How To Make: Home-Made Marshmallows

I accidentally posted the idea before the video, so here is the
video for  my post below.

Homemade Christmas Gift

Homemade Marshmallows recipe can be found
on the Martha Stewart site.  (Link below)

I have a great idea for a really unique Christmas gift for you to give to the Women you Visit Teach or to a neighbor, friend or whomever.  One year my sister sent me a recipe for homemade marshmallows and I made them one day.   Oooh, they were sooooo yummy.  I was thinking that they could be cut into shapes using cookie cutters too. 

On the Martha Stewart site, they have some freshly cut Marshmallow's sacked in cellophane bags. (see picture above)  They can be eaten plain or plopped into a cute mug of hot chocolate.  This would be such a great and unique gift. Everybody gives hot chocolate mix for gifts, but  how fun would it be to include a bag of homemade marshmallows and maybe tie on the recipe, because they will want it after tasting them only once!!!

This is the link to the recipe and image

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/peppermint-marshmallows

Have fun with this and take a picture of your marshmallows in a bag and email it to me.

Enjoy!  Katie G

CD or DVD Template

I designed a printable CD or DVD sleeve Template today.  I am making up a CD of family photos for my brothers and sister for Christmas, and wanted a cute folder to put it in.  I am going to make it simple, because I am just printing the template on the backside of 8.5 x 11 Christmas scrapbook paper, then cutting them out.  I am going to probably just buy a cute seal or sticker to match the paper to seal it shut.  I may make a label but I don't have one made yet as it will depend on the paper that I find.  Anyway... if you would like to use this template, feel free to use it for your personal use. 

Now for Visitng Teaching... you could make a Chrismas Music CD to put in it, or maybe even record the Message or a talk from the first Presidency Chrismas devotional.  Maybe you could make a slide presentation of pretty Chritmas pictures to go with some pretty background music.  These are gifts of love and from the heart.

One other thing you can do for this template, is to use it as an envelop for a homemade card.  Just cut your card to fit in it, and there you go.

Enjoy! Katie G.

Christmas lesson on Service

I am right up to the very last minute with this lesson that I have been trying to prepare for weeks.  I have never had so many trials and things that have taken me away from preparing a lesson for any organization of the church.  This past month and a half have really been difficult ones for me and my family and one thing after the other keeps happening, and even up til today, more things have happened.  Have you ever felt like it wasn't just raining, but pouring? 

I have a testimony that gets me through even the most difficult challenges in life.  I know that my Heavenly Father is mindful of me and like the poem "Footsteps", He and my Savior, Jesus Christ, is walking beside me on my journey through life.  I beleive that Old Scratch, as my dad use to call Satan, tries to thwart every good thing from happening.  He has certainly bombarded me with everything he could possibly throw in front of me to make me stop my preparations for a message that he simply doesn't want spread.  Service is how we can feel better because the natural effect from giving service is joy.  Right now, I am feeling really good, because I know I have finally finnished, at the 11th hour, something that should make an impact on the Young Women of my ward.  I know how difficult this world is to live in and these young women need to have every tool the Lord has to offer, and understand how to use them to get them through these troubled times.  Service for me is the best drug off the market, and it has no alergic reactions, or detrimental effects.  But service produces a natural 'High" if you will, that leaves the giver as happy and the receiver. 

I'll stop rambling but before I leave this post, I will post my lesson in the event that any of you need a quick Christmas lesson.  I have also been sent several others from kind hearted women, that I will post as well, so hopefully from all of these ideas, you can find what you are looking for. 

As a bit of an explaintion, I selected all my picture stories out of the LDS Gospel Art Picture kit.  You can download them and print them off if you like, but you can purchase the kit, like I have online, or at any of the distribution centers.  It is so worth it as the pictures are lovely, and they even have a sumarized version of the story and scripture references that the picture has been created for.   For my handouts, I have the booklet that I have put up on the next post, and also a few other handouts.  Enjoy!  Katie G.

Christmas Service Booklet

After I got my lesson put together I came began putting together some pages of Stories, quotes, ideas and things that relate to serving at Christmas time and the whole year through.  I will include these here so that if you need them for yourselves, you can access them as well.  I am just stapeling them together with a front cover, that I don't have made yet.  Here is what I have so far.

Christmas Lesson

Thanks to those of you have sent me ideas for my Christmas lesson.  I will be using some of those and it really helped me since I have been so preocupied dealing with some family crisis'.  Life happens but I am grateful for the kindness of friends who are willing to help and share their time and talents.  I will also be posting the ideas and lessons sent to me so that others can benefit from this kind service too.  Thanks again girls and much gratitude and love sent your way!
Love, Katie G.

P.S  I have attached my Secret of Christmas Book mark so that you can print it off and give it away if you like as a Thanks for sharing.

Printable recipe index cards

I am trying to get organized with all the photos that I have been collecting since I was married.  I finally have them sorted and now I need to put them in some boxes per family or child.  I decided to design some index cards that same colors as are in the cute boxes that I have to store them in , so here are some that are
8" x 4"  that can be printed off.  If they are a bit too long for the box that you have, you can just trim it to fit.  The particular box I am using is being turned sideways, so it had to be a bit longer.  The boxes this size that I have are a little smaller so I will be trimming myself to fit those.  They will still look the same if you just trim on the non tabbed side.    Enjoy!  Katie G.

Printable Thank-you cards

I was in need of some cute new thankyou cards, so I designed a couple pages of them and thought I would share with you.  Feel free to print them off for yourself.  They fit nicely in the invitation envelopes that areou 4 3/8" x 5 3/4 ".  Enjoy!  Katie G.

Thanksgiving Dinner Invitation ( Wanted Poster)

OK here, the story with this invitation.  It is now 2:36 am, right about the time that I wake myself up in the middle of the night with some great idea.  Actually the idea happened a couple hours ago when I could not sleep.  I tried all I could but these thoughts about doing a wanted poster for Thanksgiving dinner kept scrolling through my mind.  I tried to forget about them, but dang it.... they were so cute, and I didn't want to forget them, so I just came in my office and started drawing it up.  Luckily for me, the ideas were already there in my mind, or it would have taken much longer.  I am sure my husband is wondering what in the world I am doing at this time in the morning, plunking on the keys of my computer.  I will show it to him in the morning, actually, I have just emailed it off to him and my children.  So here you go, if you want to use this for your dinner invitation, I think it turned out pretty cute. I made this one so that you can fill in the blanks with your own info for your guests.   Enjoy and Have a Happy Thanksgiving!  Love, Katie G.

Tutorial for Making a Cute Tissue box cover

This is my tutorial for Making a cute Tissue box cover.  This one happens to be fitting for the current upcoming holiday, but you could do it for any holiday or occasion or just to have a tissue box that would actually match your house.  So here goes....

I hope the pictures are basic enough that you can see what to do.  Here is a simple rundown.

Carefully take apart a box of tissue. (remove and set aside the folded tissue) Cover the box, using two pieces of the same print of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper.  If it is a heavy card stock it will look great, but will be harder to glue.  A lighter weight scrapbook paper is preferred.  I used a glue stick and coated the printed side of the tissue box and covered all of it.  I seamed it on an edge which you will have to do.

Press firmly or pile some heavy books on it for 10 - 15 minutes, so the glue gets a great chance to adhere to the tissue box.  Turn the box over to the inside, and trim off the scrapbook paper following the pattern of the box.

Fold the box back together with the sides first and glue. Fold and glue the bottom of the box. Insert the tissue that you had set aside and then fold the top of the box down and glue it.  You will need to hold the box for a few minutes to ensure that the glue has a chance to hold.

Your box could be finished at this point, or you could do what I have pictured and I cut out a cute border to glue around the box to make it even more cutsie!  Another idea would be to print out the name of the person that you are going to give it to on a strip of contrasting paper and glue it around the box.  There you have it.... a Cute Tissue box!!!  Whew, I wish I had thought of this years ago.  No more pet peeve!

Also, if you use a very heavy card stock, then you could use the disassembled tissue box for the template and draw around it on to the scrapbook paper. ( I suggest two sided as it would be cute on the inside and the out.)  You would need to score the folds using a pen and ruler to get them straight and fold it the way the tissue box is folded.  Easy huh?

Please either comment below or email me as it is nice to know that you like what I come up with as far as ideas and fun stuff!

Enjoy  Katie G.

One more thing to add to the gift.... MY VERY OWN POEM TO PRINT

I think you will figure out that laughter is the best medecine when you read the poem that I made up tonight to go with this little gift.  I have been laughing my head off.  I hope you do too.  Let me know if you like it!



Printable recipe cards to go with the Soup exchange

I am making up a bunch of cute things to give out at the Soup exchange that I am doing, and thought I would share.  Here are three pages of tabbed fall recipe cards.  The reason I am tabbing them is so that the different soups will be able to be found easier, as I find that my recipe cards kind of get stuck together after a while so... with tabs they can be seen and separtated easier. I was also thinking that they could be tab coded with the left tab for Brothy soups, the Middle tab for Creamy soups, and the tab on the right could be for favorites or whatever else you would want it for. 

Once again... how can I relate this to Visiting teaching?  Ok.... do you have a great soup recipe that you might like to share with someone you Visit Teach, or maybe even that you would be taking to a Relief Society night meeting?  Here you go.....  What I will be doing is printing out a bunch of these cards so the the ladies can write down their favorites off of the master that will be displayed on the table.  Fun idea huh?

Enjoy and happy cooking!!!  Katie G.

Be sure to scroll down for the invitation idea that I have below of the Soup label to invite friends over for a soup exchange.

More wonderful ideas for gift giving and for Halloween!



http://createwithjulia.blogspot.com/2008/12/flexible-flyer-loaf-of-bread-beyond.html

 While I was looking for something else, I stumbled on a great tutorial for a darling bread box.  It is made from Scrapbook paper and is so very cute. 

Here is the link to the blog that you can find it at.  http://www.technostamper.blogspot.com/2008/10/bread-box-mini-tutorial.html 

This second blog uses stamps from Stampin Up too.  Both are very cute!!! Great ideas for sharing the fruit breads we make this time of year.

I  found these darling Halloween ideas and thought I had better pass them on too at

http://www.thelennoxx.com/?p=3531

Boo-nana Bread

Christine T from West Virginia emailed me and said that she was going to use my header idea for her Banana Bread.  She changed the header from Caramel Boo-corn to "Boo"nana Bread. I thought that was a great idea so I wanted to pass it on to you.  I also told her that I would make another header for a Gallon Bag so here it is .  Enjoy, Katie G

If you have any great ideas please email me and let me know!!!

Soup exchange



Soup exchange soup label invitaiton to fill in the blanks.
 Don't use this one if you want to send out as an invitaiton
because it has some typos.  Use the blank version below.

 I have been really busy this past month, trying to catch up with some fun things to share with you sisters to do with those you Visit teach, for Relief Society Night activities, or even just neighborhood friend activities.  I think you are going to really like this one.  My daughter got me thinking about this one as she and her friends in Park City, do freezer meal exchanges.  I thought that would be such a great idea, but hard to do with a very large group.... so.... I have this neighborhood Lunch Bunch group and I thought I would take another turn at hosting it at my home.  I decided to do a soup exchange since it is beginning to be fall weather, and soup is something that warms up everyone.  Anyway... I created a soup exchange and made an invitation that looks like a soup label.  I also created the directions of how this exchange would work to eliminate any misunderstandings about what constitutes soup. (Homemade is the only soup and it isn't home made from Costco, or from Campbell's, but made from scratch in the home.)

This is the one that you should use to print and send out.  You
can use the top one to show you how you can fill in the
gold label with the date, time, place etc.





I thought that this was such a fun idea that I wanted to share it with you.  Please feel free to share my blog ideas with your friends, neighbors, ward members, because I believe that these ideas should be shared with everyone.  They will create fun times, and friendshipping experiences, which is what it is all about.  Enjoy and if you use this, please drop me an email or comment so that I feel loved!  Best regards and have a SOUPER time.... Katie G.

Visiting Teaching Motto Bookmark

This is my very own motto, that I loved so much when I first started blogging about Visiting Teaching about 4 years ago.  I  thought it was about time that I took James E. Faust's quote and put it into a bookmark. 

This isn't the official R.S. motto, as that is Charity never faitheth."  When I was reading the talk that this quote came from, which can be found on my other blog, I loved so much the message and decided that this is how I felt about Visiting teaching and added it to my blog at that time.

I made these is fall colors, so that you can give it out anytime this fall, or even in the winter.  I made each one different so they will be fun for you to pick which design is your favorite.

Enjoy!  Katie G.

You have been Boo'd

I love Halloween, partly because it is my birthday month, but because it lots of fun.  I love to decorate my home and even dress up in my old age, to greet the trick or treaters.  I must be crazy, but I am sure having fun.  So... I created my own "You have been Boo'd" flyer to go out when you take treats to your neighbors and friends.  You are welcome to use mine if you like.  You might want to start with those you visit teach!  ( but don't count that as your visit!  Ha, ha!)   Enjoy!!!  Katie G

P.S. I had forgotten about my other storage blog that goes with this one, and accidentally started posting this Halloween handout in that one.  I thought I had better remind you too since I am the one who created it and forgot about it.  Here is the link to see the things that are in it!  http://visitingteachingsurprisedocuments.blogspot.com/

My Sweet Son Andy, who is my computer guru, came over and fixed what was wrong with my internet that would not let me insert any photos on my blog.  It took him less than a minute.  Am I ever grateful for him, and you should be too.  What is this blog without all the images that I put on it for you to download.  Thanks, Andy!!!!  Happy Halloweening.... Katie G.

I have been asked about whether or not people can  use popcorn with the caramel recipe and I have said yes but....if you use it with puff corn, I can guarantee you that it will be gobbled up so fast, your head will spin.  Everywhere I have ever taken it, people love it.  There is a recipe on the back on one of the different brands bags of puff corn, but it just isn't like my caramel, but it is pretty good too. I recommend my caramel recipe.  I also recommend that you try the puff corn and see if you agree about how yummy it is.  One tip though.... caramel corn can really set up fast, and you want to be able to keep it as soft as possible.  You could cook it about a minute or two less, but what you need to do is to put it immediately into plastic bags, so it stays as soft as possible.  Oh and with popcorn... you can never get all the hard kernels out, and you about break your teeth chewing into one.  Puff corn is so soft it will about melt in your mouth and the chewieness will come from the caramel.  SOOOOOOO Good.  Here are a couple of different brands of puff corn that I found on the internet: