Father's Day Root Beer Sampler

This Father's Day the kids and I did something different for their dad (my hubby). Thanks to Gluesticks blogger Brandy for this great idea of doing a root beer sampler.

 

We went to a local market, Worden's Market, and found a variety of root beers. I also found the generic brand, IBC, from WalMart. It was harder than I thought to find different flavors of root beer, so I put some cream soda varieties in the crate too. Speaking of the crate, I use a 50% off coupon at JoAnn's and walked out with each crate costing only $2.50. This was a great buy! I was pretty proud of my cost savings there, since the root beer didn't come in packs . 

 The pages in the crates are the break down of what each root beer tastes like according to reviews. I liked this idea from Gluesticks and created it based on the flavors that we'd purchased.Thanks for the inspiration!

The kids can't wait to give their gifts to their dad. What fun this will be!

Teacher Appreciation 2011

Teacher Appreciation Week is this week and I am having so much fun creating gifts for my kids' teachers.

Most of these ideas were inspired from A Bushel and A Peck. Check them out at her blog. My goal was to give their teacher's something everyday, but not something so large that became a huge cost for our family.

DAY 1

First up was these glass mason jars filled with pencils. I used my Cricut to cut out the teacher's name and stick on the jar. This was on vinyl...my new favorite thing to cut out with my Cricut. My kids handed them to their teacher at the end of Monday's school day.  

The tags are compliments of the same blog! Thanks a Bushel and a Peck.

Hayden and Natalie had a great time cutting out the tags. They insisted that some left over chocolates should go in the jar too.

DAY 2

Swedish fish with the cute tag for day 2. So easy and a truly sweet treat!

DAY 3

A bottle of water with two juice powders attached. Really fun to gift. I've done this type of gift before and it was a big hit!

DAY 4

Who doesn't love rootbeer? I'm a school teacher myself and would love these cute ideas and fun treats.

DAY 5

Personalized Hand Sanitizer is by far my favorite gift. I plan to do this one over and over again. Not sure who will be getting this gift yet, but love it! I typed up my own saying, which I borrowed from Room Mom 101. Thans for the idea! I printed it first on white paper, then photo copied it onto the clear transparency paper. Then I cut it to fit inside the bottle and I was done!

 So the only other item that is left is for one of the teachers and then my daughter's piano teacher, which would be the glass container filled with chocolate candys. The poem I'm pretty sure I found online, but can't recall where. 

One other thing...I was inspired to pass the joy of teacher appreciation to the music teacher at our school. Thanks again Room Mom 101! So my students and I decorated her door on Monday! It turned out very cute and she was seriously surprised. :)

 

If you can't read this, it says, "You make our hearts sing!"

Valentine's Crayons

For Valentine's day my kids made crayon hearts to give to their classmates.  We took our old crayons and removed the outside paper from them. Then broke them into pieces and put them into the plastic mold.

 

After breaking the crayons into the mold, I baked them on a metal pan at 250 degrees for about 20 minutes. As soon as they looked entirely melted I pulled them out of the oven and let them cool. Once cooled, they popped right out super easily.

The next step involved gluing the hearts to a piece of card stock paper that said, "You color my world!". I used the hot glue gun, which seemed to do the trick nicely. The kids enjoyed the process and the Valentine's were a big hit. This inspiration came from Family Fun! 

Teacher Appreciation-Movie Night

Thanks to many of the ideas found online for teacher appreciation week, I selected the movie night option for my kids to give to their teachers. Secrets of a Super Mommy had this idea and it was fantastic! The teachers loved it so much. My son's teacher mentioned that he carried it around to show to all the other teachers. As a teacher myself, I would have loved getting this gift myself.

I found the popcorn containers at the local Goodwill, but I also saw them at Michaels craft store. Inside the red envelope I used a regular card and copied the saying from Secrets of a Super Mommy and inserted a dollar bill.The kids put mini candy bars, licorice, and popcorn inside the containers. Check out the other ideas here that I debated on using. I realized that I will probably save those other ideas for next year. Maybe even do two gifts during that special week. This same blog has some great last day of school party ideas. I can't wait to plan one for this year. Thanks for the great inspiration Secrets of a Super Mommy!

Stove Top Citrus Potpourri

If it hadn't been for my friend at Creative Attempts, I never would have thought of this idea. I love gift ideas and this became a great gift for my neighbors as a thank you for their holiday gifts. At first I thought I'd make tags on labels and stick them on the bags. I realized that the sticky labels I had on hand were far to small so I resorted to using the leftover make your own business cards I had around. I stapled the card tag with a ribbon to the bag. I printed the tags with the following information:
Stove Top Citrus Potpourri
Put all ingredients into a saucepan. Fill pan with water. Place on stove on the smallest burner, on the lowest setting. Refill as needed. Enjoy the fragrant smell!
With cheer,
The Ellis Family

I added my blog at the bottom.

 Citrus Potpourri Mix
1 small orange that was starting to get too old to eat
1/2 cup frozen cranberries
1 Tbsp. whole cloves
3 sticks of cinnamon or a small handful of small pieces of cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg or fresh grated

Put ingredients in a ziplock or cute clear bag. I am wishing that I had some other bags around instead of the ziplock ones. Oh well! The recipe also suggested using orange peels instead of using the whole orange. I like how the whole orange slices look. Presentation can be everything, at times.
A tip: Don't allow the water to completely evaporate. I refill the pot when I turn it back on. One mix continues to smell good for weeks. Thanks Creative Attempts for this inspiration!!

Vanity for Christmas

This year, Natalie's Christmas wish was for a "pink" vanity, mirror and bench. So of course, my hubby did everything he could to give her the gift. We found a 1920's vanity that had been primed and was a little bit beat up. We bought it on Wednesday before Christmas from a local antique shop and had the vanity and bench sanded down and painted by Christmas Eve. The edges were sprayed silver and then top coated pink, then sanded. That night we made a cushion for the bench and moved it into the house for the morning reveal. As a finishing touch, a spray of silver sparkle was added. Thank goodness my husband is a painter by profession and has the shop to do these kind of projects.

It was a huge hit in the morning when she spotted the bench under the tree. So fun to give homemade gifts!

Christmas morning!

The photos don't really do it justice, but I still wanted to share the finished project!

Homemade Christmas-Grocery Bags

I decided to make some grocery bags for Christmas gifts. I used left over cherry fabric from Natalie's dress along with other food related fabric. The bag itself is duck cloth or twill type fabric and I used webbing for the straps. They went together quite quickly and I had fun finding items to put in them.

Homemade Christmas-Baby Block Toys

These baby blocks from Happy Together were so much fun to make. They flew together too. My son helped stuff the blocks. He is excited to give these to his cousin!

What fun this Christmas will be to give all these homemade gifts!

Homemade Christmas-Clutch

It is a DIY, homemade kind of Christmas this year. I loved this project from Happy Together and couldn't wait to try it out. I really want to try one with the flower look on the front. I also think little pockets inside would be awesome for my phone and lip gloss. I am anxious to come across the perfect placemat to make another one.

I do believe that the stiffer placemat work the best. I may still add a few buttons for decorative touch on the bright colored one.

Homemade Christmas-Wine Glass Identifiers

This project came about because I couldn't keep track of my own wine glass. I know you'd think this would be easy, but all of my glasses look alike too. So I made wine glass identifiers with beads and dangles. I had a few dangles from trips that I found a use for too.

They were easy to make and I attached them to a card with ribbon to display them and give as gifts. I made a set for keeps too, just in case I have company over to enjoy wine with again.

Tin Can Pin Cushions-Saturday DIY

With Christmas just around the corner, I am a busy little elf. I needed a new pin cushion and when I found this project on Design Sponge, I decided they would make good gifts too. It was so quick and easy, honest. I did a version of the Design Sponge project and these ones. I also found this site that has the "cutest pincushion" ideas ever. I hope to make the wrist pin cushion sometime. It seems so handy.

I can't wait to make more!

Sweet Treats for the Kappas

Sweet Treats for the Kappas
Fall 2009: At least once a year I try to give the young women of my old sorority a gift on behalf of the local alumnae to either encourage them, welcome them back, or maybe provide them with a reason to do a sisterhood event together. Since Fall semester is about to begin, I've done a simple gift. I bought Tootsie Roll suckers and oatmeal craison cookies at Costco. I wrapped them with ribbon and made a quick pinwheel decoration to go on top. I can't wait to deliver these!

Fall 2008: Last fall, I put together a movie themed gift. I bought a basket at Micheals and added all the yummy snacks I would want to enjoy while watching a movie with the girls; popcorn, licorice, candy, etc.

I just hope I can get more inspirations from others to continue giving these great gifts.