tulle pom-poms + garland tutorial

I promised a tutorial after my last post. It took a little longer than anticipated. I ended up having my granddaughter, Madi, spend two whole days with me. I like to give her my full attention when she visits. She's also a talker, so getting anything done is a little difficult. :) She is seriously one of the most hilarious little people I know.

Then I was called to a new position at church. I know. I did not see that coming. I loved my calling as RS Meeting Coordinator and I will miss working with so many wonderful women. More on that later.

simple project | sleeve pumpkins

 Well, hello fall. Yep, it's full-on here and gorgeous in Utah.

My friend Marci and I took a little jaunt to the Heber/Midway area last week. It was so, so fun. All the way through Provo Canyon, we were ewwww-ing and ahhhh-ing over the colors of the fall leaves against the dark green of the pines.

We arrived early for Marci's appointment, so we stopped at a thrift store we really like in Heber. (We may have planned it that way. ;)) The store is called St. Vincent's. We checked out the vintage clothing together and then split up.

ss tutorial: felt flower hair accessory

As promised, here's the first of our Super Saturday tutorials.

 

SUPPLY LIST:

sheet of felt
hair clips--I like the metal ones with a double prong.
fabric covered button--tutorial here.
glue gun and glue sticks

fabric-covered buttons tutorial

I LOVE fabric-covered buttons. I've used them to make hair elastics and magnets and they embellish the center of our Super {Simple} Saturday flower hair accessory. I thought I'd share a quick tutorial on how to make them before posting the hair accessory tute.

pinked felt wreath

I saw this felt wreath on The Idea Room blog and loved it! I ran out and purchased the supplies and sat down to cut out a lot of 3" circles from felt.

I couldn't wait until February to hang it, so it's on the mirror over the fireplace already. This project is super simple and doable and looks beautiful. I've gotten a lot of compliments on it. After my crafty girlfriends saw mine, we made them for craft group.

Here's a quick tutorial of my version. I changed things up just a bit. I love anything with scalloped or pinked edges, so I cut my circles with pinking shears instead of regular scissors. I love, love, love the texture it adds.

life story binder

Tonight is our Life Story Binder class at the church in the Relief Society room. We'll start promptly at 7 pm, so be on time! I'm very excited about the response to this project. It seems we're all motivated to get more organized this year. I'm loving my first binder and can't wait to move on to the others.

What is a Life Story Binder?
It's a place to gather and organize documents, photos and/or journaling that pertain to your life or the life of a family member.

How do I get started? 
I would recommend starting small--one or two binders--so you don't feel overwhelmed in the beginning and drop the project all together. Like I always say, keep it simple and doable.

SUPPLY LIST:

• 3-ring binder* (2" ring size works well)
• sheet protectors (80-100) 
• Life Story Binder suggestions list (I've compiled a list of suggested documents, photos and journaling for you.) 
• Return Address Labels (80 per sheet) *optional, but it makes it simple to flip through and see what still needs to be added. I've put together a creating labels tutorial. 

What's next?
Step 1: Add sheet protectors to binder.

Step 2: Read through the Life Story Binder suggestions list and check off and/or add items that are applicable to you or your family member's life story. I store my list in the front of my binder for easy reference.

Step 3: Create labels using Return Address Labels and adhere to sheet protectors.I use Return Address size labels for other organizing purposes, so you might want to check out the creating labels tutorial even if you don't plan on adding the labels to your binder.

Step 4: Get organized by adding your documents, photos and journaling.

Step 5: Enjoy flipping through your binder, finding everything in one place and feeling organized! :)

Make sure sheet protectors will fit in your binder without sticking out. It usually says on the label.

family favorites recipe book

We held our "family favorites recipe book" project class last night. I loved seeing all the different papers everyone chose for their pages and borders.

What is a Family Favorites Recipe Book?
It's a place to organize and store your family favorite recipes--the ones you use often. I'm loving how simple it is to go to one book instead of trying to remember if a certain recipe is in my "favorites" file or one of many recipe books in my pantry.

How do I get started? 
 
SUPPLY LIST:

• family favorite recipes
• 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" album
• 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" sheet protectors
• 8 1/2" x 11" non-textured white cardstock
• 7-8 sheets patterned paper
• paper trimmer
• adhesive
• 1" circle punch
  

Print or see a more detailed supply list.

Albums are available online at ShopWeR. (I hate to say it, but this company's customer service is awful, so if you can find an album somewhere else, do it!)

What's next?
Step 1: Gather your family favorite recipes. Download the page template and type in your own recipes by clicking on the boxes. If your title or recipe doesn't fit, make your font smaller. You can choose a template that will allow you to add photos or leave them out.
page template with photos
page template without photos

Step 2: Remove the center line from your typed recipe pages and print. (Our experience was that printers feed pages very differently, so removing the center line allows you to trim down the middle of the page without small discrepancies being noticeable.) Trim recipe pages in half.

Step 3: Download and personalize your title page with your own name and your table of content page with your own categories by clicking on my text. A box will appear so you can type your own information. Print the title page/table of contents page.
Title page and TOC template

Step 4: Assemble your recipe book.

Trim the title block about 1/4" from the border and adhered it to patterned paper.

Choose one pattern for each of your categories in the table of contents. Punch a 1" circle and adhere right over the circle on the template.

Trim 3/4" strips from each of your patterned papers and adhere to the edge of each page according to which category it fits into. Soups have this pattern:

Salads have my favorite pattern--the apples:

Main dishes have the chicken pattern:

I had to work with this last pattern because there are spaces between the rows of chickens. I didn't want half my pages to have chicken bums :), so I did some selective trimming.

Step 5: Add recipe pages to sheet protectors. If you plan to add photos to your book, your recipes will be on the right side of a two-page spread. If you are omitting photos, you will insert a recipe on each side of the two-page layout.

Step 6: Enjoy being organized and showing off your family favorites cookbook!

I loved having the Young Women join us for this project. We have several using it as a YW value project. This is the last project Daria Roberts has to do to receive her Young Women recognition. That's awesome! I think each of the girls have done most or all of the typing for their own (and their mother's) books. :)

Be sure to show me your finished pages when they're completed, I want to see!

Tip: I trimmed the rest of my patterned paper into 3/4" strips for when I want to add more recipes later. I keep them and my extra cardstock together in a "recipe book project file" in my craft area.