Chalkboard Church Party Invite

My Relief Society president knows me well.  She asked me to make the ward Christmas party invite.  She gave me two themes "Joy to the World" and "something that looks like chalkboard" and if it wasn't too much trouble, could I make two?

Done and done.

First I headed over to Walmart and picked up two black, thick poster boards and a box of chalk.  I was worried the chalk would smear if little fingers touched it, so I should buy something more permanent, but the chalk worked perfectly on the board and didn't move at all.

Then I headed over to Pinterest for some inspiration.

I decided to incorporate ideas from these three chalkboards.

image source

image source

image source

Then, just looking at these ideas I free-handed it right on the poster boards.

#1

#2

And a little side by side.  

I think I like # 1 better.

This fun project has really got me in the Christmas holiday mood.

Loaded Questions -- A FREE Printable Game

A couple weeks ago I was in charge of planning a get to know you game for the youth in our ward.  It was for our older girls (12-18) to get to know the younger girls (8 - 12).  I thought and thought about what game would be fun... suddenly I thought about the really fun game Loaded Questions.

 

My sister in law had brought it for us to play this summer when our big family was all together.  But she just only brought the cards (not the game board).  So, I suppose I've never technically played the correct game, since I've never done the board.

But the questions were so fun and the answers were so hilarious that I thought this would be the perfect Get to Know you activity.

I did a little searching online to get the exact game play, found a couple questions, wrote all the others, and before I knew it I had the game all ready.

The game that night was So much fun!  We had a really big group so we ended up dividing up into two groups.  My favorite answer from the girls was to the questions, "Where is your ideal place to be proposed to?"  Her answer (8 year old), "At prom in college."  Ha, ha!!

Here's how to make your own game:

STEP ONE:  Print off the Loaded Questions Game HERE!

STEP TWO: Cut out each of the questions.  

Then fold the questions in half.

STEP THREE:  Prepare a bag to put the questions in.

Put the folded questions inside.

STEP FOUR:  Print out the last "Loaded Questions" page for as many people as are playing.

STEP FIVE:  Follow the directions (located on the print out) and Play!

This is a great game for a family night, mutual activity, a get to know you game, or out with friends.

DISCLAIMER:  I will mention that I wrote most of these questions with the intent of asking them to girls ages 8 - 18-- so the questions might be a little girly...

"Be Grateful" Chalkboard

Last year I made a "Be Grateful" tree on the chalkboard.  All month long in November members of the family came up and wrote on the leaves what they were grateful for.

This year I made it again.

I was searching around for a lovely tree to inspire the look of my tree today.

I came across this gem:

Perfect.

First I drew the tree.

Then I added some line details and my Be Grateful at the bottom.

Then I added my leaves.  Most of them are in a heart shape.

Once all the leaves were added I shaded everything in, using the flat side of the chalk.

That was it!  A lovely Be Grateful tree.

Lastly I added the first thing I am grateful for.

"A grateful person is rich in contentment.  An ungrateful person suffers in the poverty of endless discontentment."  -  David A. Bednar

The Family Proclamation -- Free Printable

Yesterday I gave a lesson in church on, "Why are Families Important?".  It was a great lesson and a topic which is very dear to me.  I had a lot planned out for the lesson, including asking questions, talking, reading important things, watching this darling video, and I had planned to finish the lesson with passing out The Family: A Proclamation to the World to each girl and reading each paragraph, breaking it down and discussing the whole thing.  But, as these things go, I ran out of time.  The lesson ended with me passing out the proclamations and telling the girls how important this was, asking them to read it on their own, and keep this copy in their scriptures.

The night before, in the planning stage I made this hand out, excited to hand them out to the girls.  As I was designing it at first I thought it would be a good idea to use lots of color, fun fonts, and kind of "spice it up", however as I was working on it to make it look just right, I knew that this message needed to be clear and simple and any "spicing up" might take away from it's importance.

Click here for your own copy.

They make great handouts that can be printed back to back, printed landscape and cut in half.

Mod Podge Photo Transfer Canvas + free printable

A couple of weeks ago I received a sweet, new product from Mod Podge.  I was so excited to try out their new Mod Podge Photo Transfer medium.

This is a really awesome way to transfer any image from computer paper on to any hard surface or fabric.  If you need an image transferred permanently, this is the way to go!

I decided I wanted to make something to go in my girls' room.  As you know I'm working on the room to add girly, pink elements for my daughters. As I was contemplating what design to add to my canvas I thought of making a print that said, "I am a child of God"-- but then I thought about it more and thought about the fact that I'm making this for my daughters and I thought of the theme, "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us and we love him."  I thought that would be more appropriate and dear for my sweet girls.

Excitedly I made this print, which you can print for yourself HERE. 

Because this medium does the exact reverse of your image I uploaded it into PicMonkey and flipped my image.

Here's how to make your own Mod Podge Photo Transfer Canvas.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

1. Print out of your image on plain computer paper from an Inkjet printer (Remember if your image has words to reverse the image.)

2. Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium

3. Canvas 

4. Ribbon

STEP ONE:  Gather your materials.

 STEP TWO: Cut out your image to be the exact size of your canvas.

STEP THREE: Cover your entire image with the Photo Transfer Mod Podge.

STEP FOUR: Make sure the entire image is covered about 1/16" thick.  

It needs to be so thick, that you can't see your image.

STEP FIVE: Place the image on top of your canvas.  Smooth it down with your fingers.

STEP SIX: Leave it alone to dry for 24 hours.  Do not touch it.

STEP SEVEN: After 24 hours, it's time to reveal your image.  Take a washcloth or sponge and wet the top of the canvas.  Wipe away the paper and reveal your image underneath.  

Your photo has been transferred.

All done!  Everything's been transferred.  So fun and so easy.

I really loved how it turned out....but I felt like it needed a little more Omph.

So I grabbed some more mod podge (this time the regular gloss kind) and some matching ribbon.

 My last step was to mod podge a ribbon around the edges + front and mod podge everything together to seal it all up.

Now I'm really all done.  Love it!

Looks so lovely in my girls' room.

For More Inspiration on Plaid Products + Mod Podge please visit:

Mod Podge

Visit Paint Me Plaid

Follow Plaid Crafts on Pinterest

Like Plaid Crafts on Facebook

This post was written as part of a campaign with The Blueprint Social. All opinions are my own.