Category Archives: crafting

Teacher Appreciation Gift Idea: Daily Dose of Kindness and Free Printable Template

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Thoughtful teacher gift idea

Don’t know about you, but once Spring Break ends, school days go by like an out-of-control snowball on a sledding hill. And the parties, picnics and project lists grow and grow. So I like gift ideas that are pretty easy to put together, both in time and materials.

A few weeks ago we celebrated National Teachers Appreciation Week, and I had a nice time putting this together for my daughter’s homeroom teacher: a giant “pill box” with letters of appreciation from her students. It’s thoughtful and heartfelt; an option to candy, flowers or a gift card – which we all know we all do.

Along with the letters, I put together a “word cloud” using wordle.net, printed it out and framed it. All the students listed two or three words that they felt described their teacher.

Materials needed for a giant letter-pill box:

  • (5) plastic containers (2-3 cup capacity)
  • Stencils or vinyl stickers for the days of the week. I was able to print out letters and use my Xyron Creatopia machine to make stickers.
  • Scotch tape or clear packing tape

Giant "pill box" for teacher letters

Adhere days of the week stickers on teacher gift

teacher gift in progress - tape boxes together

Teacher gift in progress - days of the week stickers

Teacher gift: place letters in the boxes

Here’s a Cute template for student letters that I made using Microsoft Publisher. Totally optional, but it’s something easy to print out and have all the students do. They can draw a picture and write their letter… so cute. (If you click on the picture below, you will also be redirected to the printable document.)

Teacher letter template - drawing and writing space

Hope this inspires you to shower your favorite teachers with a dose of kindness!

Halfway through May: Super Moon, Crafting, Teacher Appreciation

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May started with a great Super Moon

Hello, friends. I know I say this all the time – where do the days go?! Seriously, here we are in the middle of May, and it’s been forever since I’ve blogged. Thanks for staying connected with me on Facebook and Twitter. It’s truly appreciated. Those outlets have helped me stay in touch when I’ve come up for air.

Soccer and t-ball practices, class projects, teacher appreciation week, baptism, communions, weddings… Spring is in full swing.

First T-ball practice: my son and his friends from preschool

My daughter's class project - California on a shoebox float

A shoebox float with fringed party streamer

Teacher Appreciation Gift idea: notes in a giant "pill box"

Been busy with envelope calligraphy

Daughter and I are addicted to making bows

The perfect gifts on Mother's Day: handmade with love

More Resources

Super Moon news article

Shoebox Floats

More Teacher Appreciation ideas

Paper Bows, and more Paper Bows

Birthday Party Ideas: Game Night

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When my daughter turned ten (yeah – when did THAT happen?), we threw her a “Game Night Slumber Party” at home. She thought about having an art party at a local shop, maybe a dinner out, but the thought of a sleepover and plenty of games seemed to excite her. And for those of you who know her, she’s not that easily excited.

Favors and supplies for Game Night Birthday Party

While I normally make cards, I opted to go easy on the invitations this time and went with evite.  There are plenty of game night themed invitations there. That left a bit more time to work on a welcome sign – inspired by Monopoly. If you’re good with freehand, it’s not too hard to do. But, careful… those fumes from the Sharpies can get you good.

We broke out the plastic spoons and taught the girls how to play spoons the card game. Lucky us, we’re still “cool” enough to play games with our kids. 🙂

Yeah, remember that door sign? It can serve as a poster that friends can sign. Hang it up in your kid’s room after the party… fun memento.

Would you let me know if you’ve hosted a game night party or are thinking of having one? What games did you play?

Enjoy the weekend!

Upcycled paper bag envelopes tutorial

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I hope everyone’s doing okay out there… Oh my goodness, so fun and busy around here! Baby shower party for my sister-in-law, trying to ride my bike every day, school and church events. I’ve completely neglected housekeeping, so once again, I have lots of catching up to do on so many levels. Teacher’s Appreciation Week is also coming up! Before you know it – Summer Vacation! EEK!

The other day I ran out of mailing envelopes, so what did I do? Made some of course. Yes, you can buy plain white ones, security envelopes, manila business envelopes – all sorts for so little cash. But, like the crazy girl I am, I had this paper bag in the stash and thought, what a pity to just recycle it. Let’s upcycle it!

Cut your bag open down one side and across the bottom.

Find an envelope shape you like… from your day’s mail, from your recycling bin, from your stationery set. Whatever you have, it’ll work. Also, this way, you’ll know that the shape and size conforms to US Mail regulation. Just carefully open up your envelope which will serve as your template. I like to use a pencil to roll down the seams, opening up the envelope with little tearing. Then if you’re not to particular about the design, just start tracing onto your paper bag.

For this one side, I really wanted the logo to be in the middle of the envelope. After you’re done tracing and cutting, start folding per your envelope template.

Here’s what they look like… use a glue stick to adhere all the sides in place and to later seal your envelope!

Who wouldn’t like getting mail in these envelopes?

30 Days of Creativity: Day 30 – A creative tool kit

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Seems fitting to post this on the last day of the month and during a Leap Year, too. My bonus day…

Day 30: Make a Creative Tool Kit!  Compile your favorite words and phases of inspiration, swatches or fabric and color, drawings and doodles, and images into a little book you can pull out anytime you need to be inspired!

So there’s my virtual “creative tool kit” at Pinterest. Now, if you’ve been on for a while, have you noticed a lot more activity these days? Lots of people jumping on the Pinterest wagon, right? Would it overtake Twitter as a social network – I don’t know.

If you’re new to the Pinterest scene, I view it as a virtual bulletin board, or visual bookmark tool. Way easier for me than bookmarking within my web browser. It captures a picture from the website you’re bookmarking. (But shh…. let’s not get into the Pinterest copyrights and legal issues right now.)

As for a tangible creative tool kit, my essentials are: good pens, pencils, glue stick, scrap paper, colored pencils, camera. Place a few things in your purse if you have some room, or maybe dedicate a tote bag. I switch a lot between a canvas tote and scrapbook paper-sized tote. If you run into me while I’m waiting for my kids in the school pick up line, you’ll probably see some of these items in the passenger seat.

You can never have enough journals. In the journal that’s shown in the upper left corner (happens to be my SMASH book), I actually have some swatches or fabric and color. In another journal, I have drawings and doodles, and layout ideas for greeting cards, drawings, and home improvement and sewing projects. And, my gardening journal! I have one of those too, great spot for pasting pictures from magazines, and dreaming of a spectacular yard and garden space. Sadly, it’s been neglected this winter.

In the corner of the picture of my little pile of artsy-ness, you’ll see a stack of small cards. Here’s a close-up.

I would write out some favorite words if I came across something I liked. It’s still kept together by a small length of embroidery yarn, and it would hang in my high school locker. (Have you figured out that I’m a packrat?). It’s fun looking back at the quotes I was drawn to in my teenage and young adult life. And, gah, my handwriting was so nice then. With all this typing, my penmanship isn’t quite what it used to be – at least to me, it isn’t.

Funny, some things never change – I still love collecting quotes, words of hope, of inspiration and self-discovery. And, I think this whole challenge has helped me discover some passions that have been lying dormant.

Thanks for following me through this (very drawn out) 30 Days of Creativity exercise. I’d love to hear your stories, too. Feel free to leave a link in the comments, or just write if you’ve done any of the challenges – one of them or all of them!

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