Ear to Ear, Gray Sheet, Superman, and "IT WORKS FOR ME" award

I bought a big gray king-size sheet from a clearance place and wanted to test it out. SO why not choose the most difficult subject to photograph? Don't get me wrong - the camera loves her...WHEN I can get her to look at the camera and NOT do her "I'm a poor little lost girl won't somebody take me home?" pose. Not sure what that's about. Anyway, her hair was a bit messy and she was wearing (of course) her ballerina outfit for the umpteenth time (I think she was wearing it when I took those photos of the cork board *sigh*). She wears that thing EVERY DAY. I guess I should wash it.....


I also did a layout to go opposite the "Six Today" layout I did here. Have I told you all how much I LOVE wallet sized prints? This is another example...six photos,a large title, journaling, and embellishments all on ONE page. This was her 6th birthday party wrapped up into one page. I've always loved those big bracket shaped papers, but I just can't find any. (The scrapbooking store here is SO outdated...) so I just drew one. I like how it turned out. It looks crooked in this photo for some reason, but it's really clean cut and STRAIGHT. LOL! It's that camera distortion thing. I used my Quickutz Silhouette to cut the title and the fun bird. I LOVE THAT MACHINE!

Last night was the New Beginnings program that I was privileged and humbled to speak at. The girls we have here are beautiful and amazing young women. Great examples. They sang "His Image in Your Countenance" which brought back a LOT of memories from when I was in Young Womens. I spoke on Divine Nature and though I was super nervous, the spirit helped me to make my thoughts flow and it went well. I compared each of us to Superman - (yes, I was tying in the Divine Nature Value color of BLUE here) in that he came from parents not of this world, who passed on to him many gifts and abilities that were beyond what we call "ordinary". He could use those gifts, talents, and attributes in his fight against evil and in bettering the human race, which he did. However he had a "secret identity" as Clark Kent who was very ordinary, who just kind of blended into "the world" (you see where I'm going with this). But his TRUE identity was much more "divine" than that. I asked the girls how often they have sat and truly contemplated their true identities. Who they are, what defines them. Are they defined by the color of their hair? Their dress size? What others think of them? Or was their nature more divine than that.... I shared some fabulous quotes from General Authorities who had great ideas of who these youth really are, which I needed to be reminded of as well. I explained that when we know our spiritual heritage, we make better decisions, we are kinder to those around us, and we care less and less about what others may think or say, and more and more about what our Heavenly Father knows about us, and what WE think.

We know that the values we embrace are mocked on every hand. Now a days black is white and up is down...right is wrong. We know we are a peculiar people - we should be!

I learned SO much about my Divine Nature by preparing this simple talk. I encourage EVERYONE who is asked to speak to eagerly say YES because I've realized that the Lord can really help you learn about and understand principles much better when you are (ahem) forced to study it out for yourself.

Each of the talks were amazing. I learned so much just being there. I also had a great opportunity to visit with some sisters in the ward, some of whom I hadn't met until that night (when they serve in Young Womens it's hard to get to know them sometimes because they aren't in your classes). I was invited to a girls night tonight, and I'm SO excited about it. They've come up with a really fun idea for girls' nights that I'll share in another post....tee hee hee

Okay, it's been a while since I've awarded my "it works for me" award, and I've been meaning to award this for a while. It goes to....

Amy W. for a few reasons... #1. I loved her "Art Place" from which I 100% copied her "tools" and "Colors" jars. What an awesome way to organize! Loved it.

#2. She introduced me to the fun idea of "Movie Night" which I also plan to copy this Saturday, and make it a regular tradition.

#3. She's hilarious. So much fun to read.

So, congrats, Amy - if you read this post :)