SOAP and the Scriptures.

Once again, God's timing is amazing!

I just came across a wondeful way to make scriptures and church lessons more meaningful.  The link below explains it.  I am not using all the canon she uses; I'll use the King James Version of the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and this year's study manuals.  I've been wanting something to motivate me to focus in 2012 and this looks like just the key.

I'd also like to thank Angela Pea for leading me to this link. She is a great inspiration in my weight-loss challenge as well. She has been much more successful at it than I.

Anyway, for the Scripture Inspiration, go to:

S.O.A.P

The above pictures are from the LDS media library which is growing very quickly and is a wonderful source for lessons, blogs, and other uses. 

The First Step is to Dream

I made this bank for my own Secret Santa recipient. It is a cocoa can covered with scrapbook paper and stick-ons.  I washed out the cocoa but the scent remained.

The inside is filled with Hershey's Kisses and Hugs.

Her reaction: "It's a cute little bank, and the best part is, it is filled with chocolate!" Gotta get our priorities in the right place!

Simple Picture Frame

I made this for the woman my husband played Secret Santa for at work.

It's a simple wooden frame, covered with striped paper, and a flower sticker attached.  We put in a picture of her daughter that my husband took at a Halloween party.

I simply traced around the frame, inside and out. I cut the straight sides with a paper cutter, then carefully cut around the curves with scissors.

I glued it with--believe it or not--glue stick!  If you wanted it to last a really long time and be fancy, you could use mod-podge, but it tends to wrinkle the paper more, so I didn't do that. I used the all-purpose craft glue that comes with E-6000 glue to attach the paper flower and button.

Sharing the Love

I finished up a sweater for my 10-year-old grand-daughter and she not only loves it, she decided to try to learn to knit. I wish I had more time with her to really teach her. She bought herself some yarn, needles, scissors, and a knitting bag to "take everywhere, just like Grammy."  Her goal is to learn to knit well enough to make a purse that I have a pattern for. 

Christmas Projects

I'm on vacation, but after Christmas, probably after New Year's,  I will have fun posting pictures of all the fun things I did!  I finished a sweater for a grand-daughter and she loves it!

I started a cap for a grandson but I'm not as sure about it.  I've restarted several times, switching needles and counting to 100 umpteen times, and it may still end up too small. Good thing he has a younger cousin! They both like trains and that's the pattern I am using. 

Nativity

The first weekend of December the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints hosts a nativity celebration for the community here.  It is a wonderful event, with people from all over the area bringing their creches to share with others.

Besides the displays, there are musical groups performing throughout the two-day open house, and a children's area for the little ones, where they can do crafts and dress up as the characters in the Bible story of the birth of Jesus Christ.

I always like to spend time with children, so I went in and did the craft.  They had run out of beards for Joseph, so I cut the hairpiece and turned it upside down to make a beard.  The table was rough-textured, so I turned crayons sideways to rub the rough texture at the back.  The "wood grain"  is just lines drawn in before I colored.

I always like to put my own little twist on things, so I have Mary holding the baby Jesus, while the manger is full of straw.  One of the little girls wanted pants on Joseph, which gave me the idea to cut a slit in the robe, so my Joseph is wearing pants, and I drew on the clothing design and sandals.

It was on a white paper, but I cut mine out and scanned it on a brown background. I like it enough that I might just straighten it out and glue it on.

Nativity; part II.

My husband always goes and takes pictures, which he posts on his blog, Living Love Photos. This year, I took my collection. I chose a table close to the wall, and set up a bookshelf to feature the smaller pieces. By grouping the white ones together, they really stood out.

The one in the foreground below was my mother's nativity, the one I grew up with. I also have my grandmother's, and now my own set that I raised my children with.

The little set in the middle shelf below, left side, is the set of my grandmother's pieces, with the addition of a bamboo stable my son brought me from the Philippines.

Many of my tiny sets, some of which are shown here, were gifts from my children through the years.  Some of them were actually from the dollar store, and I'm okay with that.  I cherish them all the more for the children's caring and supporting me in my faith and my love of the Nativity.