I seriously cannot believe that it's mid-december. If you are crazy busy and need to do a lesson for RS, YW or Primary then this is something that you'll like. We've done this activity in  our family on and off since 1993. And I've done it in my callings and it's been a wonderful experience. A big plus is that it's super easy to put together.

​ Print, Cut, Order, Ring, Sing!

I've been in transition for several months now. I'm teaching seminary. When you hate mornings this is a little tough. Okay, a lot tough. But I loved seminary as a kid, it was my start of my spiritual foundation since I hadn't gone to church as a child. I love everything about teaching these youth except the time of day.

In exchange for accepting the call I've let some things slow down a bit. LDS NEST is one of those things. I know the women I'm talking to understand the give and take we make. I'm not really sorry just letting you know why it's been awhile. 

Now that I've explained myself, I'll share another side of my life. I'm an artist and designer and have another website ShannonsStudio.com. I wanted to share something with you that I designed for a friend that I'm not sharing on that blog. I think you'll like it. 

It's a quote from James E. Faust that was quoted on a show recently. It's about us mothers. I got mine in the mail and wore it today. I really like it. If you'd like one ($15) click the the photo link above. I think they'll be available at the BYU bookstore at some point. I don't get anything from the purchase I just thought some of you would want one. Do you like it?

RS meeting was this week for me and I taught a class about entertaining, specifically some tips on throwing a party. I thought I'd share the 2 decorating ideas I shared that night.

This is my minimalist decorating side.

You need:
     1 dozen roses (WalMart or Target approx. $10 -$15)
    12 vases (approx. $2 each Target)
     1 white tablecloth (Always have 1 white one, so versatile)

So easy. So quick. So simple. So beautiful.

This is my "if a thing's worth doing, it's worth over doing" decorating side.

It's my Celebration Suitcase™ series. This one is titled "Old School". You basically put all your themed decorations in a container and pull it out whenever you (or someone else) have a need to decorate big. The decorations can be set up differently every time. And everything (except food) fits inside the suitcase so you just have to grab, go and set up. It is so helpful. And it looks so fun.

Just some ideas for you.

I like sports. A lot. When I was a teen I remember couples having issues over how much sports the husband watched. I determined that I didn't want to be one of those couples so I learned about sports. The game, rules, how to play. I loved racquetball, softball, and volleyball and have a pretty competitive streak. (But, not as much as the boyfriend, but that's another story.)

The thing is, though my husband is great at sports, he doesn't get into watching them that much. I learned all that to be the one who stays up and watches the games. By myself. Go figure. 

I only commit to watch 1 or 2 teams because I wouldn't do anything except sit in front of the tv otherwise. When a game comes on I tell my children, "I'm not your mother right now" do not bother me. I do have a couple of friends who come over and watch the games with me sometimes. There's a lot of noise making when we watch. 


My sport of choice is football and my team of choice is BYU. Going to the games in Provo was so much fun and I've missed that. (We have tickets to the game in November in Kansas City)


In honor of the coming season here is a printable that I've done.

I've also done this print for my husband who wakes up the kids by singing, "Rise & Shout the Cougars are out!" Needless to say the kids aren't thrilled with the song. But I hope you're thrilled with the watercolor printable. Click the image below or here.

Share this with a sports fan you know.

Summer!!! 
So much to do! So many people to see! So many places to go! It has been non-stop at our house as I'm sure it is at yours. That probably won't stop for any of us until school starts. At which point it will be a different kind of busy. But I'll talk about that later. 

I've manage to squeeze in some new designs and I've been excited to share them with you. 

I got these prints back the other day and framed them and I just really like them. So much so that  several other phrases are on the list to do. Do you like them? Or is it just me? 

If you'd like to buy one they're in our Etsy Shop. Just so you know, if you buy one you can print if off up to 100 times. That way if you want to share it in your calling or as gifts (wedding, house warming, just because) you can.

In the comments, tell me a phrase you'd paint.

I'm getting a gift. And I love it even before being able to see it in person. Alisha made it for me. It's a Birthday Band necklace of all my little grandbabies. They're tiny little rings with their name on the outside and their birthdate in the inside. It's darling. The nice thing about this is that if you want one you can have one too. Mine's below.

Being a nice big sister she also made a ring for soon to be Elder Christensen. 

It says, "SERVE". Very cool. Perfect for our soon to leave missionary. She has these in her shop too. You can put whatever on them - "choose" or "love more" - as long as it's only 8 characters. I see some more of these rings in my life. Thanks Alisha!

Sometimes it's nice to do a little extra or give a reminder. Here are candy bar or gum wrappers with the 2015 YWYM Theme for your upcoming activities. Youth Conference? YW Camp? Young Women In Excellence (YWIE)? These free YWYM Embark Candy & Gum Wrappers can be downloaded here.

Mother's Day. In 7 days. Here's a super, duper easy project. I think you're going to like this.

You might recognize the LDS iconic text. Also, I'm learning some new skills (surface pattern design) and thought I'd try them out. It's an 8.5" x  11" DIY printable.

I had to add some blank ones as well so that they could be used for other occasions. Just add your own handwritten text and you have a personalized gift.

My kids saw them and asked if they could make them for me for Mother's Day. It wouldn't be much of a surprise but I'd like them anyway. Nice way to store a year's supply of soap. No?

Of course you could use the wrappers for something else. Any ideas?

Have you ever sat to sing songs with your (grand)kids and only remember a handful of those songs. I know just about all the Primary songs (Primary Chorister, favorite calling in the world!) but I still couldn't manage more than a few in the moment. Being a problem solver (ie: creative) I came up with this idea and designed it. A Primary Song Sing • Along Quilt. It's a quilt I can pull out that has over 50 songs listed on it. There'll never be a lull again. I can't make you all quilts but I can sell the fabric panel so you can make your own. 

So that's what I've put in our Etsy Shop - Primary Song Sing•Along Fabric Panel.

Singing the songs are so important for teaching the gospel. I think this is what I'm going to be giving to each of my grandkids when they're born. But I could see it being used as a babysitter blanket, wall hanging, singing time bean bags (cut down smaller), or pillowcase. 

What would you make out of the Primary Song Sing • Along Quilt Fabric Panel?

I've been slow to finish up the last of the handouts for Come, Follow Me, but I'm slowly getting them done! Here are the handouts for July. As always they are free. You can download them here. 

Handout for "Why are covenants important in my life?"

Handout for "What does it mean to take upon myself the name of Jesus Christ?"

Handout for "What covenants did I make at baptism?"

Journal cards: 

If you enjoy using our handouts or find them to be helpful make sure you pin and share them with your friends!

PS>>Nathanael and I moved to Georgia for a little while and you can read about what we are up to here.

Happy St. Patrick's day next week. Don't let the Polynesian looks fool you - I'm Irish. And the part of me that's the most Irish is the kissing part. Yeah I like to kiss. Probably has a lot to do with the Boyfriend I kiss. But I digress. 

Since we're talking about kissing, some of my kids (they're 8 of them) have come to me in their teens and asked, "How old do you have to be to kiss?", "When is kissing alright?", or "Is kissing wrong?" That's such a loaded question for a parent!

On the one hand you don't want to encourage it, like it's all good, go ahead, kiss whoever you want. Then on the other hand you don't want to discourage it, make them all freaked out and repressed as if it's wrong. And sometimes kids just want to find out what their parent's are going to say just so they can do the opposite. But you're not sure when they're going to use that tactic. See the problem? So I've always handled it this way - with the truth.

I tell them kissing is fun. Very fun. That I really haven't met too many people who are just starting out on the relationship road say that kissing is boring. I tell them it's exciting. I tell them it drives a mix of emotions. I tell them it's meant to lead us to greater intimacy.  I tell them once you start you really don't want to stop. I tell them that it's very hard to go in reverse once you start. Lastly, I don't tell them when it's okay to kiss. I just say, "Put it off as long as possible." That's it. I put it back on them to decide. Risky I know. But to my surprise most of them have put it off much longer than... well never mind. My kids read my blog sometimes.

Okay, so we were talking about St. Patrick's day. See how sidetracked I get with the kissing stuff? Go get my gift Kiss O' The Irish print here. Then kiss someone. And then tell me how you've handled the kissing question in your family.

There's busy good and there's busy bad. I consider learning to be one of the busy goods and I've been on a streak lately. 

• I've learned how to do editable PDFs (still working on being quick at it) which many of you have asked about and will be very cool to add to some of my future downloads. 

• I've learned some and continue to learn about surface design. They're a couple of fabric projects that I did months ago that I'm so excited about sharing with you. (I'll post soon)

• Being an artist as well, I'm learning how to take my hand drawings and make it into digital artwork. Then I can use it for so many things, some of which will make it here to LDS NEST. Plus I've gone a totally new creative direction with Shannon's Studio which has caused me to rework my brand and website. All the new things will be up in about a month. Sooner I hope. 

• Plus I'm doing a little website housecleaning here too. (Which I would love to know what you like best about LDS NEST. Or maybe you'd like to see.) 

• Then the best good busy news for us as a family is that our youngest son Wade got his mission call yesterday. We love Utah and lived there for 15 years. In fact, until about 5 years ago the St. George Mission used to be in the Provo Mission where we lived. (We moved to Missouri about 7 years ago.) Being born and raised in Provo Wade said it feels like coming home. 

Because of all my new learning I haven't finished anything for LDS NEST lately so I went back through my files and found a camp craft I haven't shared with you. It's a flower clip and the gift download is here. You'll find photo instructions and supplies list. We gave this to the YCLs and they taught it to the girls.

As I was looking through things I couldn't find another camp craft that I thought I posted. I'm sure I posted it but figured if I couldn't find it then maybe you wouldn't be able to either. So, I'm re-posting that too. That gift download is here.

Well, that's just a little update of my good busy life. How's yours going?

Last year we shared an infographic with tips on teaching the youth. Now it is available (for free) as an 8x10 download so you can easily print it at home and use for training in your presidencies and classes. Enjoy!

Today I put my first editable PDF online for you Nesties. Happy dance. I know it's not a big deal to some of you but it feels like a big deal to me. Other Nesties have been asking me about editable (means you can write your own text in certain places) PDFs. I just didn't know exactly how to do them but now I've figured it out. I've been working on several (Hundred?) projects and many will include the editable feature from here on out. This one just has a few check boxes and one place for writing but that's all this needed. Now on to what 'this' is.

The Nested Family - Collected Bits to Build Unity. This series will include 40ish tips on how to build family unity. Today is only the first tip, COMMITMENT, but it's pretty necessary. Maybe you might want to discuss the level of commitment needed for an eternal family for FHE tonight. Read it below or you can get our gift download for later reading here. 

Here's the third page that gives you space to write your Personal Commitment Pledge. Then you can put it on your Ring Thing for handy referencing. (Download our Nestie gift to you here.) 

This is part of my RESET One Word Resolution which leads to taking my family COMMITMENT to the next level. 

Does family unity come easy to you? 
Happy FHE tonight.