Successful Families Require Faith & Prayer

"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."

In order to encourage personal faith, prayer and a love of the scriptures,

we need to build our homes around these activities.

That's why I came up with these bedside organizers

custom-made to fit a Book of Mormon, a Friend magazine

and other bedtime essentials.

I was really inspired by the organizer tutorial on this site.

I just adapted it to meet our family's needs.

Here's how I made it:

First I laid out the materials that I wanted to put in my organizer,

and planned out the pockets as simply as possible.

I used a regular, uncut, 8x11 inch piece of felt for the pocket that would hold a Friend Magazine.

And I cut another piece to a size that would hold a Book of Mormon.

For the backing, I cut a piece of craft felt 19 x 35 inches.

Draw a scalloped edge and cut out.

(Keep in mind that approximately 18 inches will hang over the bedside.

The rest gets tucked between the mattresses.)

Next you add whatever embellishments that you like to the pockets.

I cut out letters using fabric to spell some special words.

Then I ironed them on using fusible webbing, no sewing necessary.

Remember when you do this, you need to trace your letters on backwards,

so that they come out looking right when you finally iron them on.

After machine-sewing my pockets in place,

I hand-sewed an additional pocket to hold little love-notes

from Mommy.

Now you can fill your bed-side organizer with all your little goodies:

The Friend, your child's Book of Mormon, a scripture marker,

a journal, a pen, a small packet of tissues, and don't forget the love note!

My children still sleep in toddler beds,

so I ended up hanging it over the foot board of the bed,

but it can also be slipped between the two mattresses of a regular bed for easy access.

I am really happy with the finished product,

and my two-year-old Scarlett is just tickled pink!

As I type this, she is flipping through her Friend saying,

"I am a child of God...I am reading this. Let's pray."

It's so beautiful. She is so beautiful.

And life is so beautiful with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let me know if you make this...I'm sure you'll come up with some fun creations!