Money & Budget Activity

May of 2014 we had an activity about Money and Budgets.

I asked to be put in charge of it.

I pride myself on my budget that I created years ago,

after my first Europe trip.

I was tired of living paycheck to paycheck and barely surviving.

I had opened two credit cards for my Europe trip

and they were almost maxed out.

I just couldn't do it anymore.

So I sat down in Excel and created my "No Debt Budget".

With my budget, it took me two years to be debt free!

I wanted the girls to understand how much things cost.

How much it is to live on your own.

How much a cell phone bill actually costs.

What credit card interest is and why it is bad.

I wanted them to learn from my mistakes.

The activity turned out amazing!

The girls learned a lot about money, credit cards, and budgets.

At the end of my presentation, we did an activity.

I gave them a paycheck that had to last them for the month.

 They had to chose their own scenario.

One of my most memorable questions I received from one YW,

"I don't use the internet or apps on my smartphone.

Do I still have to pay for a data plan?"

Yes!

She didn't understand that and was floored at how much it costs.

In the powerpoint, I put a picture of my budget.

You can change it to look like your budget.

Whatever works for you.

Here are the links that you need to do this activity:

PowerPoint Presentation

Blank Checks

Let me know if you have 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.

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.

LDS Bleached Shirts

It's been going around Pinterest like wildfire!

Taking a bleach pen to a plain t-shirt and

you have a new fantastic shirt to wear.

Last month we had an activity planning meeting with all

of the Young Women in both wards.

They wanted to do Bleached Shirts.

I was put in charge of the activity and started doing research

on what works and what doesn't.

I was surprised to find that no one had done an LDS themed bleached shirt.

I was hoping to get an easy out for this activity.

No such luck!

So I put together this tutorial in the hopes that it will help someone.

Without further adu, here is how I made my shirts.

Supplies:

T-shirt (100% cotton, if there is polyester in it, it will not bleach as well)

Bleach pen (I got mine at the grocery store for $2.57)

Cardboard (to go in between your shirt)

An idea of what you want to put on your shirt (see below)

Chalk (optional: if you want to draw out your idea first)

First, put the piece of cardboard in between the layers of your shirt.

Make sure that the cardboard is covering the entire area

that you want to bleach.

Otherwise, the bleach will run through to the back of your shirt.

Second, take your chalk or your stencil and get your design ready.

I found a template of the Salt Lake City Temple online

and used that (see below for template).

I printed it off on freezer paper, then used an exacto knife,

and cut it out around the edges, so I had the border of the temple.

Then I ironed it on to the shirt, so it would stay put.

I was hoping that if I ironed on the stencil, the spires would show up.

I used my blunt piece of chalk to write out the words on the shirt.

I would recommend a sharpened piece of white chalk, I didn't have a sharpener that would fit chalk in it.

Then I went over the temple and the words with the bleach pen.

If you look at the temple, you can see that I didn't try and

stay nice and neat around the outside.

I was hoping that the bleach would only penetrate the shirt and

not soak through the freezer paper.

I free handed where the windows go and didn't end up following my chalk,

I thought my chalk markings were off.

I let the shirt sit for 10 minutes and it didn't

look like it had done enough bleaching.

So I let it sit for another 10 minutes.

Carefully remove the stencil and the cardboard,

without letting any of the bleach touch anything!

Then I rinsed the bleach off with cold water.

When you rinse it, you can tell where the bleach is.

It ends up being white gunk that you are wiping off.

Check to make sure that you have all of the white gunk off,

then ring out the shirt.

Here is what it looked like.

I let this shirt sit, while I did my shirt.

I found this idea online by doing a Google search

for "LDS Young Women Image."

I just did it freehand.

I like how it turned out, but I would have done it differently

if I thought about it more.

This shirt, I only let sit for 10 minutes.

You can see around the BE that the bleach was starting to bleed

and I didn't want it to get too far.

 Once it was rinsed, I grabbed the purple shirt and threw both of them

into a cold, short wash with some vinegar and detergent.

Once that was done, into the dryer they went.

 Here is how they turned out.

Sorry there isn't a picture of me in my shirt.

I'm 18 weeks pregnant and am in the stage where I feel fat and not pregnant. :(

 This is the best picture I could get of my little princess in her shirt.

She will be able to wear it for a few years, which I love!

Here is what I learned:

- You don't need to use a lot of the bleach to get it to lighten your shirt.

But that is all dependent on the material your shirt is made of.

I put a small amount of bleach on, then used the tip to spread the bleach, it worked perfectly.

- You want to let your shirt sit for 10-25 minutes, once you are done bleaching.

I decided to set my alarm in ten minute increments so I could keep an eye on it.

- I had my husband help me get the cardboard out of the shirt.

I put my hands in the neck hole and he grabbed the cardboard.

That way I could put it in the sink nicely so the fabric didn't fold and the bleach didn't get everywhere.

Ideas for LDS designs:

Like I mentioned earlier, I did a Google search for "LDS Young Women Images."

I found 19 images that I loved!

I have put them into a PDF file for you to download.

Click here for the Bleach Shirt Document.

The temple stencil is page 4 of that document.

I think that about covers it.

I feel like I'm forgetting something...I will update if I remember.

Let me know if you have any questions.

I would love to see pictures if you try an LDS design!