Nautical Boodle Headbands

Another post about what we got up to at Young Women's (YW) Camp.  We found lots of great headbands on Pinterest, but to make the ones we liked, we needed to use 2 t-shirts and cut them up into strips.....errrr too much to ask the girls to bring 2 shirts to camp to cut up; too expensive for us to buy them new and would take far too long for all the girls to cut up!!

Bing!!! Inspiration came....use boodles!!  Boodles is t-shirt material but in a nice long, thin thread, so perfect and soooo much quicker and easier for all our girls to make their headbands, yay, result!! 

Boodles are available from Hobbycraft (UK)

We put all the different colours out and let the girls choose their own combination, some went for just 2 but some chose 4 colours (3 strands of each).

They cut their 12 chosen threads to 40", don't worry about them being exact as they get trimmed later....and yes it's quite long but everybody's head size is different, so better to go bigger than smaller when doing a project like this.

We then followed the instructions off the video link below....I had watched this video several times before camp but I found by the time I got there and with all the rushing round etc I'd forgotten exactly how to do it, lol, so I'm glad we had wi-fi available so I could watch it with the girls the first time and have this lovely lady talk us through it....




I practiced the nautical knot using just 2 strands and ended up making a ring, lol...you could easily use 4 lengths of boodle and make a nautical bracelet too :)

And if you've got any left, in my house the boys like to tie it round their heads as it instantly makes them into ninjas (?!!?!), and my girls love plaiting them and making bracelets.  Lots of people crochet with boodles and make some beautiful things.  

Have fun creating and making with boodles.

20+ Ideas for memorizing the Articles of Faith

Memorizing the 13 Articles of Faith can seem like a mammoth task to anybody - old or young...I personally still get a bit muddled up trying to quote #10!!

So a while ago I printed up the Articles of Faith on A4 card for my kids and laminated them (of course!), they are now regularly used around the home - in bedrooms/kitchen/before family scripture study/FHE to help and remind us of them.

Recently I made some smaller cards which have the first letter of each word each of the Articles of Faith, this is great to help the older children, and super for popping in your Sunday bag to help keep them entertained during sacrament.

Thought I'd look online and find some other great ideas to help my children (and me) become better at learning and memorizing them...lots of links & pictures are below. 

 Articles of Faith Memory Quest -- lds.org

Articles of Faith flashcards -- All Things Bright and Beautiful

1st Article of Faith -- LDS scripture study for kids

8th Article of Faith -- LDS Games

6th Article of Faith crossword -- lds.org

Articles of Faith cards -- Latter-day chatter

Article of Faith posters -- A year of FHE

Cross Connections: 10th Article of Faith -- lds.org 

13th Article of Faith fill in blanks -- LDS Games

4th Article of Faith maze -- lds.org

4th Article of Faith -- lds.org

1st Article of Faith -- LDS Games

Articles of Faith bookmark and other activities -- 3 dinosaurs

2nd Article of Faith crossword -- lds.org

Activity Book:Article of Faith -- LDS Greats

Articles of Faith keys -- Finch Family Games

11th Article of Faith crossword -- lds.org

Teaching the Articles of Faith -- The Giggly Girls Guide

(LOADS of great ideas to help learn AoF in the link above)

Articles of Faith Jeopardy -- Shannon Makes Stuff

4th Article of Faith poster -- lds.org

Articles of Faith Punch Card -- about.com

1st Article of Faith coded message -- lds.org

Articles of Faith badges -- about.com

Articles of Faith Ice Cream Chart -- about.com

Hope you and your family enjoy learning the Articles of Faith

again and again and again :)

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.

Preparing for and Reviewing General Conference #3

One of these days I'll be super prepared and get my posts on here before General Conference starts, lol!!  Well it's another 'can' idea but for General Conference this time, also below is a great link to 'The ultimate guide to General Conference with kids'...a must for anyone with children :)  

General Conference Preparation

I've made a 'can' for each of my kids this year and have filled them with pens, felt tips, crayons (for the younger ones), and some sweets...I find doing these quirky little things generally helps with my kids concentration and also they get really excited for Conference too.  I printed the phrase "I 'can' listen to the Prophets and Apostles" on some card and used lots of my 'DIY Mod Podge' to stick it on.  Voila!...job done :)

I put a big packet of love heart sweets in each one and the plan is each time they hear the word love (or something about love) being mentioned they get to have one....I'm guessing the younger ones will have finished theirs before the opening prayer, lol?!!?! 

General Conference Review

Very similar to the above except with the words 'I 'can' listen and obey the Prophets and Apostles'.  On the Monday after Conference for FHE we are going to go through our General Conference Notebooks and decide for each talk what conference square picture to stick at the top of their named lollipop stick.  

Conference Squares

Then on the back of the stick we will write a goal/idea of what we can do to follow the council given and review these during the next six months for FHE/family councils/goal setting etc.

This is going to sit on our mantle and I'm hoping it will be a daily reminder for the children and us to look through and remind us of the talks and council given at conference :)

Looking for other ideas??  The website shown below has a stack load of great links for all different kinds of activities, colouring, games etc, why not take a look it's great :)

livecrafteat.com

The Ultimate Guide to General Conference with kids

lds.org also has a page specifically designated for General Conference Activities for Children too.

Hope you enjoy watching Conference with your family and loved ones xx.

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.

I am a Child of God tote

Sugardoodle posted a link the other day to a wonderful blog entitled 'My Computer is My Canvas' that has a load of free printables and cute stuff????????  She's done some really cute images for the Primary Theme this year 'I am a Child of God'.

My Computer is My Canvas

From this site I downloaded the 'I am a Child of God' SUBW...6x20.jpg (1022KB), when I went to print I noticed that because of the American sizing I would miss some of the lettering, so I right-clicked on the image to copy it and then opened up Microsoft word and pasted it onto my page...I had to shrink it a whole lot to get it to fit, and then centred it and left more of a gap at the top of the page to accommodate for seam allowance and attaching handles (see picture below).

I then printed the above onto calico fabric using my 'How to print onto fabric using your printer' post.  I then used the printed fabric to make a cute little tote and drawstring bag, but you could make a cushion, frame it etc.  My little tote bag worked out to be the perfect size to fit a Book of Mormon in :)  And yes, I am still squealing with delight every time I print onto fabric, haha...what am I like!!?!!?

Adapted words to 'A Happy Family'

I'm one of those people that makes up crazy random songs about anything to sing to myself or to my children...you either know what I mean or you're now saying 'huh!!!!!'

Anyway, I started singing 'A Happy Family' from the Children's songbook to one of my children and I couldn't remember all the words...I know it's a really, really short song, but it must of been one of those days where my brain was mush!!  So of course, I made up my own words and now we sing it like that all the time...apart from when we are at church of course :)

We change the words just like in the original song to mummy, and we use our children's names too, and they love it....I know this sounds really cheesy but we have often sung it as we have sat around the dinner table waiting for people to finish or for pudding.  The children (and us) can't help but smile as everyone around the table is singing the song just for you, it never grows old!  Hope you like it too :)