YW Idea: Word Pendant Tutorial

I love when I find ideas that would be perfect for the YW.  Today I was checking out a few blogs and found this idea from Then She Made...

This idea would be perfect for a YW activity or camp.  I love, love, love it and I'm going to make a few with my daughters just for fun!

We Seek After These Things!

I've decided my favorite crafts to make are those that have a purpose.

Thanks to my friend Michelle over at Ruby Red Photography for asking me to do something with her beautiful picture.

Calvin's Hats

I saw a story on the news the other day about Calvin's Hats.  It tugged at my heart and I had to find out more about the project and how I can help.   Here is the story behind Calvin's Hats (from the Calvin's Hats website)....

From Calvin's Mom & Dad:

"When we lost our son, Calvin, we discovered there is little clothing tiny enough for babies that are born too early. Although the hospital offered us preemie-sized hats for our son's small head, they were still too big. We felt as though this was one more thing we would not be able to do right or give to our son.

Through the experience of losing our son, we learned that very small things, which seem unimportant to others, mean a great deal to those who lose a child.

Calvin's Hats is offering to grieving parents a gift which can bring a small amount of comfort and peace... a hat tiny enough to fit right on their precious child's head and something to hold on to when their child is no longer here.

Our wish is for these hats to bring a small amount of healing."

                                                            ~John and Jenna

 After reading Calvin's story I had to make some of those hats!!  I decided to follow the crochet pattern listed on the site but had to change it up bit.  I thought I would share my pattern here for those who are interested.  I think this project would be a wonderful option for a service project for the Young Women.  I'm working on getting something together on the stake YW level.  Cross your fingers it works out for me!

Item Needed:
Baby Yarn

Size G hook

Rnd 1: Ch 3, join with sl st to form a ring. Ch 3 (counts as 1 dc) Make 15 more dc inside ring.

Join with a sl st in top of 1st ch 3. Ch 3

Row 1: Dc in same stitch as ch 3, *1 dc in next dc, 2 dc in next dc. Repeat from * to end.  Join with a sl st in top of 1st ch 3.  Ch 3.

ROW 2: DC on each DC.  Join with a sl st in top of 1st ch3. ch 3.

ROW 3: Repeat Row 2.

ROW 4:  DC on each DC.  Join with a sl st in top of 1st ch3.  Ch 2.

ROW 5   HDC on each DC.  Join with a sl in top of 1st ch 3.  Ch. 3

Optional edge: skip 1 dc, then sl st the ch 3 into the next dc, * ch 3 and sl st into next dc. Repeat from * across.

If you would like to weave ribbon in and out you can do so.  Feel free to email me with any questions :)

We Seek After These Things.....

I teamed up with my good friend Michelle from Ruby Red Photography to make this project...

She takes amazing pictures.  I couldn't be happier!

I love the 13th Article of Faith and the Temple!

This project was really easy.  I grabbed a 2x4.  I cut a 11 inch piece and 3 3.5 inch blocks.  I sanded and painted them.  Make sure you let them dry.  I sanded my edges again.  Apply vinyl.  I cut the pictures to fit the blocks and mod podged them on the wood.  Last I inked the edges of my wood with  a black ink pad.  It was that easy!!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is coming and yes it is raining in Washington.  That's OK because I love this time of year!  Rain or shine crafting still happens.  I'm trying some new things out.  Do you like this one.....

Or this one??  I really need to get a new camera.  This one only likes to take clear pictures outside.

It just wouldn't be Christmas without a gift from me to you....

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Under My Umbrella!

Gold, Silver and Bronze

When I started this craft blog the majority of my ideas had to do with the Young Women. As a leader I loved finding ideas and putting them to use and thought I would share a few of my own. Well as it turned out I was released and got to play with the cub scouts for a few months and then I was called to the stake young womens presidency. I'm loving it. I don't get to spend a lot of time with the young women but I love every moment I do. We are getting ready for a good old YW volleyball tournament and I was asked to come up with some medals. If we are going to do this we need to do it right! We need a gold, silver and bronze medal.


Man I wish I had one of those really nice cameras that makes everything you do look like a dream. So clear and crisp....but no I just have my cheapy that sometimes likes to take a smoke when the flash goes off. *sigh* Anyhoo so fun right?! I love girly stuff.

The budget to do something like this was nothing so I just used items I had around my house such as washers, spray paint, flowers and some jewels. I had to set apart the gold medal winners cause if you win it you are darn special. I stamped the word "champ" and then spray painted the gold medal. In case you are wondering these are the spray paints I used.

Let's hope they love them :)

2011 Mutual theme

The 2011 mutual theme has been announced. Check it out.

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/59746/Anxiously-engaged-in-a-good-cause.html

I think it's awesome. What do you all think?

Giveaway

This is Michelle again and I am feeling a little generous. I am giving away one of these:
I am excited! Here is what you have to do:

• You have to leave a comment as to which temple is your favorite and why.
• You also need to leave a way to contact you in case you are the WINNER!
• You must live in the continental United States.
• You must share the love and reference this post to some friends (or at least try to).
• One entry per household.

I will pick the winner at random. All enteries must be received by 8:00 P.M. Pacific Standard Time on Thursday January 21, 2010. The winner will be posted on this blog by January 22, 2010.
If I receive more then 100 comments then I will give away 2. So spread the word!
Also come visit me on my blog http://www.capturinglifesmomentsbymichelle.blogspot.com/.
Visit me on etsy: http://www.michelleaw.etsy.com/
--I will post more pictures that can go on the plaque on my blog. I don't want to overtake Melinda's. So go here to see more pictures http://www.weinbergers.blogspot.com/.
Thanks!!!

Featuring: Michelle (actually my craft)

Well let me start by introducing myself, drum roll please.....my name is Michelle and I am friends with Melinda. I find her to be very talented and I feel pretty special to be able to post my craft on her blog. I worked in the Young Women's program with Melinda. Well, we were talking the other day and she told me I should make something for the new Young Women's theme for 2010. She knows I love photography and told me I should do something with one of my pictures. So....here is what I came up with.

Here is sample #1. I love how it turned out. I was married in the Salt Lake Temple so it means a lot to me. I happened to take this picture when I was there a couple of Christmases ago. I like how this one turned out girly but didn't take away from the picture of the temple and the saying, "Be Strong and of good Courage." This is sample #2. This one is a lot more basic. It is just a picture of the temple on a piece of painted wood.

I love both of these. It just shows how different you can make them. I am going to sell these in kits or completed.

The kit will include:

• 5x7 picture of the Salt Lake Temple (I also have available the Portland Temple or just the Angel Moroni on top of the Portland Temple. Let me know if you are interested in those and I can email you the picture.)
• 6x8 1/2 MDF board
• instructions

If you want more in your kit email me and we can discuss what else you would want and the cost.

The cost of the kit is $4.00 plus shipping (shipping cost is based upon how many you order)

Completed project is $10.00 plus shipping (will be made to look like the top picture or similar)

Email me with any questions michellejep@hotmail.com.

Display Pictures

Last year I made these for girls camp. We hung them on the girls bunk beds. They were simple to make. I just grabbed some string and started tying fabric and ribbon on it. I found some shower curtain rings at Wal-Mart that I tied to the ends. The YW loved them! There is something about pictures that makes the YW feel united. Maybe it's capturing the memories of good times?? I'm not sure but I do know everyone loves a good picture.



These would be a fun display for new beginnings or even YWIE :) Make memories and share them!

I saw this idea over at LITTLE BIRDIE SECRETS. There is even a tutorial. I had to try it. This is what I came up with for our YW. More to come Sunday :)

I also came up with this mutual block kit using paper instead of vinyl. It's cheaper to make and that's always a good thing! Does Martha Stewart say that?!

Year Long Service Project....Wanna Join???

2010 is going to be a year of service for our young women. When we first were called into YW we felt strongly the YW needed a lot of love and attention. We focused on that for a while and now it is time for them to give some of that love back to the community! We are going to pair this service project with the advice from our leaders to go back to the basics. The basics we are going to teach are sewing, knitting, crocheting and being creative :) They will put these skills to use by making hats, scarfs, gloves and blankets all year long and giving them to people who could really use them. We will be giving them to homeless men, women and children. With the economy the way it is now there are more people in need than ever! Let's do some good :)

I'm going to go more into detail of what the exact plan is below but first I have a proposal. As I was thinking about this whole plan I started thinking about how wonderfully cool it would be if we could get other YW groups to join us in this next year. Either join us in making warm stuff (hats, scarfs, gloves, blankets) and deliver it to a homeless shelter in your area or send us the warm items you make and we will deliver them. During this process we will keep in contact, send each other pictures and that fun jazz. The yw will love it! Working with other YW groups for a good cause all over the US...maybe even in different different countries...what a excellent thing to be a part of of! I think this will be a life changing experience for all of them.

I will be doing all the hard work for you! I will send you the patterns of what we are doing. I'm busy altering patterns so you will have one for men, one for women and a kid size. The patterns will all be beginner/easy. Don't know how to knit or crochet? I bet you could find someone in your ward dying to teach you how. If needed I can do a youtube tutorial on the exact items we are making and send it to you or you can just focus on tying flannel blankets (flannel is on sale at Joann's for $2.49 right now!!) If you live close enough come on over and I will teach you:) If you are interested please contact me at beachellfamily02@hotmail.com. I will give you even more details if you are interested. Spread the word...If you know someone you think might be interested pass on my e-mail!
(BELOW: This is one of the hats we will be crocheting. I have altered a few different ways to where the yw will get to choose a style.)
THE PLAN:
Early December of this year we will be having a Sunday lesson about service (I will post details later). It will be at this lesson we will announce our plans for next year's service project. Hopefully they will walk away from this lesson feeling inspired and motivated :)

The first few months of the year (Jan, Feb, March) we will take the YW in small groups to the Portland Rescue Mission where they will serve dinner to homeless men, women and children. My point in this is I want the yw to have personal experience serving people in need. After serving these people hopefully they will realize there really are people without homes, cold and that are hungry. When they are knitting that scarf or hat they will be able to visualize that scarf is for someone who really needs it.
Early in January we are having someone who volunteers at the shelter and also someone the shelter has helped come and talk to our YW.

Also in January the teaching process will begin. We will have 4 different groups: a knitting scarf group, crocheting hat, crocheting gloves and a tying blanket group. The first activity will be all about learning the basics. We are dedicating one activity a month and 2 retreats to this project. Our hope is the girls will start working at home on their projects also. I will also give you our retreat details as we get closer. We have one planned in January and one planned in August.

We will be working away until the end of the year. In December we will take the girls to deliver the items they have made. I think we will be helping a lot of people not only stay warm but keep them smiling! Most importantly we as leaders will be doing what the YW program is for, helping the YW "come unto Christ" though service. I can't think of any better way to "stand for truth and righteousness". Make it a great day!!!!

Mutual theme project #3

Here we are at project #3...

I love flowers and polka dots. I'm glad I could incorporate them in this project :)

YWIE 2009

I build mountains and move them too:) Well that is paper mountains. This is what we did as decorations for Young Women in Excellence (YWIE).


A while back we are were brainstorming as a YW presidency and somehow we got onto the idea of doing silhouettes. Not just any ordinary silhouette but a mountain with girls each carrying a light to the top. The concept was that the girl would carry a light as a symbol of her being an example for all to see (you can't see it very well in the picture but the silhouette girls are carrying tea lights). I'm into mountains. What can I say?! I liked the idea of the girls climbing a mountain because it is an incredibly hard journey (kind of like life). When at the top you can see for miles. Shine your light for all to see...right?!
The concept goes perfectly with the "Be Thou an Example" theme. We felt it needed a little more to relate the theme so we added this verse from 3rd Nephi 18:24 "... hold up your light that it may shine unto the world...". At the time we felt like it was a good idea and it all came together so nicely. It just fit. We had no idea how well it was going to go with the entire night.

A little background of the prep for the night is needed. This year our YW stake presidency decided to have a stake YWIE. It sounded like a wonderful idea to me. They gave each ward an assignment (some wards assigned to work together). Most wards were also assigned a value. We each were to do a creative 5 minute value presentation with our YW. Our ward was assigned to decorations and divine nature.


Typically in the past we decided some sort of theme and revolved the night around it. Such as last year our YWIE theme was "I believe...". We had a light, star theme that the decoration revolved around. The stake didn't give us certain direction other than it was "Be Thou an Example". We went big...mountain big :)


As we sat back and enjoyed the night. We laughed that this mountain was our YWIE project. It took over 10 hours to make, set up and clean up. You should have seen me on the super tall latter! It was worth every minute...

I believe we were inspired building that mountain. It took a lot of time and effort but it was worth every moment. The YW loved it. It was fun to see people not only taking pictures of it but standing in front of it posing for pictures. That wasn't even the most rewarding part. The most rewarding part was when you put a bunch of wards together who hadn't communicated about what they were doing and somehow, someway it all came together. For example the opening song sang by a YW group was "A Light on a Hill". They sang it in front of our mountain. Another group during their 5 minute presentation actually read 3rd Nephi 18:24. Her talk was about the scripture. It just happened to be displayed behind her on the mountain. Feeling, listening and taking action to inspiration feels good! I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows me, loves me and helps me. I need Him often! I'm grateful He has chosen me to help lead His youth. I truly feel blessed.

Project #2

I'm a fan of simple. Here is project #2...


I think I'm going to replace the pink wool felted flower with one of my fabric ones. It just needs something a little more....

2010 Mutual Crafts

In my spare time (I'm laughing) I have been working on projects for next years mutual theme...


“Be strong and of a good courage;
be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed:
for the Lord thy God is with thee
whithersoever thou goest.”

Joshua 1:9

I have come up with 5 different projects. I know...out of control. I started with two and it just spiraled from there. Three of the projects stick to the theme and two are a little different. Is different a good word? Maybe I should describe them as special. I picked a word I thought would be a good focus for the year. Courage. Right away I liked this word and thought of it's importance for today's youth. Slight problem. I really wanted to include my fav part of the theme "for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." No clue as how this was going to happen. That's a whole lot of words to cut out! If you know me you would know when you say a word I can sing a song with that word. As I focused on Courage I started to sing "Courage, for the Lord is on our side". For those who don't know that verse is from the song "Let Us All Press on". Perfect! A project is born....

I will post a project a day for the next 4 days. Please give me your opinion of likes and dislikes. It's good to hear feedback! I will post a pattern to this project today or tomorrow..now back to cutting out nativity sets :)

Medallion Night

Lately I have been reading about moms having a celebration when their daughters receive their Young Womanhood Recognition. I think it is a fabulous idea. Anyone who has worked on personal progress knows there is a lot of heart and soul that goes in to it. In my area this concept of a celebration isn't happening. Our YW presidency decided we couldn't go without acknowledging these most excellent girls.

Tonight for mutual we are having a medallion night with those who have received that honor as our special guests. Some of the YW will be speaking about the work that went into getting their medallion and how it feels when you meet that goal (Be Thou an Example!!!). It will be good for both speakers and listeners. It's always fun to have a night that honors you and the listeners have a good example to look up to. I wanted to do something special for these girls but not sure what. I'm sure the older YW are completely tired of the wood stuff I make :) This is what I came up with....
Each of the Yw that have received their medallion will get one of these personalized books. We are going to pass them around and let the other YW write their congrats.

I'm a fan of pictures. Always will be. I think at this point I probably have about 2,000 pictures of our YW. I need to put them to good use. Each book will have four pictures in it. 2 YW group pictures and 2 pictures of them with closer friends.

I'm most likely going to put kits of this project in my shop. First I need to see if the girls like these are not :)

YW Friendship Night

If you read my personal blog you have heard me talk about my ward's YW and how they do a beautiful job of portraying what friendship should look like in a youth program and in life in general. Every once in a while we have a slight problem but most of the time I find myself wishing I had grown up with these girls. What a difference it would have made! I think the family is most important but friends come in as a close second. Everyday I think about how these girls are changing each other lives for the better.

With these thoughts in mind our YW presidency thought it would be fun to have a night about friendship and tell our YW what a great job they are doing. We reserved the gym/cultural hall and projector. The girls were asked to wear pj's or comfortable clothes and bring something comfy to sit on such as a beanbag. Most brought pillows and blankets. There was some prep work involved. We decided to have the girls spotlight each other. We paired them in a way they would get the opportunity to get know someone they weren't close to. They were told they were going to get a set of questions to ask their person. They would answer those question to help prepare them for the second set of questions. These are the first set of questions...

Friendship Questionnaire


Name__________________________

Person Assigned___________________

1.) What do you like to do in your free time?

2.) What are your favorite book, song, and movie?

3.) If you could travel anywhere for a trip, where would you go, and why?

4.) What is your favorite type of food and your favorite place to go out to eat?

5.) Who is the person that you admire the most and why?

6.) What have been your top 3 favorite places you have gone to? (Trips, museums, beaches, ect…)

7.) What is something that you have done that you are really proud of?

8.) If you could have dinner with anyone who would it be? (living or that have passed away)

9.) What is a dream of yours that you would love to do?

10.) When you graduate from High School, what are your plans? If College which one and what do you want to major in?

These are the second set of questions. These are the ones we asked the girls to speak about at the activity...

Friendship Questionnaire

With the knowledge that you learned from the questionnaire, about your assigned person, you will need to write a 30 second spotlight about that person. You will need to answer these questions:

1.) What was the most interesting thing that you learned about your assigned person?

2.) Name something that you found out that you both like or have in common.

3.) Name something of value about this person that you see in her, that she might not see in herself.

Please make sure you really write up something nice and meaningful about your assigned person. Think about how you would like the person doing you, and do the same for your person. For example, don’t just say she can play a musical instrument and that you both like pizza, and I think she has nice hair.

Write about how nice and friendly she might be to everyone, or that she has the talent to see the good in everyone. Really put thought into this, and get to know this person.

After each girl had been spotlighted (oh...we made them use the microphone. It was fun and we could actually hear the quiet girls) I had prepared a slide show with fun pictures and music. I would post it but it's 20 minutes of fun that's interesting only to my ward. We turned off the lights and turned the music way up. They loved it. The YW were laughing and cheering for the pictures. Some of the songs I used are...

*Thank You for Being a Friend by Andrew Gold

*You've got a Friend by Carole King

*Lean on Me by Bill Withers

*Stand by Me

*I'll be There for You by The Rembrandts

*Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae

The YW left saying it was one of the best activities they had been to. Good friends tend to make activities fun :)

Handouts for YW

You have to check out the adorable lesson handouts on PAPER CAKES AND ICING's blog. The picture below is her handout for Lesson #37 Caring For our Physical Bodies.



She has templates for every handout she makes. So all the hard work is already done! You can find the good stuff for this one HERE.

If The Savior Stood Beside Me...

Next Sunday our YW group will be singing "If The Savior Stood Beside Me" in Sacrament meeting. The song originally was written for Primary aged children but in In 2006, a third verse was added to this song at the request of the general YW board. It's beautiful! I just wanted to share this fabulous resource website of music with you all.

http://www.defordmusic.com/sitemap.htm

Here you can download certain songs, find sheet music, instrumental parts, accompaniment tracks and much, much more all for free! You can search by where you are serving in the Church such as Primary or Young Womens.

"Kids retain 10% of what is told to them, 40% if there is a visual aid, 60% if there is a story, and 90% if they sing it." -Elder Boyd K. Packer