teacher gifts

The school year was quickly winding down with not much time left for me to get overly creative with teacher gifts, and believe me I have MANY options pinned on Pinterest! Then a little light bulb went off above my head and I noticed that both teachers did not have names to show which classroom was theirs! A quick scan of Pinterest found a couple of cute ideas for teacher name plates and a begging session with Kira got me a couple of canvases that she had stashed away and I was ready for action!

The top one I made for Alex's teacher. She was new to the building and didn't have a cool name plate- now she does! I used an idea I found on Pinterest and adjusted it for my needs. I traced the letters onto some cardboard and cut them out attaching them to the canvas with a very small amount of adhesive that I knew I would be able to remove when I was done. I picked some acrylic paint colors and went to work with the ends of some paint brushes and a pencil top eraser. I waited until the paint was totally dry before removing the cardboard letters. I used an Xacto blade to make sure I didn't pull up the paint with the letters. I was pretty happy with how it came out.

This one I made for the teacher I was with. Her name plate had fallen down and needed to be replaced (she has had it since Kira was in her class!) I used the idea I found here. Used some fun colors on the circles. Yellow was the hardest one to cover the pencil markings. After they were all dry, I used a dry embossing tool to create the dots around the circles with acrylic paint. I stamped the name with some foam stamps I have had forever and black paint. 

Tons of fun but I really should have started them earlier. As it is, I started them about three days before the end of the school year. eeeek! Thank goodness that the acrylic paints dried really quick.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

shameless plug

Have you started thinking about Christmas cards? 

Cards for gifts? 

Gift tags?

Teacher/ hostess gifts?

Well the holidays will be here before you know it. Now is the time to place an order with me for your handmade personalized paper crafted items. Head over to my website and see what I currently have for sale as well as examples of what I have created in the past.

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I hope I can create something amazing for you!

if it's not messy it's not fun

I mean seriously, what could be a better quote than that?? When we are kids it is expected but not so much when we are adults. That is totally not fair by any means! Nothing wrong with getting messy and having fun. I saw this amazing canvas on Pinterest and I knew that I HAD to create it for my special friend who just so happens to be an amazing kindergarten teacher. It is so her (and me when I volunteer in her room) I knew that this canvas had to be made and hung near the art table in her classroom. So off to work I went.

I started by snagging a canvas from Kira's stash since she hasn't been doing any painting since she received them. Might as well use one!! I picked up some fun stickers at Target since we ended up in the area one night. I was hoping for some plastic ones but these ones worked okay. They were fuzzy and really meant for a scrapbook or a fun sign- not to be destroyed with paint. All for a good cause!!

I laid out the message and then snapped a quick picture of the colors I was using. In theory pretend they are jade green and lapis blue. Because I did. Kira actually helped me pick the colors since she is the resident artist in the family.

 Then I started putting the paint on the canvas with my hands (safely covered with rubber gloves. I mean I like messy but still let's not ruin the manicure) I had so much fun squishing the paint all around the letters and making finger prints and a handprint and finger swirls. Loved it!

Then the total work part of the project- getting the letters off of the canvas!! I guess I secured them too well on a couple. But I did manage to get them off. I pulled them off when the paint was still wet as I didn't want to tear the paint off after it had dried.

Work in progress. You can see the painted letters to the side.

What I think is the completed project. Loved it!! 

Another overhead shot. And as I was looking at it, I decided it needed something else. I mean it is messy and all.... but it didn't look messy enough. Does that make sense??

So I waited for the paint to all dry and then used some glitter spritz in gold and silver to make some flashes of fun and then I mixed up some glue, water and glitter and applied that over most of the white space that was left. You know, kindergarten is all about the glitter!! The heart shape that is on the hand print is for the first day of school project that my teacher friend does every year for the kissing hand. It is all glitter and sparkly.

Close up of the seriously glittered corner!

It was so much fun to give it to her!! Seriously it was perfect. I think every kindergarten/ preschool teacher needs this for their room! Maybe even the art teachers!! Thank you Pinterest for helping me out with this!!

And here it is on the wall of the classroom. Hanging near the art table. You can see it from the door and all around the room. PERFECT!!

Go make a mess today!!

teacher christmas gifts 2013

I have the pleasure of helping out in one of the kindergarten rooms with an amazing teacher and her equally amazing helper/ partner in crime/ friend/ paraprofessional extraordinaire. I help out twice a week so I can hang with both the AM and the PM classes. Cutest littles ever!!

But once again I digress.....

I made each of these ladies a set of eight cards for a Christmas gift. So much fun as I love making cards!! I also love using a new tool. I picked up the Fiskars hexagon punch on the black Friday weekend for a steal at Joanns. I also purchased a corner punch from Fiskars to replace the one I misplaced in my office and got both punches for under $10. Seriously happy day for me!!

So using my new hexagon tool I went to work on some cards.

And there you have a fun little something to give to two ladies who let me come into their classroom and paint the children!!

valentine's day goodies

This year I have been working in Alex's classroom of amazing first graders and in one of the kindergarten classrooms for both the AM and PM classes (not to mention getting to hang in the art room once a week) and decided that I wanted to give Valentine's to all those kiddos. 

First came the decision as what to get them all. Since there is always a big demand for pencils in the first grade room, I went forth and found some cute ones at Target in their holiday area. Then somehow counted wrong and ended up with more boy pencils than girl pencils which did not work in a female dominated room. I then hit the dollar store and they saved the day for the girls!!

For the kindergartners, I decided on some fun colored super balls along with some foamie heart stickers. Thankfully I counted correctly when buying the super balls at Target (again in their holiday section) and managed to have a 'few' left over for my kiddos to have (or save them for next year!!)

Then came the decision of how to give these goodies to the kiddos. I decided on a pencil holder type card for the first graders. Below shows the inside of the card that I stamped. I also signed it for each of them.

I also stamped the front of the cards and added their names. I closed the card with some heart stickers I picked up at Michaels since I didn't like how they looked open. Yes I sharpened all the pencils since the students are not allowed to use the electric pencil sharpener in the classroom (sharpen pencils too much, push too hard etc etc) and that would not be fair to the teacher to have to sharpen all those pencils before the kids can use them.

This is a side view of one of the treats. I was pretty proud of myself!!

For the kindergartners, I decided to put their goodies into snack baggies and then add a tag. As I was surfing Pinterest (cuz everyone does) I found these so adorable tags. They seemed pretty easy so off I went. Below are all my love bugs set to be made into tags.

Here is the completed project! I stamped the sentiment onto the red paper and then attached them together with some floss I have. I added who it was to on top of the love bug. Perfect!!

And since I cannot forget the teachers... I made each of them a little bag to hold some Lindt goodness.

Hope your Love Day was a wonderful one!! xx

pail of pencils

Since I have been volunteering in Alex's classroom this year, I have noticed that first graders are amazingly rough with their pencils. Erasers are worn into non existence within minutes, the points are gone even quicker than that with most being snapped off from too great of pressure from little hands and there is never enough time in the day for the teacher to sharpen all of the pencils these kids go through. I try to sharpen them when I am in the room once a week to keep on top of things. I guess it must be the OCD in me but I feel better doing it and knowing there are sharp pencils for those willing scholars.

Of course with all that sharpening, comes very small pencils. For Valentine's day I decided that the teacher needed a new pail of pencils. I picked up a few packages of Valentine pencils as well as some St. Patrick's Day pencils and a few others I had laying around here. Here is the pail from the front. I used letter stickers and then to ensure that the letters stay put for longer than a minute- I mod podged the heck out of it! 

This is one of the sides with a few flowers to help break up the silver of the pail.

I also felt the need to cover the back with three different patterns of washi tape. I like the spring feel of it. I also mod podged these. Not that they were falling off because they were not, but edges always call out to bored fingers!! I placed a few different ribbons on the top of the pail handle for decoration.

Here is the other side of the pail. I am very happy with how it all came together. I can't wait to bring it to her on Thursday!! And to save her a ton of time-- I already sharpened all those pencils!! :)

terri's treasures gift card holders

I made a bunch of gift card holders for terri's treasures for the upcoming holiday season. I had a good time making them, now it's time to set them free to new homes. If you are interested in any of these, check out my website or email me. 

I have even included some pictures of the inside of the holder. These are so much fun and I can make pretty much any occasion you need!! :)

cards and teacher gifts

The first two cards that I am sharing today are safely in my stash... for now. Again they were both made from the scraps from other projects that were laying on the desk and they screamed to be used. So I did!

The next four cards are for Alex's teacher. There are three of each design. I had fun making them but I really am getting "carded out". Good thing its the end of the year and I won't have to make any more for a bit.

And this is the card purse that all those cards are in. She likes green so I thought this would be a good fit.

This is going to be Kira's teachers gift. I will admit I found this idea on Pinterest and I am so happy I went for it. I had a blast making this up. It was so fun picking out the buttons and the different brads to fill in the spaces as well as the mini star confetti that I have been in possession of for quite awhile.

Here is a close up shot of the J. Kira loves it. Hubby says I have too much time on my hands if I stitched all of those buttons. He may be right. LOL

I think I am off to scrap a layout. Feeling the need to do a page instead of cards. Can't imagine why.