The Makings of a Young Women Handout

I am often asked where I come up with the ideas 

for my Young Women handouts.  

While I do LOVE making them 

and I LOVE when they turn out better than I had envisioned, 

I don't know that I truly have a secret for coming up with the idea.

Usually, I start with the lesson. 

 All of my lessons are found at lds.org.  

This year we are on Manual 3.  

I usually figure out what part of the lesson I want the girls to remember 

and then I locate a thought, quote or scripture that enforces that lesson.

For Easter I knew I wanted to focus on the YW Values 

and so I went hunting for Easter candy.   

I bought oodles of jelly beans in YW Value colors 

(no such thing as gold jelly beans- hence the golden-Carmel filled egg) 

and I also knew I wanted to use the Lamb to represent the Lamb of God.

Later I thought about what I wanted them to think about who they are

 in relationship to the message of Easter. . .I wrote this:

This Easter place your values where your mouth is!  

Stand as a witness of God at all times 

and in all things and in all places 

as you bear witness of the divine mission of the Lamb of God.  

Be thou an example of the believers. 

 (All paraphrased from the YW Theme, YW Values and 1 Timothy 4:12)

I already had these Wilton disposable icing tubes which are

already ideally shaped for Easter!

I composed my text into the shape of the "carrot" and placed

it on this Cyrstal Wilkerson Houndstooth  digital paper.

Then I made the Happy Easter tag!  

I used CTMH Splendor paper and some 

miscellaneous CTMH Stamps.

Some green ribbon for the carrot -

all with a little help from my Freckle-Faced Strawberry

and there's the magic!

An Apple A Day!

Another Young Women Handout. . . Had fun making them!

Cricut Apple

The Lesson was on sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ

just by being a friend.

Strawberry Fields Forever

By popular request!

This is another handout for my Beehives.

This lesson was on Righteous Traditions.

The lesson reminded me of one of my favorite

childhood memories - making Jam.

My mom LOVED fresh berries!

She tried to grow our own, 

but we only ever ended up with a handful.

Still she wanted to preserve the tastes of summer.

We would travel to the fruit stands and buy

OH SO EXPENSIVE flats of fresh fruit.

At home we would wash and prepare 

the sweet, red fruit.  (Raspberries too!)

This week I took Mikensee out

and we bought all the supplies.

Strawberries were only $1/lb!!!

We showed up at my Mom's and

announced our plans.  My 18

year old sister (18 tomorrow!)

had never made fresh jam.

We had a great day and while

preserving a taste of summer

we preserved a righteous family tradition!

TIP:  If you'd like to see this (or any image on my blog) larger, click on the image!

It's a Flower, It's a Handout, It's a Post!!!

Last night I stayed up WAY too late with a

friend and my daughter.

It was soooo late . . . er. . . I mean early. . .

she and her daughter crashed at my house!

Poola (as I fondly call Paula)

my daughter and I spent a few hours in Mesa at CKC,

but then had to come home and spend some craft time. . .

We made these paper flowers.

They were supposed to be Gardenias. . .

I'll say they are Roses. . .

I will admit that I wasn't sure they were going to turn out,

but I'm glad we stuck with it! Mikensee made the pink one.

Poola's bunch isn't here, but I know they will

remind her of night. . . I mean morning together.

Thanks Poola for making my life

sweeter and definitely more vibrant!

One of the reasons my posts these days are few is that

I spend most of my craft time each week making

handouts for my beehives.

We made a book especially for keeping them in.

(I guess I should show it to you!)

The girls love them and it brings me great joy to make

them for them.

Each one of these precious daughters of God has expressed

in some way to me, their gratitude. So much so that

I can't think of NOT making them something each week.

They are designed to remind them of the lesson,

and to show them that I love them and care for their well-being.

I make 14 cards each week. I've never posted them.

This is actually a handout for this week's lesson and next.

So I have a break.

It's a good thing because the next 2 Friday nights are

Cards for Connor

and I have to design 10 cards and prep for 40 guests!

This is actually a card that opens up,

but I'm not going to tell them that.

Next week, I'll show them the secret on the inside.

I don't know why I haven't shared any of them before, but I really

love how these turned out. I hope you like them too!

Maybe I'll share them a bit more often.

Please have a wonderful week and never, ever forget who you are

or of the divinity within you.

You mean the world to someone and to me. . .