!! Can you believe that???? We are so lucky to have her as a part of our family! She's like the glue that keeps us all together.

We celebrated by a special breakfast of Pancake Sandwiches. Justice helped make eggs. We baked up some bacon and put them all on little pancakes. Yum! Oh yes! We also had "mangos! mangos! mangos!"

We had lots of fun gifts for her birthday. She requested Shopkins, shoes, basketball shorts, candy, frosting, boots, etc. 

She opened some in the morning and most at the evening with the family!

For dinner, we made her chicken, potatoes & gravy, broccoli, avocados and raspberries.
For dessert, we sang to her over ice cream sundaes and cookies.

We have the great privilege to be this girls parents. We are seriously so lucky to have her in our lives. She is so smart!! She's creative and kind and brave and loving and funny and peaceful and gorgeous! Love this girl! XOXO

Nine Year Old Memories

For our super sweet, creative, beautiful girl-

Victoria's Nine Memories

* Favorite Color: Still pink
* Friends- 3rd Grade- McKenzie, Jadyn, Sophie & Aspynn; 4th grade- Sophie, Jayden R, Clara, and Kaylee, Other friends- the Weaver girls & the Payne kids
* Very creative- learned oil painting, make puff balls, drawing notes for everyone
* Had a part in the Missoula Children's Theater- The Little Mermaid
* Visited Hawaii & Seattle and the Lewis & Clark Caverns
* Loves to swim
* Learned to Ski
* Perfected the Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
* Won the Dear Author Award- she won $150 for her school & a Kindle Fire