Gorzal and the Hobsnatchers book

Well the past couple of weeks have been really busy as I've been helping my husband get his first children's book released for the Kindle...or in other words I haven't been able to get a look in on the laptop, haha!!  

So since I haven't had time for anything else I thought I'd share the book with you so I can get the vision of tumble weed blowing aimlessly through my blog out of my head, lol :)

Gorzal and the Hobsnatchers

(The Eiderworld Series)

I know I'm biased but I think it's a great story (and others think so too, which is always nice to hear!).  My husband wrote it for our four older children aged from 6-11 years...they really enjoyed the adventure, and the humorous bits had one of my daughters in a giggling fit.

Sorry, but my time is up for now....wow, that went quick!  Hopefully I will be able to get some more time on the laptop soon!!

Hope you enjoy this book as much as my friends, family and others have.

Family Chalkboard

Chalkboard paint is my new love at the mo, everything is getting plastered in it!!  I decided to make one for my brother & co. for Christmas with their family name across the top.  I think it turned out alright especially since I was making it up as I was going along.

After giving the wood three coats of chalkboard paint (my paint dried really quickly), I decided to use precut wooden letters for the name and stuck them on with my good ol' faithful hot glue gun.  I decided to keep my letters plain, but you could apply acrylic paint to add a bit of colour.

I then hunted around my local DIY store for something suitable for the chalk to sit on and found this piece of wood, I think it works quite well....sorry, I don't know what it is called but hopefully you'll be able to find something similar to it.  I used a hammer and nails to attach it, this was a bit fiddly to attach but luckily my husband was about to lend a hand...if not, you could always use the hot glue gun again??  At the back I attached a small sawtooth hanger.

Feedback...they love it and their kids can't stop writing messages on it, yeahhh, I love it when a plan comes together!!

Love Hearts

Just a quickie post, my kids made these for their school teachers and hid them in the classroom.  Super quick to make and with my hot glue gun at the ready the sweets actually made it to the card without being opened or nibbled at!....ok, we have a few spare packets to keep us going :)

I decided to make some for the sisters on my visiting teaching list too as they they are perfect for posting through the letterbox, it's always lovely to receive a nice note and a treat doesn't go amiss too!

General Conference Rocks!!

I've been hanging onto these leftover mosaic tiles from our bathroom just in case I could use them for something, and yep four years later and I've turned them into fridge magnets...woohoo, I don't know how I do it, lol!!?!

I used some masking tape to attach some tissue paper to card so that it would go through the printer (I got this idea from several blogs) but as you can see from my photo below my printer didn't seem to like this and chewed it up a tad.  Fortunately I managed to salvage a few squares so it wasn't a total failure :)  Your printer might be kinder, so you might be able to get a whole sheet??

I cut the non-smeared/chewed squares and stuck them onto the tiles using my DIY Mod Podge.  When they were dry, I trimmed off the excess tissue paper and used my hot glue gun to stick a magnet on the back....yep, I'm sat on my bed in my PJs making rock magnets, awww my kinda heaven :)

I used quotes/themes from General Conference for my rock magnets but you could use scriptures, children's names, a phrase...anything!!  As I was giving mine as a gift I made a little label for the top out of card, I  kept smirking at my play on words, haha!!

Rock on!!!!

I know it. I live it. I love it.

I loved Ann M. Dibbs talk at General Conference and as soon as I mentioned the story at the beginning of her talk about the girl in the T-shirt my kids remembered it too!!

Once we'd finished the story we all had a piece of paper with her chosen T-shirt statements on (I'm a Mormon. I know it. I live it. I love it), and we each wrote down how and why we knew it, lived it and loved it!  It was lovely to watch the children sit and think as they wrote down their feelings and answers to these simple but profound sentences.  I got all choked up as we shared what we had written down, we were basically sharing our testimonies of the gospel with each other...it was one of those special memories.

We each had a cut-out card T-shirt to decorate (on both sides if we wished) with either the words or drawings showing our beliefs....if you've got some old plain T-shirts laying around you could use these instead, or if you are a very hi-tech family you could design them on your computers and then print the designs onto T-shirt transfers.  I thought teenagers might enjoy the latter one, but as I have none yet I am only guessing??!!?!  It could also make quite a good activity for Faith in God too?

We finished the lesson by reading Sister Dibbs testimony at the end of her talk....

I have a testimony of our Heavenly Father’s great plan of eternal happiness. I know that He knows us and loves us. I know that He has prepared a prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, to encourage us and help guide us back to Him. I pray that each of us will put forth the effort to be able to confidently declare, “I’m a Mormon. I know it. I live it. I love it.”

For the treat I was soo excited when I found these mini football shirt biscuits, how perfect are they??!!?  And as with most of our FHE treats we had to cover them in lashings of frosting and hundreds of sprinkles...nom nom!!

I am a Child of God games

'Build a Beetle' is one of our family favourite games, so I thought I'd change it a bit to coincide with this years Primary theme, and we love it!!  Click on the link below to download the game and the instructions and get drawing some crazy stick people :)

Click here to download files for

I am a child of God game and Instructions

If you would like an easier version of the game, I found a similar type of game on Pinterest.  I downloaded the image and then typed the words above... 

gingerbread dice game

kinziekreations

I laminated both games to make them more durable and to save on photocopying...and the added bonus is that my kids love using the felt tips and then rubbing them out...the simplest of things amuse my kids!!?!

I am a child of God Totes

Include a die and felt tips and you have a great pressie and activity for all ages.  If you want to be extra crafty you can also make a 'I am a child of God' tote for the game to go in too.