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.

Pearls of Wisdom Poem & Bracelet

For Young Women's (YW) camp this year we went with a nautical theme, to go with this years Mutual theme.  So of course, we tried to find everything that was 'sea worthy' for our YW camp 'cruise'.

We found these cute pearl bracelets and tutorial on 'thecraftyblogstalker' so we bought hemp twine and a load of pearls, with the idea that the girls would share 'pearls of wisdom' each night to everyone or to a particular YW (it was really lovely and quite entertaining too).  With each 'pearl of wisdom' shared they would get a 'pearl of wisdom' for their bracelet.

We bought the 1mm hemp twine thinking that would be small enough to fit through the holes and a selection of different sized pearls.  We ended up having to buy 0.5mm twine, and we found only the 8mm and 10mm pearl beads fitted comfortably on the twine (I wriggled a metal skewer in the holes if they were a bit blocked) for our bracelets.

We gave each girl four strands of twine already knotted (as described in the blog tutorial link) at the beginning of camp, but in the end the girls made all different sorts of bracelets....unfortunately this is the only one I got a photo of.

And here's the poem I wrote to help the girls catch the vision of what we'd like them share....the idea came to me during the midnight hours, or as we like to call it in our Presidency 'creative hour' lol!?!

(poem can only be used for personal use)

Enjoy hearing and sharing those pearls of wisdom.

'Kinder' pillow treat

I don't know how many times I've bought the 'Kinder' eggs, chocolate etc before, and it was only the other week that I noticed (while I was trawling the sweetie aisle to get some inspiration for YW camp) that it actually says kinder!!!  Doh!  How have I missed that all these years!??!

So I then rushed home with my chocolate stash determined to find a quote from General Conference that used the word kinder, and instantly loved (and remembered) this quote from Gordon B. Hinckley.

I then used glu dots to stick the chocolate to the card so that the Young Women could keep the handout after camp (hopefully some of them did??), and then popped them into a sealable cellophane bag.  Job done....and now the agonizing wait to give them to the girls!!  

The girls loved them, and were the same as me about not noticing that it actually said 'kinder', glad I wasn't the only one, lol!?!

Just right click on image above 

& 'save as' to your computer

(for personal use only)

Now that our camp is over, there will be more Young Women's camp ideas coming your way soon....seriously can't wait for next year, I love our girls!!

DIY Cup-a-Soup

This is soup-er quick and soup-a-licious...I couldn't resist it sorry!!?!

We have a lovely old gentleman who lives across the road from us, sadly his wife of 70 years passed away a few years ago.  Over the years that we have lived here (7 to be exact), we have grown to love Mr & Mrs Yates, they have always be so kind to us and love having conversations with our kiddies.

We regularly take Mr Yates some dinner, cakes and drawings...my kids love to draw some very interesting things & feel that Mr Yates should be the recipient (maybe this should be the feature of my next post, lol!?).

Anyways, I had some large clear disposable tumblers left over from something and spied them the other day when I was making soup.  And lo and behold the literal 'cup-a-soup' was born, haha!!

I poured the soup in, covered it with clingfilm and instantly a platform for the roll to sit on is made, ta da!!! 

Now cover the roll and hey presto you have a soup dinner ready to be transported to neighbours, friends, family with no worry of having to track down your soup bowls.  

And if it's still hot when received, the recipient can dunk away with their roll, drink/slurp/spoon the remains and then put the tumbler in the recycling bin = no washing up (particularly handy if the person is poorly).

Well that's all the inspiration for today...probably loads of people have already discovered this phenomenon, but I was amazed by it so it just had to be shared, lol!!

Soup is back on the menu :)

DIY Sharpie Tea Towel

A quick, simple yet thoughtful gift to give to family, friends, teachers etc....and its ready in five minutes, well if the kids cooperate!!?!

Materials needed

Sharpie pens (or fabric pens)

Plain tea towel

Lots of hands to trace!

I drew round all the kids hands (preferably get an adult to do the outline as the material needs to be pulled tight so that the pen doesn't go off at random angles!!) and then they wrote their names inside their handprint.

 I traced the phrase 'many hands make light work' from a printout I whipped up...and from experience I made several different font sizes on the one sheet so that I could find the right fit without having to go back and forth to the laptop/printer :)

We gave these to each our mothers for Christmas, they'd also be great for Mothers day.  Hey, why not let the kids go wild drawing any sort of pictures on a tea towel, although I think an embroidery hoop might come in handy to keep the material taut for them as they draw...we wouldn't want any tears now ;)

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.

Marking your General Conference Ensign

I thought I'd post the way I mark my General Conference Ensign...bazaar I know, but I might do something that's a bit different to everybody else??!?!

I'm a bit of a sucker for the good old paper copy, none of this technical stuff when it comes to studying and making notes.....I love the feel of the magazine in one hand and a pen poised ready in the other.  Don't get me wrong, I do use the 'technical stuff' a lot for lessons, FHE, listening to as I fall asleep of a nighttime, so here's the link for all the General Conferences that are currently available online. 

Right back to my paper copy of the Ensign....firstly, I write my name on the contents page (we buy copies for all the family, so they all need to be clearly labeled in our house, it also helps you not to lose it at church too!!).

Secondly, I find the email/post from my Stake Presidency telling me what talks will be studied for 'Teachings for our Times' during Relief Society/Priesthood, and then I label the talks on the contents page with the month written next to them.  It makes for a great reference for future months.

When I read a talk, I mark it as I would my scriptures by underlining, cross referencing etc....I also write goals, ideas in big writing in the margins.

Then on completing the talk I tick it at the end (I find this helps as sometimes I don't mark bits of the talk and with distractions from the kids etc it helps me know that I've definitely finished it, lol!).

I also circle the page number of the talk I've completed on the contents page so that I can clearly see what talks I have read and have yet to read.

I know its not much, but that's it....just thought I'd share it with you all :).  Please feel free to share ideas and suggestions of things you do too, I'd love to hear them.

Santa's Post decoration

These are super cute and very addictive to make, so watch out as your tree may get covered in them!!  It's a really simple activity for the kids to do to and is ready in minutes.

It all started because I had a massive bags of these large lollipop stick 'scraps' leftover from a recent craft project at my church....I was determined to use them in some way, and hey ho, after a little bit of playing, failing and trying again I came up with this idea!!  And just a tip, we found it was a lot cheaper to buy a box of 100 waxing strips than it was to buy 50 large lollipop sticks..they are basically the same thing :)

Cut your large lollipop sticks up to roughly 3cm in length, don't worry about making them exactly the same size as they look better being slightly different lengths.  You will need to cut five 'letters'.  Make one 'letter' look like the front of a letter, then on another one look like the back of an envelope.  Leave the other three blank as you won't seem them.

Then use four strips of thin double sided tape to stick your five 'letters' together, just stack them up without worrying about them being perfectly lined up (it looks like a more authentic stack).  Put the front letter at the top of the stack and the back of the envelope drawing facing out at the back.

Wrap your letters up with some thick bakers twine, I'm sorry I didn't measure my twine, but the length of twine depends on where you will be hanging them, so play around with it and see what looks best...they look really cute on a small christmas tree.

Ho Ho Ho!!!

DIY Christmas Plaque

This plaque is really simple to do and hopefully my tutorial will explain it quickly and easily for you too!?!  There is a pdf file at the end for the words, and a link for where I got the Bethlehem Star from too. 


Before I start, I've only tried this technique with darker backgrounds as it won't work for lighter ones.  However, I will suggest other ideas of what you could use instead, but until I do one  myself, I will not know what works best until I try it.

1.  Choose what you want to have on your plaque, ie words, symbols, pictures etc.  I chose to do 'Silent Night, Holy Night' for Christmas.  Choose the fonts, size etc and no worries if it doesn't look like the end product, you can cut the paper up so that you can locate them where you want them to be.

2.  Make sure your words fit on your chosen plaque before you start.  For my 'base' I chose MDF (18mm thick) and sanded the rough edges down.  I then painted it using Dulux 'Urban Obsession', I love it against the white lettering, and I only had to give it two coats too.

3.  Cut your words, symbols etc into strips (if you haven't already), so that you can work on it section by section.  Now rub white chalk on the back of your chosen piece of paper and then trace round the edge of each letter with a biro or pencil.  You don't have to push too hard.

5. When you remove the paper you should have an outline of your word/image, like the above.

6. Now fill the chalk outline in using either a paintbrush or I cheated and did it the really easy way and used a paint pen marker...I love colouring in ;)

7.  Attach a sawtooth hanger (if you so choose) to the back and you're done.

NOTE for lighter coloured bases - try rubbing a charcoal stick, or a pencil on the back of the paper, or use carbon copy paper between the paper and your base.  I hope one of them works and don't worry I'll be trying one of the techniques soon so I will let you know how I get on. 

Here's the links for the Silent Night words and the Bethlehem Star I used...

Silent Night Holy Night pdf

Bethlehem Star

Have fun creating some lovely plaques!!