First attempts with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

My very first time using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint... and I think I really really like it!  It is very easy to use... very forgiving.  Goes on very quickly.  And you can paint literally anything with it, and the best part... ZERO prep work!

Started super easy & did the horrid letters above the fireplace.  Didn't even take them off of the wall to paint them.  They were splattered with paint, so they were bumpy.  Unless you are right up at them, you cannot tell they aren't perfectly done!  Didn't even wax them.  They look a million times better.

TV stand is just an old IKEA shelf.  The kids had scratched the life out of it.  I also didn't like that it was black.  It was just way too heavy looking in the room.  I misunderstood the directions & watered down the paint, so it took 4 coats of paint.  But, it still worked.  And I love the way it looks.  Sooooo much better than the scratched up black.  Just for a suprise of fun, I put the green seahorse fabric in the back.  It can easily be changed out come fall & winter.

The BIG project I have been wanting to do for years, but just never knew how to do it, was the fireplace.  I have always hated it.  Never liked the green fake marble tiles.  Steve never wanted to pay to have it redone.  I just didn't know how to cover it up.  A friend suggested the chalk paint.  That is how I found it in the first place.  2 coats + a touch up coat & I think it looks a ton better.  Roughed it up a tiny bit w sand paper.  Let each coat of paint dry 24 hours.  Then 2 coats of wax with 24 hours drying time in between.  Very simple & fast.  And so far, it has held up very well.  I want to attempt my entrance way faux marble floor next!

Heidi Swapp Lightbox

Just got my Heidi Swapp Lightbox.  Loving it.  Gonna try to come up with a new quote/saying every week!

General Conference Reminder

To help our girls prepare for General Conference & help those who would like to use it as one of their 10 hour projects, I usually print off a General Conference packet from Sugar Doodle or purchase some from The Red Headed Hostess. 

One of the girls said "I just hope I remember when Conference is!"  So to help them remember, I created this little 4x6 reminder. 

I laminated it & put a magnet on the back so it could be hung on the fridge.  I have one in my house, but i put it in a frame.  You can use a dry erase marker on either the laminate or the glass of the frame to mark down days to conference.

General Conference Prep Game

I was not incharge of this activity, so I will explain it the best I can.  Our Laurel & Mia Maid presidents put this activity on.  And it was AWESOME!!!  The girls all had a blast & we all learned something.

There were 4 activities to prepare us for Conference this weekend.

We were put into groups of 2.

Activity 1:  Bowling.

She had 6 bottles of sprite set up.  We had to bowl with our non-dominant hand with a basket ball.  It was a lot harder than it sounds.

Each partnership chose 1 person to bowl.  Then on the 2nd round, the other person bowled.  We were able to get through 4 rounds total.

She had questions on cards.  So after you bowled you chose a category.  (General Authorites, which had pictures & you had to say who the person was.  Topics that could be discussed.  I don't remember what the other 2 categories were).  

If you got the question right, you got 100 points for each bottle knocked down.  If you didn't knock any over you got 50 if you got the quesiton right.

Activity 2:  Ball throw.

We were in a narrow hallway.  They had 7 boxes of various sizes set up.  A sock rolled into a ball.  You threw the ball into the box with the point numbers on the front.  She just continued going through the quesitons she had left over from the previous activity.

Activity 3:  Name the General Authority.

This was different & fun.  She had purchased the little mini pie shells (very small ones).  In the bottom she put 1-12 small pieces of candy in them (pez or small chocolate balls).  Then covered them with whipped cream.  

The object was to use only your mouth & get all of the candy out of the pie... count how many pieces of candy were in your pie.  Then you had to guess which GA corresponded with that number.  Example, if you only had 1 candy... that represented Pres Monsons seat.

Activity 4:  scripture chase.

We didn't get to do this activity because of time.  But basically she set up scripture chase based on past & possible future topics heard at conference.

GREAT activity!

General Conference Reminder Idea

I got the idea from HERE.

I wasn't able to use her label because I couldn't find GRAPE fanta & it wouldn't fit on my sticker paper I wanted to use.  So using her idea I recreated the lable to fit my sticker paper & in orange to match the ORANGE fanta soda.