Get Ready for Summer GIVEAWAY

So, today is the last day of school. Aryn and Isaac have really liked their classes and their teachers. They've learned so much. One of the best things is that they both really love to read! I can't tell you how happy I am about that. We decided to make a little Thank You gift for their teachers. I found the instructions to make these cute bookmarks here.

Aryn and Isaac drew the pictures, and picked the colors for the fabric on the back. Pink for Isaac because he said that was his teacher's favorite. And green for Aryn because she said that was her teacher's favorite. I did the stitching for Isaac, but Aryn did hers on her own!

We thought it would be fun to get this summer started with a GIVEAWAY. So here you go... This time around, there's going to be a few twists...Just to add to the excitement!

1. I'll draw TWO winners. One for "Martian Man" and one for "Les Fleurs." (Original artwork by my children.)

2. Since it's mother's day month, if one of your names or one of your mother's names matches either of Gene or I's mother's MAIDEN name (does that make sense?), you get an extra entry. Their maiden names are: HEATON and EDWARDS.

3. We're going out of town, so the contest will close Tuesday @ 12:00 noon. Just leave a comment to enter.

4. Good Luck! And have FUN with the kiddos this summer!
I have to share one more piece of excitement. While Aryn and I were stitch, stitch, stitching away, Zoe wanted to try. I got her a little yellow hoop (her favorite color), she drew the picture on the fabric, and off she went! Now she's stitch, stitch, stitching away! She can even thread the needle! She's getting so big. She's so happy with herself too. And that makes me so happy.

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The contest is now closed!!! I will draw the winners and post them soon!

The winner for "les fleurs" is... the TONIOLI'S

And the winner for "martian man" is... the MOORE FAMILY

CONGRATULATIONS! I'll get these sent off!

Better Late Than Never GIVEAWAY

So. It's the last day of the month... This month has just flown. Remember a few weeks ago when I hinted at a giveaway? Well... are you ready?

Leave a comment on this post and you'll be entered to win one of these little bonnets. (Make sure to mention which color you like!) The Giveaway will close on Saturday night at 10:00pm MST.

When I decided to make these little bonnets, I had a plan for them. I still do. It's just taking me some time getting it put into action. I chose the colors for a reason.

Red (pink) is for Courage to do what is right.

Yellow for Service from morning till night.

Blue is for Truth in our thought and our deed.

And then I added Green because it's the color of the CTR shield, Choose The Right.

Now you little luckies are going to have Our Primary Colors, (Children's Songbook, page 258), running through your head for awhile. It's okay. It'll do you good.

Good Luck, everyone!

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And the winner is...

Cheryl!!! Congratulations! I'll bring it over soon!

Dangerous Things

I've had the sewing machine out on the kitchen table for the passed few days. This can be a dangerous thing for me. It stays there and takes up a lot of space and time, with it's accompanying chaos. I stay up late at night and during the day everyone gets to fend for themselves, until the project is complete...

Anyway, I've been busy making some things. I can hardly wait to share what this mess is to become. But not until they are all finished. (Then maybe a giveaway...wink, wink?)

And I've got a little helper. Whenever he sees the pincushion, he says, "My ball." He loves taking out the pins. Dangerous, I know. I keep taking it away from him. Somehow, I don't think this is the end of dangerous things for this boy. Only the beginning. Speaking of dangerous, have any of you read The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden? I liked it. I think maybe enough to purchase it.

Primary Colors

I know we're a few weeks into starting the new year, but I wanted to show some slipcovers I made for our Primary. ( I actually made them a year or so ago, but we never got into the habit of using them. We started using them again for the new year.) I used yellow fabric for the Sunbeams, green fabric for the CTR classes, and blue fabric for the Valiant classes.
First, I made a pattern of the top of the chair by tracing it onto a piece of old wallpaper. Next, I cut that out and traced it onto the colored fabric. I sewed the fabric together around the edge on the sewing machine. Then, I hemmed along the bottom. Then, I turned it right-side-out and cut up some plastic sheet protectors for the pockets. Last, I made cards with the number for each age group out of cardstock.

I really like how they turned out. I enjoy the bright, happy colors. I had to hand sew the plastic sheet protectors on because my sewing machine didn't like them. I also made some red ones for the talks and prayer, and a white one for the person being baptized.

Lacing Letters

1. Cut foam sheets to the width of the die-cut you will be using. It's probably going to be in half, length-wise.

2. Die-cut the foam into the chosen letter shape.

3. Punch holes at regular intervals, using a small hole-punch.

4. Make a needle by unbending a paperclip. Cut a long piece of yarn, and thread it through the needle.

5. Tie a knot into the end of the yarn. Start sewing. Up through one hole, down through the next.

NOTE: You can find large plastic needles at the craft store. They are inexpensive and work much better than the paperclips. Use paperclips in a pinch.

Happy Haunting

This is what two weeks of sewing amounts to the day after Halloween.

Here are some of the 'Before' pictures. (That's my mom in the pink. She's the Dancing Queen. I heard one little boy remark, "She's Hannah Montana!")

p.s.

I was just looking at some things on the web, and guess what I found? A paper I wrote in 1997, and that I alluded to in my first post. It's on somebody's blog that I don't even know. How crazy is that? The funny/strange thing is the topic of her post in light of the above pictures. (My writings are toward the bottom of her post.)