Celebrate a Great First Week (mini tutorial - sorta?)

So it's halfway through the first week of school and minus a little allergy issue with Mason - we are having a FANTASTIC start! Praise be to the Lord in Heaven - those with kiddos know what a true blessing this is.

We have a new situation for all of this year - TWO (count 'em two) MALE teachers! This is great in nearly every way except when it comes to gift giving. The frilly stuff just won't do. So we made this little gift card holder that hold a Starbucks gift card. I took a few pics along the way to maybe resemble a tutorial - i think i left out one part but I will try to explain it well so you can do this.


I first measured the gift card and gave allowance on the top and sides for the stitching. Because the back side of my paper was white it took a little thinking to make sure when I folded no white showed. Anyway - this piece of paper was 9x4.

Next I turned the paper over and placed the gift card on it to guide me. I folded the bottom half to where it covered approx. 2/3 of the gift card - needed a little to poke out the top.

Then I folded the top portion over to make neat lines. Here's the part I didn't picture. The shorter half should be folded down first and adhered. I just used my tape runner by any adhesive will do since you will be stitchin it anyway.

Once you adhere the shorter section - you can stitch the sides. . . and then place your gift card in. Of course, I'm a sucker for little sayings and I like the thing about the grind since it was coffee - TOTAL SUCKER for that stuff. Anyway, I left this one pretty basic (for the men) but I'm sure some of those lady teachers would love it and you could make it larger and really dress it up a bit!

Happy Crafting

The beginning & the End...

of an era. The beginning of the end of elementary school for my twins.

I tear up thinking of when they were so little..on machines...so new.

Now...the "seniors" of elementary school (Abbi's term, not mine)

I am so proud of them. Both smart in their own way. so talented. Personalities that bloom more every day. I think of how they won't quit growing. They won't stay small forever.


I read a blog the other day that really got me worked up - in a bad way. It talked about liking your children and basically proceeded to berate anyone who might have a hint of excitement that their children were headed back to school. Even seemed to question those parents love for their children and the list went on. It really got me to thinking.

I love my children - I believe most of you know that. I have challenges with each of them in different areas - I pray the mother of that blog doesn't experience some of the challenges that I have with her children (5,3,1 year olds - who is she to judge when her's aren't even school age)
Who are any of us to judge. We can all say "my child will never!" HA!!! Your child will for sure, so just be prepared. It's how you respond that makes you different from that mother/father.

My children cannot grow like they should within only the confines of my four walls. They must experience other children, they must learn that not every child is just like them, otherwise, they will be ignorant and naive. I love watching my children interact with others - it is a good gauge as to the areas we need to work on. Just this week I had a talk (at a little restaurant where we had a soda) with one of mine about their attitude, lack of grattitude, and how I have been where she is (even though she is convinced I don't remember it cause it was tooooo long ago!)

As you can tell this is still a bit of a raw nerve - I want my kids to grow, be compassionate, show love and not judge. When I look at this guy my heart aches because I see a glimpse into what the future could hold - some good, some not so much. He is so tall and handsome and yet still so in need of his Daddy and Me. How love them and keep them close while learning to let go just a bit at a time - that is the balance all parents must find.
So whether your children are school age or not, I am praying that will all have a greater compassion on others. We don't know their situation, where they come from, what they face on a daily basis. Each child is different - some with disabilities - others with quirks that make you want to give them a disability! Whatever their situation, every child needs someone to love them more and judge them less. Lord, Help me to be that person for both my children and those who are so wonderfully placed in my care.

Have a sweet Tuesday!

It's in the Air -

the excitement.

the anticipation.

School began today - what will this year hold? Only our Father in Heaven knows.

But we are excited! We have GREAT teachers and some "normalcy" is returning.

On a real recent post I posted the pic of the pencil bucket I made. Once I saw it finished, I knew I had to make it a partner. Here is the bucket for the sad, sad pencils that are awaiting their turn at the sharpener. Not as decorated (on purpose since it's "the dull group" - get it!

The crafty spirit is also in the air. Here is the room sign I made for my niece who began her first day of teaching the first grade. Her theme is surfing so here's what I made for her. I LOVE the paper dolls. I left the face blank on purpose. This is a simple 12X12 scrapbook layout frame. I made the layout and then just placed it in the frame. - simple, huh? I stapled ribbon to the back of the frame so she can hang it on her door.

So, the air is changing our here for sure. Excitement, nerves, reflection, anticipation, and tons of other emotions that may or may not appear in future blogs.

Hope your first day back to school was AMAZING - ours was celebrated with a cupcake from One Hot Cupcake - PB&J (for the teacher) , Nilla Pudding, White Trash, and Cappucino. A sweet ending:)

For a good cause....

I follow a nice lady who is creative but also, apparently, caring - great combination! She is having a giveaway and asked us to share (bribed us with a giveaway too!) So go HERE and check it out!

HodgePodge Friday & Relfections

So I just linked my Back 2 School Pencil Bucket to Hodgpodge Friday HERE so check it out as well as some other REALLY cool stuff!

So I have some confessions to make - not for your sake but for my memory keeping. Lately, I have been:

* less organized than I normally am - not cool!

*obsessed with very little - which is a break for my OCD!

*working hard not to drown. These are pictures of my little swim practice last Saturday in Sarasota. Ilooked pretty confident here. I was setting my watch (at least I thought I was) and quite oblivious to the size of these waves. Now I know they don't look too big here but if you really study them I was only knee deep here and they are rolling a fair bit.
*This was me approximately 15 min later. Thinking "Dear Lord, please just let my feet touch the ground. For a non-natural-swimmer, feet not touching the ground is quite frightening. I am sure I made some promise about never doing this again if I survived. Seriously, the most afraid I have been for my life in a VERY long time, maybe ever.

* not in the best of moods which has resulted in some unseemly behavior - sorry to all involved there. Being out of control of things tends to do that to one previously admitted OCD kinda girl.

*ready for a schedule! Today that is in sight - just days away actually and I am feeling a bit brighter and energized this morning. I am sure you are glad to hear that - hee hee!

Just keeping it real folks! Hope you have a great weekend =)

oops!

So I forgot to put this picture in for the last post. (and when I tried it just made me crazy so a second post is in order)

This is how I disguised the shortage of paper. Layered paper square with alpha's! To balance the project I did the exact same thing on the other side but with 1,2,3. Easy fix.

Back to School - ahhh!

So I'm back (with a bit of a vengence) with a "Back to School" teacher gift. I saw this here on a blog and modified it for my stash of randomness just lying around. As a substitute teacher I learned many things....one of which is that there are NEVER enough sharpened pencils and that happens on purpose I think because little ones LOVE to go sharpen their own pencil which was previously sharp but they ground it down just to make the trip to the sharpener! Remember that as a kiddo? Most teachers had a container where the children could exchange their dull pencils for an already sharpened one (hence removing 19 trips to the sharpener and ten more minutes before valuable lesson time!) So I made this....

This will hold their sharpened pencils and hence the term "one sharp bunch" (clever, right?)

So I started with an empty decorative paint can and covered it with two layers of random (well not so random because I was trying to do blue/green for our school colors) The first layer was 4 inches X 12 inches. Here is where I didn't really think ahead. The standard 12X12 paper doesn't go all the way around - but I fixed that - you'll see in a bit.

Next I added a decorative little trim. This too was leftover stuff and I loved adding the yellow/orange to the color scheme. I primarily did this to ground the project as well as give a backdrop for the word SHARP. I wanted the kiddos to know this was the already sharpened bunch of pencils.

Then I added the "title." American Crafts thickers are just amazing - these poolside (blue) were great because they were glittered and that was just too much fun!

So another thing I learned is that teachers (genenerally speaking) are super grateful people. They are just so happy that you thought of them. This will go to Braden's teacher who is new but we are already in LOVE with. I will be back tomorrow to show you a little something for the "big kids" teachers.

Hope you have a great day (and a great last week of summer)!