Halloween Teacher Treats

Halloween has come and gone.  We have such a fun time at Halloween- costumes, candy and of course the tricking & treating!

This year I decided not to do treats for the kids in the boys classes.  We have quite a few kids that do not celebrate holidays or birthdays.   It didn’t seem fair to make something for only some of them.

I did make a little something for their wonderful teachers and ladies in the front office. 

Here are the cute candy corn treats I made for the front office ladies. 

                   

 

I found this tutorial on the Clearly i Stamp blog.  She always has such cute ideas. 

           

Here is the link with all the measurements:

Candy Corn Holder Tutorial

These were super simple to make.  I am already thinking of the many projects I can conjure up with the same concept!

                    

For the teachers I decorated a clear plastic “paint bucket”.  I found these by accident when I was at Michael’s Craft Store one afternoon. 

                      

I decorated it with Halloween scrapbook paper & ribbon.  Then filled it with candy! 

Mmmmm…candy corn!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!  We did- and we have the candy to prove it!  The boys made out like bandits this year!

Back to School Teacher Gifts

It is that time of year!  Back to School!

My boys were excited to meet their teachers, check out their classes and see which friends they would get to spend the year with.

   

I decided to make teacher gifts.  You saw that coming, right?

It all started with my sister’s craft/stamping class.  Every 3rd Sunday from 2-5, if you are in the SA area- you should come check it out.  She always has cool projects for us to do!

Last class we made a super cute apple basket.  I used them to contain my teacher gifts.

                      

I made a notebook organizer thingy.  I modeled it after one my sister had made for GNO…I’m such a copy-cat.  But hey, it was super cute- you would want to copy it too.

        

I  also made a post-it note holder and a papered pen to match.

        

So that they had a little something sweet- I put in a couple of chocolate covered pretzels in as well.

       

I think it actually turned out pretty cute. 

For the first day of school, every teacher needs a little something sweet to get her through the day.

                         

I put chocolate chip cookies in cello bags and tied them with ribbon.  Made these simple little brown paper bags, and there you have it.  My alternative to the traditional apple.

I hope they like them.  I can’t wait to get started on the next project.  

Little Purse Cards

 

I got a birthday invitation in the mail for my little niece's 3rd birthday.  It was soooo cute, a purse!

 

Of course my first thought was- WOW- this will make a great template!  Then my next thought was- oh my, what will I get my niece?  She is three, so I had to rely on my friends with girls…and it was settled – a Tinkerbelle purse with cute girly things to put in it!  Perfect- purse invitation, purse gift, an I had to make a purse birthday card to go with it.

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It is such a cute and E*A*S*Y template!  Makes me want to go to Party City and check out all the potential templates, I mean invitations.

Here is the original invitation.

 

Here it is as a template:

So cute!  I made 3 purses, one for my niece and two for fun.

 

                                       

Just think of all those decorative papers calling out to you- “Please make me into that cute purse!”  Not to mention all the embellishments that are begging you to adhere them- “I will be the envy of all the other brads, eyelets, buttons and ribbons. Pick Me! Pick Me!”

 

Here is what I used for the cards:

Dark Pink Flower Card:

Velcro circles to close the purse flap

Decorative Paper

Ribbon flower brad

Ribbon

Gemstones inside the flowers

Stripped Card:

Velcro circles to close the purse flap

Decorative Paper

Ribbon

Buttons

Light Pink Flower Card:

Velcro circles to close the purse flap

Decorative Paper

Ribbon

Buttons

Flower Brad

 

Hope you enjoy making the cards as much as I did!

 

TFL

Fathers Day Photo Book

It is almost Fathers Day! Can you believe it? I am going to go with a fishing theme this year. My husband loves to hunt and fish-plus I have a few cute ideas. Here is the first one...a photo book.





I got these cool coasters that resemble fish from-The Lion & the Rose. I love that place, and the waitress was nice enough to give me a large hand full of the coasters! There are so many things you can do with coasters!


Here is what I used:
Coasters
Crop-a-dial
DP
Fish stamps
Binder Rings
Twine & Ribbon
Inks
Embellishments


Here are a couple of pictures of the project:

First I cut my DP to the size & shape of my coasters.
Next I stamped onto the DP.
Each set of pages is a little different.




















Next I stamped my fish and other decorative stamps.













Then colored them.













And cut them out.













Then I attached the DP to the coasters, decoupaged the pages, and punched holes for the binder rings. Finally I attached some pictures, printed from the computer, with some photo tabs.













Here is the assembled pages with added embellishments.

Dangling Down on the Farm with CDS

Maybe its becuase I play Farm Town on FB too much, or because I grew up in the county. I'm not sure, but I am in love with Clear Dollar Stamps farm stamps! I had wanted to enter the CDS monthly challenge, unfortunately I did not have my card made by the deadline. You can check out the entries and winner at thier April26th post on -http://www.clearlyistamp.typepad.com/.

However, I still wanted to do the card I had originally sketched for the challenge. The challenge was to make a card or item that had *dangles*. So, I chose to dangle my little farm animals.

Here is what I did:














First I picked my decorative paper, stamp set,ribbon and inks. I used the Farm Critters, Pickett Fence & My Little Barnyard stamp sets from Clear Dollar Stamps. Archiavals Moonlight White & Black inks, Color Box's Scarlet,Ice Blue & Olive Pastel inks.

I cut my paper, and stamped the barn and fence image. I used CTMH markers and a white glaze marker to highlight the fence.
















I stamped and cut the barn image on a sticky note, so that I could spounge the sky and grass without getting any ink on the barn. I also spounged the fence at the bottom.















Next I stamped my cow, chicken & pig. The cow and pig I used crushed velvet flocking, and the chicken I used CTMH's markers. I then tied embroidery thread though holes I punched in the fence, and taped my animals to the ends of the thread.
















I used fall colored striped ribbon for the card as well. I frayed the ribbon and adheared it to the card. All that was left was to peice it together.

Appreciate Your Teachers!

Let's Appreciate Our Teachers!

It is getting close to teacher appreciation week~ 1st full week in May. My boys have 4 teachers between them. Their home room teacher, and the teacher who brings them out to me after school.

I love all 4 of these ladies! A lot of my friends are teachers, and I am so thankful for all they do and endure. I only have 2 little boys -I can't even imagine 15-20 kiddos! Teachers are truly angels on Earth.

So...for teacher appreciation week I decided to make them a little something. What I came up with (after hours of tutorial videos) was to make them:

beaded pen, coaster booklet, and a mini coaster clipboard

I think I will also make Ian's teacher a little something extra. I am the room mom for her class and take pictures of the class for her. I am thinking...maybe a photo book for the pictures. The wheels are turning. *note to self...find perfect paper and stamps for project*

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Ok. Here is the pen.

It was actually really easy. I have seen my sister make them before, but have never attempted to do it myself. But, I bit the bullet and did it myself and you know, it was really easy!

What you need:

Pen (I prefer Pentel's RSVP)

Double sided tape

Tiny Glass Marbles

Crafters Heating Tool

Decorative Paper

What to do:

Tape the pen, with the double sided tape, where you want the beads to be.

Use your heat tool to heat the tape just a little.

Roll the pen in the Tiny Glass Marbles.

Once covered with beads, roll between your hands to press on the beads to the pen.

For a little extra something, you can also add decorative paper inside the pen.

Tie on a ribbon and you are done!

Now for the Coaster Post It note booklet...

I watched a couple of tutorials on http://www.chicnscratch.typepad.com/ She has the best website! I love everything she does- thanks for your help Angie!

What you need:

Coasters (of course)

Decorative Paper

Post Its

Zutters Bind It All and 1/2 inch Wires

First cut a straight edge on your coasters. Use your post it notes to make the measurements so that you don't cut off too much. Then cut the decorative paper with the coaster template.

Next, just glue the decorative paper to the coasters. Just a little tip, if you are using paper that has a "top" and a "bottom"- make sure to put the paper in order to how you want your booklet to open. I am glad I double checked myself...nobody wants to see a book cover that is upside down. Use a fine sand paper to brush the edges so that they are smooth.

To make sure the coasters look more finished and the paper is protected, brush coasters with Mod Podge. Let the coasters dry completely. What is Mod Podge? Well, it is basically a glue. It dries very quickly and adds a protective coating to your crafty creations.

Now the fun begins! You get to use the bind it all!

Ahhhh, the wonderful bind it all~ This is the first time I have used it, and it certainly won't be the last! This jewel of the crafting world does what it's name implies...it binds. The ideas are just buzzing around in my head! I should write these ideas down.

ok, ok...where was I? Oh, using the bind it all. Take the covered coasters and place them together in the order you want your book. Place the flat side down -centered-inside the bind it all and pull the lever. That's right, that is all there was too it!

After the holes are punched into the coasters, it is time to use the binding wire and assemble the book. I hope I explain this next part right... Take your coasters and put the wire through the holes. To put the binded section on the inside of the book, turn your book inside-out. Basically you do the reverse of how you want your book to look. Does that make sense? The bind it all website has all the instructions from professionals in their video library section...worth a check out! http://www.binditall.com/

After you bind the book, just decorate the front cover, tie with ribbon, insert post its, and add a little embellishment and you are set.

Finally, the coaster mini clipboard.

What you need:

Decorative Paper

Coaster

Clip

Small Notebook-one that has the binding at the top

What to do:

First, using the coaster as a template, cut out two pieces of decorative paper.

As with the Post It booklet:

Glue the decorative paper to the coaster.

Decorate back cover of clipboard.

Brush with Mod Podge and let dry completely.

Gently tear about 15 - 20 pages from the top binded notebook. Using the coaster as a guide, cut some of the top portion of the paper so that it can be clipped onto the coaster. Finally clip paper to coaster and tie clip with ribbon. You can also put decorative paper on the clipboard- mine had an apple stamped onto it. And TaDa~ can you believe it was this easy?

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