Adventure Awaits... New Beginnings

We had our New Beginnings last night. It was a fun casual night. The theme of our Night was Adventure Awaits... Come see what the YW will be "UP" to in 2013

We will be using this theme along with the Stand in Holy places throughout the year.

I Love President Monsons Talk Your Celestial Journey 

I thought it went perfect with our Adventure theme.

Gaze upward,

Look inward- This is where I introduced the YW values and the purpose of Personal Progress

Reach outward,

 and Press forward.

Jane found a bunch of these old suit cases at a local thrift shop. We painted the outside and then modpodged cute scrapbook paper on the inside. This is where everyone first came in. The suitcase had the program for the night, and also a little packet of what is going on in 2013.

For our SKIT- We had one of the Laurels dress like Russell from the movie up. She had a little sash. The other laurels each talked about a YW value. She would then pin that value on "russells" sash. I just let each Laurel decide what she was going to do for her Value. They were really cute and some of them were pretty dang funny. I wish I had a script of what they said!

I had this globe that I thought would work perfect for our year. I put on sticker letters and then spray painted the globe white. Peeled off the stickers then to reveal the stand in holy places. I put this globe out every Sunday. The girls sign in with things that they have done throughout the week to "stand in Holy Places" it has been fun to see what they have written on it. (Seminary, Sports, FHE, Temple attendance, activities with friends etc...)

I used 2 build-a-bear boxes for my UP house. I cut one in half to do the porch side of the house. I then covered it with Scrapbook paper I had on hand. (build-a-bear was so nice and just gave me the 2 boxes for free)

 I forgot to take a picture of our cute food table until it was almost gone... We had cute little make your own fruit pizza's. We had fruit in all the YW value colors (Pineapple, kiwi, strawberries, mandarin oranges, blueberries, purple grapes, golden bananas, and the frosting was white)

  For the new beehives coming in 2013 we gave a cute little 7-up (original idea found at Marci Coombs blog), and UP2You gum. We had each laurel "interview" a new girl asking her simple questions like her favorite color, subject in school, what kind of animal she would be, what she's most looking forward to about YW etc...

 We are giving the girls these cute little bottle cap necklaces for their birthdays this year. They are like the cute lil bottle cap pin Ellie gives Carl in the Movie UP. I found them at Hobby Lobby and just used metal stamps to put their initial

In my talk I talked about how anywhere we stand can be a holy place. (which is the general YW theme this year)

 We  gave each girl her own lil adventure book. We challenged them to fill it up this year with all their adventures. A place they could put little handouts, pictures of YW activities, notes from lessons, anything that reminds them of all the places they "STAND".

My Bishop in his closing remarks talked about the Adventure book in the movie. He said that in the beginning they put the picture of Where they thought their adventure would be. But at the end of the movie Carl finally sees that Ellie had put the adventures of their everyday lives.  He said we should make everyday good and something we are proud of.
I thought it was cute he Tied in the movie with his remarks (:

I got these smash books on such a good clearance sale at twopeasinabucket.



We added alittle pocket in the front where the girls can put handouts if they'd like.

 Here is an outline of our program

Here are a few things we put in their little packet. Things we will be "UP" to this next year

 And here are the invites incase you missed the previous post.
We rolled them up and attached them to balloons!

 

New Beginnings 2013

 the rest of the details from our UP Themed new Beginnings are

http://alittlecrafting.blogspot.com/2013/01/adventure-awaits-new-beginnings.html

We have our new beginnings coming up next week. It is going to be an UP themed party. Here are the invites. I rolled them up and attached them to a balloon, (just like Ellie does in the movie).

Valentine Printable

 

8x10 valentine printable

 

Globe redo

 

My mom had an old globe she said I could have for YW for my new beginnings.

 

I used some american craft thickers for the letters and then spray painted the globe white. After it was dry I took off the thickers to reveal the map. I then applied a thin coat of mod podge. I love how it turned out. I will have the girls write in black sharpie ways they make the places they stand more holy.

Jewelry "STAND" ye in Holy places

 We thought Jewelry stands would be the perfect gift to introduce the 2013 YW theme. "Stand" ye in Holy Places.

 

 

I have seen several tutorials on Pinterest about using a sharpie to decorate plates, mugs, cups etc.... I found these cute lil heart bowls at Tai Pan. For a Wednesday night activity we had the girls decorate their bowls with sharpies. I took them all  home to bake @ 375 for 30 minutes. And because they aren't going to be used for food, I sprayed a clear sealant on them too. (Careful to just do a thin coat of spray or else the sharpie will run).

 We Attached the bowls to a glass candlestick with E6000 glue, and let it dry for 24hours.

 

 We thought it would be a good reminder for the girls to work towards their YW medallion. Now they have a cute little "stand" to put it in.



2013 YW theme

Christmas Neighbor/teacher/friend gift

We had our annual "favorite things" night with my cousins. One cousin gave us a box of movie theater candy and a dollar in an envelope that said "RED BOX MONEY". I thought it was so cute. I thought it would be the perfect neighbor gift but I felt weird about giving my neighbors $1. So I went online to redbox.com and found that you can purchase Promo Codes. They are $6.00 for 5. Each promo code is good for 1 free night rental. Perfect.  I emailed them to myself and then printed out the page that had all 5 promo codes on it. I then hand wrote the Promo code on this cute lil printable. Attach it to a bag or box of microwave popcorn. Perfect inexpensive gift for neighbors, friends, or teachers.

 TO PRINT: Click on the picture you want and then right click and save to your pictures.

Shine: A night of stars

 We had our Evening In Excellence this past week. It turned out great! The theme of the night was SHINE: A night of Stars

Of course I wish I would have taken more pictures...

Here are the Invitations

I gave each girl a card that they could put by their display. On the back the could explain the pp projects/values they have been working on, or write alittle about their hobbies and talents.

 The gym looked so beautiful and really did SHINE!

 These were the little gift bags we had to take home. They were filled with silver/gold candy and a star charm for their charm bracelets (SEE HERE)

 all the cute little chalk board center pieces had quotes or scriptures about stars or shining.

 This is the Display table. I love how it turned out!

My SIL also had her Evening In Excellence. She had a little different set up and I love how it turned out

Conference Socks

I saw this cute little idea on the blog BLUE SKIES AHEAD (see HERE). The free printable is on her blog. I used the idea for my YW. I found fuzzy socks at the dollar store and put them in cute little chevron bags and stapled the poem to the front.

Halloween Giveaway

 I made alittle banner to go on my swing out front. I had enough fabric left to do an extra banner.

To Enter: Leave a comment on our Facebook page under our Halloween Giveaway Post (click Here). Tell us where you would put your cute lil Halloween banner. Contest ends October 7, 2012 10pm mst