Young Women's in Excellence...Mystery/Sherlock Holmes/Steampunk Theme

This year, our Young Women wanted to have a

Sherlock Holmes/steampunk theme for Young Women's in Excellence.

One of the counselors in the Presidency came up with a fabulous idea!

First, the girls need to fill out the following questionnaire.

Click here for the questionnaire

Second, the information from their questionnaire needs to be

written in a creative way for the script.

Here is the script for our girls.

Click here for the script

Both are Word documents and can be edited for your ward.

We started with a walkway down the center of the room.

This is the Personal Progress path, that is discussed in the script.

To the left of the screen, you can see brown sheets.

We covered two rollaway chalkboards with the sheets.

You will find out why later in the post.

A member of our ward made the white screen for us.

He made a simple wooden frame, and pinned a white sheet tightly on it.

One of the Presidency made the London skyline out of cardboard

and then spray painted it black.

I wish I would have taken a close up of Big Ben,

she even put in a miniature clock!

We setup tables on both sides of the room with value colored table cloths.

These were the display tables for the girls Personal Progress Projects.

Each table was numbered and the girls were able to pick their table.

These are the tables in the other side of the room.

We have two wards that combine to do YW in Excellence.

Here is our refreshment table.

We had cupcakes made with mustache toppers
and cookies frosted like mustaches.

We started the night with the usual song, prayer, and theme.

The Beehives did a musical number.

Then we began with the "skit".

We asked a member of our ward that loves to act, to read the script aloud.

We put a spotlight behind the white screen and

had the girls stand close to the screen so their silhouette was visible.

One member of the Presidency was behind the screen with the girls

directing them on and off of the stage.

Now you can see why we covered the rollaway chalkboards.

We did not want anyone to know who was behind the screen.

They were given this document with their program.

They had to try and guess the girl behind the screen.

Here are the pictures of the girls.

I added every girls picture since they brought their

individual personalities to the skit

      

  

 

This Young Women stuffed her shirt with pillows and ate a slice of pizza.

    This Young Woman put her hair in a ponytail at her chin.  

 

 

When we were done with the script, we gave the parents 5 minutes

to look at the tables and try to figure out which

table belonged to which young woman.

After that was done, the Mia Maids sang a musical number.

We played a video that one of the Presidency made

that documented the last year of activities.

The Laurels ended the program with their musical number.

Then the Bishops got up and handed out their awards.

We closed with a prayer and ate refreshments.

We had a former ward member setup a photo booth for

the parents and girls to get pictures taken.

We haven't received any back yet, but when we do, I will post a few.

This was by far my favorite Young Women's in Excellence

that I have been a part of.

The girls really enjoyed it and I believe that the parents did to.

Let me know if you any questions.

Family Proclamation Craft

My Mia Maids decided that they wanted to

make a Family Proclamation Craft.

We ended up making them last night and they turned out awesome!

Here is what the final product looks like:

 Supplies needed:

- A piece of 5x7x1 wood

- Minwax Wood Finish in Ebony #2718 (bought at Home Depot)

- Family Proclamation printout

Click here for one green square

Click here for 4 green squares on 11x17 paper

Click here for 4 blue squares on 11x17 paper

- ModPodge

- Sponge brushes

- Blow dryer

- Sandpaper (optional)

- Brown stamp ink (optional)

- Ribbon (optional)

I forgot to take pictures of the step by step process.

If you have questions. please let me know!

1. I found a piece of wood that was 5 1/2" by 59".

I needed 8 squares, so my husband cut them 7 1/4" long.

2. Stain every side of the wood and let dry for a few days.

3. Put a light coat of ModPodge onto the block.

Carefully put printout onto the wood and smooth it out with your fingers.

Make sure that you get all of the bubbles out of the back of the paper.

4. Let dry for a few mintues.

5. Put a good coat of ModPodge over the top of the block.

You want to cover the paper and wood with ModPodge.

Make sure the brush strokes are in the same direction.

Here is a picture of the block up to that step:

 6. Turn blow dryer on low and dry ModPodge for 2-4 minutes.

Since we were short on time, I brought a blow dryer to dry it faster.

7. Add another 1-2 coats, blow drying after each coat.

8. Take sandpaper and sand around edges to antique the wood (optional).

9. Stamp the edges of the paper with brown ink and smudge with a

paper towel or your fingers to antique (optional).

10. Tie ribbon around one of the wood edges to decorate (optional).

You can see in the pictures that I posted that we did everything up to step 8.

There are many ways that you could decorate it.

I like the simplicity of the block.

Here are my Mia Maids with their blocks they made.

It was a fun and easy craft.

And now the girls have their own personal Proclamation for their rooms.

Also, this activity fulfilled a Divine Nature Personalized Value Experience.

"Using a handicraft you have learned, make something for your current or future home."

Let me know if you have any questions.

2014 YW Calendar

At the end of last year, my Mia Maids asked for calendars

to help them organize their lives.

I looked online to try and find a cute 2014 calendar.

I could not find anything that I really liked that was free.

I decided to create one myself!

I am a month late, but I got it done.

I did not make a January, only February - December 2014.

If you read my previous post,

we had a Personal Progress Goal Setting Activity.

I based the colors of each month, on the value

that the girls will be focusing on for that month.

Here is what each individual month looks like.

If you want to download the entire calendar,

click here and it will take you to the .zip file.

I also created a cover for the calendar,

with the 2014 mutual theme.

I am going to print it off and have it bound for all the girls.

 I created two different covers;

1. For your YW Presidency and

2. Just for a spiritual cover.

Click the picture, then click save image as...,

save it to your computer and you can print it off.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Personal Progress Goal Setting Activity

I was put in charge of a combined YW activity last night.

We have decided to focus more on Personal Progress (PP) this year.

I made quite a few handouts for the activity.

You can download them to your computer by clicking the picture,

right clicking on it, pick save as..., and save to your computer. 

First, I made PP booklet holders out of the girls favorite colors.

Here is a picture of all of the cases.

I used the pattern from this website.

I picked a black with white polka dot material,

embroidered their name in their favorite color,

Then used a ribbon that matched their name.

Here is the final product.

 Here is the inside.

I switched around the arrangement of where the books go.

I wanted the holder to open like a book, and the website

I got the pattern from, opens the other way.

I made special pens for the girls to go in their PP booklets.

First, I created this Value Pen Strip document in Photoshop.

Then I purchased these pens at our local grocery store.

I had to buy black and blue pens, they didn't have enough black.

Here are all of the supplies needed for the YW pens.

Take the paper and wrap it tightly around the pen.

Carefully push it into the pen container.

I had to shove it in as far as I possible could.

Put the cap back on the end and voila, YW Value pen!

Here is the calendar of what PP Values we will be working on for 2014.

 

I wanted them to make PP goals for every month this year.

i.e. Read 1 chapter of the Book of Mormon every day for the month of Jan,

Focus on making my prayers more personal for the month of Feb, etc.

 I found quite a few ideas for PP Project Ideas online.

I had them look over the lists and pick projects that

they thought would be fun to do.

Then I had them write them down so that they could keep it in their PP holder to remember what they would like to do for their projects.

 I know that the church has put out a PP Tracking Sheet that each leader can use to keep track of where the girls are with PP.

I thought that it would be nice for the girls to have

one that they could see for themselves.

It is easier to see the PP as a whole, instead of

just what is signed off in the books.

I also know, that there is a tracking sheet in the back of the PP book.

But I thought it would be nice to be able to look at this,

while looking through the PP book.

I thought it would help the girls pick out experiences that they wanted to do.

 Phew...that about covers what I came up with

for our PP Goal Setting Activity.

Let me know if you have any questions on any of it.