Stuck - Adoption Documentary

Gerda Weissmann Klein on Adoption and the film STUCK from Both Ends Burning Campaign on Vimeo.

Check your local listings to see if this movie will be shown in your city or go HERE to sign the petition.

Wax Museum - Eleanor Roosevelt

Penguin participates in ALP. Every year they do a wax museum & the kids have a lot of fun.  Penguin choose to be Eleanor Roosevelt, so she wrote a research paper, put together a costume, prepared a speech, & found props for her presentation.  One evening all the ALP kids did their wax museum presentation for friends & family.  It was rather enjoyable to go around the room, push buttons, and watch cute kids "come to life" as they told about someone they had learned about.

Raise the Bar: Street Scene

Friday's photography assignment for the week was "street scene".  I've been wanting to document the progress of the street we hope to live on someday, but life gets busy & documenting our street never happens.  Friday brought us some nice weather, so I took my boy for a 3 minute drive to our future street and snapped a couple quick photos.  As of Friday, March 1, 2013, three houses are complete and four others are under construction.  I think three or four more houses are in the planning stages or are getting close to breaking ground.

So far this "little" project has been a lot of frustrations for me.  We've had to put our plans on hold a couple of times for various reasons, but in January we decided it was time to get moving on a home for our family.  On Feb 2, we met with an architect for several hours and by Feb 12, I had a 10-ish page document with pictures & links for what I want in each room of the house, the styles I like, etc.  I've bugged the architect a few times since then ... he told me he'd have something for us by the end of last week and then it was by Saturday afternoon ... he still doesn't have anything ready to show us.  I can't tell you how many architects I've contacted about designing a home (these are architects that friends & general contractors have used & recommended) and only 1-2 of them have responded to my emails, calls, etc.  Guess no one wants to make money right now ... or something ....  So, the waiting game continues.

Other street scenes can be seen here.

Printable for New Beginnings - The Right Shoes

Last night I was a night owl :) & busy making printables for our upcoming YW New Beginnings program.  I thought I'd share what I'm working on sooner than later so that others who are planning a similar theme for their New Beginnings can use my printables, if they want. :)

{Go HERE for free shoe invitations.}

OK.  So ... First, right-click on the first image below & save it to your computer.  Print it out on any white 8.5"x11" paper ... I chose to use white cardstock, but photo paper will also be sturdy enough and work nicely.  (I don't recommend using regular printer paper - it will be a bit flimsy.)  I like more of a matte finish ... photo paper will just make it more glossy.

Depending on the punch, I have to trim some paper off of the bottom of my page so that I can center my punch around each graphic....

Center your punch around the each graphic & punch away....

** My graphics were made to work with a scallop punch with a diameter of 1.5" or 38cm.  A circle punch that's a very similar size should work too.  THIS is the punch I bought at Michael's a few days ago with a 50% off coupon, but any brand of punch should work as long as it punches a 1.5" shape.

As you finish each row, the bottom of your paper will look like this ....

Trim off the bottom again so your punch can reach the next row of graphics...

Use each graphic how you choose, but here is one idea....

Get some glue dots (probably NOT mini though), scotch tape, or a glue stick might work just fine too, and attach each of your circles to a skewer or lollipop stick and then stick it in your food.

I'm going to cut each of my wooden skewers (100-12"skewers are $0.97 @ Walmart)... probably into 1/3's so my sticks will be about 4" long.  Then I plan to stick some of these into mini cupcakes.  Probably not into every single mini cupcake, but maybe about 1/3 of my cupcakes.  The white lollipop sticks are nicer looking than skewers, but it will just depend on your budget, how many you need, & what you'll be doing with them.

Have fun!  If you have any questions or need help, please feel free to leave me a comment with your email address & I won't publish your comment.

Thank you to my Penguin for being my photographer.

Raise the Bar: Laughter

This week's photography assignment was laughter....

To see other photographer's results, go HERE.

MCO is Coming to Dallas!

Get your tickets now!!

Give Said the Little Stream

This video touched me this morning.  I loved this song when I was a young girl.  I should teach it to my children because it's one that I don't hear very often these days.

Blank New Beginnings Invitations - The Right Shoes

Here are some "blank" invitations that you can add your own text to.  Go HERE to see my blog post & my finished invitation.  Go HERE for free shoe printables.

**Update: I just uploaded PDF files for invitations and program covers to my blog.  Find them HERE.

Leave me a comment with your email address (I won't publish your comment) if you have any questions. 

New Beginnings Invitation - The Right Shoes

Update: I just added "blank" invitations to my blog.  Go HERE to find them.

**Additional Update: PDF files for shoe invitations and program covers just added to my blog.  Go HERE.

New Beginnings is in the works for our Young Women.  New Beginnings is special evening that is held at the beginning of each year for all the girls in our congregation that are 11-18 years old.  Girls who are 11 get to come and be introduced to our Young Women program and learn about what they can expect when they turn 12 this year.  Girls that already participate in Young Women have an opportunity to set goals & to regain their excitement for this special program.

Our theme for New Beginnings this year is "The Right Shoes".  We are getting a lot of our ideas from Jenny Phillips.  Yesterday I made invitations to mail to all the girls ....

P.S. If you have any interest in using my invitation, leave me a comment & I'll see what we can work-out.

Raise the Bar: Rule of Thirds

This week's challenge is rule-of-thirds.  I felt challenged by this even though sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in some kind of rule-of-thirds prison that I can't escape from.  I like to see that rule-of-thirds grid in my camera, on my computer screen, in my head ... you get the idea.  {If you have no idea what I'm talking about go HERE & note the photos in the center of the screen that have the flashing on & off grids ... that's what goes on in my brain when I grab a camera.}  I tried to think of something that I have three of ... like my 3 kids, 3 vases, 3...  

In the end, my favorite way to use rule of thirds is to put my subject to one side of the photo with a very plain & simple background.  I like things that are clean & un-cluttered.  My mom talks about her dream kitchen with a rack of pots hanging from the ceiling ... like Williams-Sonoma she says.  The thought of my dirty pots & pans hanging from my ceiling makes me cringe.  I'll build more closets & cupboards before I consider such a thing.  Sorry Mom. :)

Check-out the results of other photographers here.

Young Women Christmas Extravaganza

**UPDATE: Hot Chocolate Bar Printables can be found HERE.

**UPDATE: Inn Crowd/Stable Few gift/printables are now available HERE.

We, the YW Presidency, wanted to do something special for the Young Women (12-18 yr old girls that attend church with my family) of our ward for Christmas, so we planned a progressive dinner for the girls which affectionately became known as the Christmas Extravaganza!

I made invites:

We started our evening in the backyard of one of our girls.  I was in charge of the hot chocolate bar.  {Someday when I have a minute, I'll share my printables & more details.}  The girls made yummy mugs of hot chocolate, the Grinch made a visit, & the girls enjoyed a reading of How the Grinch Stole Christmas around the fire pit.

After our tummies were warm with hot chocolate, we paraded next door to the home of two other girls for dinner, a visit from Santa, & a reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Our last stop was the home of a leader where the three wise men read a story to the girls, we enjoyed a variety of desserts, and had a little gift for the girls ... free printable for that to come too.