Daughter of God Week Day 5

Day 5's mission was about gratitude. We used this quote:
The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout their lives. These are they who are truly happy.
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Mission: Think of someone who has blessed your life. Have you thanked them recently? Do a quiet act of service, one they have not asked you to do. Let them know how much you love them and thank them for all the good they have done.

Click HERE to see all of the other days and treat ideas.

Daughter of God Week Day 4

Repentance and the Pencil Maker

We handed out these cute little pencils along with these envelopes enclosing quotes and detailing the mission for the day.

Here's the quotes we used, the personal message, and the mission:

Courage isn’t always grandiose. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, “I’ll try again tomorrow.”
-Thomas S. Monson

D&C 110:4 I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father.

I want you to know that I have a testimony of my Savior, Jesus Christ. He is my personal advocate with the father, he is also yours. Can you think of someone you would rather have on your side? Someone that knows you better? No one loves you more. He has an invested interest in you. He has already paid the price for you. He has bled from every pore, suffered the excruciating pains of the atonement, and died on the cross, just for YOU. He will not turn back now. He loves you so much that he was willing to make all of those sacrifices, just for YOU! It is the adversary that wants you to believe that repentance is not for you. The only thing the Savior asks of us is that we come unto him, that we take his yoke, and that we repent of our sins. What can you do today to be more like him?

Mission: Choose one thing that you will change to be more like your savior. What will it be? Repent and commit to being more Christlike in your everyday actions. Record your choice in your journal.

Click HERE to see all of the other days and treat ideas.

Daughter of God Week Day 3

Here's what we came up with for day 3! 

Each packet contains a few Bit-O-Honeys and this quote plus the mission.

The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others. - St. John Chrysostom

Your Mission:  If you choose to accept, is to secretly serve an other. You are required to perform a random act of service. Remember the difficulty lies in your ability to not be seen, caught on tape or otherwise have your identity compromised. Begin by choosing and locating your targets. Next, choose what service or kind deed you are going to perform. Third, perform the service without being caught. Good Luck Agent!

Use the mustache for undercover emergencies only!

Click HERE to see all of the other days and treat ideas.

Daughter of God Week Day 2

Today's Mission for our Daughter of God Week is Scripture Study. On the outside of each bag was a  BOM reading chart bookmark, their name, and the saying "The scriptures are meant to be used like bread.. for daily use, not like cake.. for special occasions. In each bag was some homemade rolls, 2 more quotes, and their mission.

"I promise you that if each of you will read the Book of Mormon, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God"
President Gordon B. Hinckley

When you prayerfully and sincerely read the Book of Mormon you will have an increased measure of the Spirit of the Lord, greater power to resist temptation, and know for yourself that it is true scripture from your loving Heavenly Father.

YOUR Mission: Set a goal to read the BOM. You can kill two birds with this stone (Personal Progress). Begin TODAY! Use your Book of Mormon reading chart to mark off which chapters you have read. Share your bread and what you learned today with your favorite person!

Click HERE to see all of the other days and treat ideas.

Daughter of God Week Day 1

I'm so in love with these prayer rocks! Aren't they adorable!

This year we are doing a Daughter of God Week (Mission Possible style) to get our girls ready for YW Camp. Here's what we did for the first day! This is actually a picture of the packet I am giving my niece. She is coming to camp with us, but she has two sisters. I thought I'd give them some rocks too.

Each girl got an envelope explaining what would be happening this week and a sack with a prayer rock and poem in it. Here is a copy of the poem and quote we used.

This is what we put in the envelopes

I think it's going to be a fun week!

Here's all you need to make the rocks:

Scraps of fabric cut into little heart shapes
Modge Podge
Paint Brush
Rocks

1. Cover your rock with a coat of Modge Podge using a paint brush.
2. Center the heart shaped fabric over the rock.
3. Add a coat of Modge Podge over the heart.
4. Allow an hour or so to dry

Click HERE to see all of the other days and treat ideas.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Emily, a friend of mine, who is an AMAZING cook is the one that introduced me to these amazing cookies. It was a life changing event. I am wondering how I lived a life without these babies until now! They are the best! The recipe is straight from the William-Sonoma website.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room
    temperature
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract   

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease 2 baking sheets with butter.

Put the confectioners' sugar into a bowl and set aside.

Mix the ingredients
In another bowl, using a wooden spoon, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add 1 egg and beat on medium speed until blended. Add the other egg and vanilla and beat until blended.

Turn off the mixer and add the flour mixture. Beat on low speed just until blended.

Form the cookies
Using a tablespoon, scoop up a rounded spoonful of dough. Scrape the dough off the spoon into the palm of your other hand. Roll the dough into a ball. Roll the ball in the confectioners' sugar until covered. Place the balls on a prepared baking sheet. Repeat, spacing the balls about 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies
When 1 baking sheet is full, put it in the oven and bake the cookies until they are crackled and puffed, 10 to 12 minutes. Using oven mitts, remove the baking sheet from the oven and set it on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

Using a metal spatula, move the cookies onto the rack and let cool completely. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. Makes about 24 cookies.



 

Princess Warrior Headbands

These braided fabric headbands or Warrior Princess Headbands as my daughter likes to call them, are so fun and easy to make! They are a great project to get rid of some of those scraps that seem to always be laying around.

Here's what you need:

1 piece of fabric 2 inches by 5 1/2 inches
3 pieces of fabric 20 inches by 3/4 of an inch (Using pinking shears helps a lot with keeping the headband from getting to stringy.
1 piece of elastic 4 inches long 1/4 inch wide
1 safety pin

Start by making a casing for you headband using the small 2 by 5 1/2 inch piece of fabric. Fold it in half length wise right sides together. Sew along the raw edges using a 3/8 of an inch seam allowance.
Trim the seam and inside it out using a safety pin.

Sew across the tops of the three long pieces keeping them together. I folded mine in half long ways just at the tops to keep them more condensed.

You can use some tape or a friend to hold your fabric while you braid it, but I found it easiest to use the foot of my machine to hold the fabric down, no wiggles! Braid your fabric all the way to the end, and stitch across the bottom to hold the braid in place.

 Next attach the piece of elastic to one of the ends of your braid by sewing across the tops.

Use a safety pin to slide the braid into the casing you have already made.

Let the casing hang out in the middle while you attach the elastic to the opposite side of the braid.

 It should look something like this.

After you have sewn the elastic down slide the casing so that it covers both the raw ends and the elastic. Top stitch it into place.

Voila! You have a beautiful headband(s). I dare you to just make one :-)!

Hope you enjoy!

Overnight Hike Reminder

The stake asked us to put together a written reminder for the 4th year girls for their overnight hike. I had a lot of fun creating this sleeping bag reminder!

The "pillow" has all of the info on it. Just slide it out to see.

I lOVE the Stake!

This year I was called to be the ward camp director for a stake camp. One of my biggest concerns would have been feeding the 36 of us for the 4 days we will be at camp, but the stake (I can hear the angels singing) decided to cover the food for the whole stake! I LOVE the stake! They put together a food committee and I wanted to do something nice to show our appreciation for the wonderful women who will be coming to camp and taking care of all the food for girls! Camp is such a special time, whether you are there as a service or there to enjoy the camp itself, I think a lot of special memories are made while at camp, so I wanted to do something for them that would last a while and remind them of their time at camp. I thought aprons would be appropriate. Here's what I came up with. (We're the Giraffes, for the theme Be BRAVE, It's a Jungle out there!)

Here is my daughter Madelaine modeling it for me.

I came up with the most simple pattern I could because there are so many to make. 

Here's what you need: 

Fabric cut to 34 inches by 28 1/2 inches

4 1/2 yards of double fold bias tape

Matching thread

Start by folding your fabric in half long ways. Measure in from the raw edges (not the fold) at the top 9 1/4 inches, mark it either with a pin or a sewing marker. Measure down  from the top 10 inches and mark it. Free hand a gentle swoop from the top to the side to create an under arm.

 

The rest is simple! Cut a 10 inch strip of bias tape and sandwich the top of your apron between the folds. Pin it in place and top stitch about an 1/8 of an inch from the opening. Trim the ends flush with the apron line.

Hem the remaining straight edges starting with the sides of the apron. Fold the raw edge under 3/8 of an inch and then again 1/2 of an inch. Iron in place. Top Stitch 3/8 of an inch away from the edge. 

Repeat for the bottom of the apron.

To create the waist straps and neck hole center the remaining bias tape with the middle of the bias tape over the center of the apron. The distance between either side of the top of the apron is about 20 inches of bias tap to make the neck hole. After you have centered your bias tape pin it from the top of the neck hole to the sides.

 

Top stitch from one end of the apron string to the other in one continuous seam.

Tip: Many times when you are working with small bits of fabric it is handy to grab a scrap of fabric and use it as a lead so that the machine does not eat your fabric. You can snip the two apart after you have finished.

The last step is to tie the ends of your apron strings in knots. Hope you enjoy!