A Little Incentive

Several days ago I put these pictures up on our refrigerator:

to encourage the girls to get ready for General Conference and to refresh their memories about who would be speaking to us.  I printed doubles of the cards as photos from Costco, and I got them from this link.

I used them at church to teach the Primary age children, and we did an activity where the older group raced to match names to faces, so I covered the names with white paper.

Then I challenged ALL of our girls (including Kensington and Emery) to learn ALL of their names.  I know they can do this because Raleigh knew all of the presidents of the church when she was a year and a half!  I promised to make them this dessert when they have ALL learned them.  

Raleigh and Madeline pretty much already knew them to begin with, but now they are experts!  Kensington and Emery can say the middle initial plus the last name if we tell them the first name, and they both have learned five on their own.  It's been pretty fun. 

When we listened to Conference over the weekend, Emery had her little stack of cards and matched the face on the screen with the people in her pile.  It was awesome.  And whenever another speaker came up who was not in the stack, Kensington pulled out the Conference edition of the Ensign six months ago to match faces.

I think we have a new tradition on our hands . . . 

And I love these girls.

Points North Press for Hensley Shoes

We were excited to be approached by Points North magazine a few weeks ago about this pair of Paris Script ballet flats:

They will feature these shoes from Hensley in their Children's Holiday Guide for 2013.  Dallas dropped off the sample pair over the weekend, and the feedback was wonderful.  Can't wait to read the upcoming issue!

Nevermore 2013

It's October 1st, and we've had our little Halloween vignette up for two weeks.

I just couldn't wait!  I love to keep it simple and tasteful: no blood and guts and gore.  The past couple of years I've done an Edgar Allan Poe theme "Nevermore"  using The Graphics Fairy's "Old Crow" image.

After spray-painting an old frame black, I mounted the picture (which I printed as a photo at Costco) onto the back of a mat I made out of cardboard and linen.  If you look closely, you can see that the crow is wearing a black veil fashioned out of tulle and orange silk.  I hung the picture by a nail from the windowpane and let the silk ribbon fall behind it.  Hung like a banner behind the framed "raven" art are two kinds of cream lace from Hobby Lobby.

I found these two branches in the backyard and stuffed them into an oatmeal container spray-painted black and filled with dry beans to keep it steady.  The Spanish moss and birds are from The Dollar Tree.  The "Nevermore" banner was so super easy.  It is made out of twine, linen triangles stamped with Martha Stewart typography stamps, and affixed to the twine with hot glue.  Hot glue is my best friend.

You know those old light-up-ghosts-holding-a-pumpkin that every family owned in the 90's?  I inherited my mom's, but unfortunately, the pumpkin broke.  I kept the ghost and put a raven on top with the Spanish moss.  Don't worry, it hasn't been plugged in since I put the moss on top!  

The candles were another hand-me-down from Grammy, which I spray-painted black.  The pumpkins on top of the candlesticks are also from The Dollar Tree, and I spray painted them a cream color.  In order to lay one on top of the other, I had to take the stem off of the bottom pumpkin.  It just comes right off.  Underneath is a linen table runner with a Fall floral print and "Creepy Cloth" from The Dollar Tree lain on top.

It's difficult to see in this picture, but this is the mother (of pearl) of all spiders.  It's made of buttons as a base, pearls strung on wires, and lots and lots of hot glue.  I'm still trying to decide how much I like it, mostly because I don't like spiders!  This is another old frame spray painted black with a bow hot-glued to the top (did I say hot glue is my best friend?) made out of two shades of linen.  The best part (don't read this, Mom) is the vintage tatting I put over the mat.  It was made by one of my grandmothers!  And it looks spider-webbish to me.  But I didn't adhere it permanently . . . we've got to keep those heirlooms special!

This "Witches Ball" printout is also from The Graphics Fairy.  I printed it on craft paper sized to fit our printer and then cut down to size to fit the frame.  And the frame is an oldie from Pier 1 Imports.

And that's it!  Whew!