remember

I gave the visiting teaching message this month in my companionship. Since last month was conference there was no set message so I had decided to use the talk by Elder Oaks, which I believe was titled Good, Better, Best (one of my favorite talks from conference) A few days before our appointments I felt like I should change the message and instead I focused on Pres. Eyring's talk O Remember, Remember (another fav talk from conference) I felt that this was an especially good topic with Thanksgiving coming up.

As I was preparing the message I was thinking about my own family and what we could do this month as we prepare for Thanksgiving that would allow us to remember God's hand in our lives. It needed to be simple enough for the kids and out in the open so we wouldn't forget to do it. I decided to do a remembrance jar...each day we can write down a quick sentence or two about how we have seen God's hand. I was just going to use any old jar but then remembered a post I saw on Amy's blog about glass etching. I decided to try my hand at it to see if I could spruce up the plain glass jars that I had. My first attempts were not great (I needed to use more etching cream) but I still love the results. It turned out to be such an easy craft project that Kari (my visiting teaching companion) and I delivered them to our sisters as well so that they could use them with their families.

If you want to make these for your own family check out Amy's how to. I also ended up making a monogrammed one like Amy's for one of Megan's friends and am trying to think up other reasons to make more. I may try to incorporate the idea somewhere on our Thanksgiving table.



I used stickers from the scrapbook store to write remember. I mixed up the fonts because the word was so long and I was making 4 of them - I didn't want to buy so many stickers just to get all the letters in the same font. Each jar was a variation of the different fonts. I found the glass etching cream at Michael's but I am sure you could find it at any craft store. I had the jars but they also can be found anywhere. I buy a lot of glass stuff for parties at Big Lots - the prices are good.

trick or TREAT

Here is an easy idea for visiting teaching, school teachers or anyone else that might need a little treat. I realize that I should have posted this before Halloween but you can tuck the idea away and use it for another time.

I used this same concept for our Halloween party although with some slight variations (pictures to come)

The idea came from Jordon and I loved it so much I had to use it. The little cookie jars are from IKEA and the labels were made on the computer.

visiting teaching or just because

I thought I'd share this quick and easy Visiting Teaching idea.

I was at Smart and Final the other day and they had T. Marzetti's Carmel Apple Dip on sale for a dollar. I bought up a bunch not really sure what to do with them all but unable to pass up the deal. I mean a dollar for a tub of goodness - you would have bought it too.

The next day Derek and I were at Cost Plus one of my favorite stores and I found cute little jars for under $2.00. The ideas were rolling and I decided to put together these gifts for the girls I visit teach and a friend that was having a hard time.

I had the baskets so I threw in some apples and the cute little jars full of carmel dipping yumminess. The labels on the side read "an apple a day can't keep us away, we love being your visiting teachers." For my friend it said "an apple a day can't keep me away, I love being your friend"

The labels were all made on the computer using Honey Script and another font that is called June 15. I'm pretty sure that is not the name of the font but I probably put the date I downloaded it or did some equally lame I can't work the computer thing.
These could be done up with something besides carmel. How about a little jar of salsa with chips or some yummy dip with vegetables. These would work well as a teachers gift too.