Young Women Lesson #7

While I still worry that I may not be cool enough to work with teenagers, I think my first lesson yesterday went pretty well. I got all excited and decided to work on next week's lesson. It's on the Purpose of Life. That should be pretty easy to cover in 30 minutes, right?

I Love this scripture: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all they ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

So very wise and true, but I am just not a very good "consider the lilies of the field type of girl", but I'm working on it.

The scripture got me thinking about how the purpose of life is really just a journey to return Home. I love a good theme-especially if it involves a lot of puns. So I'm comparing our life to a big road trip. Just as we need various tools for a road trip (GPS, maps, asking people for directions etc.) we also have some great spiritual helps on our earthly road trips (prayer, the Holy Ghost, blessings, scriptures).

I made this handout using Cricut Everyday Paper Dolls, and Paper Doll Dress-up. I thought they'd like the idea of themselves cruising down the highway in a little red convertible.

Since I love handouts, I wanted to give each of them a notebook to keep their handouts and to record any their own thoughts and ideas. I got some notebooks @ Michael's. I used my Cricut and a little Modge Podge to fancy them up.

Front

Back

To see more of my ideas for Young Women, click here.

3-d Guitar Art

So remember my 3-D Apple Art? My friend Kammy (my very best friend when I was a newlywed) saw it and came up with this:

Don't you just love it?!?!?! My apple looks a little too country bumpkin next to this that absolutely rocks.

She says:
"Yes, one of those cheap pre-stretched canvases from a craft store. 12x24 inches. Our piano is in our front/playroom, so I did more of a kids toys and games theme. I cracked myself up by titling it "stuff I found under the couch." Hahaha."

I think the trick might be using bigger stuff. Mine were too small and too similar. I'm re-doing mine so stay tuned.

Handout on teaching

I was recently ask to teach the 14-15 year old girls on Sunday @ church. The first lesson is about that we all have a responsibility to teach. Cool topic?

For the past few months, I taught a class full of 10year old boys. Each week I planned the lesson around the game and the snack. I'm excited to get to work with kids that are older and female so that I can plan my lesson around "the handout". I love handouts. When I was younger, I would paste them on my walls or write down quotes I liked in a notebook. I'm hoping to make each girl a notebook to keep stuff like that in as well. Stay tuned.

I've seen many variations of this quote. My favorite is, "It is not how many seeds in the apple, but how many apples in the seed." So profound.

Here's my handout. I printed the quote on my computer and then added an apple that I cut out on my Cricut and glued on a real apple seed.

I actually heard that quote a few weeks ago in church and loved it. I want to make something for my home.

St. Patrick's Day Mantel

So as I've said before, I have a big green wall in my living room, so most St. Patty's Day stuff clashes. My mantel needed something else. I saw how to make shamrock's out of tp rolls here.

I hung one from a broken fame and it completes the room.

To see all of my St. Patty's day decor ideas click on the "holiday" link at the top of the page or click here. ( the wreath is my fav)

Happy St. Patty's Day to all.

What I'm Reading Fridays

First of all, did you notice the top of the page? Now you can click on whatever topic you're interested in and see all my posts. I love that I can do that w/ no computer programing skills.

I have a daughter in Middle School who loves to read. I try and steer her to books I like and steer her away from Books I don't think are appropriate for kids. I'm amazed sometimes at what passes for "juvenile fiction". We both been reading a lot of Scott Westerfeld. He has several series that we've both enjoyed and I thought I'd spotlight him this week.

Westerfeld has his own blog if you want some more info. I cut-n-paste some descriptions from his blog for your convenience (it's the stuff w/ in the quotation marks).


Uglies"Uglies is set in a world in which everyone has an operation when they turn sixteen, making them supermodel beautiful. Big eyes, full lips, no one fat or skinny. You might think this is a good thing, but it’s not. Especially if you’re one of the Smokies, a bunch of radical teens who’ve decided they want to keep their own faces. (How anti-social of them.)

We both really like the first one, but the 2nd and 3rd were very repetitive. The final one is the series was really good and it reminds me a little of blogging. For the most part they were pretty clean. There is some mention of kids sneaking away into a "pleasure garden", but nothing sexually graphic. There is some violence. Substance abuse is also mentioned, but always in a negative light. Overall, I like the message it sends to young girls about beauty.

The Midnighters
"Okay, this is how it works:

There aren't really 24 hours in the day, there are 25. Got that? The extra one is rolled up too tight to see, and it flashes past most people in an instant. "Most people" means boring, normal, daylight people. But people born exactly at the instant of midnight (all together now: "midnighters") get to walk around while the rest of you suckers are frozen.

So check your birth certificate. If you were born at the stroke of midnight, you might be one of us. By the way, this is real midnight, not lame-time-zone- or daylight-savings-time-adjusted midnight. Every spot on earth has its own exact moment when the sun is right under our feet. Suffice it to say that if you were born anytime between about 11:30PM and 1:30AM, you could be a midnighter. Confused? Also, the secret hour doesn't seem to happen everywhere. Bixby is the only place that time freezes, as far as we know. Anyone out there notice something similar? Oh, and one more thing . . . midnight isn't empty. There are slithers, which are sort of like snakes (except they fly, sometimes) and darklings, which are pretty much any shape they want to be--as long as it's a big and scary shape. That's one thing you'll definitely notice about midnight: being number two on the food chain is a big change from being on top.

If you do find yourself walking around in the blue time, bring something made from stainless steel, and have a thirteen-letter word in mind. Darklings hate new alloys like steel, and have this epilepsy when it comes to 13s."

The first one was great and I loved the premise. The second I enjoyed a little less and there were more and more innuendos. I'm not dying to read the 3rd, but I will before I let my kid read it.

Peeps
There are no sexually explicit parts, however Since the basic premise is that Vampires are all suffering from an STD, it's probably not meant for young teens. The main character discusses disvarious actual parasites and I found them fascinating and the best part of the book.

Leviathan
"Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She’s a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn’s paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever."

I just started this one, so stay tuned for my review.

Folded flower wreath

So I had so much fun making paper flowers yesterday, that I made some more and thought they would be a way fun way to decorate a non-tacky St. Patty's Wreath. I started w a roll of ribbon and an 18 inch straw wreath from Hobby Lobby. While I'm on the subject of wreaths: Does anyone know why Styrofoam is so expensive?

(Sorry this next 2 pics are even bad for me)

This roll of ribbon only covered 1/4 of the wreath :(

Not wanting to spen $12 on ribbon, I remembered that I had some black polka-dot fabric. I cut 6 2 inch strips. I just wrapped the strips around the wreath and secured with pins at the end of each strip.

Then I cut out a bunch of circles and flowers with my George and Basic Shapes Cricut cartridge. I made my folded flower (tutorial here) and used silver upholstery tacks ( they are only abou 99 cents for an entire package and way easier and cheaper to use than brads) to secure them to the wreath. flowers, I used stick pins to secure the little flowers to the wreath. Next time I might coat the flowers in Modge Podge, but I didn't think of it until they were on my wreath.

TADAAA!

I had some left over satin fabric left over from Halloween costumes and I think it added the finishing touch.

So much better then my Bella Swan reject V-Day wreath. I love it and I think it took longer to write this post than to make it.

I'm dying to put a vinyl "Welcome" on my door, but hubby  is not a fan.

Linking up here.

Sorta St. Patty Decor

As I've said before, I've never decorated for St. Patty's day before. Does anyone else find the vast majority of St. Patty's day decor a little tacky? I saw this flower on my friend's fabulous card -making blog. I don't make cards, although browsing through her blog made me want to start. However, I thought those flowers would be the perfect touch of green that I needed.
Step 1- Cut out a bunch of circles. I wanted to make 3 of different sizes. First I used a spool of thread as a pattern, but it's really hard to cut out good circles, so I finally cut a bunch out w/ my Cricut.

Step 2-Fold them like this. I folded some more than others b/c I like the look. Just fold the ones for the same flowers the same.

Arrange into a flower shape and glue down. I used hot glue. I stuck a button on top and put in an old frame.

I like it so much, I may leave it there all year long.
To see my other St. Patty Decor click here.Linking up here.