More Teacher Appreciation Gifts

These are just a few ideas for cheap teacher appreciation gifts. And excuse the bad puns, but you know... I've been told they make a cheap gift better. :)

KitKat Bars

Water Bottle

Sharpie

And if you haven't yet, please take a moment and thank a teacher this week.

Teacher Appreciation Week!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! 

Today I'm sharing a cute and easy gift. Pillow box templates are all over the web, so I will spare you those details. But after I cut them I cut a star out for a window. I backed it with a piece of plastic baggie (couldn't find any extra acetate at that moment), filled them with Starburst candies and tied them off with tulle.

Here is a closer shot of the tag. You can also see the cut out star from the pillow box and the Starburst candies behind it. 

Don't forget to appreciate your teachers this week! I'll have more gifts to share later in the week too.

Disney Autograph Books

I decided to make the kids autograph books for our Disney trip. There are millions of examples out there for inspiration, but I decided to keep them kinda simple (don't want them to get torn up and the kids are still young). They each picked their character, I assembled and now they are ready for our trip (woohoo)! I did put a light coat of mod podge on the outside just for some added durability.

Grayson went with Cars. And I just happened to have some cars ribbon sitting around to make a lanyard. Perfect!

Braelyn picked Tinkerbell. Cause she is a die hard Fairies fan. Unfortunately I didn't have any Tink ribbon, but I don't think it will matter. ;) I even added a little pixie dust to the cover.

And while I was making the lanyard, I added a little spot in there to hold their pens. Just so little hands don't continually drop them. :)

There is a stripes challenge over at Kitchen Keepsakes, you should check it out. Grayson's autograph book worked great! 

Halloween Spell Book

So I saw this idea on pinterest and like many others, just pinned it and went on with my day. Well, I finally decided to put it to use. I made my very own spell book decoration for Halloween! I have this ledge in the stairwell and it is perfect for decorating. And the kids can't reach anything I have in the corner! 

I found the broom at Goodwill a couple years ago and picked it up, I've wanted to paint it black for awhile. If you look closely you can still see the red bristles underneath. I think I will soak it in some RIT and see if it absorbs the color. I picked up a small skeleton (in the jar all the way in the corner), the crow and the skull at Dollar Tree. The cauldron has been with us for awhile, and I've been keeping my eyes open for a real one. I included a partially burnt candle, cause what witch wouldn't use a candle in their spells?!

For the spell I decided I didn't want anything too gruesome, so I went with Macbeth. 

And the spell book was really easy to create. I picked up a book at the dollar store, my only requirement that it had a black spine. I brought it home, sprayed the pages with water to wrinkle & age them a bit, curled the edges and glued the pages together. I printed the 'spell' off and adhered it to the book then distressed everything with a mix of paint and walnut ink in a spray bottle. Last I used hot glue to attach the bookmark ribbon to the inside of the spine.

I've seen a few different DIY spell books floating around, so if you have one to share link it up in the comments. I'd love to see it! 

Happy Halloween!

It's been so long since I've been around, for that I apologize. I've been sort of busy getting costumes ready, prepping craft projects and watching preschool children do all sorts of crazy things.

So today I thought I would stop in and say Happy Halloween. I also wanted to share the witches brooms that I made for the preschoolers. There are multiple variations of this project online, but I tried to keep mine fairly simple and plain. I didn't ink the sticks (have you seen the saliva that comes out of a 2 year old when they have a sucker?), I used coffee filters on the outside and twine to wrap them up. I didn't even glue anything down (again, hello two and three year old's). But I'm happy with how they turned out and I think they make a cute little gift for the kids!

Now, I hope to get back to sharing my projects. I've got some projects in the works and in my head for Christmas, so I should be back to playing with my paper very soon!

Have a wonderful Halloween, we'll be celebrating as a Ballerina and Optimus Prime.

Look Mom - A Trophy!

First up I have to share a pic of the boy. He is absolutely in love with his trophy, and of course he really wanted to take it to bed last night. We decided that we would put up a special shelf in his room and he can put it on there, but for now it found a home on his dresser. First thing this morning, he tells me he is pretending to be a shelf, puts the trophy on his head and backs up to the wall. :) I love this kid!

And on a scrapping front, this is just a quick hybrid project I did for a challenge over at Scrap Takeout. I'm not really sure if I will use this for my paint brushes or if I'll give it to the kids, but either way it turned out really cute and I love the colors. I used the Aida Scrap Hipster Soul kit to make the label, printed it off and put it on the can. Can't get much easier than that!

I do wish I would have painted the inside, but I have decided that there are few projects I wish I hadn't done something different too. And of course, if the kids wind up with it I'm sure they will gunk it up soon enough anyway. 

Vaca Fund

This year we are collecting stuff that needs to go on vacation with us. I hate having to keep up with everything, so I decided to alter a coffee can. This way we can save up some extra pocket change if we want too. Hopefully it will help keep me organized by having everything in one place (other than getting lost in the tray on the kitchen bar and having to search for it at the last minute).

I left it theme-less since we tend to go different places each year. I'm sure I've mentioned that I love using up pieces from my scraps drawer and this project was no different. There are a mix of products here - Nikki Sivils, DCWV, Bazzill, Pebbles & AC Thickers.

I figured it would go perfectly with the current ScrapFit challenge as well, so I'm linking it up there.

Altered Wood Box

Tuesday is here and today I'm sharing an altered wooden box I made for Braelyn's room. I'll put my complaints about the IVP at the bottom so you can easily ignore them! ;)


The wooden box is actually from Melissa & Doug - a playdough set. I love their toys, and so do the kids! :) The box was cumbersome to store the supplies in though, and I knew it would be perfect for altering. I just didn't know what. LOL!

So I painted the box white and it suddenly dawned on me that Braelyn needs some extra stuff in her room. Since Grayson already has his name in his room (and various other stuff) I decided to do something fun for Braelyn.

I have these huge letters for years, so I figured that would be a great way to use one up. The papers are from Momenta and go perfectly with the color scheme in her room.

So after the wooden box dried, I cut the background paper and attached it using the xyron 900. I also ran the B through the 900 and attached it to the paper. After I trimmed and sanded the B, I wrapped some beading cord around it for dimension.

Next thing was putting the name on there. I decided not to center it since the big letter wasn't going to be centered.

Since I didn't want the B flat against the back, I used helmar liquid glue dots. Not the best picture, but hopefully you can see what I mean in this picture. I let that sit overnight (I am notorious for putting my fingers where I shouldn't and squishing that to nothing).


The next day I added some layered flowers, a flourish and some random gems around. Nothing too much though because I didn't want to overpower the emphasis on the huge B. And if I'm being completely honest, it means more to dust.



So that is it - cute project that came together quickly. The only thing left right now is to get it hung up. Wonder how long that will take me?!



Now, in case you are at all interested in my kidneys and IVP I had yesterday... feel free to read on. The IVP wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. It took a little over an hour and I didn't have to be completely still, only while they were actually taking the x-rays (huge plus). The original girl who tried my IV (notice I said tried, LOL) completely missed the vein. Now I'm not afraid of needles, and I'm completely willing to let people learn... until it hurts! Thankfully another girl stepped in and got it sorted out. And she wasn't lying when she said I would get a warm feeling in my throat and then in my bladder. How does that happen, you would think it would flush through my veins but it doesn't.

So I finished my exam and had an appointment with the urologist yesterday afternoon. Turns out I've managed to form another kidney stone. That makes three right now. The only good news, they are small and if I can get them to move they should pass without problems. Getting them to move seems to be the problem though. So I think total I'm up to 14 now, all in the past few years. I have to have some more lab work done in a few weeks to see if the new meds are working... it is possible this stone formed prior to me starting it.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Tuesday! See you tomorrow - and I plan to share some of the things I've done from my pinterest boards. :)

Wedding Smash Book

So I've been working on a smash book with stuff from our wedding. I feel like I'm channeling my junior high self, which is what it looks like. LOL! I am happy to say that all the memorabilia is now in one place and I can throw away all the extras. These days I am all about decluttering, but I didn't want to just toss everything. So now it has a home, and the book (which I finished in record time) is easy to grab if I want to reminisce.

I used the notebook that I originally used to plan the wedding, since I thought that would have a little more meaning. I decorated the front and then went to work on getting everything inside. Here are the first few pages, I'll share some more later.





I'm not sure I'm sold on the smash books yet. Maybe cause mine looks like a 10 year old did it?!

I do think it would be a great way to document fun, everyday things about the kids. I might make one for each of them and fill it with their little quirks, then I can keep up with it and write down the little things about them that make me smile.

In my research, I've seen some awesome journal style smash books. Unfortunately, I'm not sure my life is interesting enough to occupy a full book! LOL!

If you've seen some out of the ordinary uses for them, please share!

Valentine Card & Bag

This is a super quick & easy project. It came together in about half an hour (and that includes interruptions from the 2 year old - LOL). All supplies are from Momenta - including recycling the package from the card pack to create the bag.






Supplies:
Card Pack (NC-1271)
Occasions & Celebrations Paper (PA-1992)
Foil Flourish Rub-Ons (RO-1895)
Black & White Gem Stickers (ST-3056)

I know it will be warmly welcomed, just because of the treats on the inside of the bag! ;)

Altered Love Notes Box

I don't know about you, but one of the things I have an abundance of at my house is empty cardboard boxes. It doesn't matter how often I take them to the recycling center, there are a huge amount of them here. Luckily for me, that comes in handy when I want to alter a quick box. :)

I altered this for a Valentine decoration. It coincides with a crop challenge held over at Tally Scrapper too, bonus!





Supplies:
MM Cardstock & Alpha Letters
Cloud 9 Pattened Paper
Rusty Pickle Chipboard
AC Thickers
Prima Crystals & Flower
Joann Pins
Misc Buttons, Ribbons & Stickers

Momenta Stencil Storage

Today I decided to clean up my printer table. It was overflowing with crap - piles of clothes to be refashioned or mended, scrapbook supplies, paperwork and all kinds of other junk that has collected over the past couple months.

Some of the things on there were the big border stencils from Momenta. I love them, however I have storage issues with them. They are long and don't fit in my cart or on my bookshelf (which is full of paper anyway, not that I should admit that) so I really haven't known what to do with them. I decided to alter a cardboard box to house them on my table - so they are still at arms reach, but they won't be falling off when I stack my junk (not that I'm admitting to that either).

So here ya go... what started as a simple cardboard box, but is now a little more eye appealing. :)

And I have to say, it felt great to be creative again! Now I've got the bug and I want to create a bunch more stuff!!


Supplies:
Relaxed Cardstock (PA-1035)
Flutter Paper Pad (PA-1563)
Flutter Rubons (RO-1849)
Flutter Stickers (ST-2855)
Graceful Stencil (BL-799)

Star Boxes {neighbor gifts}

I've decided this year that I'm not going to do as much baking as I normally do (it kills my back to stand in the kitchen these days), but I still wanted to give my neighbors a little something. They are really great people and always friendly with us (and they don't complain about our unkempt lawn in the summer - huge bonus points!!).

So each of them is getting a holiday mini loaf full of pumpkin raisin bread and an origami star box full of candy. The star boxes are made from Momenta All Through The Year papers. I cut an 8x8 sheet and used this video for help on folding them.

After I got them all folded up I simply glued some ric rack around the edges. Super easy and they hold quite a few pieces of candy since they flare out at the bottom.



So next time you need a quick gift, grab a sheet of patterned paper and a bag of chocolate - you can't go wrong!

Momenta Explosion Box

We have a few people that we are giving gift cards to this year. I hate to just stick them in a card, so I thought it would be fun to do an explosion box for one, if not all of them.

I love these and they are so easy to make - plus you can embellish them however you want! This is created with all Momenta supplies.

Supplies:
Primary Cardstock (PA-0658)
All Through The Year Papers (PA-1991)
Shooting Star Brass Template (GS-164)
Pastel Gem Stickers (ST-3031)

I have plans for a few more (they are great for things other than gift cards too) - so keep your eyes peeled cause there should be a tutorial on the way!!

CTS December Kit {Altered Reveal}

Earlier in the week I shared the layouts I created using the Christmas Potpourri kit from Citrus Tree Studio. Today I'm sharing the altered goodies (and a card) that I also created using the kit.


Seriously, this kit was lots of fun to work with and made for great holiday stuff. I highly suggest you jump over and pick it up. You know you are going to have holiday pictures... so why not be ready to scrap them when the mood strikes?

Thanks for stopping by - hope you enjoyed the creations!

Snow Banner {Momenta}

Is anybody else floored that it is already December 1st? I am always amazed at how quickly time passes the older I get. At any rate, I've been working on getting our house cleaned and decorated. Yesterday I decided to stop and make a snow banner for my mantel. I love how it turned out, especially since it incorporates the colors of a cute little snowman that is sitting next to it!

Momenta Supplies:
Primary Textured Cardstock (PA-0658)
Through the Year Paper Pad (PA-1991)
Metallic Silver Alphabet Stickers (ST-1988)
Black & White Gem Stickers (ST-3056)
Silver Flourish Rubons (RO-1895)

Enjoy - it was a great little addition and took next to no time whatsoever to assemble!






Hope your December is off to a great start! I'll be working on my December Daily this evening, so hopefully I'll have that to share tomorrow!

Citrus Tree Studio December Kit

I was lucky enough to be asked to design with one of the December kits from Citrus Tree Studio. I got the Christmas Potpourri kit and let me tell you - it rocks! I'll definitely be picking up another one to scrap this years holiday pictures.

I thought I would share a couple of the sneak peeks to perk your interest! Be sure to check out CTS and the forum later this month for the full reveal (12/5) and some fun challenges (12/10).

Fall Banner *Dirty Scraps Blog Hop*

Happy Fall Ya'll!!

Welcome to the Dirty Scraps blog hop!!

If you came from Laura's blog, you are on the right track! If you didn't, you might want to start at the beginning (Dirty Scraps Challenge Blog) and follow through so you can check out *ALL* of the awesomeness on the Dirty Scrapper’s blogs without missing anyone. Don't forget to comment and follow all of the blogs for a chance to win the prizes!

I created a fun fall banner - of course with a hinted at southern accent since I have readily adapted it living in the south. ;) I used TONS of fun product on this banner including mists, bling, burlap & even a cinnamon stick!

This banner was lots of fun and adds a little fall feel to my fireplace (which is in my scraproom... jealous, eh?!). I love the colors of fall, so this project went together super easy.

I am a bit backwards of a scrapper, but for this project you will definitely need to mist your chipboard album first. From there I used my Helmar 450 to add embellishment groupings to each of my pieces. After that I added my FALL letters (using Basic Grey Chipboard Letters as templates). Then I added my thickers (happy & ya'll) and continued embellishing each piece until I was happy with the results. I punched holes with my Crop-o-Dile Big Bite, tied in some twine for an added fall feel and all was done!

Supplies: Nikki Sivils Owl Chipboard Album, Imaginisce Flowers, Bazzill Flowers, Prima Crystals, American Crafts Felt Pieces & Thickers, Burlap Scraps, Cinnamon Stick, Joann's Stick Pin, K&Co Gems, Kaiser Craft Pearls, Fancy Pants Paper, Misc. Buttons, Twine and Various Mists (including some I made).

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoyed my fall banner as much as I do!

Now, I know you want to qualify for the Momenta Prize I am giving away, but in order to do that you must follow my blog & comment (on this post). This prize is full of Momenta goodness, shimmer and shine! Definitely a fun piece of scrappy mail one lucky winner will receive! The winner will be announced early next week, so be sure to check back then.

And don't forget the rest of the Dirty Scraps blog hop... from here you should head over to Amy's Blog where I know you are in for a treat!!

Huge thanks to the following sponsors for working with Dirty Scraps ...
Liz @ http://javaortea4me.blogspot.com/
Scrapbooking From The Inside Out
And Crop Stop!

Remember, you must leave a comment not only on the Dirty Scraps blog and be a follower, but you also have to leave a comment on all the DTs blogs as well. You only have to become a follower of the DT members blog that you would like to win a prize from. Choose one or all - that is up to you!

Tic Tac Toe - travel style

Well, our week has been full of coughs, sniffles, sneezes and such so I don't really have anything new to share. I decided to dig through and find an older project (for the sake of updating my blog) that I don't remember sharing here.

So... I found this travel tic tac toe board I made for the car. It was featured in Ready Set Create where I wrote an article about creatively using things you have in your stash from years past.

I used a piece of acrylic from a Rusty Pickle album, Nikki Sivils papers, some cherry ribbon and some old bottle caps I had in my stash from years past.

After I assembled the board I used diamond glaze on it (you can see the streaks, but my son doesn't care!) to give it more durability. I also coated each bottle cap with diamond glaze so the pieces are nice and strong. They attach to the board via velcro - so they shouldn't fall off and get lost very easily.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and hopefully next week all the sickies will be gone and I can share some new things with you guys!

Dirty Scraps Blog Hop & CTS Crop

I posted a few days ago about the Dirty Scraps blog hop that is coming up October 23 & 24. I just finished up my project, so I wanted to give you a preview... Lots of product used, including some fun mists, bling and LOTS of helmar glue!

And a glimpse of the prize I am offering up to one lucky participant...

It is also the weekend of the Citrus Tree Studio Scraptoberfest Crop. CTS Crops are awesome - with tons of great challenges, prizes and lots of fun conversation. We would love to have you join in the challenges (and the great message board too)!

These are definitely *DO NOT MISS* events, so mark your calendars, send the hubby's away, pack the kid's for grandparents and consider yourself booked up!