LOVE blocks

by: Aubri Larson

Supply List

White and burgundy paint
2×4 wood
Vinyl Lettering

Instructions:

Cut wood to 4.5″ for L and V
Cut wood to 3.5″ for heart (o) and e.

Paint and let dry.
Apply lettering
Sand edges for distressed look.

Vinyl Application Instructions      (For all vinyl lettering projects)

Your quote is made up of three layers. The top layer is the transparent sticking tape, the actual letters are the middle layer, and the bottom layer is the stiff backing paper. All surfaces must be flat, clean and dry before applying.

Step 1: Clean the surface with glass cleaner and a dry cloth. Dirt and dust particles will cause vinyl lettering to bubble.

Step 2: Draw horizontal guidelines in the area you wish to apply your lettering. Take your sheet of words and flatten the surface out so there is no rolling up.

Step 3:  On a flat surface gently but firmly rub over the words to make sure all letters have adhered to the sticking tape.   Rub over the top of the sticking tape again, just to make sure the letters are sticking to it.

Step 4:  With the quote facing up so that you can see it, begin to slowly peel up the sticking paper, which will grip the letters, and be all in one piece.    The letters should stick to the sticking tape.  If any of the letters aren’t sticking, press them down again with the tape, and rub over them with the edge of a credit card or application squeegee.

Step 5: Place the taped letters on the prepared surface, using your guidelines to position them correctly. Firmly “squeegee” the lettering to force the bubbles out with your application squeegee or edge of credit card.    Start in the center and work your way out. Be sure you have gone over all areas.

Step 6: Gently peel off the transfer tape, leaving the letters in place.

Step 7: You are finished!

---

Aubri Larson is a small business owner of Wall Words By Design- Great craft ideas or kits for HFPE.  You can fully customize these for the sisters in your ward.  A very extensive list of ideas and great customer service!

By Shiloah Baker

Texas is my home. My husband was born and raised there and five of my seven children were born in Central Texas. We were sealed in the Dallas, Texas Temple and years later, when the San Antonio, Texas temple was announced we were thrilled!

My Mother-in-law is such a sweet lady. She and my father-in-law went often to the temple site. They saved several stones that the temple was built with. As it neared the time that it was to be dedicated, all the sisters in the stake rubber stamped the San Antonio’s temple imprint onto white handkerchiefs for the Hosanna shout. They then embossed them and sewed lace around the edges. She made four for our family.

When she came to visit she presented these to me along with a postcard picture of the San Antonio temple and a shadow box. It was difficult fitting the hanky in the frame in a manner that I found pleasing, but after some difficulty I finally managed it. Unfortunately, you cannot see the rubber stamped image in the frame, perhaps if it was a little larger.

Materials:

• Shadow Box frame

• Photo/picture of temple

• handkerchief

• Temple rocks

• 3-D Embellishment tape

Using the tape, arrange the treasures inside the frame shadow box. Display in your home or give as a gift.

---

Shiloah Baker is an entrepreneur who runs the Homemaking Cottage & Co., an online business which sells books, eBooks, ideas, LDS related materials, and a special subscription service. For more information go to: http://www.homemaking-cottage.com and http://www.enrichmentcottage.com

By Mckay Harris

Instructions for Glass Blocks

Start with a room temperature block. A cold/hot block will crack as you drill into it.

Drill a hole into the bottom of your glass block using a .5 inch GLASS drill bit (the bit isn’t actually MADE of glass—it is a specific bit to drill into glass). This is easy to do, but it is time consuming. Each block takes around 10 minutes to finish drilling the hole. You may notice your bit getting hot during this time. Keep a cup of water by you and occasionally stick the bit into the water to cool it down. You just need to quickly dip it in. (Too much heat on the bit can cause your block to crack)

Once your hole is finished, turn the block right side up and shake out any glass pieces/powder out of the block.

Lay your block flat, apply your vinyl.

Take a strand of Clear Christmas lights (I used a 20 light strand, but I think 10 will work just fine. Any more than 20 and it is too squished in there) and push them into the hole you drilled. After all the lights are inside, leave the remaining length of cord out.

Take your ribbon and tie it around your block. Wired ribbon works best, as it will hold it’s form.

You are finished! Plug in your beautiful block and admire your handy work!
***A TIP: I found my ribbon and lights at the local Dollar Tree! Look there for a great deal!

---

About the author:

I am a stay at home mom to two adorable kids and a wife to a wonderful husband who makes me incredibly happy. I started my home business “Say It On The Wall” about a year ago and it is keeping me busy. It has been a really fun hobby and much needed creative outlet for me. I love to meet new people through my business and grow from their wonderful ideas. I am offering all Homemaking Cottage and Enrichment Cottage readers free shipping on your vinyl order by using the code “cottage” at check out.

by: Karen in AZ
from our HFPE Group

Supplies-

Glass
dish
Contact paper
Craft knife
Etching Cream
Gloves
Glass cleaner
Graphite paper
Stylus or pencil
Paper towel
Old paint brush
1.Create a design you want. I typed our last name in the font and font size I wanted on my computer and printed it out. I also used little clip art pictures around our name.

2. Cut a piece of contact paper at least 1″ bigger around the edges than your design. Place the contact paper on your dish where you want the design.

3. Place your printed design over the contact paper where you want it and place the graphite paper between your design and the contact paper and trace around the letters or design using a stylus or pencil. (If your contact paper is on the outside on the bottom of your dish you will want to transfer your name backwards, so when you are looking at it from the inside its not backwards. That is how I did mine.)

4. Using a craft knife cut the contact paper on the lines you traced. Once you are done remove the contact paper where you want it etched, leaving the rest on.

5. Make sure all the edges where you cut are down really good, then spray glass cleaner on a paper towel and gently clean the surface of your dish where you will be etching.

6. Put your gloves on and shake the etching cream bottle good. Using an old paint brush put the etching cream on generously where you want to etch. Let it sit for a minute, Then I take the etching cream off with my brush and put it back in the bottle, so it lasts longer.

7. Then under warm rinse the rest of the cream off and then take the contact paper off and you have your wonderful design!

From Contributors

Featured at our HFPE Group We just did this for our Super Saturday. My EL has a friend in Utah who does this for a living–you send her all the names/font choices/pictures info and she will mail you back all the stencils ready to go! We found this a HUGE help, because it would have taken a long time to print everyone’s info out, and change font sizes according to the size of their pan. All you have to do is tape your stencil on your pan and then peel it off and it’s ready to sandblast or do the etching cream. (We sandblasted ours, but I’ve heard either way is fine)

Here’s her info if anyone would like to contact her.

Michelle Topham
Stansbury Park, Ut.
(435) 843-1100

She charges, $3 for just your last name, and $4 for your last name plus a picture. There’s also a catalog she’ll send so you can pick fonts and pictures. We charged a flat rate of $5 each, plus they brought their own pan. This was our most popular class!

-Jill Angell in San Jose When we did this we took in several lettering templates and contact paper. Lay the templates down so that it reads reverse, trace onto contact paper and cut out with an x-acto knife. Pull backing off and adhere to bottom of dish. Spread on etching cream, let stay on for time suggested on cream. Rinse off in cool water being careful not to splash it on anything and preferably wear plastic gloves to protect skin. It is a fairly simple process..

Take an old credit card or anything else that can be used to scrape off the etching cream and put it back into the jar - it can be reused several times. Just remember it is an acid so take precautions about getting it onto your skin - also make sure you tell the ladies who sign up for the class that the etching cream WILL harm their clothes if it gets on them so to dress appropriately.

-Jenni Lanham

by: Leanne In Michigan

Twiggy Stars:

Just pick up some twigs outside ( need 5 and trim them the same length with scissors ) and hot glue the ends together to make a star ornament. Glue on some potpourri and add jute for a string.

Decoupage plates with pictures from the Ensign:

Using a circle cutter, cut out a picture of a Temple etc. and decoupage it onto the back of a clear glass plate.  We also spray painted over the back to have color on the edges.  Use some iridescent and add glitter…so pretty.  Or decoupage tissue paper on the edges instead of paint.

Paper Temple Molds:

I bought a terra cotta mold of the Nauvoo Temple ( $25 ) and used printer paper.  Some of the sisters chalked some of it such as the trees using colored chalk.  This takes about 15 min. for each mold to dry in the microwave…Time consuming, but the sisters loved it. When done, they can be placed in a shadow box on display or just hung up on the wall, or in a plate stand.

You can always make the Patriarchal Blessing Envelopes that have been
mentioned so much lately. I have made 2 this week for our Enrichment on Thursday and they turned out so gorgeous! I used antique looking brads and small tassels to close them.

Savior Ornaments:

We used clear glass ornaments and placed a Greg Olsen picture of Jesus (printed out on cardstock ) inside.  First we added a bit of iridescent Easter type grass stuff (found it at Hobby Lobby ) in the bottom of the ornament.  Next we rolled up the picture and placed it inside with tweezers and placed the top on for hanging.  This was a fast one and so beautiful.

Marble Magnets:

We used the RS Seal (not the foil stickers from the bookstore… they won’t stick ) and decoupage them on the back of a flat marble (from the dollar store ) and added a magnet.  Since they are kind of heavy, a thin magnet won’t work.  We used a round thick magnet from Hobby Lobby and glued them on with Amazing Goop brand glue.  I’m not sure if plain old hot glue will work.  The instructions are from www.mormonchic.com website. We didn’t do these for Christmas In July, but we did make them for our sisters as a gift from the RS Presidency.

Good luck and have fun!

by Kathy

A scripture pillowcase is  about the same as any pillowcase except that a pocket is added that will hold the scriptures.  The scriptures are put in the pocket each day as a reminder to read them before you go to bed at night.

These are mainly pictures for ideas on doing your own 6 Be’s crafts. These have been submitted by those on our HFPE Group.

We also share links to craft instructions on any 6 Be’s Crafts found online. Please share any that you have or know of!

A website that we recommend for the vinyl lettering is: Wall Words By Design

6 Bee’s, patterns and pictures by: Genevie Doyle and available at the Deluxe Edition.

by: Wokay54 from our HFPE Group

Materials Needed:

1 placemat
1 pair of handles (I found mine at Wal-Mart craft department)
fabric, ribbon and trim to embellish

Step 1:

Embellish the front of your placemat on the right side of the placemat. You’ll be able to tell the right side as either the side with no care tag or the side that the ends are not hemmed toward. Since the bottom of your bag will be 3″ deep, stay within the top 7 1/2″ inches of the placemat. Otherwise, you could lose some of your embellishment when you sew up the purse. Also, don’t forget you’ll be using a 1/2″ seam allowance on the sides. Let your creativity go nuts on this part. If you have an embroidery machine, you can really create some fun patterns. Otherwise, sew on ribbons, buttons, jewels, or fabric appliqués.

Step 2:

Fold placemat in half with right sides together. After you fold the placemat, you should not see your embellishment.

Step 3:

Stitch 1/2″ from edges on both sides. Make sure you backstitch (hit reverse on your machine) at the top and the bottom.

Step 4:

This forms the bottom of the purse. Take one side seam you just sewed and place it on top with the top of the bag toward you (the bag is shown upside down). Force the bag to flatten with the bottom of the seam forming the top of the triangle. Stitch across the triangle as shown, 1 1/2″ from the point of the triangle, which will make a 3″ stitch. Again, make sure you backstitch. It’s too difficult to open up the seam allowance, so just turn the seam allowance to one side or the other. Do the same on the other seam.

Step 5:

Turn bag right side out. Your bag is now basically together except for handles and closure. Measure across the top of your bag to find the center and attach your closures and handles or attachments accordingly. For instance, if your handle needs to attach 5″ apart, measure 2 1/2″ from the center on each side.

Ideas for handles:
If you would like to change out the handles on the purse, attach them with some sort of a tie (either ribbon or fabric). Just make sure the holes on the handles are the same distance apart. Then you can change the color or shape of the handles as you desire.

If you want to just buy one set of handles, you can move them from bag to bag as you desire. If the handle has removable hardware, you can sew double-folded tabs on the bag and remove the hardware to change handles.
You can also use ribbon or cotton webbing as handles. A shoulder strap needs to be about 26″ long, while a handle for hand-holding can be as little as 8″ long. Don’t forget you can embellish the cotton webbing with striped or jacquard ribbon.

Construction Ideas:
Experiment with different constructions- make the bottom narrower or wider which will make your purse slightly taller or shorter, respectively.

You can also sew the purse up on the outside, so seam allowance is showing. You can then sew a piece of bias tape or ribbon to the seam for embellishment.

By: Shiloah Baker

A mission is a big deal in our home.  It does not matter if our son is only eight years old, we are teaching him the importance of going on a mission, marrying in the temple, and raising a righteous family.  In the scripture Proverbs 22:6 it says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Because I want him to keep his focus on things of the future, I made this key ring book.  The purpose of it is to remind him of the necessary steps to being worthy to go on a mission and I include the Twelve Articles of Faith for his memorization purposes.

Materials:

• Laminator (or laminating sheets)
• 2 8 1/2 x 11″ scrapbooking patterned papers (I used two that matched)
• large key ring (found in office supply sections)
• printed booklet on white cardstock (see below to download)
• 3 different kinds of matching fibers (several yards each)  *
• Paper adhesive
• Regular office hole punch
• Download PDF patterns (Clipart from LDS Clipart CD)

*Note:  Fibers are basically specialty yarns.

Directions:

1. Cut out all pieces of the book.  I left most of the articles of faith together in groups of three.
2. Adhere the book pages onto scrapbooking papers of your choice.
3. Laminate each book page
4. Hole punch the top left hand part of each “page”.
5. String on the key ring.
6. Tie the top with coordinating fibers.
7. Let your child take this to church for a nice quiet toy and great memorization piece!

---

Shiloah Baker is an entrepreneur who runs the Homemaking Cottage & Co., an online business which sells books, eBooks, ideas, LDS related materials, and a special subscription service.  For more information go to: http://www.homemaking-cottage.com and http://www.enrichmentcottage.com

by: Aubri Larson

Supply List:

8×8 tile. These are available at the hardware store.

Vinyl Lettering.

Instructions: Spray tile with Windex to remove dust. Apply Vinyl lettering to tile. Instructions are listed above.

Vinyl Application Instructions (For all vinyl lettering projects)

Your quote is made up of three layers. The top layer is the transparent sticking tape, the actual letters are the middle layer, and the bottom layer is the stiff backing paper. All surfaces must be flat, clean and dry before applying.

Step 1: Clean the surface with glass cleaner and a dry cloth. Dirt and dust particles will cause vinyl lettering to bubble.

Step 2: Draw horizontal guidelines in the area you wish to apply your lettering. Take your sheet of words and flatten the surface out so there is no rolling up.

Step 3: On a flat surface gently but firmly rub over the words to make sure all letters have adhered to the sticking tape. Rub over the top of the sticking tape again, just to make sure the letters are sticking to it.

Step 4: With the quote facing up so that you can see it, begin to slowly peel up the sticking paper, which will grip the letters, and be all in one piece. The letters should stick to the sticking tape. If any of the letters aren’t sticking, press them down again with the tape, and rub over them with the edge of a credit card or application squeegee.

Step 5: Place the taped letters on the prepared surface, using your guidelines to position them correctly. Firmly “squeegee” the lettering to force the bubbles out with your application squeegee or edge of credit card. Start in the center and work your way out. Be sure you have gone over all areas.

Step 6: Gently peel off the transfer tape, leaving the letters in place.

Step 7: You are finished!

---

Aubri Larson is a small business owner of Wall Words By Design- Great craft ideas or kits for HFPE.  You can fully customize these for the sisters in your ward.  A very extensive list of ideas and great customer service!