piggy cupcakes

It was Isabella's birthday, so I made cupcakes for the YW to match the theme of the lesson and my handout. First I made pigs out of Marzipan:They turned out cute:
The frosting was brown, looks a little greenish in the photo. It was a lot of rolling the Marzipan into little balls . . .

I followed the instructions found here.

Butter cream frosting - yum:

1 cup butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1-2 tsp milk

Cream together and frost.

Inve$tment

This week's YW lesson will be A Heritage of Righteous Traditions. I found a cool quote that says 'the time $pent with your family creating traditions is the greatest inve$tment you will ever make'. I added the dollar signs so I could make a piggy bank handout:

The pig graphic came from Stackable Crew, the tin containers I found at Specialty Bottle and the pink boa and pipe cleaner I got at Michaels Crafts. Jonathan cut into the tin can with a hack saw, the opening was too big for anything but a quarter. The nose of the pig is a separate piece - so it really looks dimensional with all different layers.

Jonathan asked me 'what do you think the girls do with all your handouts?' Think he's worried they don't appreciate the time it takes to design and make all of them?
Oh well, I still enjoy making them for the pleasure it brings me =) I think the pig is cuteness!

What can you do with a TP roll?

mod podge bracelets with cut outs from magazines =)

I didn't have the girls add beads/charms to theirs - but they are cute without too.

I cut each toilet paper roll into thirds and then slit out places for the ribbon to go through. Cut out images from magazines and mod podged it on - let it dry. Punch holes for the jump rings to hold charms or beads. I hot glued my ribbon and then tied it in a knot - does look cute with just a bow too. You could also finish the inside by mod podging another strip of paper on it.

Bookmarks with themes

My step-mom, Michelle, is going to Girl's Camp as a cabin mom in Oregon and they have 1 theme a day and asked me to make some bookmarks for her girls - so here they are for you to use too:

Super cute to add a ribbon at the top or a charm at the bottom of these!

Revelation - Take 5

I saw an idea where they used a Take 5 candy bar with this lesson because it had 5 points to ways to prepare to receive revelation. That's not good enough for me ;) I saw the lesson had 5 points on methods to receiving revelation too - so I got creative and put a letter with each of the main points and will use one on each side of the Take 5 candy bar - the 5 is an S in my case:

I used this layout to match the first handout I made and I'll give out as well.

Front and back of the candy bar:

Probably would have looked cuter if I would have used a red theme instead of blue . . . oh well =)

Fasting - get 'filled' with the Holy Ghost

I used the same layout from VT for July for my Fasting lesson in YW:

I am using the handout shaped like this to use on a take-out box:

And this on a pair of chopsticks - the kanji character is for pray - couldn't find one online (quick enough) for fasting:

I filled the take-out box with 3 fortune cookies dipped in white almond bark and sprinkles.

On the back of the take-out box I hot-glued a magnet (as well as the chop sticks at the top) so it can go on the fridge as a reminder when fasting =) But it doesn't hold up when the cookies are in it - too bad they'll have to eat the cookies first ;)

Maggie helped with this lesson, so she came over to make the handouts and dip the cookies with me!

Funnies

Scene: Sitting by the camp fire

Andrew: Do you want to sit here?

Me: No, I want to sit by my husband.

Andrew: That's not your husband!

Me: What is he then?

Andrew: {Pause . . . (thinking)}

Andrew: He's your step-husband!

LoL

I guess that makes sense since Jonathan is the boy's step-dad, he must be my step-husband ;)

Kids are too smart!

This is the fire that the kids built . . . and yes, the adults took some off before lighting it - LoL

Scene: Waiting for the fireworks to start

Andrew: Howl like a coyote

Me: {hooooooooooooooowlllllllllll, howl, howl, etc.}

Andrew: {looked at me}

Andrew: No, like a real coyote!

LoL

I guess I'll have to work on my howling technique ;)

Scene: Kitchen cutting strips of dough for little smokies - making pigs in a blanket

Me: {Using a knife to cut strips of dough}

Stacy: {gets out pizza cutter to make the process faster & better}

Me: ahhhh, I've never used a pizza cutter

Colten: What? You've never used a pizza cutter?

Kids are great for the soul!

There were more things that made me laugh, but I didn't write them down and I forgot them! So, write down the funny things your kids say because if you think you'll remember them all, you're wrong ;)

Dips . . . for chips and crackers

Nat's favorite dip and she even called grandpa Mike to get the recipe - she's been using it for every gathering since ;) I had to add some (okay as you can tell from the photo it's actually A LOT) of dill weed and it definitely made it perfect!

Dill Pickle Dip

1 cup low-fat mayo (Nalley's is the best!)

1 cup sour cream (Darigold)

3-4 tbsp dill weed

1/4 cup dill pickle juice (from the jar of pickles you're using)

10-15 pickles diced or chopped (I used Vlasic baby pickles because I am a pickle snob - hehe)

A little bit of cream cheese, mayo, parmesan cheese, fresh minced garlic, artichoke hearts, bacon, green onion, dill weed (surprised? hehe) and serve with crackers:

Slideshow - 1 song

Here's one song that I did for the slideshow at Girl's Camp - the whole slideshow was 1 hour long with more than 1000 pictures!

Would have liked to have done some effects or captions with some of these pictures - but time restraints prevented anything more fancy since we did the slideshow on the 3rd night of camp.

Jean Flower Corsage

We made these at Girl's Camp too:

You can wear them as a corsage, in your hair, on a bracelet - possibilities are endless:
Found the instructions here.

Washer Anklet or Bracelet

Here's another quick craft I did with the girls at camp:

They LOVED these the best. Some were able to make 2 and were SO happy! LoL

I bought the washers and hemp here. And the clasps, clamps, jump rings and charms here.

Lantern Jars

One of the girl's camp crafts we made this year:

Directions found here.

I used baby food jars so that part was free.

One of the YCL's, Clara, drew templates of hearts, flowers, stars, etc. and the girls traced the patterns out and cut them out of contact paper.

YCL key chains

The YCL's at Girl's Camp got to have their own craft that the other years didn't get to make:

Everyone's charms were the same, but the beads and background to the seahorses were different.

Hot Fudge Sauce

This recipe came from my friend Jodi - super yummy! Wish I had a picture of it over some ice cream . . . but I don't ;)

We had ice cream sundaes with the Bishop today for our lesson.

Melt together on stove top:

1 bag of caramels

1/3 cup milk

Add to melted caramel:

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate)

When chips are completely melted add:

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

Stir until smooth and refrigerate unless using right away.

Ribs you can eat with a fork

The bones fell off the meat . . . . NOT the meat fell off the bone ;)

I brined the ribs for about 48 hours in ice water in my cooler.

When I was ready to bake them, I rinsed them off (because of the salt water) and put them on plastic wrap and added my own barbecue sauce:

1 cup ketchup

1 can tomato sauce

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp liquid smoke

This recipe was enough for 2 huge things of ribs.

Seal the plastic wrap together (so the steam can tenderize the meat some more). Now add foil making sure there is no plastic wrap visible. Put them on a cooking sheet and baked them on 250 degrees for 8 hours. Ummmm, I don't like eating ribs because there's no meat on them and it's painful to get the meat off the bones. But these ribs were amazing!

The best Corn Bread out there . . . seriously! This recipe came from Stephanie :oÞ

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl, set aside.

1 cup cornmeal

3 cups flour

1 1/3 cups brown sugar (hers called for white sugar)

2 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Combine liquid ingredients:

2/3 cup oil (I always use Olive oil)

6 tbsp melted butter

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups milk (I used 2 cups milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream)

Blend together with dry ingredients.

Pour into greased 9x13 pan and bake on 350 degrees for 40 minutes. 
Makes great muffins too - bake regular size for 20 minutes and mini muffins for 15 minutes.

Honey Butter

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup powdered sugar

pinch of salt

Tis super yum!

girl's camp quilts

I cut sheets apart and sewed random pieces together for the tops and then used a corresponding flat sheet for the backing. The girls will tie them at camp!Solange sewed this one (and wanted to know how to get her name in the drawing for it). They really did turn out cuteness:
Then we give one away each night at camp by drawing a name or suggestions from the girls.
Thanks for all who voted earlier by posting a comment or sending an email!

Fat Chick

With all the cold, fall-like weather and rain me thinks this bird is overeating because it thinks winter is coming:

That or it eats when it's bored ;) LoL Still cute!

Happy Father's Day

I designed 4 Father's Day quotes with scrapbooking papers and elements and then matted them:

Then I added Jonathan's qualities with corresponding papers and framed it:

This is how it ended up looking:

I love how it turned out :oÞ Except I think I need to embellish where the blank spaces are . . . I wonder if I have time before I give it to him?

Revelation Handout

YW lesson #24 Manual 2 Revelation in our Daily Lives handout:I liked this quote - Prayer is the means by which man communicates with God. Revelation is the means by which God communicates with man.

Here is a handout idea to put on a Take 5 candy bar to go with this as well.
handout found at www.jackshandsjillsheart.com (only have to buy the image once, then print out as many copies as you need - but please don't share or redistribute the file - thanks!)

VT Message July 2010

Here's a handout for July's visiting teaching message - this image is also found here. Thank you for all of your amazing comments =)

Visiting Teaching message for July 2010 is Strengthening Families & Homes.

Father's Day Quotes

I designed these to use for a project for Jonathan. I'll post it on Saturday. Do you have a favorite? Mine is the one with the seahorse!

Teacher Appreciation

Brady & Keaton both took cookies to 5 of their 6 teachers on the last day of school but thought bringing them a card I designed was 'embarrassing':

So maybe someone else can use it . . . next year as I think school is out for everyone already ;)

Boboli Pizza

Here's my favorite way to eat Boboli Pizza:Take the crust and brush it with olive oil, add 10 cloves of minced garlic and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes - just watch it. The garlic will be sizzling and then you'll know it's time to add the cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan & Mozzarella over the garlic and place the crust back in the oven until the cheese is melted - about 5 minutes more. Remove from oven, add 1 diced avocado, 1 diced steak tomato & 2 diced artichoke hearts - so all these veggies remain uncooked. Cut into pieces and enjoy - yummy!

Bee Strong

I made a little tag for Sharon from South Africa to use for her stake Beehive handout but it could have other uses:

Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm!

This is the girl

that Brady likes . . . but if she has a copy of this picture, she might not want him pursuing her ;)

They were making faces for this pose - but I prefer hers over Bradys - haha

Family History Tag

I designed another Family History tag to go along with 'linking' - I made a metal mesh background:

(Here's the inside) and a link that's welded:

Here's the link for printing the handout.