Stand in Holy Places – 2013 Theme

I am LDS.  Every year our Church decides on a theme for the Young Men and Young Women (boys and girls ages 12-18) to focus on.  I am not in charge of the Young Women or Young Men.  So why do I find myself designing posters and vinyl quotes for the theme each year?  Because my beloved husband IS one of these Young Men leaders.  And I get volunteered to be the poster designer for the kick-off meeting for all of these fabulous youth in our neighborhood that he is in charge of.

Since he gets to benefit from my choice of careers, then you do too.  You’ll find this vinyl quote version of the 2013 YM/YW theme as well as this and this Print & Cut file.  Jason is pumped about this year’s designs – and I am too, I must say.  It works for boys and girls (that’s hard to do) so along with having it available in various colors and shapes in my silhouette store, I’ve decided to make a printable here for you as well.  FREE.

Stand In Holy Places Poster

Happy theme-ing, all of you youth leaders!  I see this making an appearance at New Beginnings or Youth Conference or Girls Camp….don’t you think?

Not LDS?  Stay tuned for my next post.  It’s the best “recognition event” idea ever and can be tweaked to work for ANY group, ANY age, ANY class, ANY team, whatever.  Totally meaningful but totally adaptable.  Trust me.

See you soon.

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Easy Invites With a Pop

Remember when I told you about our neighborhood Favorite Things Party here and here?  We’re adapting the idea for our Activity Day Girls.  Click here to find out how the fabulous party went down.

I wanted to send invitations to each girl because getting a letter in the mail is the best thing ever, but with the busyness of the holiday season, I needed something quick and easy to make it happen.  Here’s my tip for fab invites or cards that look way better than the time they take to create them.

• Create a box slightly smaller than your envelope and outline it with the color of your choice. (I used basic small letter envelopes found at any office supply store).
• Choose a couple of cute fonts and simply center the type  down the middle of the rectangle, leaving a space in the middle of the card.
• Add a GIFT TAG to the center of the card with a pop-dot adhesive (I found mine at Hobby Lobby for 50% off).
• Done.

Look for gift tags that have some bling for a great impact.  They will look professional in such a simple way.  Yes, our party is during the holidays so the holiday tags work great but lots of tags, even holiday ones, will work perfectly for other themes or times of the year.

Notecards, invitations, thank you notes.  All are fabulous with this little gift tag trick.

Enjoy!

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Favorite Christmas Movie + Quote

Admit it.  It’s a Wonderful Life might have taken a backseat in 2003 to the epic Christmas film, Elf.  Love it, right?

Then you’ll love my latest Christmas quote found in my Silhouette store here.  This is a vinyl quote.  Cut it out any size – the bigger the better, I say.  I actually like it best without the flourishy thing at the bottom but I know that some of you can’t live without a flourish or two so I did it for you.  I’m nice that way.

Sigh.  I love this one.

Enjoy.

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Activity Days: Service Star

This last week for Activity Days, my fab partner, Jessica, put together this darling project to encourage service within our families.  Here’s what you do:

1.  Gather supplies to create wooden stars.

2.  Paint, glitter, and embellish your star to your heart’s content.

3.  Add a ribbon and tie on the Service Star poem (I don’t have a download for this – use this as your reference).

Star light, star bright.

Who could use our help tonight?

A secret service it might be

It’s completely up to you, you see.

Whether raking leaves or shoveling snow,

Perform your service to so no one knows.

Now don’t forget when deeds are done

To leave the star for someone else to come find!

4.  Voila!  Service Star is ready for duty.

Jessica taught a short lesson about the importance of serving our own family and explained how to use the star.  Then they got down to serious decorating.  Glitter flying everywhere = heaven for our little tweens.

This is how the Service Star works:

1.  Start the service rotation by doing something nice (secretly) for someone in their family (i.e. make your brother’s bed).

2.  Leave the Service Star somewhere that the recipient of the service will find it (i.e. on your brother’s freshly plumped pillow).

3.  Recipient then pays it forward by serving someone else in the family (i.e. washing the dishes in the sink), leaving the Star for the next person to find (i.e. next to the dishwashing liquid – you get the picture).

Keep the service ring going and going throughout the holiday season – and beyond!  This activity can be done any time throughout the year.  If you want to focus just on the holiday season, here’s another possible poem found on this chatboard:

It’s Christmastime once more,

Here’s a tradition that’s old and true.

Use this magical Christmas star

And you’ll see what it can do.

Now everyday ‘till Christmas

Do a secret act in your home

For a member of your family,

Don’t let your identity be known.

And when the secret deed is done

Place the star upon their bed,

And they in turn do a secret act

For someone else instead.

And like that star so long ago

Brought brightness from above,

May this star bring to your home

The joy of service and love.

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