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: Jaymi Omaha, NE
From our HFPE Group

This month went so well. I just wanted to get on here and tell you all about it, maybe some of you would like to do some of the projects, because the legwork has already been done. Not all by me though, I would like to take some of the credit, but I saw a few things done in my hometown, St. Johns AZ and there a quite a few talented sisters out here who helped out!

We did 5 different craft projects on a Friday night from 7:00pm to 12:00pm, hence the name Fabulous Friday. The five crafts were:

1. Flower magnets - These were awesome. The sisters could not get enough of them. We bought Michael’s all out of their simple daisy’s. We put a center circle in them. Used wire to frame the petals, and put a charm on top (The sisters went crazy painting them.)

2. Pebble magnets - These were really cheap so 220 of these were made. You just take a decorating pebble (those you see in the craft section of Wal-Mart that you put in the bottom of vases. Silicon (it is more permanent than hot glue), and paper. So easy and cute for gift toppers.

3. Mini Scrapbooks - These were mini brag books. The sister that made the sample for these did a great job they are only three inches by three inches (about) just enough to put your children’s pictures in, or an address book, or journal for your child, etc.

4. The Be Boards, foot long boards and 3 ft board (Pres. Hinckley’s B’s) These boards were AWESOME! I absolutely loved them. We thought most of the sisters would want to do the 3 ft boards, but we had almost 70 of the small boards and only 12 of the bigger. They were very cute.

5. 4th of July flags for decoration. We ripped five pieces of fabric, 7 by 1 inches, sewed them together, etc etc etc. And glue gunned them to a dowel and placed them in a cute bucket with sand. They are so cute as a center piece. I loved them.

The sisters had a great night, they brought their favorite snack and we talked the night away. Pretty fun and inexpensive for the sisters.

by: Aubri Larson

Applying lettering to tiles:

*The tiles can be purchased at Lowe’s or Home Depot. I used a 12×12 size.

1. Rub tile with alcohol first. This removes any dust or residue.

2. Follow Vinyl Application instructions.

( -Carefully peel the tape and vinyl away from the stiff paper backing, hold the vinyl in position and stick. Rub the entire area firmly from one side to the other with your fingertips or the sharp edge of a credit card. The vinyl has a pressure sensitive adhesive and the harder you rub the harder it sticks.

- Remove the application tape by pulling gently in a downward position.)

You can display the tiles using a decorative easel. They are available at Michael’s Craft, Hobby Lobby, or Robert’s Craft store.

The vinyl lettering can be cut into any shape, font, color, and in any quote, in any size! Your imagination is the limit. It can also be applied to mirrors, windows and framed glass.

————————————————————-

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!

This super easy clay pot Christmas tree has a photo featured here.

Directions Found Here:

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: 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!

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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

We are still recovering from the most fun day of the year! This year we had 15 crafts offered, varying in price, skill level and decorating style (country versus elegant) because we have such a wide diversity of incomes and interests in the ward. The crafts offered were:

• Apple berry beaded candle centerpiece (two pillar candles with a beaded pattern on a gold plate (BYO) with an apple berry pick)
• Apple berry table centerpiece
• Apple berry wreath
• A large wooden pumpkin cutout, that is sanded, stained all over, and the only the front painted orange, with a little bit of raffia and a green leaf.
• Wooden stars on sticks, in a cube base (very popular)
• A wooden plaque that had wooden tiles painted to resemble a quilt block.
• Holiday note cards, set of 5
• Painted glass candy jars (from the Dollar Store)
• A Halloween wreath with wooden cutouts to paint stuck to it
• A summer wreath with sunflowers and ladybugs
• Memory boards (upholstered board with ribbon stapled to them in a criss-cross design, and buttons glued on the intersection
• A decoupage box edged in gold pen (tear chunks of paper to decoupage, when
  dry, outline each piece of paper with gold pen)
• A eucalyptus swag

The most popular craft (37) was a season-less “gospel” craft. It was based on the March 2004 talk by Russell M. Nelson about the fruits of the gospel. On my printer, I took all the “fruits of the gospel ” (love, hope, faith, temperance, kindness, etc.) and formatted them to equal size regardless of the amounts of letters in the word, and used a blue-green font. Using an 11×17 frame (we crackle finished them in blue overlaid with white), cut green-grey art paper to fit the frame. Position post-its on the top and sides.
Then, using a 1″ leaf stamp and dark green dye ink, stamp an oval tree shape, overlapping the leaves, and not re-inking the stamp too often.

With a rose stem stamp (shaped like a parentheses), make the trunk.

Take large oval page pebbles (clear rubber dot stickers that look like water beads) and stick them on the white computer printed sheet words, centering the words in the page pebble. Cut out the page pebbles carefully (just use scissors) and stick them in the tree as fruit. Taking the leaf stamp with aqua opaque ink, print a few more leaves in aqua.

Tear a strip of blue green paper straight across to make the ground for the green and glue it on, torn side up (looks cool, like grass). Frame and go.

I used my Stampin-up kit that has parts for making a rose to do this (hence the rose stem), but you can do it how you like (free hand a trunk, use any leaf stamp). Everyone did theirs slightly differently and they all looked very neat. We offered them with or without frames, to keep the cost down.

The above idea came to me in a dream, after thinking about the tree with desirable white fruit. You could use this idea to make family trees also.

We a had breakfast and lunch buffet (bagels were free from a bakery the night before; tell them it is for your church group), played Christmas music, and had holiday decorations on the stage. We put up tables (according to how many signed up) and covered them with butcher paper, and put a sign on each table.

Each teacher brought materials packaged as kits (leaving out shared supplies) and written instructions (in case the sister couldn’t do it that day). We had assigned different teachers to teach 9-11, 11-1, and 1-3pm, so the teachers could have fun also. But people could do the craft any time, the teacher just wouldn’t be available.

And we do need to delegate more of the clean-up. It ended up just the 4 committee members at the end — everyone else boogied on home.

-Lynda G

I have to tell a big THANK YOU for all your great ideas that you have willingly shared here on this forum. I helped to make my wards SOUP-er Saturday a HUGE success. I couldn’t have pulled it off without you all.

Here is how the day went.

Started at 8am Saturday putting the final touched at all 10 of the crafting stations. We took up the whole gym.

For classes we offered the following which all the kits for the class were ordered and paid for in advance.

1. A 4ft. rough “Winters For The Birds” penguin.

2. Resin 14X18 Apostle’s Testimony picture with 12 of Greg Olsen’s 3×4 pictures

3. Felt “eye spy” bag

4. Hemstitching 101 burp cloth and receiving blankets

5. Quiet Book of Christ

6. Wooden snowman parts

7. Holiday graphic candles

8 Decorative vinegar bottles

9. Christmas in a Can

10. Humanitarian Quilt.

We had over 80 women show up. This was unbelievable to have that many that were interested. Have non-members and members from other wards also in attendance.

It was really gratifying to actually get to see Sunday that some of the items that were geared more for the children and Sacrament Meeting were really being used and the children liked them.

Thanks again for all you ideas and PLEASE, keep sharing.

-Barbara Phillips

Our Super Saturday is this Saturday.

We are (thanks to you) doing the glass blocks with the nativity on. I cannot thank you enough. It is the most popular of the classes.

Then we are doing:

-Eye Spy Bags
-Cheese Cake Dainties Chocolates
-Table runners and napkins
-Angel tree ornaments
-a family of 3 wooden snowmen of varying sizes.

Wish me luck, this is my first endeavor.

-Louise Goreas

Sisters, please remember that the ideas shared here are “as is”. If we don’t have the instructions on the site, most likely we don’t have them.

In November, we held our Thanksgiving ~ Christmas Craft Day for the sisters in our ward. Our meeting was from 9:30 to 1:00. They had their choice of 3 classes:
1. Piecrusts 101 along with a demonstration of how to make English Toffee.
In the piecrust class they each made a double crust and filled it with cherry pie filling then wrapped them to take home to bake.

2. Painting characters on brick pavers.
For the painting class sisters had their choice of painting a turkey face with a pilgrim hat, a snowman with earmuffs, a ladybug and a Santa. Several sisters liked this so much they bought extra pavers to take home and paint.

3. Fleece hats and more.
In the fleece class everyone made a hat with fringe at the top. They learned numerous ways to tie fringe. They learned the steps to making a ‘Rag Quilt, they were shown ways to use a single layer of fleece, double layers in several different ways, a cap with a brim, a reversible cap with brim, 2 different scarves, a baby blanket and jacket with crochet edging, whimsical fleece flowers to adorn caps, blankets, etc.

Classes were 1 1/2 hours. After the classes we had everyone gather and then had demonstrations on how to make a quick and easy layered felt turkey, how to paint an Advent Scripture Candle, how to make a cute stuffed pumpkin in 15 minutes or less and finally hints, helps and ideas for gift wrapping. We had handouts of instructions for each class. We give out patterns for the felt turkey, a felt cinnamon stick lamb that could be used for a package topper or ornament with buttons for wool, directions for painting the candle and a list of scriptures to be read each day from Dec. 1 to Dec. 25 as they burned the candle to the next dot and finally directions for making the stuffed pumpkin. Many packages in different forms were on display and each was explained along with how to save on materials for wrapping. Comparing gift wraps for quality, what to look for when buying ribbons and how to use them.
Basic instruction on how to wrap a simple package and lots of ideas of different ways package gifts.

The sisters were asked to bring a batch of their favorite holiday cookie along with the recipe and while classes were being held copies of the recipes were make and assembled into a booklet for each sister to take home. The sisters also brought their own sandwich and the Relief Society did the rest including having a large crock-pot with hot water available for hot chocolate or cider. For nibbling fresh vegetables and dip were on the same table.

The sisters had a wonderful time and were still talking about it in church the next day. They visited, laughed and enjoyed learning new skills and just being together. They said they didn’t feel rushed and had plenty of time to complete their projects which I feel is always important because we know if we don’t finish it there it probably won’t ever be. I hope this day of ideas inspires you to try it in your wards. You’ll love it and your sisters will too.

Grace Gilmore, Stockton CA

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We are doing a Super Sat in Oct and these are a few of the ideas that we are kicking around.

Toothbrush rugs, on a piece of glass stencil or silk screen the nativity and it will set in a wooden , slotted stand and you stain the stand the color to match you home.

The Cotton press temples in a frame with dried flowers (I have taught this class about 20 times, in different wards and stakes)..
Maybe the gold leaf on a clear film with a picture

The garden stakes that you put in your yard,

Pumpkins , made with dryer hose, painted and put leaves on top of them.

Maybe a cookie exchange with the recipes.

-Launa

Our Super Saturday for November is themed…Trading Spaces.

We are planning some crafts but in the midst of everything (times are listed) we will be having demonstrations on…

Faux finishing, texturing walls etc.
How to refinish furniture.
Decorating on a Budget ideas

For crafts we are making…

Decorative Bulletin boards
Eye spy bottles
light up decorated paint can (with holes punched in it)
Decorative pillows
cards

I think I am supposed to pretend I am Paige Davis while introducing our Decorators but then again I may not…???

We have had a lot of interest from the young women for this activity.

-Stefni Ritcher

We had our Super Saturday a couple of weeks ago and it went great. Here are the things we offered to our sisters. We combined with another ward, and that had it’s pluses and minuses.

- Doll-size Flannel Quilts: very easy! FREE! It was initially going to cost $2 a sister, but someone donated a bunch of fabric and it ended up being free. We also had about 7 sisters bring their sewing machines to help out with this project, as well as some donated thread

- Citrus Vinegar Jars: very easy! Cost: $2 The citrus fruits were already sliced, vinegar, and long bottle necked jar were provided. Tied with raffia, and a little gift tag.

- Faux-Tiled 8×10 Pictures of Christ and the Woman at the Well:
fairly involved. Cost: $10. We had pre-routed (spelling?) wood.
You paint with craft paint the outside squares- we offered a choice between black and forest green. The “grout” lines were painted with cream. The center four squares you paste your pre-cut picture of
Christ and the Woman. We used hair dryers to quickly dry the craft paint. Then an epoxy-lacquer compound is applied to the picture to give it that shiny bathroom tile effect. They were then blow-
torched to allow the epoxy-lacquer to set, and left covered and dried overnight. The sisters picked up their pictures the next day after church.

- 12 Days of Christmas Box- very easy! Cost: Free! It was a mini-class on a fun way to do the 12 Days of Christmas. A CD with all of the stories and gifts was handed out.

- How to Write your Personal History- Cost: Free! Another mini-class offered on how to write your personal history. The sister who taught the class has her degree in Family History. She provided handouts for everyone. I have these as well if anyone is interested.

- Fun, Chic, and Inexpensive Ideas for Decorating for the Holidays:
Mini-class taught by our Relief Society President. Handout offered. Things on how to make Jack-O-Lantern Jars, A Fun picture frame with Holiday Ornaments hanging down, etc.

- Humanitarian Aid Project: Sewed and put together school kits. I think we did 75, and our goal was 50. We had the material donated, and the sisters from both wards brought the appropriate materials to fill the bags.

Our lunch we had sack lunches complete with a piece of fruit, ham sandwich on croissant, chips, and a cookie. We had the round tables set up and the sisters had water to drink.

That’s it! We had a wonderful turnout, and I guess some of the Priesthood were jealous that we got to do such fun things in RS.

Crystal
Seattle, WA

For our July HFPE, we are doing a Christmas in July theme under a Super Saturday umbrella.

We’ll be doing three crafts:
1. Tile Pictures ~ $10
2. Glass Blocks ~ $12
3. Fabric Angel ~ $5

Among other things, we’re going to set up a table with Christmas ideas (hand-outs) to give the sisters.
When I was growing up my family did the 12 Days of Christmas as Secret Santa’s to member families in our ward. My Mom adapted it to work for my brother when he was on his mission for his Christmas package.

-Heidi In Calgary, Canada

I just wanted to let you all know what we’re doing for Souper Saturday in October - our classes are as follows:

1-Dipping Chocolates (each sister will take home 1-2 lbs chocolates)
2-Wood Ghost (designed by a sister in the ward)
3-Decorative Terra Cotta Pots
4-I Spy Pouches
5- Night Light (made with shower glass blocks)
6-Self Defense
7-Holiday Hor d’oeuvres
8-Hooded Towels
9-Little Persons Aprons (made with pot holder, hand towel, and ribbon)
10-Family History Center (available all day)
11-Tying Baby Quilts (available all day)

Time is 9-2 with Soup and rolls (of course) for lunch. We are having babysitting available on a ‘as needed’ basis… so we’ll see how many kids we get. This has been a lot of work, but I think it will be a great day. Thanks for all the great ideas!!!

-Sandy in Seattle