Teacher Appreciation

Time to play catch up here.  I haven't crafted much due to my stuff being packed!  I think I may need to unpack it or at least move the boxes to the front of the gargage so I can have access to my things!  No offers on the house and we haven't found anything in our new area yet either so we wait. And wait... and wait some more.  I think the lesson I'm supposed to learn here is WAIT.  :)

Anyway, I did manage to make a little gift for E's teachers at the beggining of the month.  I found these cute survival cans from Our Best Bites.   We filled each of them with their favorite snacks and then personlized each with a monogram letter.

Sure cute and super simple and the best part was all I needed was paper.  The kids gladly ate the fruit for me and the rest was so relaxing.  I love making things.  There is such satisfaction and joy in being able to send a smile to another.  The inspiration post had ribbon tied to the pull tabs but, yes - you guess it, mine is packed.  I even went to the store here to buy some but this little town doesn't have much in craft supplies.  I guess that is easier on the budget.

Easy craft

We needed an easy craft so my 2 year old could play too.  Found these foam kits at Hobby Lobby and they are super simple.  All the kids had to do was peel and stick.  My son needed help getting the peeling started.  Great way to work on fine motor skills and sitting still.  Fun times.

Bookmarks

Today's craft was for all E's leaders at Sparks. 

She made them bookmarks.  Did I mention she loves the cuttlebug?  She was teaching her brother (who is 2) to use it. 

By the way she is only 5 but thinks she is much older.  Anyway we were able to get these made while the little C slept.

Many firsts...

Today was the first for many things crafting.  I made a card with my cricut machine!  I used the cuttlebug to add embossing and I entered my first two challenges! (mypinkstamper birthday challenge and  peachykeen challenge emboss it)  How fun!  But can I tell you just how slow I am at this?  What would be a quick card for most turned into a day long project. Trying to pick out paper was harder than I thought.  Every blog I view makes it looks so easy.  I now have an even bigger respect for all you crafters.  There are many tricks I still need to learn.  If I did the card over I'd cut the top of the cupcake slightly larger so there is no gap between cake and wrapper.  I would like to learn how to save paper by cutting only the image I need from each paper.  Anyway, lots to learn but there are also lots of talented people I can continue to stalk!

Here is my DD LOVING the cuttlebug.  She wanted to emboss ever piece of paper we had.  I finally had to put it away.  She made a get well card for her grandmother.

She did this herself.  I helped with measuring
and cutting.  The rest is all her!  So proud!

Magnetic Board

I FINALLY got to craft today!!!  Un.be.liev.able!  I only managed to make one of the teacher gifts so far but it is a start.  I still have two weeks to make the rest.  This one was a test to see how long it would take.  Unfortunately I broke my Round-it-all on its first time out of the package.  Glad it says Lifetime Warranty.  Hope the company will replace it.  Just a heads up.  It does NOT like to cut ribbon on projects.  The ribbon wedges itself in and jams it.  I know, I know.  You probably already knew that but the box said "round anything and everything" so I thought I was good to go.  Sad day when toys get broken - especially brand new ones!  Anyway, here is the first of the teacher gifts.  It is not my brilliant idea.  I saw these cute boards when browsing greenbean's crafterole's blog.  (She saw them from chic 'n scratch)  So cute and simple to make!  I had trouble finding the galvenized step flashing.  Chic 'n scratch said she found it at Lowe's already in the 5x7 size but ours only carried the roll.  Thankfully I was at my parents' house for the holidays so I used dad's handy cutter and decided to make mine a tad bigger - 6x8 - because I could.  :)

The teacher's daughter attends A&M

UPDATE:  Woo-Hoo!!!  The Round-it-all is fixed and in business again.  Amazing what a little brute strength and a butter knife can do.  ;)

Mother's Day

I woke up to the smell of coffee.  P had already brewed a pot and there sitting in front of the machine was a new Winnie-the-Pooh mug.  I had broken mine weeks earlier.  E was there to see it happen and was very concerned since that is the mug I used most mornings.  I told her we had plenty of others but she offered to buy me a new one.  She asked if we had a mug store here.  :)  I guess she and Daddy searched the web and finally found the exact match.  It was a sweet surprise. 
I had already ordered my own Mother's Day gift online - six peonies!  They are beautiful!  I can't wait for them to arrive.  Then I can have my own bouquet every year.
Dinner was fantastic.  P grilled  delicious steaks and also some asparagus.  I threw in some baked potatoes, rolls and fruit salad.  The best part of the meal was there was no WHINE!  Most meals someone is fussing but not last night.  It was the most peaceful meal I have eaten in a long time.  When I thanked everyone for such a delightful meal E reminded me it was Mother's Day.  I guess that was part of the gift.
Since I am subbing in the one year class until we find teachers I thought I'd better have a Mother's Day project for the kids to take home.  I like to have a sample project before doing crafts with little bitty ones.  I'm so glad I practiced on my own kiddos first.  The stamps I have don't wash off little hands all that well.  It's one thing to stain your own child but I didn't think the Mommies would not be very happy about it so I used crayola washable markers on them.  (Yes, I'm sure now they think it is okay to color on their hands.  Ooops!)  Here is the card we made.  The ones for the kids at church just had one flower on it but I wanted all three of my sweet little ones involved.

The bee is E's thumbprint.