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Day 1: "I AM God's Princess!' Is our theme this week. We need to know the truth of who we are in order to fight the lies we hear about ourselves. Our girls are inundated with Walt Disney princesses every which way they turn. What are they learning? Wealth, castles, beautiful tiaras, fluffy pink dresses is what makes a princess? But they don't need all of that to be God's princess. This week they will be learning about the truth of who they are in Christ! We opened our time in prayer. I shared our lesson for the day- which, if I may say, was inspired by Holy Spirit. Then off to the dining room to begin painting our canvas.' Ten Godly Girls in my house! I am sooooo blessed! I took all the canvas' outside to spray them with clear lacquer. After painting their canvas, they cut out the Scriptures, I chose for them, and pasted them around the center. They have a canvas that reflects the truth of who they are! Day 2: I AM Crowned: Today we talked about the very thing the girls wished they had- a tiara. We talked about those who wear a true tiara and how they are from royalty. They wear a tiara to show their rank and authority. Than I shared how God has prepared a crown of life for us if we persevere. 12 "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him." (James 1:12) We also read in Psalms how God crowns us with love and compassion, and salvation and victory! So, we made our own floral crown to remind us what the Lord has done for us! My ten Godly Girls crowned! Aren't they beautiful! Day 3: I AM the APPLE of God's Eye! Before we started our day, the girls spontaneously gathered together and played a game. Today we talked about how our Father in Heaven adores and cherishes us, His princess. The Bible says we are the apple of His eye! Soooo, we made felting apples! I allowed my daughter to teach today's craft lesson. She did a great job! She explained how we had to wash our wool felt to decrease in size. This is what it looked like before it was washed... and this is what it looked like after. Before stating the craft, I had each child wear band-aids on two of their fingers for protection. The needle they were working with was very sharp and I thought save than sorry! Some girls made green, yellow, red and even blue apples! The color they chose was to represent their favorite color since the apple represents them! Are they not the most beautiful apples you ever saw!!! SWEETIE! I showed them a prepacked felting kit they could buy and do now that they know how to work with felting wool. My daughter is presently working on it! DAY 4: I AM God's Jewel Just as an earthly princess may have a jewels worth high in it's value, today we talked of how we are God's treasure! I taught the girls how to 'stamp' jewelry! 'Beloved.' 'Adored.' First, we had to tape our metal jewelry piece down to a wooden block. Then with a jewelry alphabet the girls stamped or hammered each letter to remind themselves of who they are in Christ. This little eight year old stamped, 'beauty.' My six year old stamped, "Joy." "Princess." "Loved" Each girl worked hard to stamp out the message they received from God. It took them about an hour to make the one piece! They persevered and now they not only have the know-how to jewelry making, but have a keepsake that will remind them that they are God's Princess! Day 5: I AM God's Princess! My Godly Girls surprised me today! They all came in dressed in a beautiful dress and than crowned me princess! I couldn't have been more touched! I saw this artwork on Pinterest and LOVED it! I thought about simply copying this craft with the girls, but than I thought- 'No, I don't want to make a Disney princess.' Soooo... I came up with turning my Godly Girls to their very own silhouette princesses! First, I took pictures of each girl wearing a tiara. Then they used that picture to cut out the silhouette of themselves. Here is my six year old's silhouette. After cutting out their silhouette they glued gems or buttons to their crown! MY GODLY GIRL PRINCESSES!!! I wish this week didn't have to end. We bonded with the Word of God and each other!

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I have been getting a lot of request for more ideas for older girls. As we all know this is the age that is the hardest to keep them interested in girl programs, avoid hearing those words “I am bored”, and still learn from their Experience. Here are ideas to get your girls engaged in learning about our government. Behind the Ballot Activity Booklet Before jumping into a few ideas, do you want to skip all the planning? If so, use this Activity Booklet to do activities, games, and worksheets to allow your girls to takeover the meeting and it is generic enough that you can complete this long after a a presidential election year. In fact part of the booklet is about running your very own campaign to elect the Top Cookie of the Year. With a step by step activities, you can’t ask for a easier way to run your meeting. Before you can run your own campaign you need to understand how a presidential campaign works. In the first activity called Road to the White house the girls will learn everything from the beginning of a campaign all the way to accepting the position and entering the white house. In this activity the girls will not be reading something and filling in blanks, instead they will create a visual poster showing the steps to the white house. If the girls want to go bigger, you could buy poster board and they could create their poster on a bigger canvas instead of a 8 x 10 that comes with booklet. After the girls understand how an election works, they need to understand the rights of a voter, laws in your state, and more information around how YOU take part in picking a president. This activity can be done individually or in groups to find the answers using the internet, or if you have the access the questions can be used as interview questions to ask your local voting facility. The core of this booklet is the role playing using what they learned and the girls will run a full campaign from nominating their favorite cookies, voting for their party’s nominee, writing a speech, running a debate, making a slogan, designing an ad, writing acceptance speech. There is also additional activities included such as snack idea, Election Bingo, Bookmark craft, and activities related to elections in other countries. This booklet will have your girls excited about registering to vote when they are 18. Get yours today! Be sure to also checkout these other activities your girls will love: Design And Build Your Own Website: Web Designer Activities Let’s Get Creative: Collage Artist Activities Put Together A Performance: Troupe Performer Activities Learn What Is Behind Beauty: Science of Style Activities How To Live A Healthier Life: Women’s Health Activities Bringing People Together With Games: Game Visionary Activities Other Fun Activities To Try Do your girls know anything about the Government? Start out by playing a fun board game. A Great Game to play is Coin Hopping Washington. Bring the spirit of Washington to your Girl Scout meeting. This board game takes you and your troop on a whirlwind trip through the nation’s capital, visiting famous landmarks, monuments, art galleries and museums. The goal? Place your citizens in positions of power. Learn the concept of balance of power, Visit famous landmarks, monuments, art galleries and museums. Get your copy: Coin Hopping-Washington DC Patriotic Craft No matter how old your girls get they still will enjoy a craft break. Since this badge is all about voting, what better crafts then to do something patriotic. I debated on posting a few different suggestions, painting a american flag, making cards for our soldiers, etc. Instead I went to Pinterest and found a board that says everything I want to say. get creative with RED WHITE AND BLUE. Here is link to board If you don’t want to spend the time planning, our Activity Booklet has step-by-step instructions with activities that don’t require any planning other than gathering supplies and printing booklets. What do we do after your girls complete the activities? Well of course give them the badge to display proudly on their vest, they earned it! Additionally If you are like many leaders we want to award our girls when they complete something even beyond just the patch. One great way to show achievement is with a certificate. Don’t worry you don’t have to make them, I found a resource that has done all the work for you and all you have to do is print them and customize the certificates with each girl’s name, badge or award earned, date, and troop leader. Editable certificates perfect for awarding girls after earning a badge. More Resources For You Beyond This Site I get asked a lot what other resources are out there on the internet for Leaders. I have done some digging over the years and have used many of the resources myself. I compiled a list of some great companies that sell patches, programs and also other bloggers offering amazing resources that may fit your needs even better than my site did. Checkout what I found.

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I am currently serving as the secretary in our Stake Primary Presidency. I loved this recent Stake Activity Day event! Feel free to copy anything you'd like from the activity. We had a committee of around 20 people working on it and it was incredible. Everyone magnified their responsibilities and I have to say it turned out to be quite a memorable event for the girls. This was our poster (I took our stake name off to make it generic). Our invitation. We printed them as 4x6 pics at Costco. We based the theme around the Wizard of Oz but adjusted it to fit our desired goal. Our theme was "There's No Place Like Home with Our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ." Our focus was trying to prepare the girls to attend the temple someday and then eventually return to live with Heavenly Father. Outside entrance area. They made poppies out of tissue paper and also had pictures of Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow. When the girls entered the building, they were greeted with a yellow brick road and some giant lollypops. These lollypops were made of pool noodles and duct tape. Clever! I'm pretty sure we took a lot of these ideas from Pinterest and then just did our own variation. The sign told the girls to follow the yellow brick road to the cultural hall where everyone was meeting up. We borrowed this sign. Super cute! We had a sign-in table where each of the leaders grabbed a basket with all the information and booklets for their wards (one leader per ward). Hey, that's me at the table! Everyone met in the cultural hall and the theme was introduced. This was the Gospel Standard we focused on. Here's a close-up on the stage decorations. Someone in our stake strung lights across the room and then they hung these fun clouds on them (made out of batting). Photo area where they could take pictures of individuals or groups of girls. We had little props for them to hold up too if they wanted them. There were 5 stations for the girls to visit, each with their own theme and activity. Each station lasted for 20 minutes. We made booklets for the girls to take with them and use at the stations. It will put the various pages with the stations they went with. Here's a link to the PDF folder that has the booklet and some door signs. Cover of the booklet First page inside the booklet. Back cover of the booklet. Station 1: If I Only Had a Brain Faith in God: Developing Talents #4 - Make an item from wood, metal, fabric, or other material, or draw, paint, or sculpt a piece of art. Display your finished work for others to see. Gospel Standard: I will live now to be worthy to go to the temple and do my part to have an eternal family. The girls each made these cute temples with a Gospel Standard on them. They had two tables for painting the wood and then two tables for making the paper tag to attach with ribbon. The girls used old t-shirts to stay clean while painting. We just took old t-shirts from around the house and then cut the back so the girls could put them on as a smock. The leaders dressed up as scarecrows and the sister missionaries were great helpers that afternoon. Station 2: If I Only Had a Heart Faith in God: Serving Others #3 - Make a list of the qualities you like in a person. Choose one quality to develop in yourself. Discuss how showing respect and kindness strengthens you, your family, and others. Gospel Standard: I will seek good friends and treat others kindly. Loved how these leaders dressed up as Tin Women. They even had silver faces! They gave an analogy about relating the Tin Man and his oil can to the Parable of the 10 Virgins. From the Faith in God booklet, the girls were challenged to "Make a list of the qualities you like in a person. Choose one quality to develop in yourself. Discuss how showing respect and kindness strengthens you, your family, and others." They wrote their quality on a paper "brick" and added it to the yellow brick road. After they made their brick, they played a game called "Fruit Salad" using the qualities they discussed. It was nice for them to get to be active and move around. Station 3: If I Only Had the Courage Faith in God: Learning and Living the Gospel #6 – Tell a story from the Book of Mormon that teaches about faith in Jesus Christ. Share your testimony of the Savior. Gospel Standard: I will choose the right. I know I can repent when I make a mistake. At this station, the girls were able to learn about Abish from the Book of Mormon. They wrote down how they would be brave like Abish. They also roll played various hypothetical situations and how they could be brave like Abish in those cases. Abish’s father taught her to believe in Jesus Christ. In her city, not many people believed in Jesus. After Ammon came to her people and taught King Lamoni, Abish knew that Heavenly Father wanted her to share the gospel with the people. She was finally able to tell everyone about Jesus. Our cute leaders dressed as courageous lions! They made these "lion" popcorn bags for the girls to take home with them. Basically they just copied lion faces to glue on the bags and then cut fringes on the top of the bag and folded it over to look like a mane. Station 4: T-shirts and Dresses and Skirts, Oh My! Faith in God: Developing Talents #9 - Learn about and practice good nutrition, good health, and good grooming, including modest dress. (We only did the modest dress portion. The rest of the requirement would be done at home.) Gospel Standard: I will dress modestly to show respect for Heavenly Father and myself. We took an idea from an article called “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” by Laurie Walker in the November 2009 New Era magazine and based our station off of that. HEAD: Put your hands on your head and make sure your shirt doesn’t pull up and show your skin. SHOULDERS: Put your hands on your shoulders to see if they are covered. Make sure you aren’t showing more under your armholes and that the buttons on your shirt aren’t straining. KNEES: Make sure your clothes go to your knees. TOES: Touch your toes. Make sure your shirt doesn’t droop down in front and that your shirt doesn’t slide up in back. Make sure your skirt and shorts are modest when you bend over. The focus wasn't to make girls feel guilty but rather to inspire them to be prepared for the temple. "Dorothy" showed them ways to take a questionable outfit and make it modest and gave them wonderful advice on preparing for the temple. The room was decorated with white clothing - blessing outfits, baptism dresses, wedding dresses, etc. She encouraged each girl to "see yourself in the temple." We had a giant mirror with a temple outline on it that each girl had the chance to look in and imagine herself going there someday. Station 5: I Have Been Changed for Good Faith in God: Learning and Living the Gospel #7 – Read Doctrine and Covenants 89. Discuss how Heavenly Father blesses us when we faithfully live the Word of Wisdom. Help plan and conduct an activity to teach the Word of Wisdom to others. (We only discussed how we are blessed by living the Word of Wisdom. The rest of the requirement would be done at home.) Gospel Standards: I will keep my mind and body sacred and pure, and I will not partake of things that are harmful to me. I will use the names of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ reverently. I will not swear or use crude words. I will only read and watch things that are pleasing to Heavenly Father. I will only listen to music that is pleasing to Heavenly Father. This station had a continuation from the "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" class. We had Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba to represent good and evil. They also decorated the backdrop to show the contrast. These ladies stayed in character and helped the girls learn how to make good choices. EYES: I watch movies and shows that are good and make my “spirit” happy. I will look for the good in others. EARS: I will listen to good music. I won’t listen to gossip. If I hear crude words, I can sing a Primary song in my head. MOUTH: I will not gossip. I will not swear. I will live the Word of Wisdom by eating good food and saying NO to things that are bad for my body. I will stand up for others. I will always tell the truth, even when it is hard. NOSE: I will not be “NOSEY.” I will be respectful of others. They served these delicious fruit pizzas at the beginning of class. They were a ton of work and we really appreciated all those that created them in the super hot kitchen. They were dressed like "Auntie Em." We included the recipe in the booklet in case the girls wanted to try making the fruit pizzas at home with their families later. COOKIE CRUST ¾ cup butter (softened) ¾ cup powdered sugar 1 tsp vanilla 1 egg 1 ½ cups flour Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, cream butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add in egg, then add flour, and mix until thoroughly combined (do not overmix). Roll cookie dough about ¼ inch thick. Place on pizza pan or cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes until golden brown on edges. FILLING ½ of 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk 6 oz package cream cheese (softened) 2 tsp lemon juice 1 tsp vanilla In medium bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese, lemon juice, and vanilla. Mix well. When crust is cool, spread cream mixture on top of crust and top with fruits of your choice such as strawberries, pineapple, bananas, kiwi, etc. At the end of the activity, everyone met up again in the cultural hall and had a re-cap of the theme. They sang all four verses of "I Am a Child of God." This emphasized our theme of wanting to return home to be with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again someday.

Hi y'all! I am Jessica and I blog over at My Inner Need to Create. I am a stay-at-home mother to 3 kids (8, 4 and 3) but once a upon a time I was a web and graphic designer. Though I am not doing this as my career right now, I see this side of my style bleed through into all my crafting. In fact I like to think of all the clothes I make as a canvas waiting for me to make it into a piece of art. I like to do this in many ways but love the look of appliquéing... Here is a recent appliquéd project: Rainbow Butterfly Skirt. To start I took a skirt of my daughter's to use as a pattern. I chose a thick gray knit as the fabric for the skirt (it was left over from my Superhero Circle Dress from Week 1 of the Sew Along). I just made a simple A-line skirt with no seem allowance for the top since I planned on using 1.5 inch elastic for the exposed waistband. After the front and back of the skirt was cut out, I sewed one of the side seems together and laid out the skirt flat. Next I drew out the butterfly design, I used the skirt shape to dictate the cropping on the butterfly. Take your design and trace it on to Iron-On Fusible Interfacing, make sure that you reverse the image! Iron the butterfly onto the black fabric. Next- cut it out. Peel off the paper from the back of the butterfly, you will need this for a template in a minute. For my butterfly I wanted a rainbow, but at this step you could use a cute print or a solid color. I choose my colors and sewed them together in 1.5 inch strips. After the strips are sewed together and ironed flat, use the paper backing off of the Iron-On Fusible Interfacing as a template and cut out the wings. Iron the black part of the butterfly onto the colors. Take another piece of interfacing and iron it onto the back of the entire butterfly. Then iron that piece onto the skirt. Next you have to zigzag around all the black raw edges. I sewed with black thread... but with a gray bobbin thread so that I didn't have to line the skirt. I sewed the skirt together at the other side then I attached the 1.5 inch black elastic as the waistband. The skirt turned out very eye-catching with the bold, big butterfly but it is a really simple jersey knit skirt with very limited sewing skill needed (the zigzagging around the pieces of the appliqué takes the most practice.) My daughter loves the skirt and wears it everytime she finds it in her drawer clean. I took these photos with her wearing a black leotard as her top but a 3 year old wearing a leotard all day is really not ideal for going to the bathroom. So I refashioned a slimming black tank top from an old (very old!) tube top if you hop over to my blog you can check out the tutorial! Thanks for inviting me to guest post during this month of Flicker Friends! I am so glad to be able to get in on the fun! I hope everyone is having a great summer! If you don't feel like drafting your own skirt, the Becky Skirt Pattern from our shop would be a great base for this appliqué. Want to pin this post for later? Save this image on Pinterest. Related Posts

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Hello! Hope you guys are all doing well! As for me I am doing fantabulous. My husbands schedule switched back and now he is off on weekends again. You do not know how happy this makes me. Dealing with both boys on the weekend, plus making sure the house is clean (or at least presentable. Ha! Lets keep it real) and then doing all the other million things teachers take home was driving me craaaaazy!!! My hats off to any single moms out there. You guys are amazing! Well anywho! In the classroom we are learning about plants. Let me tell you when I planted them last week I was really worried about these little plants. I literally prayed for them over the weekend. I plan to do this project for mothers day that I found on Pinterest. Source: houseofhepworths.com via Angie on Pinterest So as you can see there is a little pressure on this little grass to grow. Well when I left my little cups last week this is what they looked like. Just dirt in a cup. When I came back from the weekend this is what they looked like. Yay! We have grass. Hopefully we get more grass but at least its a start. I will keep praying things will turn out. I have a backup just in case but I really thought this was cute and different. My kiddos love logging in their observations. Just take a look at them. They can't see a camera or they go crazy. I love these kiddos! We are starting testing this week also and let me tell you I am not a happy camper. I just want to skip this month and get to the fun end of the year stuff. One week before school ends I always do a fun week at camp learned-a-lot. I bring in a tent and have a makeshift campfire, we decorate our classroom, we sing camp songs, and even tell scary stories. It truly feels like a week at camp. I made this unit filled with fun camp activities. Here is a little peek, just click on the pics to check out the whole unit. We write in our journal everyday summarizing the events of the day. My students love this time because so much is going on at camp they have a lot to write about. This cover is a freebie along with another activity if you download the preview. So just click on the pic to head on over to my TPT store and enjoy! This is one of the parent letters offered. There is also a blank one so you can fill out what you need for your classroom or one that just asks for money donations. We recite this everyday in our classroom just like we were in camp. The kids love it! There is more songs offered in the unit but this is my kids favorite song. They literally beg to sing this song. So as you can see I am looking towards the light at the end of the tunnel. I can't wait to go to camp! Cindy