General Conference Oct 2014

I can't believe how quickly Conference comes around!!  

Yesterday my lovely friend (who's three days away from having her sixth child!!) invited a group of us to her house and let us loose on all her craft items to make conference bags/activities for our kids...it kept mine quiet for the majority of one of the sessions which was brill :)

I had Conference Booklets printed for our notes this year, even my four year old was keen to have one....he's filled pages with lots of lovely letters.  My six year old was chuffed to bits with his drawing of a Minecraft scene on the back cover...well at least they are listening??!?

After Conference I was just downloading some of my photos off my phone and spotted this one, and thought it went perfectly with a quote from President Uchtdorf's talk.

Can't wait for tomorrow :)

Temples are more than stone and mortar

Boo hoo, ohhh how I missed blogging!! 

Recently I've been extra busy with family, work and church, but hopefully over the summer (if the kids will let me) I'll be able to start sharing some of the things I've been up to recently.

But in the meantime, here's a photo I took of the Preston Temple with a great quote from Thomas S. Monson.

I'll be in touch soon, woohoo!!

Daniels in the Lion's Den FHE

My 7 year old daughter organised our lesson for FHE (Family Home Evening) and she did an amazing job, and yes, she did it all by herself!!  It was sooooo simple, but it was really effective and worked for ALL our family aged from 12 to 3 years...and yes, my husband and I are older than 12 years of age, but maybe not mentally, haha!! ;)

This is the script that she read to explain her lesson, in case you can't read it I've typed it out below, spelling mistakes and all...

'Ok.  So this is a kind of game but it is a listening game so you have to listen very carefuly.  

So if I say lion you get down on the floor with your hands and feet, and ROAR as loud as you can, 

but not that loud so you crack a window.  

And the next rule is when I say Daniel you sit down if your a boy and when you sit down you cross your legs.  

And if I say King all the girls act posh like a queen, but you can't be one because their weren't a girl in the story.'

Love it!!! She inserted an additional action for when she said 'Daniel', the boys would have to fold their arms (as well as crossing their legs) so that it would look like they were praying.

She then held up the picture from our Gospel Art Box to show everyone, and then commenced reading the story that is printed on the back....and that was it (told you it was simple).

It was heaps of fun and everybody listened very intently to the story, so that they wouldn't miss out any of the acting.  Our lions got a tad ferocious at one point during the reading and attacked daddy, haha...and by the end of the story everyone was acting out all the parts named.

She was really proud of herself at the end of it all, and so she should be.  It really was such a lovely night and everybody loved her lesson and EVERYBODY got involved, no tears tonight (woohooo!), just lots of KugAlls!!

ps I've checked store.lds.org and I can't find the Gospel Art Box listed anymore (the Gospel Art book doesn't have the words on the back of the pictures)....but you could use the script from this Old Testament Stories (it's not as long though).

Bespoke Notepads

At Christmas I was trying to think what we could give to our children's teachers that would be 'homemade' but wouldn't take too much time as I was really busy with several large assignments at church.

So the cogs got rolling, and I thought why not design an image on photoshop and then get it printed on a notepad.....and of course I got carried away with myself and ended up making quite a few of them (and I'm still getting bespoke orders now!).

I then attached a small pencil using ribbon or twine and then put the pad in a cellophane bag, to some I put some adhesive magnetic strip so that they could be used on their fridge.

You could easily use a word processor to design something bespoke for a teacher, family or friend....or for you!!

These notepads have been great for Christmas presents for teachers, friends and families...and have helped put a few extra pennies in my pocket too :)

If you live in the UK, here's my facebook page where you can buy these notepads along with other things that I've created...the page is called KugAlls Kreations.

I also have a facebook page to go alongside this blog (I haven't got around to finding out how to do a facebook icon to this blog yet), so for now here's the link to KugAlls.

P.E.G.S. bag

Here's another gift that I gave at Christmas, this time to my mum :)

Being one of eleven children and number eight in line, my mum has received lots of lovely presents over the years and has a house full of Willow Tree figures (I would have a small collection, but I'm currently down to one!...my kids love looking/playing/touch them, oh well).

So I tried to think of something that my mum would use most days, that would make her smile, and let her constantly know how much we love her, especially as we are a five hour drive away!!...Basically, I wanted to give her a big KugAll in a pressie.

And hey presto, the cogs got working and I came up with the idea for a P.E.G.S. bag...Positive Expressions Generate Smiles!!

click here for to download

 P.E.G.S. image

You need to print the image onto a medium weight fabric, by ironing freezer paper to the back to help stiffen it up so it will go through your printer like a piece of paper...here's the link to my post 'How to print on fabric using your printer'.

I was sooo excited when I was making this and then getting the kids to write on the pegs what they loved about Grandma, and of course I had to write on some too...I couldn't believe I was having one of my excited, clapping my hands with joy moments over a peg bag and some pegs, haha!!

My mum absolutely loved it, and she can't wait for this lovely English weather to brighten up so that she can use them...and if that doesn't happen any time soon, I'll be making her an indoor washing line for her Christmas present next year, haha!! ;) 

Quick and Easy tips for PEGS bag...

• buy a peg bag, print off the PEGS image onto your fabric, and then sew on the front.
• buy a peg bag, and use a sharpie pen to write the phrase on.

When I count my blessings plaque

I originally saw this quote at a ladies house I was visiting with one day, and thought it was lovely, and thought it would make a perfect gift for a member of my family.

I decided to make one, but of course being me I had to give it a teeny tweak....I used MDF for the base (18mm thick), and thought chalkboard paint would be perfect for where the numbers have to be written on (making it very easy to change as the family grows).

I used the same process for this plaque as I did for my previous Christmas DIY plaque (click on this link for tutorial), so it was fairly quick and easy to do.

The only change was when I was doing the chalkboard hearts.  I still chalked the outline from a heart template and then just painted it in with three coats of chalkboard paint (it doesn't take too long for each coat of paint to dry).  I then rolled up a stick of chalk in some white tissue paper and tied it with a pretty ribbon.

I'll be making another one soon for my grandmother, I'm thinking that I will use a lighter shade of paint for that one....and of course she will need an additional heart so that she can write in the amount of great-grandchildren!!

Don't forget to count your blessings, whatever they may be :)