Happy 4th of July!

Arianna and I got invited to go to my friend's party! And I am so grateful to have friends like them because it's always nice to celebrate holidays with friends when the husband is gone. We had fun! The party was so CUTE!!! :)

Anyway, last night I made hairbows for Arianna. I was thinking, she needed bows to match her dress. I was lucky enough to have all the materials to make it and so lucky to have red, white and blue ribbons!

She found some goldfish at the party!

So glad  that dress fits her now. I got it last year. ;)

Baby gifts for Baby Sadie

A really good friend of mine is having a baby girl and I am so excited for her. I crocheted a hat, booties and a headband for Baby Sadie. I also made a tutu and a handmade card! Yay for babies!

-=* Babies are angels from heaven. -=*

Visiting Teaching

For last month's visiting teaching, we got to pick of what we liked to teach from the General Conference messages. I always don't get a chance to watch them on tv but I watch them online and I read them when the General Conference issue magazine arrives. Since it was my turn to gave a lesson last month, Elder Scott's "The Eternal Blessings of Marriage" message really stood out to me and I love Elder Ballard's "Finding Joy through Loving Service" message.

I loved how Elder Scott talked about his loving wife. Elder Scott traveled  a lot in his profession. One day, he came home and he saw his wife, washing the clothes by hand. He begun fixing the washing machine, and his wife said : "Rich, what are you doing?" Elder Scott replied, "I'm repairing the washing machine so you don't have to to do this by hand." She said, "No. Go play with the children." He said, "I can play with the children anytime. I want to help you." Then she said, "Richard, please go play with the children."

These lines reminded me of my husband. He is always gone and when he is home from deployment, he always makes sure that he gets to spend time with Arianna. I always takes pictures and videos of them playing or just sitting on the couch watching tv. Arianna sure does misses Daddy. She always comes to him when daddy is home. Sometimes I get jealous because she comes to Daddy more than to me but I've come to realize, Arianna and I spend 24/7 together and Daddy is only home a few months a year.

 I also want to share with you my favorite lines from Elder's Scott's talk.

"Express gratitude for what your spouse does for you. Express that love and gratitude often. That will make life far richer and more pleasant and purposeful. Don’t withhold those natural expressions of love."

"Pure love is an incomparable, potent power for good. Righteous love is the foundation of a successful marriage. It is the primary cause of contented, well-developed children. Who can justly measure the righteous influence of a mother’s love? What enduring fruits result from the seeds of truth that a mother carefully plants and lovingly cultivates in the fertile soil of a child’s http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=163561817042959761trusting mind and heart? As a mother you have been given divine instincts to help you sense your child’s special talents and unique capacities. With your husband you can nurture, strengthen, and cause those traits to flower." 

Now onto Elder Ballard's talk about "Finding Joy Through Service". I have a lot of experience about service from the church.Well, I always receive services from church specially from my visiting teaching companion, Linda. She is truly a great example to me. She's been there for me through tough times and good times. And whenever I need help, she's always there to help me.

I want to share with you some of the things I liked from Elder Ballard's message:

"By treating each other kindly, speaking words of support and encouragement, and being sensitive to each other’s needs, we can create loving unity among ward members. Where charity exists, there is no place for gossip or unkind words".

President Spencer W. Kimball said: “It is vital that we serve each other in the kingdom. … So often, our acts of service consist of simple encouragement or of giving … help with mundane tasks, but what glorious consequences can flow … from small but deliberate deeds!” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball [2006], 82). s

So yeah, I was nervous giving the lesson to the ladies we visit. I don't know why I always get nervous. Lol. Anyway. I made something for them. I just made some chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting. I also made a box to put the cupcake in. Thanks to my friend Angel who gave me the template for the box.

Love, peace and happiness to you all!
Shellanie

A simple Lego Birthday Card

Last month, a friend of mine, threw a Lego birthday party for her son. I decided to make him a Lego card and wrapped our gift like a Lego.

Dozens of Cookies

So what did I do with all those cookies I baked? Well, I gave some to my visiting teaching companion and to the 2 ladies we visit. Then, I gave some to friends and neighbors.

I made my own tags and I bought the cookie boxes at Michaels. (using a 50% off coupon.)

I totally forgot to take a picture of this when I was home.

So I used my phone to take a picture before I give them to my friends.

I bought the cookie tins at Walmart. It was 3 for 2 bucks.

Then the white ribbon was purchased at the dollar store.

And again, I made the tags.

These are for my nieghbors.

Neighbor #1- just moved in the neighborhood last August

and I haven't met them til I dropped off the cookies earlier.

Neighbor # 2- They really are a nice family. Never met the whole family before.

The guy is super nice and he gave us onions from their graden last summer.

Neighbor #3- who hates our dogs. Well, we're not really good friends.

I guess she doesn't get along with my dogs.

But I decided to give them some cookies even I was so nervous.

The couple didn't answer the door but their daughter did. Oh well, I came with peace. ;)

Neighbor #4- Wasn't home for 2 days now so I guess they're on vacation.

So Arianna and I have a plate of cookies to share. =)



This Christmas is sooo different to me. I've never done this before(baking cookies to give away to friends and neighbors). Well, it's a good feeling and it's so nice to be reminded of "it's better to give than to recieve". Arianna is a trooper. She's always with me from baking to delivering the cookies to our friends and neighbors' houses. I miss my husband terribly. =( I can't wait for him to come home. Couple more weeks...

Deployent project Week #9

Homemade Gift # 1

First, I made Christmas Cookie mix. I got the recipe from Bakerella.

Christmas Cookie Mix.

I bought the paper at Michael's when I had the 50% off coupon.

I made my own label.

Deployment Project # 8

Decorative Tealight Candles

It's a super easy project and very affordable! I found this idea on this blog. I purchase the vanilla cookies tealight candles at Walmart. The only thing I didn't do was melt the tissue paper on top of the tealights so it's easy to peel.

Deployment Project Week # 7

Hair Clips

This week's project, I decided to use materials that I already have. The only thing I bought was the clips.

Materials I used:

I used metal single prong clips, ribbons, glue gun and embellishments such as flowers and the crocheted butterfly. (I wanna give a shout out to my friend Emily who let me borrow her glue gun! Thanks Emily!)

All I did was glue the ribbon around the clip.

Then, I glued the crocheted butterfly that I made. Make sure you glue it well.  

Cute hair clips for my daughter!

Deployment Project Week # 6

Hurricane Vases

It's week # 6 and my husband is still on deployment.. BOO!!! I miss him every single day. Doing small project every week helps me make the days go by fast! I can't wait for my husband to come home.

Anyway, for this week's project, I decided to make some hurricane vases. I followed the tutorial on how to make inexpensive hurricane vases here.

I bought the vases and the candle holders at a thrift store and the dollar tree store. I got the holiday candles at Walmart.

I am so happy with how they turned out. The hurricane vases are so cute!

Deployment Project Week # 5

Crochet

What is a crochet?

Crochet (pronounced /kroʊˈʃeɪ/) is a process of creating fabric from yarn using a crochet hook. The word is derived from the French word "crochet", meaning hook. Crocheting, similar to knitting, consists of pulling loops of yarn through other loops. Crochet differs from knitting in that only one loop is active at one time (the sole exception being Tunisian crochet), and that a crochet hook is used instead of knitting needles.

I totally copied and pasted it from wikipedia. haha! It makes my life easier.

I really enjoyed crocheting. I learned about different yarns, sizes of hooks and different kinds of crochet(from double crochet to treble crochet to fastening). I crocheted some flowers and butterflies. I crocheted one heart but I think it wasn't great. I got the patterns here.

I love the butterflies!

the hair clip

the flowers

a really simple card I made.

Deployment Project Week #3

 Apron

The very first time I sewed an apron was in high school. My mom helped me and she taught me how to use a sewing machine. We had an old fashioned sewing machine back home.


Five years ago, my husband bought me a sewing machine. Of course, he bought me an electric one. LOL. I use it once in awhile when his uniforms are needed to be sewed. I remember, I even sewed a blanket for our dogs.

So this time, I sewed Arianna's first apron. I think I did a pretty good job sewing it but I think, it would be nice if I added a pocket or something. And it's kinda long for her. I guess I don't have to make her a new apron until she grows up a little taller.



 



Scrabble

When I got married, I wasn't into homemaking. I didn't cook that much, didn't decorate my house whatsoever. But since I had my daughter, I became a better person, I think I should say, I became a mother, a wife and a HOMEMAKER. Haha! I kinda feel bad because I feel like I didn't do much to my husband but I know he forgave me already. =) He supports my cooking, baking, crafting and decorating our house and it's a good thing.

Everytime I go to my friend's house, she always decorate her house and I love it. I think she decorate her house every season, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. I admire how she keeps her house neat and tidy and cute. So I decided to decorate my house BUT, I don't have any decorations at all.

So, when I was cleaning our closet, I found that we have the scrabble. I saw that my friend uses it as a decoration at her house. Here's a link and you check out her BLOG.

I bought the two candle holders on sale. yeah, we have to start somewhere right?



I am so thankful for my husband and my daughter. I am also thankful for my family and friends who are always there for me. I also wanna extend my gratitude to all the veterans who sacrifice a lot for our freedom.
So thankful for whoever invented the scrabble. LOL.

Deployment Project Week # 2

TUTUS

I finally finished Arianna's tutus. One of my friends from church gave me some tips on how to make them. She's an awesome lady. Nancy started posting pictures on facebook of the tutus that she made for her grandkids and I told her that Arianna doesn't have one. She organized a tutu making party at her house but I wasn't able to go. =( She makes really NICE tutus. So, by the help of Nancy and youtube, I was able to make not one but TWO tutus. Yay!

White and American Beauty

Grape and purple

I can't wait for Arianna to wear these. Well, the purple one is kinda big so she has to wait a couple of months to wear it but the pink one is perfect for her size.

I survived another week of husband being deploy. I am grateful for my daughter and my husband. Without them, I would be worthless. Few more weeks and daddy will be home. =)