Book of Mormon Paper Dolls - Nephi

Book of Mormon Paper Dolls

Nephi Set 1

My kiddos LOVE the Book of Mormon stories, but in between them all, they kinda get them mixed up. What better way for them to learn than using dolls to recreate the stories?

I got this idea from The Red Headed Hostess. She has some free printables too. Her's are generic and you mix and match and add the clothes and accessories. I LOVE hers, but I wanted something more specific so my kids can act out each specific story. So based on her ideas I came up with these:

I must admit my hubby and son were pretty disappointed that Laban's head isn't detachable, perhaps I will have to recreate to appease.

I created a wilderness scene and a city scene. And the following characters: Lehi, Sariah, Nephi, Sam, Laman, Lemuel, Laban, Zoram, 2 soldiers, Angel, there's also Jesus and some children that aren't geared for this story but are useful for many others.

I also created some props: A stick (Laman beats Nephi with), the Gold Plates, Laban's sword, cup of wine, bags of riches, and Laban's cloak that you can put over Nephi.

I printed out the backgrounds, colored and then glued them onto manila folders before laminating. I printed everything on cardstock and then colored and laminated for durability.

I plan on created more stories but started here since it's the first.

Here are the free printable links:

City Scene (2 Pages)

Wilderness Scene (2 Pages)

Nephi Set (4 Pages)

Happy Creating!

An Apple for the Teacher Shareable

An Apple for the Teacher

AGAIN with this HORRIFIC weather! BOOOO! It's almost March. And I do believe that rodent was LYING because Spring is no where closer. And when the weather gets me down, I bake. I bake a lot. So I need a home for my baked goods, because if they all went in my tummy, well, I'd be in even more trouble and there's no way I'd last through my races this year.

So, I whipped up some apple bread. You can find the recipe HERE. It's one of hubby's favorites, it makes 2 large loaves, or 6 mini loaves. **If you're at a high altitude like me you gotta change some things or your bread will probably fall, it'll still taste great tho ;)**

I asked the kiddos who we should take these to, and Hailey says, you give apples to teachers. So I thought, that's a great idea. So I came up with this cute little label:

Get the free printable HERE.

It's super simple, in fact, I designed it while the kids were eating breakfast before school, so nothing fancy. But the kiddos had a blast taking them to their teachers.

HAPPY SHARING!

Crush On You Gift

So for V-Day today, hubby and I agreed we couldn't spend any $, it had to be all homemade. So I did a little combo treat and coupon book creation.

I used a 6 pk of crush bottles.

1. Drink them all. Yum (for the first one, I got pretty sick of soda after number 3 since I was doing it all in 1 day)

2. Wash and I used goo-gone to remove the labels.

3. Turn upside down and let dry, if you start pouring candy in while it's even a tiny wet, you will have a nasty mess and not a good present.

4. While drying, spraypaint or use scrapbook paper to cover box.

I printed mine using Crush that I found at scrapbookbytes.com and then glued on.

5. I designed a front, back and sides, as well as the handle. I've seen these spraypainted and wrapped with a ribbon and it's just as cute.

6. Once bottles are dry fill with yummy candy matching your colors, I did red and pinks for

v-day.

7. Tie a ribbon around each bottle and your treat is ready.

I did an accordian coupon card to go with it. You can find more info and free printables for those HERE.

I did this for Valentine's Day. But this works for anytime you wanna tell your sweetie you love him!

Cold Hands, Warm Heart Printable

So, it's really NO secret... I despise winter. The cold, the snow, the ice, the SUBZERO temperatures (if you live in the Basin like me). I like California winters. Where you can still wear flip-flops and sit in the jacuzzi for new years. My biggest problem my lack of outdoors because you really can't run in -35*.

But alas, I am reminded over and over things like, "Bloom where you are planted." And of course the best remedy for feeling sorry for yourself is to instead feel love for others. So Hailey and I decided the best course of action on the days you look out the window and groan, or at the thermometer and see a -24 is to make something for someone else. I came up with this fun sharable:

The kiddos and I made chocolate covered spoons (I found my spoon mold with the little heart at Michael's, I wrapped in mini treat bags [2x3"] first - you can find those at Michael's in the candy section too) and chocolate hearts and then filled bags with these, hot cocoa (what else is better on a chilly day?) and marshmallows.

Since it was February when we created these, we found heart shaped marshmallows. I've also seen snowmen, or Christmas variety or of course the original minis. These make a fun February giveaway, but any time it's cold works! In order to share the love a little farther, here's the bag topper I came up with, just print and add to bag. (I use 6x6" bags I found at Papermart. I buy in bulk by 1000, because we do this kind of thing ALL the time. )

So fill your bag with hot cocoa and goodies, print topper:

HERE

and

Share the love during the cold and then maybe those of us that hate winter won't find it so depressing!

HAPPY SHARING!

(To design this shareable I used Just Freezin Kit by Just So Scrappy)

Cleanliness Wheel

If you're a parent of toddlers and preschoolers, then you probably know how DIFFICULT it can be to get them to clean sometimes! Well I am always coming up with something new because everything works for some amount of time, and then it loses its glory and kids no longer respond to it.

I came up with this wheel and each color has a consequence, good or bad. That way the kids can see how they are progressing and know what each one means.

The kids have to clean every evening before dinner. I give them 20 min. (they would take 2 hours if I let them) and then they stop when the timer rings. Wherever the arrow is pointing are the consequences they get.

For example, in our house:

Black = Go to bed early and no books to read in bed (a HUGE for Hailey & Luke)

Brown = Go to bed early

Red = Regular bedtime but no storytime

Orange = Regular bedtime only 1 book for story (Mommy picks)

Light Orange = Regular bedtime, 1 book each for storytime

Yellow = Regular bedtime, everyone gets a story, best cleaner gets 2

Light Green = Regular bedtime, everyone gets story, best cleaner gets 2 & DESSERT!

Dark Green = Regular bedtime, everyone gets story, best cleaner gets 2 PLUS a candy & ICE CREAM SUNDAES FOR DESSERT!

So there are both good and bad consequences. My favorite part about this... NO YELLING required! I hate trying to yell to get my kiddos attention. I make a little noise (upscale or downscale depending on which way the arrow is going) and move the arrow. No yelling. No talking even. The kids are responsible for their own actions and I no longer feel like the bad guy harping on every move they make.

Here's the free printable:

Cleanliness Title & Arrow

Cleanliness Wheel

All I did was print, color, laminate, and hang. I used a brad to secure the arrow for spinning. You could cut around the circle, but I liked the look leaving it on the square background.

Good Luck getting those kiddos to clean!

Happy Cleaning!

Golden Oreo Truffles Recipe

So techincally these should probably go on my recipe blog (and they will), but I added them here too because they make SUCH a great gift and there is such an ENDLESS array of options! Decorations, flavors, etc!

So all you need is this:

1 pkg. golden oreo

1 8oz pkg. cream cheese

melting chocolate (I used almond bark)

& decorations (optional)

Or... This:

For Chocolate!

(Double Stuff is harder to work with, but if it's all you have, work it!)

First take your food processor, or heavy duty blender, or some strong arms a large gallon ziploc bag and a rolling pin and crush those cookies!

I use 36 cookies (we usually eat the rest or save for dipping!)

Mix, blend or roll until fine crumbs.

On a side note, isn't my new food processor BEAUTIFUL!?! (Thanks MOM! Christmas Gift :)

After you have fine crumbs, cut the cream cheese into chunks and add to food processor.

Then process. You will know it's all mixed when your fine crumbs turn into one GIANT BLOB!

It WILL be gooey! I take my food processor bowl, in the state and stick it in the fridge for a good 10-15 min to chill.

This isn't necessary for taste, but makes it MUCH easier to work with.

After done chilling. Roll into balls.

I use my cookie scoop, scoop and roll in hands then set on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

After I have all my balls I put this back in the fridge or freezer (if you have room). The colder you have the balls the easier it is to dip.

While they are chilling (about 30 min. in fridge or 10-15 in freezer), melt your chocolate.

You can use candy coating, almond bark, baker's chocolate (make sure it's SWEETENED), even chocolate chips.

I prefer these:

But if you live in the Basin good luck finding them! You can order them but they usually melt. However if you find yourself in SLC or Orem, pick some up! I like them better because they melt faster, easier, and they taste better. But the almond bark does better than chocolate chips. But use whatever you have. Just be careful to melt slowly and stir frequently!

You can melt in a double boiler (safest method) but not everyone has one, a small pot will work, but melt on LOW and stir frequently to prevent scorching. You can also melt in the microwave, but only melt for 30 seconds at a time, stopping and stirring in between. If you don't you will end up burning sections of the chocolate and then when you mix, it's all ruined.

(Trust me, I've done it!)

And P.S. make sure all your pans, bowls, utensils are dry, any liquid will solidify the chocolate defeating the purpose.

Now this part lacks pictures because you got to work quickly!

As soon as your chocolate is melted, remove your chilled dough balls and dip in chocolate. I say dip, but that's not what I do. I usually use one spoon to hold the ball (on the tip) and another to poor the chocolate over the top. I've heard of people using two forks, but when I tried that half my dough ended up in the chocolate. I've also actually painted the chocolate on which worked well but was pretty tedious. So whatever you feel most comfortable with. But these balls are gooey, as soon as the feel heat they start to get doughy again so whatever you do, do it quick.

I melted white almond bark and after I did some in white I added a few drops of red food coloring to make pink. Dipped some more, and then added even more food coloring for a darker pink. Add your sprinkles right after or they won't stick to the chocolate.

I used 16oz of chocolate (8 of the 2oz squares), and had some leftover. But that's always good. Cause there's always something that tastes better dipped in chocolate, like strawberries or pretzels, or remember those extra oreos?

mmmmm

This recipe is so universal. You can use any flavor oreos, like mint, or even nutter butters for a peanut butter flavored truffle. You can use any flavor melting chocolate, and any kind of decoration, for flavor or color.

Oh, the possibilities!!!

Enjoy!

Hubby Valentine's Day Accordion Coupon Card

For Hubby's gift this year I actually had a night away planned. But Murphy's law applied and the week before Valentine's Day we had to buy a new computer monitor, so night away cancelled. Must find fast, easy and cheap gift for hubby.

Enter Coupons.

We love them. They are a common gift among our home because let's face it, a cop doesn't do it for the $!

This time, I wanted to do something a little different and had those darn envelopes I was trying to get rid of, and came up with this.

It folds up accordion-style. All the pages but the very top have a pocket to store coupons or love notes.

First take your first two envelopes. One flap side down and one flap side up.

The take the bottom envelope's flap and glue under the top envelope.

(Sorry, blurry picture!) So the top envelope has an open flap at the back and the bottom now has an open pocket with no flap.

This is what the back looks like.

Repeat gluing the top flap under the above card for as many pockets as you want.

I glued the very top card's flap over the 2nd flap just so it would stay put.

Then decorate.

I designed mine using Crush that I found at Scrapbookbytes.com

Here's what I came up with (and the printable links):

Here's my cover:

And I did a back. You don't have to, I just liked how it looked when it's all folded up both front and back are decorated.

Here's the back:

And the pocket decor:

Printables for the card here:

Valentine's Day Hubby Card 1

Valentine's Day Hubby Card 2

And the inside coupons:

See those ones hiding to the right? There's a reason they're hiding ;)

You can print the ones I've made, or I also made a blank set.

Valentine's Day Hubby Coupons Set 1

Valentine's Day Hubby Coupons Set 2

Valentine's Day Hubby Coupons Blank Set

I'm not all done with Hubby's gift yet, but the rest will be posted after Vday just in case he's sneaking a peek ;)

Happy Loving!

Valentine's Day Kids Coupons & Coupon Cards

Valentine's Day Coupon Cards for Kids

Free Coupon Printables

So yesterday (3 days before Valentine's Day) my daughter asks me, "Mom, are you going to make us a valentine this year like you do for daddy?"

Doh! Finally at that age where they notice stuff like that.

In my house our deal for V-Day is it has to be heartfelt and usually we agree, homemade.

So, 3 days, homemade and mean something to the kids. So heartfelt coupons are a BIG go-to in my house between me and hubby. We usually can't afford anything and there isn't ONE big

thing we could do that would mean a lot, but there are a lot of little things.

So here's what I came up with...

First a car card for hunter...

I did a clipart car from my DJ Inkers Clipart. You can't really read the wording on the back section but it says "I wheelie like you." (Cute huh? I got the phrase from Mique at ThirtyHandmadeDays.)

So for this one, I printed out my clipart and then cut an extra sheet of cardstock in the same shape. Then I glued all around except around the door, this way the back acts as a pocket.

Insert coupons here.

Next I did a Dino Card for Luke.

I did his a little different. I printed out clipart (another DJ Inkers) on cardstock and cut out 1x all around the dino and name. This is where I went a little different.

I have all these little envelopes that I never really use for anything (why I bought them I don't know). So I decided this would be a great way to hold the coupons and less work!

So I cut the top triangle flap off the envelope and then glued the dino to the front. Super easy!

I had a hard time deciding between a puppy and a kitty for Bella, but she was running around with her kitty at the time, so kitties it is!

I did the same envelope back with the kitties (again a DJ Inkers clipart).

Hailey's I did a little different. She's my book worm and originally she wanted a camel card. When I asked for another idea she said an ostrich. I finally got her to go with snake, which I eagerly agreed to because I thought of an easy greeting.

But since my little Hailey is SUCH a bookworm! I thought how fun would it be if her's opened like a book. But I still wanted to put in coupons and still wanted to use the blasted envelopes.

So here we go.

When I printed the clipart I printed on the far right of the page. Then left enough room for an extra envelope. I folded the paper and put 2 envelopes (don't forget to cut those flaps), facing opposite ways on the inside. A card with 2 pockets. Maybe I'll add a heart in the middle.

Anyway, so those are my cards. Since I didn't really do anything special, just basic clipart, I didn't do a printable for those.

BUT....

I did do a printable for these:

These fun coupons! Now there are some girl and some boy, mostly uni. And I did some blank too, so you can write your own.

I designed these using art from Love in the Park I found on Scrapbookbytes.com

There are 3 sets and a blank set.

Valentine's Day Coupon Set 1

Valentine's Day Coupon Set 2

Valentine's Day Coupon Set 3

Blank Valentine's Day Coupon Set

Just print out on cardstock and cut! Put in card or wrap with a ribbon and you're done!

Have fun creating for your loved ones!

Valentines Day Decorations

Valentine Decorations 2011

So I really need help in the decorating department, my house is covered in kids art and learning posters. But thanks to these wonderful bloggers with their great ideas, I think I ended up with a pretty nice setup! You must pardon the flash glare, all my doing gets done at night when the kids are sleeping ;)

The very top XO banner came from My Computer is My Canvas . I found this one at her etsy store, but she has a TON of free printables! *LOVE* I printed, cut, and strung up with some CTMH sheer ribbon (sad they don't sell it anymore!) and hung it.

The Subway art was a free printable from

Eighteen25

There are 2 color options. I ordered mine at Walmart in 16x20 print, but beware, Walmart automatically adjusts your pics so it looks more black than brown, I still love it. If you have a COSTCO or other option, I'd go there, but since I don't Walmart it is.

I found a clearance frame at dickblick.com

This is my version of Tatertots and Jello Super Sized Subway Art .

I didn't have a gigantic board, but I did have the broken bottom of a dresser drawer!

I thought it'd be cute to spray paint it dark brown with pink letters....

wanna see? look at picture above. The particle board just soaked up all the brown, couldn't tell the difference at all.

Plan B.

I painted it with gray acrylic paint. It took a few coats, but the color came out great.

I don't have a silhouette machine, but a friend of mine does, so she cut the lettering for me. (Thanks Jill!)

Strung it up with some ribbon and TA-DA!

Bet you didn't know that was a broken piece of a dresser!

(Again with the glare right? I know, sorry)

This beauty came from Infarrantly Creative .

She gives a step by step on her blog. The only thing I did different was I did silver glittery letters for "Kisses". Again Thanks Jill for the Vinyl!

I did learn that your generic cheap holders ? (o gee what are they called) well the ones at Walmart don't give enough tilt and the kisses will fall out. So you either have to drill your holes deeper, OR find a better holder (what are those things called?). Anyway I found an adjustable one at Michaels (city trip!) for a few dollars and it works great.

And boy do my kiddos LOVE countdowns! Especially if they involve candy!

I can't for the life of me find the link to the smaller pink subway art. She had a ton of color options, it was a great free printable (if it's yours please let me know so I can link it!)

Printed this one on my home printer and another clearance frame.

The glasses or vases were from the dollar store, as were the glittery heart pics and the LOVE frame (great deal huh?).

The serving tray I found at Michael's on sale for $1.99! It was too great to cover with food! (And I used my cheap walmart holder (whatever its called) to stand it up!

I love a good deal!

So there it is! My valentine day decorations for 2011. I found a ton more really great ideas I just didn't have any more time. But I still have next year!