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Easy DIY Teacher Appreciation Gift

Stacy — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 01:00:33 +0000

Teacher appreciation week is fast approaching, as is the end of the school year. Although there are many wonderful professions out there that may be under appreciated teachers are high on my list of those deserving love since I have 2 school-aged children. You could not pay me enough to deal with 24 children, who are not my own, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Although I was born into a long line of teachers I just wasn’t blessed with that patience gene, some nights it’s a small miracle we even make it through homework. So “Thank You!” to all you wonderful teachers out there.

I want to share with you today a fun and easy DIY teacher appreciation gift that not only is beautiful but something you kids can actually help you make! In my experience the kids are so much more excited to present a gift that they helped make than something their mom is forcing them to hand over. For this project I let my daughter pick out the color flowers we were going to make – pink and green – her teacher’s favorite colors!

Supplies:

Bloom printable (12×16 or 8×10)
White canvas
Spray Adhesive
Tissue Paper
Brads
Scissors
Hole punch
Glue

1. Print out your Bloom printable sign. I have a large format printer so I printed it at home but if you want the 12×16 size Costco prints 12×16 photo enlargements for $2.99. You can also print out the 8×10 at home, you’ll just want to size your tissue paper flowers accordingly.

2. Spray the spray adhesive on the back of your print out, focusing on the corners and apply it to your canvas. I’ve seen great priced canvas at Walmart lately, as well as weekly sales at the craft stores.

3. Fold your tissue paper, 2 or 3 sheets stacked together, into 2 and 3 inch squares.

4. Punch or poke a hole in the center of your square and insert a brad.

5. Cut your square into a circle.

6. Separate each layer of tissue paper by pulling straight up and crumpling into a cylinder. Repeat until all layers are separated and “crumply.” This is the part your kids will love!

7. Fluff your layers out to behold your beautiful flower creation.

8. Glue flowers to your canvas.

I really love the multi-color flowers, they are so much fun to make.

At the last minute I decided to add some “stems” to our canvas with a metallic marker and before handing it to her teacher I will have my daughter write her name on the bottom.

If you are looking for more great (and fast) Teacher Appreciation craft ideas please make sure you check out all the amazing ideas being shared during this round of Craft Lightning!

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Free Halloween Brown Bag Topper

Stacy — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 22:21:00 +0000

Have you seen these cute orange striped brown bags available in the Halloween section at Target this season? I probably wouldn’t have grabbed them if I hadn’t seen Staci from Lizard and Ladybug post them on her Instagram account. If you are looking for economical yet fun treat bags for class treats THESE are where it’s at! To make it even better I’ve created a FREE bag topper that you can tape, staple, or glue right to the bag to make you look like you put in hours of overtime into making your treats this year!

Supplies:

Brown Bags
Free Halloween Brown Bag Topper
White cardstock
Printer
Scissors or paper trimmer
Stapler/tape/glue
Bone folder (optional but I love it)

Download the FREE file and print it out on white cardstock. Use scissors or a paper trimmer to cut apart the bag toppers. Fold in half and then staple, tape, or glue to your folded over brown bag!

The front is fun with the cutest spider ever from Miss Kate Cuttables.

While the back allows for your little one enough space to write their own name!

The brown paper bags are great for so many reasons: price, size (you can put an apple or a non-food treat in these bags easy), and cuteness!

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Free Printable Spirit Banner

Stacy — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 14:42:00 +0000

Back to school also means back to college football, which just happens to be the best time of the year. I believe that as of today there are 24 days left until Gator football starts! Even though we had just about the worst season ever last year my love for my Alma Mater is still as strong and vibrant as ever. To help get us in the spirit I’ve design a cute mini banner than can be printed in 1 page, cut out easily, and strung together to show that we’ve got spirit! (yes, we do. we’ve got spirit how ’bout you!)

This little banner is fun and easy to make.

Just download the files. Right now I have Orange and Blue available as well as Black and Gold.

Print them out on your home computer on a nice piece of white cardstock.

Cut them apart using scissors or a paper trimmer and then use whatever ribbon or twine you have laying around to string them together.

I used a corner rounding punch on the UCF banner pieces and it totally transforms the look!
So go ahead, get wild and put your own spirit into the banner – make it your own! Just remember that these files are for personal use only.
Oh, and one more thing, what color combos/schools would you like to see a spirit banner for? Let me know in the comments!

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Back to School Free Printables

Stacy — Sun, 03 Aug 2014 02:34:00 +0000

Holy wowzers, how is it already August? I feel like we were just blowing out the candles for my daughter’s 6th birthday but it turns out that was in February…SIX MONTHS AGO! Kindergarten flew by in a flash and now we are prepping for first grade and a brand new elementary school. Before we look forward into what this year has to bring I wanted to share a round up of five past teacher and school printables I’ve posted.

This fun mason jar themed tag was our meet-the-teacher/open house gift. I can’t help but love a good mason jar pun!

You’ve got the Write stuff, baby

You’re the reason why I sing this song.

New Kids on the Block (NKOTB to the cool kids) rocked my socks off in the 5th grade and these cute write stuff tags are great for friends of any age!

These next tags, along with the great gift idea, were originally posted teacher appreciation week but I think they work great for any occasion!

Who couldn’t use a sweet treat in their lunchbox on the first day? Just print and staple to a fun size pack of M&Ms and you will be racking up the cool mom points!

And last, but certainly not least, the most Scent-sational tag of them all! This one was from our pre-school days, way before we knew what the fox says.

linked up: tatertots and jello

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Let’s Flamingle End of School Year Info Tag

Stacy — Sun, 18 May 2014 15:31:00 +0000

I can’t believe that it is already the end of the school year. All of those first week jitters and the stress of getting use to the new routine of having a kid in school has faded away. Now I am having no more school jitters along with what are we going to do without the routine of school stress. I probably haven’t been as proactive as I needed to be in scheduling camps and gathering information from school mates and bus mates so we can do play dates this summer. To help the latter problem we’re going to be passing out these cute flamingo pencils to let our friends know that we’d like to Flamingle this summer!

Supplies:

Pencils

Pink Scrapbook Paper

White Cardstock

Let’s Flamingle Free download

Hole & Paper Punch

Twine

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out this shape that I purchased in the online store. Instead of cutting out the legs, I let the yellow pencils act as the flamingo legs. I also skipped the beak.

If you don’t have a cutting machine you can make yourself a template by cutting out a basic flamingo body on thick paper or a cereal box and use it to trace as many flamingoes as you need onto pink scrapbook paper. If you don’t feel comfortable free-handing a flamingo body search “flamingo clipart” in any search engine and print out one you like to trace.

You can go all 1 color for your flock.

Or mix it up a bit!

The printable tags allow you to cut or punch from a 1.75″ shape up to a 2.5″ square or circle.

In the end I like the simple circle the best, but it’s a cute tag however you punch it! Simply write out your information on the back of the tag once you’ve cut it out.

Use a hole punch and use some cute twine or ribbon to tie the tag to the neck of your flamingo flock.

Now your kids can hand them out to all their friends and school and stay in touch over the summer!

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Free Mother’s Day Card and Stationery

Stacy — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 23:52:00 +0000

Mother’s Day is right around the corner. Moms are always preaching preparedness even if we usually feel mostly unprepared ourselves. Since it will be here before you know, so why not get a little jump start on it? I’ll give you a gentle, little push in the form of a Free Mother’s Day card you can download and print AND free stationery you can make for your mom!! It’s so cute, you might want to make some for yourself, too!

Supplies:

White cardstock paper
Printer
Mother’s Day Card file
Life is a Beautiful Ride Stationery file
Paper trimmer
Optional – Bone Folder (this is my favorite)
Optional – 4Bar envelopes (this is the one pictured)

Both files will print out 2 to a page. The open dimensions of the card are 5.5 x 8.5 and the stationery is 5 x 7.

Download the file and print out on nice quality white cardstock.
Cut the card or stationery down to size with a paper trimmer to get nice, straight edges.
Line the top edge of the card up to the bottom and use your bone folder, or just finger, to make your crease.

You can package up the stationery with a pack of beautiful envelopes, tied off with some ribbon and include a card with a personal sentiment inside.

Presenting the stationery or card with some beautiful flowers (I picked up the ranunculus at my local Trader Joe’s for under $6).

And go 1 step further and put those beautiful flowers in one of Ball Canning’s new heritage collection Spring green mason jars!

One last shot of the beautiful ranunculus!!

So now you have no excuses, send you mom a card this Mother’s Day, and maybe a nice set of stationery, too. I am sure she’ll appreciate it!!Disclaimer, Ball Canning sent me a case of their Heritage Spring Green mason jars to test out. My love for them is 100% authentic though!linked up at tatertots and jello

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You’ve Been Egged!

Stacy — Sat, 12 Apr 2014 00:08:00 +0000

Easter is just about a week away. Around here that also means it’s Spring Break and what better way to kick of the week than egging your neighbors?!? Now don’t go raiding the refrigerator just yet, I’m not talking about THAT kind of egging. I am talking about leaving fun treats on your neighbor’s door and then bookin’ it.

The supplies can be as simple or complex as you want them to be. I started with these fun oversized eggs I found at Dollar Tree and filled them with SweetWorks Niagara Chocolate eggs, Sixlets, stickers, crayons, and candies. Each egg was topped out with a free printable card that explains that they’ve been Egged!

Cute egg graphic from Miss Kate Cuttables

I am pretty obsessed with the crayon packs that you can pick up for under a dollar each at Target.

We egged one house with 2 boys so I packed the egg accordingly with candy I also found at Dollar Tree.

So download your own free printable egging card, pack a little surprise, and treat your neighbors to a little Easter treat this week!!

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Pottery Barn Kids Knock-off Easter Bunting

Stacy — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 00:02:00 +0000

Here come’s Peter Cottontail, hoppin’ down the bunny trail, hippity hoppity, Easter’s on its way! If you are anything like me you LOVE pouring through the numerous Pottery Barn catalogs that come in the mail any given week. They have great design, products, and most affordably, inspiration. While going through the latest Easter collection I saw the most adorable Easter Bunny Bunting. Theirs is made with cardboard covered with fabric with fluffy little tails – which you could easily do, too – but I only had 20 minutes and zero dollars to dedicate to this project so paper and cotton balls it was!

Here was the inspiration – it sells for $26 and is 8 feet long.

Source

Here is what you’ll need to recreate it yourself:

Various patterned and solid scrapbook paper
Cotton Balls
Twine or thin ribbon
Hot Glue Gun and glue
Cutting machine / bunny shape to trace / your own free handed bunny shape

I used my Silhouette Cameo and cut out the same shape on to 7 different sheets of paper. I cut 2 out of each pattern in case I wanted to also make an 8 foot bunting. Here is the design from the Silhouette Store that I used.

You could print out a bunny shape and use that as your template to trace and cut out or you could drawn your own free handed bunny silhouette onto cardboard and use that as your template. As long as all the bunnies are the same you’ll get the right effect.

Line up all your bunnies in the pattern you’d like use a little bit of glue on each bunny bum and attach a white cotton ball or pom.

Awww, cute little bunny bums!

To attach your bunnies to the twine/ribbon just dab a little glue on the back of the ears and carefully place your twine/ribbon through the glue.

And that’s all there is to it! I ended up spending $0 on this knock-off and about 20 minutes!

The best part is that you can tailor your Easter Bunny Bunting to any color scheme or design trend that you’d like and you can experiment with different materials, too!So don’t just sit there HOP TO IT!! Linked up: tatertots and jello

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St. Patrick’s Day Printable

Stacy — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 13:57:00 +0000

We’re nearing Spring which means we’re starting to tick off holiday after holiday. Next up is St. Patrick’s Day! It’s a fun little holiday to celebrate no matter if you’ve got Irish heritage or not. Why not show your loved ones what makes you feel lucky this year with this cute Free St. Patrick’s Day Printable!

I’ve made this print available in two different sizes – an 8×10 and a 5×7 (that prints 2 to a sheet). You can print it out on white cardstock and write in why you’re so lucky or you can stick the print inside a frame for display and use a dry erase marker to change your saying as the mood strikes you.

This would be very fun to do with your family, each day someone else gets to write why they are so lucky.

My name’s Stacy and I like warm hugs!

It’s also a nice way to leave little love notes to your special someone.

And of course leaving a little treat next to the frame might encourage a little more luck!

So what are you feeling lucky about?

linked up – tatertots and jello

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Thanksgiving Kids’ Table Activity

Stacy — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 17:33:00 +0000

It’s Tuesday! The Tuesday before Thanksgiving week!! What?!? How did that happen so fast? However it happened, Thanksgiving is almost here and if your kids are anything like mine they can eat an entire meal in about 10 minutes. Start to finish. Including dessert. So when we want to have an enjoyable meal, such as Thanksgiving dinner, it’s always in my best interest to come with an activity for the kids. This year I will come prepared with this really fun activity for the kids’ table that is so simple to put together the hardest part will be not eating the Sixlets yourself!
**side note – you may notice in the post the printable says “Thankgiving” let that be a lesson in designing under the influence of decongestants. The actual printable file included below is correct!**

The supplies are simple!

Supplies:

Sixlets

Happy Thanksgiving Printable

(click to download)

Scissors

Download and print my Happy Thanksgiving printable.
Cut in half (they print 2 to a paper)
Give the kids some Sixlets
Have them match the colors of the Sixlets on the coordinating letter

Did you know that Sixlets are gluten free and manufactured in a nut free facility? Makes them pretty perfect to serve at any kids’ table!!
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner that is hopefully longer than 10 minutes!!
Disclaimer – Sweetworks sent me some of their candy to try out but the thoughts, craft, and opinion expressed here are 100% authentic & my own!!
linked up: Whimsy Wednesday

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