"It Never Hurts to Ask" Dress a Girl Finds

So I decide to scout around the thrift stores today to see what they would have. But before I left the House I printed out the colored flyer from the Official Dress a Girl Around the world Website and My own Info too with a List of Donations needed.

So I stopped at Crossroads thrift store in Montandon , and showed them the flyer and explained what we wanted to do on a local level to do out part. And she said " Here's a Box fill it with what ever you see in the store you could use"!
How Great and generous is that. Thank you Marilyn Lenker Director your amazing so this is what I found this time.
I say this Time because she said I should come in Once a Month and fill a box ( wow). Now who said there isn't great people out there. Just goes to Show It Never Hurts to Ask

Girls shirts,Sheets, valances,and fabric to add to t-shirt dresses

 So I head to the H.U.F discount ( thrift ) store in Milton and ask the same questions. The Manager said will we don't really get sheets etc and when we do we throw them out as they are in to bad of a shape to use.I asked her about Little girls shirts but she said she didn't really Get Many of those either  OK?
She took the flyer and said she would read it over. So I scouted the store and found some little shirts which I bought. and I can't wait to add cute little skirts to them all my stash of  9 shirts came to 15 dollars so not too bad. I don't mind Buying from this store though as I like their Mission in General. that they have to Give people a Hand Up and Not  a Hand Out, there is a difference.I have seen them help so Many family's that have lost everything due to fire etc , Or Unemployment due to Illness ,etc

So then I headed to another Thrift store in Milton American rescue workers. I showed the flyer there etc. But she need to ask her Director. So she has my info, so we will see. I was able to pick up 4 pillowcases and a King size sheet for $6 dollars though and the Sheet has a cute ruffled edge that will make cute dresses.

Here's the mistake today I forgot that there is a difference between a pillow Sham and a Pillow case. Shams tend to open in the back and are sometimes Padded in the front So don't really work for the dresses. Oh well I bought some brand New Shams for $3 Guess I should change the color scheme in My Bedroom LOL

Well I think I have enough supplies to Make Many dresses. And  for any of you Local friends, I will be Having regular get togethers at my house for any of you that would like to Help.  The first big  One will Be Feb 26th stay Tuned for Evite

" Dress a Girl Donations list"

 Heres a Link to the home page of this wonderful Charity
http://www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com (Click on Logo)

So Here are the  specifics of what they can send me to donate for the Dress a Girl Service project (Thank you). So I thought I would write a list so feel free to donate as little or as much as you want, Thank you to all those that are willing to donate.I promise All donations will be used and Pictures will be posted to prove it.This will be an ongoing charity that I plan on being involved in. So as you de-clutter your Linen closets feel free to send those extra pillow cases My way. Check those clearance racks too Pillowcases are always on sale.

Pillowcases- any size But Light weight fabric Not flannel or jersey stretch fabric. Raid your linen closet or catch those sales, Or thrift stores are another great source, New or gently used are fine too. any color or print is fine.

Fabric- light weight , cotton, cottonpoly mix ,sheets ( gently used) are a great source of fabric too this will be used to make Pillowcase style dresses and add skirts to tshirts.

T shirts- Girls t shirts age 1-16 even small adult womens would work too. we add cute little skirts to these to make adorable dresses. Once again New,gently used ( no stains).

Bias Tape/ Ribbon- 1/2 inch double fold is best, or 1 inch wide ribbon works too. But a more sturdy ribbon such as Grosgrain is better. Packages Of Bias tape can sometimes be found at Thrift stores very cheap too, So check them out

Thread- various colors

Elastic- 1/2 inch is best but 1/4inch works too.

Postage- monetary donations towards Postage. We plan on putting as many as we can in a flat rate box and sending them to the Organizer in Arizona who distributes them from there.

Thanks so much for your willingness to help

 

" Dress a Girl " service project Having fun

I guess I have missed dressing a little girl. So I am having so much fun Making these cute dresses Here are some I made this afternoon

As you can see Pillow cases can vary in Length. But so do Little Girls :-)

 This is a smaller dress and actually a really pretty Mint green . Not the lime green in the Picture.
It's fun to Add frills!

" Dress a Girl " service project

It has been forever since I have posted to My blog and I apologise for that. I promise I will be Better at Showing what I am " Making and Mending".

 So I was checking My Face book News one day and My Good Friend Sarah Mcbride had a link to Dress a Girl around the world, I was curious so went to check it out. I was very moved and this charity really touched my heart. Every little girl Deserves a Dress of her own. This wonderful Charity makes it happen By taking Donated Dresses  to Places such as Uganda, India, and many other Countries. The smiles on the recipients Faces Warms your Heart. So I couldn't resist Helping.
As My own little Girl goes out on her Own this year to College. I know she Never had to Worry that she didn't have clothes to wear, especially those cute Girly dresses, that we just take for granted here in the United States.
I hope I can make a difference in the life of Many cute " princesses" from all over the world.This will be a Organization I hope to contribute to for many years.

So I went through my fabric stash and Linen Closet. and so Far have cut out 38 dresses.Now I Know why I was saving all this fabric. At one time I had good intentions of Making dresses for My own Little Princess. But At 17 Cute little Kittys , gingham's, and hearts don't really work for her anymore :-)
and the fact that I didn't meet a fabric on sale that I didn't like, that I just had to Buy for those future projects that I was going to get too.

 My first pillowcase dress I plan on putting a pink pocket on the front.

 I also made these super easy T shirt dresses. The T shirts were 4 for $10 at Micheals on Sale. The Fabric was from this Wonderful Bright colored nearly New King size sheet that I picked up from the thrift Store.
I Plan on Having a Fun Get together sometime with some great friends to Make many more of these Cute Dresses.But I'm excepting Donations any thing from Pillowcases to thread, or donations for postage,  every little helps.

Here are some wonderful Pillow cases sent from My friend sue Can't wait to turn these into some cute dresses

My favorite ones are the 2 on the right with the contrasting border what Cute dresses they will make..

Catching up on scrapbook pages !

Ok I know I said I was making a page a day and I only missed a couple of days last week. But I haven't posted them on my blog so here they are.
I received more templates from Kiwi lane designs so was playing with spook alley border template and wacky accesorie set.
The first 5 pictures also show the great paper from Echo ark paper called "Sweet Summertime". This is actually designed by someone I Know Crystal Wilkinson For those in My ward at church. she is Bishop and Sister Clarks daughter ,The papers are available at scrapbook lady in Lewisburg or online. She has been designing digital for a while. I'm just not a Digital kinda gal :-) . So I love that she is designing physical papers that I can play with. I wish her well and I hope she designs many more great papers.

Combining papers
These are some Making memories papers I have had a while. I really didn't care for the paisley print in this pack. But Now I have been Introduced to the kiwi lane way of scrapbooking I am trying papers I would have used before . When you use just a small amount on this border and it's combined with the other patterns in this set I Love it. I actually made 2 double page layouts the same one for me and one to give away. I plan on giving this away at the end of this Month as part of the family celebration and added who ever wins family name to the top of the page.So be sure to be a follower of my blog and I will be posting details at the end of the month.

the little tag says Forever

I know this isn't your traditional " back to school page" but I wanted to use some pretty papers and to convey My daughters style in her back to school page this year so I used these baby girl papers by Basic Grey

Black white and pink are one of my favorite color combos. I made this page without any specific pictures in mind I just wanted to try out these papers that I bought from Paper loft in a pad I'm sure I will use it for some black and White pics of My Daughter

You will probably want to click on the above picture to see better details . My camera died right after I took this picture or I would of took more details This is a page for My sons album with some pictures of him when he was younger.

Many more pages will be coming soon. I have been trying to catch up a little before it gets crazy busy with my  Bows business soon.

Separation dealing with being empty nesters

Family Proclamation quote. “. Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

On Monday labor day we had the opportunity to go to a great church picnic at a local theme park.It was so much fun to fellowship with other familys and see the little kids having fun. Our 2 kids (19 & 17) were there too but went their separate ways to hang out with their friends and ride the rides. My son with his friends My daughter with hers.Because they couldn't decide what rides to ride together . Although they did meet up later

It reminded me of when they were little and they were playing and fighting and arguing over some toy in the living room while I was in the kitchen right next to the living room.
 After numerous attempts to tell them to " stop fighting" " knock it off"" play nicely"etc etc. 
I finally lost it and raised my voice and Yelled "JUST SEPARATE WILL YOU" . It went quiet then My son Stefan said . " Woah Becky I don't know what that means but we better do it" LOL
After I stopped laughing and pulled myself together. I had to go in and explain that separate means to not be next to each other put some space between you so you won't argue.
So I guess they now know what that means now, as they knew they would argue if they were together the whole time on Monday :-)

So the same day Monday, also meant that with both our kids doing their own thing . It gave Tim and I an opportunity to walk around just the 2 of us. We rode the crazy rides like the ferris wheel and the train around the park LOL. Although Tim loves the roller coasters etc I'm a little more wary I used to ride them all. Guess I am getting old LOL. Anyway back on topic, it gave us the opportunity to talk about our future.
We were thinking about next year this time when Both our kids will be gone. My son on a mission for 2 years and My daughter away at college . The above picture pretty much sums up how I will be on the day they leave.No we were not planning cruises just the two of us,Finances won't be that good with paying for these new ventures of our children ! We were just reminiscing about when they were small  and just thinking how different it will be
But it reminded me of a great article from the Henry B Eyring ( to read the whole article click on following link)
  LDS.org - Ensign Article - “Write upon My Heart”
He talked about when he said goodbye to his father on a street corner in New york and knew that his life would be different now .
Quote "

Parents should teach their children to pray. The child learns both from what the parents do and what they say. The child who sees a mother or a father pass through the trials of life with fervent prayer to God and then hears a sincere testimony that God answered in kindness will remember what they saw and heard. When their trials come, they will be prepared.

In time, when the child is away from home and family, prayer can provide the shield of protection the parent will want so much for them to have. Parting can be hard, particularly when the parent and the child know that they may not see each other for a long time. I had that experience with my father. We parted on a street corner in New York City. He had come there for his work. I was there on my way to another place. We both knew that I probably would never return to live with my parents under the same roof again.

It was a sunny day, around noontime, the streets crowded with cars and pedestrians. On that particular corner there was a traffic light which stopped the cars and the people in all directions for a few minutes. The light changed to red; the cars stopped. The crowd of pedestrians hurried off the curbs, moving every way, including diagonally, across the intersection.

The time had come for parting, and I started across the street. I stopped almost in the center, with people rushing by me. I turned to look back. Instead of moving off in the crowd, my father was still standing on the corner looking at me. To me he seemed lonely and perhaps a little sad. I wanted to go back to him, but I realized the light would change and so I turned and hurried on.

Years later I talked to him about that moment. He told me that I had misread his face. He said he was not sad; he was concerned. He had seen me look back, as if I were a little boy, uncertain and looking for assurance. He told me in those later years that the thought in his mind had been: Will he be all right? Have I taught him enough? Is he prepared for whatever may lie ahead?

I think in so many ways I feel just like this father  "will they be all right?" "Have I taught them enough/". Or at least enough to get by, then they will learn from experiences. Although I am excited for them too as they experience new things . My Heart also aches that they will not be around, I know I have to let go and let them fly . But it sure isn't easy. So many people have said how they dealt with this time in their lives . I think the best advice is to Pray and ask for guidance as we deal with each Time in our live. I will be keeping busy and looking forward to their story's that they will tell as they go out into the world. But I know they will return to the nest every now and then. and I will be there. with New feathers on the beds in the nest and worms to feed them LOL 

My AMAZING Family

This is My Amazing family.
I love the song playing for the music for this slide show. I had so much fun putting this together to time some of the pictures to match the words of the song.
A quote from the Family Proclamation Says"All Human Beings male and female- are created in the image of god.....Each has a divine nature and destiny Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal and eternal identity and purpose.

I Love that I have a Boy and a Girl. so I have been greatly blessed.

I Love My Son I get to enjoy all the ruggedness of boys. Scouts, camping trips bike rides, muddy clothes, rocks found in pockets, sweaty sneakers, Hot- sauce tastings, ( Not me just him lol )and all that  So Much  Boy stuff LOL he is  a wonderful son who is proud to be serving his country in the National Guard and preparing to serve the lord on a mission.He has such a upstanding countenance and valiant spirit

I Love My daughter for all that Girly girl stuff we get to do, Shopping, nails, fashion,.I love that she is a girly girl, but is not afraid of hard work and serving others too.She loves to act on stage and also in the national Forensics Competitions( Public speaking when I was in school) . she likes to look girly too and has such a sweet countinance and beautiful spirit

The family Proclamation says" Children are an Heritage from God" when I think of Heritage I think of such a treasure given too us.
I am eternally Greatfull for the gift of motherhood that I have the opportunity to raise along side my Wonderful eternal companion/ husband such a choice Son and Daughter of God
I Love Being a Mother