Come follow me : August Marriage and Family

For my lesson with the laurels this week I gave them each a copy of the August 2014 issue. It has some great articles about marriage, and dating. 

The lesson we focused on today was: What are the church's standards on dating.?

We used the article from the magazine called The Dating Academy. 

I asked 6 girls to study a "lesson" from the article. They then presented their lesson to the class. It was so fun and the girls did a great job teaching as well as communicating with each other throughout the lesson.
   Lesson 1: Purpose and standards of dating
   Lesson 2: Watch and Learn
   Lesson 3: Planning a date
   Lesson 4: Inviting others and being invited
   Lesson 5: On the Date
   Lesson 6: The doorstep
I told them my Senior year in high schools my friends and I had a thing called an EMD (End of the Month Date).  Every month someone planned a different date for our group. We each had to invite a date to come.  It was a great way for us to learn how to plan a group date. It was such a fun tradition.


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Girls Camp Recap

We had a wonderful time at girls camp at Mia Shalom. 

 Our Stake Girls camp theme was S.T.A.R.S (Shining  Together As Righteous Sisters). Each ward had a value color. We were GOLD, so fun and so pretty.
For our "Mailboxes" this year my Laurel Adviser made the cutest little buckets. She found the pails at IKEA for $0.77. Her husband then drilled holes in the sides to for the rope handle. They turned out super cute! The mailboxes are where they then can put their secret sister treats, letters, etc..

We had a each of the girls chose a favorite "star" quote to share up at camp.Each day we had a few of them tell us why they chose that quote. They then could glue the star quote in their camp journals.

 I made the girls these cute little Star hairclips and attached them to my star quote. (I just used vinyl paper they have at hobby lobby and glued felt on the back)

Each day we have one of the leaders give a short little devotional. I talked about how we are daughters of a king. I made these cute little star "crowns" to give to them after. I found the star ribbon at Etsy HERE I actually ended up using a bigger star than pictured below but I forgot to take a picture of the bigger one. 

 I challenged my YW to read the Book of Mormon before girls camp this year. They had a few months to do it. I found these adorable necklace on Etsy HERE for the girls that finished.

This year we gave each of the girls a lanyard that had our schedule for the week. On the back was a place they could mark off their certification requirements.

 Each night we had a leader leave a little pillow treat on the girls beds. I'm sad I forgot to take a picture of all of them. 

 these cute little bags were so tiny and cute. They were filled starburst and had the cutest little poem attached. 

Cute little girls camp "prescription" It was filled with skittles. 

 we had a couple of crafts the girls could do each day. Another thing I am sad I forgot to take pictures of some. The girls loved these cute bandanna bags. They were perfect to hold their journals, scriptures, pens, etc...

 This is what our camp journals looked like this year. They turned out great!

 We had the girls make Marshmallow guns. Then we brought different duck & washi tape and let the girls decorate them. We then had some fun little shooting competitions. 

 I saved the decorations we used at our Camp Kick-Off party. see HERE We used them to decorate the pavilion.

It was a rainy week but when the rain cleared it was gorgeous!!

Youth Conference Skit

My YW planned a cute little skit to kick off youth conference. I'm super sad  I didn't take a picture that night. Our props turned out super cute! They sang a cute little "frozen inspired" song "Do you want to read the scriptures?" The girls wrote it themselves and they had the YM be different characters from the  Book of Mormon. They did a great job!

Do you want to read the scriptures

{ Tune to first verse}

A: _______________ , Do you want to read the scriptures?

D: Or do you want to go to sleep?

A: You never read it any more, open up the book, its like you’ve gone away!

D: Do you want to read in Nephi? And how he had to leave his home and riches!

A: Do you want to read Moshiah? To make your testimony strong

D: Go away ___________________

A: Not a chance.

{ Tune to Second verse}

A: How bout learning about Ammon?  he was good with a sword, he did everything because he loved to serve the lord.

D: That story is kinda gory with all the swords, and its a little scary.

{tune to the first verse}

A: Next lets learn about the warriors. There were 2000 of them. Their mothers taught them very well and they loved to learn about the Lord.

D: But they wasted their time. Trying to fight the wars. Instead of playing weird games.

A: Do you want to read the scriptures?

D: Or do you want to go to sleep?

A: Go away devil

D: In your dreams

 { Tune to the second verse}

A: Now we’re learning about Mormon. And his great faith in the lord. 

D: But he wondered in the woods, with nothing there, not even twitter.

( And that stinks)

A: But from him we have the scriptures now, and no apostasy.

{ Without music}

A: Do you wanna read the scriptures? 

D: Or do you want to go to sleep?

 Im going to read my scriptures!

Girls Camp Fundraiser: Mother's Day Corsages

This was our 2nd year doing Mother's Day corsages for our Girls camp Fundraiser. Our ward was very supportive and all the women looked extra beautiful that day with their pretty flowers. 

The Young women did a wonderful job making the corsages. They are getting pretty good and fast at making them. I of course forgot to take a picture when it was fresh. This is 2 days old so the waxflower is looking alittle shrunken. It is a great skill to teach the YW. Now they know how for their High school dances. It would also work to do boutonnieres for Father's day.

Honor Bee Book Mark

We are encouraging our YW that have already finished their YW Medallions to earn an Honor Bee by the end of summer. Here is alittle book mark to help them track their progress. Print as a 4x6 then fold in half (:

For a cute little "BEE" treat I bought a 1''x8'' cellophane bag at Pebbles in my Pocket. 

Filled it by alternating Lemonheads and Grapehead Candy. Then Tied it off with a little tulle, ribbon, and twine. 

 After I glued/or stapled the bookmark in half it made a cute little pocket for their Bee treat.

S.T.A.R.S Girls camp Kick-off party

We had our annual Girls Camp Kick Off  for YW. 

This is the night we introduce the theme, have parents fill out paperwork, give them an outline of certification nights, make their camp journals, discuss camp rules, and introduce the YCL's. It is a fun but very productive evening. 

We have Stake camp every year. This year the stake has chosen S.T.A.R.S

Shining Together As Righteous Sisters.

Each ward is given a Color/Value. We are GOLD isn't that perfect for a Stars theme?!

I was asked to decorate (my favorite part)

I wanted to make things that we could also pack up to decorate up at camp. 

I bought a 5 pack of these thin Canvas boards at Michaels (they were $14.99 but I used a 50% coupon) I taped off stripes and painted with black acrylic paint. I then modpodged Gold Glitter stars. Then put a layer of mod podge over it all so it will clean up nice. On the thicker Stripe I painted 2 coats of chalkboard paint. That way if at Camp we want to write different things each day we can. (Or if I want to use them for a bday party or something I can). You can't really see in the picture but I also drilled 2 holes in the top so we can hang these on a rope up at camp.

 I used one of my ruffle tents I sell for a little "camping" decoration. I didn't get a picture but I also had cute Metal lanterns with light up candles in them. I cut out about 1 billion stars and strung them on twine. I laminated them at a local copy store so that they would survive and still look nice for camp. And also just in case it rains at camp. I found these cardboard letters (they are probably at least 3/4'' thick) at Hobby Lobby for a buck! I then just \modpodged gold glitter on them.

We kept the food pretty simple but it was YUMMY. We had  Peanut Butter S'more bars. We found the Recipe at http://melssweetlife.com/2012/04/05/peanut-butter-cup-smores-bars/

I also am currently obsessed with these tissue paper tassel garlands. They are cheap, easy and look so dang cute! 

Conference treat

I really like to give my YW something over conference weekend to let them know that we are thinking about them! This year we are making Carmel popcorn and sticking a little PEEPS marshmallow bunny in too.  you could just attach this handout to a package of PEEPS.  I loved this quote from Sister Oscarson at the General Women's Broadcast. 

Here are a few of my previous conference "treats" 

http://alittlecrafting.blogspot.com/2013/10/conference-treat.html

http://alittlecrafting.blogspot.com/2013/04/conference-polish.html

http://alittlecrafting.blogspot.com/2011/09/conference-weekend.html

I attached this to hot fresh cinnamon rolls. 

http://www.alittlecrafting.blogspot.com/2012/10/conference-socks.html

New Beginnings 2014

(thanks to my brothers, dad, and husband for setting up the HUGE tent it was like 20 feet tall)

We had a wonderful New Beginnings this year. We went with an "Army" theme and it turned out so cute. 

The Laurels helped with our "New Recruits" (beehives entering YW in 2014). They spotlighted each girl and gave them a cute little gift. (see Below)

The Miamaids did the CUTEST skit. It was a little Army Cadence about Personal Progress. It was cute they made the whole thing up themselves. it was darling. They came marching in and ran through the tires then stood in a straight line. 

1 miamaid dressed like a drill sargeant and yelled out and the others would repeat. 

I now know and we've been told 

setting goals never gets old

I now know and it's been said (others repeat)

Personal progress is good for the head (others repeat) 

I now know and we've been told

get your medallion its worth more than gold. 

The Miamaids each memorized one of the value statements. 

They then took a step forward and repeated in an army strong voice their value

Ex. 

I am a daughter of Heavenly Father, who loves me. I have FAITH (the others would repeat FAITH in unison) in His eternal plan which centers on Jesus Christ, my Savior. 

Then the repeated the I now know cadence and marched off. 

And the Beehives made the Cutest cupcakes. They were even Camouflage and they piped on the frosting to look like grass (See Below) 

 It was a fun CHEAP event to decorate for. Just some cardboard boxes covered in paper, some ruffle fabric i had, some banners made of Paper sacks, and some Tires my mom borrowed from a local tire store!

 Our "target" for the year is to COME UNTO CHRIST. We have made 4 goals for our YW to help them.. We also talked about how each of the 8 YW values bring us closer to our Heavenly Father.
                                      
 We gave each girl a dog tag. It has the word STRENGTH and Phillipians 4:13 on it. We talked about how we all need to become stronger Physically, Mentally, and Spiritually.

We also gave each girl a folder with important papers. It had a page of important dates, a list of lessons, S.I.T (Spiritual intelligence Training: Sunday Lesson Schedule, P.L.AY (Prepare, Learn, Active Youth: Activity schedule for the year, A target of our Ward Goals, and Roster)

 We had a yummy dinner served from the "Mess Hall" it was pulled pork Sandwiches, Chips, Carrots, and Water. My mom had these old school lunch trays that were the perfect touch! (I forgot to take a picture of the food of course).

 Here are the Adorable cupcakes the Beehives made. They were even Camouflage on the inside. I LOVED them!

 Here is what we gave our new recruits. We had all the YW sign each one so that the new girls would know we are all in the same troop and are so excited for them to join us!

Here is our Program from the night 

Come Follow Me {February: Adversity}

Here are a couple handouts that can be used for February's Come Follow Me Lesson on Adversity. 

We talked about how Diamonds are made. Without Pressure/trials the rock wouldn't be a beautiful diamond. Heavenly Father sees us all as Diamonds!

I gave each girl a Ring Pop to go with their handout!

 This is a handout I made a while ago for the old lesson manuals but thought it fit this lesson well!

New Beginnings {BOOT CAMP}

This year for our New Beginnings we are having a Boot Camp theme. Here are the invites for the event. Here are the rest of the details of our night. http://alittlecrafting.blogspot.com/2014/02/new-beginnings-2014.html

Glitter Temple

Last spring I gave my YW a challenge to do a digital fast. You can see the details 

http://alittlecrafting.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-digital-fast.html

I was so excited, I had about 15 YW that followed through with the challenge!!

I forgot to post this earlier but Here is the little gift I gave those that finished

I bought a 10-pack of 8x10 canvas' from Michaels Craft store. It was $19.99  but I bought them when they were 50% off. Then just lightly traced a temple and modpodged glitter onto the canvas.

Come UNtO Christ

I introduced our YW to the 2014 theme on Sunday.

“Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness” 

I saw a cute UNO birthday handout a while ago on Sugar Doodle (See HERE)

It was the inspiration for my lesson. 

I broke the Scripture down into a few different parts to go along with the UNO cards. 

Come Unto Christ

DRAW 2-  I asked the YW what that meant, and had them give ideas on how to do that. Their answers were great!!

Be perfect in Him

WILD CARD- "Jesus Christ is the perfect example of all eight Young Women values. As you work on Personal Progress, your efforts will help you become more like Him". (Rachel Nielsen)

Deny yourself all Ungodliness

SKIP- Skip sin. "While boulders surely block our way, loose gravel slows discipleship, too. Even a small stone can become a stumbling block". (Neal A Maxwell)

REVERSE- REPENTANCE  

Draw 4- these are 4 goals I have given to my YW to accomplish this year. 

1- Memorize The Living Christ- In my previous post i have explained how we plan on doing that! 

http://alittlecrafting.blogspot.com/2014/01/memorizing-living-christ-printables.html

2- a 90-day Book of Mormon Challenge- We will all start and stop on the same day!
3- a 5K we can do Hard things. I think this will help with Unity.
4- Attending the temple (1+ as a YW group, 1+ individual classes, 2+ on their own)

So for their B-days this year we are giving them a Mini Pack of UNO cards and a UNO Card. It will be in a cute little cellophane bag with this handout! I was going to use regular UNO cards but had no idea they were like $6 each so we went with the Mini ones I found on Amazon for about $1.25 each. I think this could also be a really cute conference treat!