teachers gifts

Our kids come from a long line of teachers. On both sides. Their Dad, their Grandpa's, Aunt's, Uncles, and Great Grandpa's. We know that the job of a teacher is very much under appreciated and under paid! This past week was teacher appreciation week and I always try to get something made for each of my kids teachers because we love them so much.

This year we made these super fun giant pencils filled with yummy treats and candy for each teacher.  (It wasn't until after Macie gave this one to her teacher that I realized I left an N off of the end of her name. Oops!)

They were so fun to make and deliver, all the kids in the classes thought they were so cool.

The kids have had such a great year and learned so much. WE LOVE OUR TEACHERS!

Another one of my Pinterest finds!!

pinterest overload

WOW, it's been a while!

I find less and less time to blog now-a-days. That and I have been swamped with orders. My guess is that it's because of the new LDS primary theme being CTR this year.

Anyway, let me run through the long list of projects that Pinterest basically handed to me and said "Here. Make this."

I made these night owls for a girl party for my daughter. They are filled with rice and you pop them in the microwave and heat them up to keep you warm at night, or keep them in the fridge to put on an owie!

These candy cane mice were for all the kids in my son and daughters classes at school this year. Adorable and no sewing required!

My oldest is in 3rd grade and for school they had to make a valentine box with their parents. This was our end result.

The next few pictures are the kids valentines this year. Macie had a Valentine gun and holster with gum.

Connor's are Army guy Valentines that I LOVE!!

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And I helped Ellie make friendship bracelets for her class. I love all the options out there now for sugar free Valentines.

There we go.

All caught up with the Pinterest projects. Next, I may have to do a post on all the recipes I have made thanks to the all mighty Pinterest!

little gnome

For Sawyers first time trick or treating I decided he needed a new costume!

It needed to be simple and comfy, so I made this gnome costume that I have to say I kinda adore on him!

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Those curls coming out from under his hat kill me.

I knew he wouldn't keep a strap-on beard on his face at all and I found a infant gnome costume online a few months ago that had the beard sewn onto the onzie and I loved that idea.

He loved the attention we gave him when he put the hat on so he actually wore it all night to a school carnival and at our ward party last night.

My little gnomeo!

fun with the silhouette

I have been playing with the silhouette non stop. I keep thinking of fun new things I can do with this thing. Here are some of my first attempts at heat transfer paper on T shirts.

I made this one for my daughter for Valentines Day.

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And this one for my son, this may be my favorite.

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kids valentines of 2011

3 different Valentines for 3 different kids= pain in the neck!!

I used my Silhouette and made these cute little candy envelopes for my 3 year old's friends in her music class. I used paper I already had and spent 2 dollars on candy to fill it. Easy to make and I saved some $$

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I was crazy and thought I would make my son some easy chocolate suckers for his Kindergarten class. When I found my sucker molds, the only Valentines one I had was one with HUGE hearts and again I only had ONE mold pan (six at a time). It takes more chocolate than you think to fill those things. It took all night.

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And finally my 7 year old is I guess "to cool" for regular valentines and wanted to make these super cute iPod Valentines. I loved these and they are put together rather quick. I got the idea online but they don't let you print out a ton at a time so my sweet mom made her own version in memory mixer and I think they are even cuter with the heart and Ellie's name.

*Note to self...Fred Meyer Valentines next year*

Valentine yarn wreath

In the spirit of wreaths, I tried my hand at a yarn wreath. Thinking it would take forever to make I was super surprised that It was done in about an hour.
Not fancy. Not detailed, not even cut out well, just a fun quick project that can be done whilst nursing a baby.

TMI? Sorry.

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coffee filter wreath

Wow.

It's been a while. I can't seem to get 10 minutes to myself without baby for any kind of crafting or sewing of anything besides capes. Well, besides the 40+ scripture cases I made last week (more on that another time)

This post is about my beautiful baby sister and her crafty little self. She made this super cute coffee filter wreath.

I love it!

I want to make 10 in all different ways....and I'm gonna. But if you would like her tutorial head on over to her blog.

Magnetic Tin Advent Calendar

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Christmas is in sight and coming at us fast.

I have seen tonz of fun advent calendars out there and wanted to try my hand at a new kind this year. Actually I am giving this one as a gift so I wanted to package it all cute too.

I started with 25 little tins that have see through windows on the lid and come in a clear little bucket.

Next ,I had planned on finding cute vintage Christmas pictures to put in the little windows but ended up just printing off some pretty numbers because I didn't have my number stamps at home. I made them a bit smaller than the lid so I could sandwich them between the window and clear contact paper...making them all sealed up and protected. (also you get a sneak peek of the next days goodies)

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I used the paper inside the bucket they came in as a template and quickly cut out some Christmas paper to make the gift self storing and cuter.

Then I stuck a STRONG magnet in the center of each tin before I filled them all with some of my favorite Holiday treats.

I could have stopped right there but thought it would be fun to include a strip of paper inside each one that lists one activity or idea for you (or someone your giving it to) to do that day.

Some of the things I thought of were:

- Build a giant fort & have a tasty snack!
- Make a Christmas craft for your teachers at school.
- Christmas dance party! Listen to Christmas music & dance away...
- Curl up under a warm blanket & read a Christmas book.
- Hot cocoa & games night!
- Nail painting party! Paint your nails Christmas colors or paint someone else’s for them.
- Go for a drive to see our neighbors Christmas lights
-Christmas coloring & craft night!

-Etc...

All done! I packed them all in and they are ready to go.

I figure you can stick them on any magnetic surface, like a fridge, in any shape you want. But here is a tree:

and in rows:

April Fools Dinner

This is what we did last year for April Fools and my kids LOVED IT!!

We had a fun dinner where I had each of the kids, and grandma and grandpa come sit down and eat...split pea's and ham soup and mashed potatoes and gravy....

Or was it dessert? Of course it was dessert because on April Fools you have to do things a little backwards. Then everyone had to pick a number and then received a sack with that number on it.

Inside were their eating utensils for dinner...click here to see more from my family blog last year.

It is a Super fun tradition for the fam!

This is what I am gonna try this year...

Valentines candy cards

I just had to try out these SUPER EASY and fun Valentines for my kids!

It only took 4 easy steps:

#1- Take pictures of adorable kiddo's with fists out....

#2- Add the magic of photo shop.........

#3- Print and cut 2 teeny slits.........

#4- Insert sucker!!