Recent Primary Projects in Numbers

In case anyone was wondering what I do with my time, I thought I'd show some of the projects I've completed (often with help from Kent) for my calling in the Primary presidency. These are all extras; not counting the sharing times I prepared, meetings attended, or the other little extras, like making birthday badges, and flyers to advertise the quarterly activity we have planned. 9 Birthday Blocks--I wish I could take credit for this very cute idea that I found on Sugardoodle.net. It's a pass along card mod-podged to a 2"x4" block of wood. The materials for the blocks had to be bought, the wood sanded, then painted (twice), then mod-podged. Kent cut the blocks into 5" pieces for me.

On the back I made a label that said this year's Primary theme: "I know my Savior lives" and the name of our ward. We're giving these to the children on their birthdays, so we'll need to be making more throughout the year. (Another sister in our presidency is working on the next nine blocks, then we'll need to buy another 2"x4" to make some more!)

70 Rice Krispie Treats shaped like Hearts-- I gave the sharing time on Valentine's day, and taught a lesson in junior Primary on the theme of how Jesus loves us. In Senior Primary the children scripture chased to find scriptures with the word "heart" in them. (another idea I got from Sugardoodle!)

So on the Saturday before Valentine's day, I made four batches of Rice Krispie treats with red food coloring in them to make them pink, then spread them in a pan a used a cookie cutter to cut them into hearts. I put them in cute heart bags I bought at Target, then made labels with scriptures on them to put on the bags.

There were enough to give to all the Primary children and teachers.

8 Invitations to our Baptism Preview Fireside-- Our ward had it's first Baptism Preview Fireside last year, and this year we basically followed the same agenda. I used the same pictures and materials as I used for the invitations that I made in 2009, so at least I didn't have to spend time shopping for supplies. I used a different picture for the girls and the boys' invitations; the boys' invitations have a picture of a boy being baptized.

7 Baptism Preparation Packets-- We gave these to the children being baptized. I made the packets the same as I did last year, so I just had to print everything out again. I sewed lace onto the edges of the socks I put into the girl's packets.

In case you're wondering why there were eight invitations and only 7 packets, it's because I gave an invitation to the Bishopric.

42 Primary Music CD's for 2010-- Most of the credit for making these goes to Kent, since he's the one who burned all the CD's with music from the LDS.org website. I created the labels and packaged them, then distributed them to the families in our ward.

30 CTR Canvas bags- The Primary presidency wanted to give out canvas bags to the children in Junior primary to carry their scriptures. We didn't worry about the senior Primary children since they mostly already have bags or scripture totes. I bought 24 bags from Oriental Trading Company, then found some more on clearance at Michael's, so we had enough for all of our junior Primary children.

I wasn't sure how to put the CTR on the bags, but wanted to try a stencil. I had a CTR shield pattern that I'd made years ago when I was the Primary chorister, and it was just the right size. I bought some plastic and cut out the CTR, not sure how it would turn out. I bought green paint and black fabric markers.

The Primary presidency came to my house and we had a work meeting to make the bags. We used my shield pattern and traced around it with the black fabric markers. Then laid the stencil I'd made over it, and used green paint to make the inside of the shield.

The bags turned out better than I expected, it was easy to do and didn't take very long. I wrote the names on all of the bags with the fabric markers. ( I didn't show all the bags we made, just a sample.) The Primary children were very excited about their new bags when I gave them out last week.

One Bulletin Board for the Primary Room-- Our presidency made the bulletin board in the Primary room last year, so we thought the presidency from the other ward who shares our building might want to make the bulletin board this year. They didn't, so it was up to us again. No one else in our presidency had any ideas of what to do, so I said I'd do it.

I had a Greg Olsen calender from a few years ago that I kept because the pictures are so lovely. The frames were ones we'd used on last year's bulletin board, and they were just about the right size for the calender pictures. The smaller (5"x 7") pictures are all from pamphlets the missionaries have, and I had the mattes.

18 Letters cut out by hand- There are some ladies in our ward who have cricut machines who I could have asked to make these letters for me, but I figured by the time I went to someone's house and explained what I needed, it would be easier to just do it myself. I created all the letters on word art and inverted them so they were backwards. Then I cut them out using scissors and an exacto knife. It took me just over an hour to do.

Kent came with me to the church late on Saturday night to take down the old bulletin board and help me get everything even on the placement of the new bulletin board. He's usually very supportive of my many projects, and always willing to help.

??? Hours spent doing all these projects-- I didn't keep track of the hours spent, but it was A LOT.

By now you're thinking that I didn't really have to do all this, and you're right. Our Primary would have gotten along fine without Valentine treats, and I could have bought some generic invitations for the Baptism Preview Fireside. As I've been writing this I've been worried that it sounds like I'm bragging about myself, which I don't mean to.

But..... I don't have children at home to give service to any more, so I have the time to do things for others. (For example, I also made Valentine's treats for my 16 piano students, my VT sisters, the neighbors, and the other members of the Primary presidency.)

And..... doing these things are a creative outlet for me. It's a way I have of sharing my time and talents in fulfilling my calling.