YW Inspirational Thought

So I was recently called to be a Beehive advisor in my ward, in Young Women's... so I'd be advising/teaching 12-13 year olds. Way stoked! I loved being in Young Women's as a teenager, and I've always wanted to be involved in that when I was married...

Wish granted!

Awesome, except I forgot one big thing - I'd be teaching on a regular, weekly basis. Gah! I really don't like being the center of attention, so this has been a growing and learning experience for me. 

So my lesson this Sunday is on "How Do the Things I Say Affect Me and Those Around Me?" 

Thinking about this and reading the material I somehow was mentally drawn to a quote my friend Sheridan had on her bathroom mirror...

"Objects in mirror may be more beautiful than they appear." 

Such a cute thing to see in the morning as you're scrambling to get ready and, if you're anything like me, end up getting frustrated that something doesn't look right, you don't feel pretty enough in some way, or your hair just absolutely hates you that morning. 

So since all of my little girlies are just barely starting the school year out again, I figure they could do with a little boost. 

I went to Michael's & got these:

 

I bought 3 packs of 5 each mirrors because I have 14 girls. 

And wrote with the fine pointed sharpie that cute quote. 

(It was extremely hard to take a picture of the writing!)

Then I cut 1 inch sections from the magnet strip. 

And placed it adhesive side down onto the top of the back of the mirror. 

And done! My quick little give-away inspirational thought was done in about 20 minutes, cost me $9 for the supplies. 

Now all I have to do is prepare the lesson... Or procrastinate with other projects instead.  :P

Project: Halloween Wreath

It's Halloween!

Well, almost. ;)

I wanted to get a jump start on my decorating this year so I could enjoy one of my favorite holidays a bit longer. 

Project time!

I saw the idea for this on Pinterest here. Loved how bright and fun it looked! On Etsy it was $54 though... No thank you! So I thought I'd take a shot at making it myself.

Supplies:
20" wire wreath form
(Totally forgot to take a pic of mine but they look like this)

Orange burlap ribbon (4)

Accent ribbon (for the bow)

And a pipe cleaner. 

(Forgot to buy them ugh! But I improvised.  :P )

Hobby Lobby was my store of choice for this project, since they frequently have 50% off their merchandise. Also, I found out that if you go to www.hobbylobby.com and click on "coupons", when you're in the store they can use the coupon there on your smartphone. They typically have a 40% off one item coupon. Fun fact.  ;)

So I set out making this little wreath. Total, it cost me $26 to make this.
My How-To:
Cut the burlap into 10-12" lengths.

Then cut them in half length-wise.

At first I was tying the burlap on like this.

But found that looping them like this made the wreath more fluffy.

I started on the inner most rung, adding 4 looped strips of burlap per section.

Then continued that same pattern for each rung in each section. On my wreath form I have 4 rings... I chose to only fill the first 3.

The last step is to make the accent bow.  I chose the chevron style in favor of the skulls so that I could use it for fall, and not just Halloween.

To make it fancier than a normal shoe-lace style bow, I created this poofy looped bow. I kept mine on the roll while I created it, unsure how much ribbon I was going to need. 

First: loop the end of the ribbon, pinching it tightly in your left hand (if you're right handed)

Next: create a second loop, by twisting the ribbon so the pretty-side stays up & visible. Pinch the ribbon between your left hand's fingers, keeping a firm grip on them. 

Pull it to the other side of your center loop by doing the same twist & pinch menthod, still keeping the pretty-side up. When you create the next loop, pull it up to make sure the length is the same as your other side. 

Do these steps for each side of the now 3 times, giving yourself a fluffy 3 tiered bow, matching the lengths to each other as you go. 

For the last loops, make them slightly longer and check to make sure they are the same length on each side by pulling them up and towards the center. 

For the tail: pull the extra ribbon into a big loop. 

Cut the excess off, pinching the ribbon in your left hand. (Mine was seriously cramping when I finished! Ugh) 

Leave the tail as is for the moment. 

Grab a twisty tie like the pipe cleaner or floral wire. (I used my bread's twisty thing because I didn't plan very well!)

Pull it through the center where your thumb has been gripping and is probably ready to fall off. 

Twist it tightly and secure all of your loops. 

Now that you have both hands free, fold the loop of your tail flat. 

I then folded it again, making it skinnier.

Depending on the type of ending to your ribbon that you want, you can cut the ends in varying ways. I cut mine like this:

Creating this look:

Fluffing! Simply grab the loops you've created and pull and fluff them up as you like. I separated mine and pulled them into opposite directions to make it more full. 

Next I grabbed some stretchy headband ribbon (again, I planned terribly for this so I didn't have pipe cleaners or floral wire) and secured my bow to a looped burlap section.

I didn't tie it to the wire form simply because I wanted to make sure my ribbon stayed in the front and poofy. 

Then you're finished! 50% the cost, 100% the look. 

I looooove how this turned out! It's a fun, simple Halloween wreath that would work with any decor style.

 :)

Olive's Baby Blessing

Today has been busy!

Miss Olive Lynn Russell is the newest member of the LDS church. :)

Micah and I had so much to prepare for everyone coming over.. Naturally we did everything the night before.

I was super stressed the week before, trying to make sure we planned accordingly and had everything ready. He wasn't nervous at all though! Stinker. 

The morning of though, Micah and I switched places... I was surprisingly calm, totally not stressed out at all and he was nervous for the blessing! He wanted to make sure he did a good job, followed the proper "guidelines" of giving a baby blessing... And plus, we had a lot of people coming so the pressure was on!

Olive was all smiles in her carseat, sucking on her hand before the blessing and of course just as Micah picked her up to head to the front to bless her, she started getting cranky.

Awesome. 

Thankfully she quieted immediately when Micah started into the blessing. In the circle with Micah was my dad John, brother Mark, father-in-law Lynn (who Olive's middle name is from), and brothers-in-law Matt, Josh, & Ben. 

The blessing was beautiful, absolutely perfect. If Micah was still nervous when he was up there he hid it very well; his voice didn't shake at all and he was very steady throughout. 

Once he was done, he held up my cute little baby girl, showing off her ridiculously fluffy elegant dress. (My mom bought it for me, from The Quilted Bear - it was hand made and absolutely darling.) 

For the rest of our sacrament meeting Olive decided to cry her sweet little head off so I stayed in the hall with her until the very end when she fell asleep. 

Back at my house we had a simple brunch of muffins, fruit, bread, & smoothies! (Lynn brought the smoothie machine from the Russell's ice cream factory with him... One definite perk of having the Russell's ice cream be in your family - endless ice cream!) That was the most people our house has ever had in it and it was packed! We had probably 50 people coming & going through. Way fun but a little crazy!

Olive stayed asleep for the first little bit then woke up for some pictures. 

Poor little grump, she was hungry.. I forgot her headband too.  

We changed outfits before I fed her.. She was not happy with Uncle Matty or that headband!

Sheridan had slightly better luck keeping her happy-ish. 

And her Great-Aunt Erin gave her this darling bracelet! 

Such a fun day, crazy busy, but so fun. Micah and I cleaned up once everyone left then passed out for quick naps before our weekly Sunday dinner at my parents house. We had such a fun time catching up with our friends and family that could make it!

Project: Nightstands

Ok we officially need furniture! In our house we've put such a focus on getting the family room & kitchen completed and furnished (because we figure that's where the majority of people that come over hang out). But now our bedroom needs some TLC.

When we moved into our new house we also upgraded to a lovely king size bed. Awesome purchase but now our queen-sized platform frame and headboard wouldn't work. So Micah and I made our headboard with the help of another blogger's how-to I found on Pinterest. Link here. 

It turned out great! Only took us 3 hours to make. We want to buy a bench off of ksl.com and reupholster it with the same fabric we used for the headboard and put the bench at the foot of our bed.

But, the current bedroom furniture project is nightstands. Our house has a very modern theme, with rustic/vintage inspired pieces throughout. So I found an example of a nightstand that I thought Micah (my impromptu carpenter) might be able to create. We went to work.

Started out with finding the right pieces of pallets that we thought would add character but also be sturdy.

We (Micah) then cut them to size

And laid them out to visualize

Then put them together! Micah (my carpenter) used a nail/staple gun to start the process, then screwed them together for a more firm and steady hold.

I painted them white (we are going to "antique" them for a final coat

The lighting in our basement at night isn't the greatest, but the color is a crisp white.

the lamps and bedspread are target finds. love love love!

The "temporary" final product! We need to add drawers and a bottom shelf, but my architect and carpenter Micah doesn't quite know how to make drawers, so we have to do some homework. We wanted to have something in the mean time because I was going crazy having to make due without one!


Sorry my posts doesn't include any measurements... we just sort of eyeballed how tall we wanted them to be, and how big of a space we needed and started cutting.  :P