Hand Print Towel

We recently made hand print towels to give as gifts.  You can read more at This Simple Home.

Thank You Gift

It's that time of year again...the end of the school year!  As a former teacher I know how much personal notes are appreciated at any time of the year.  Friday is actually M's final day of preschool until fall.  (She'll be 5 in October.)

I wrote a note to M's teacher, and M also made a card and dictated a thoughtful note.  (She mentioned Mrs. S's "great forgiveness" which tells you that M is not a model student-or even average when it comes to behavior-even for a 4 year old).

We gave the teacher the notes, along with an edible thank you and a gift card.  I made sugar cookies, and wrote T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U, along with some shapes in frosting.  (This was my most successful attempt at frosting...it doesn't usually go well.)  I lined a box with tissue paper and then tin foil, and placed the cookies inside the box.  Nothing exciting, but hopefully appreciated.  (Not all teachers like edible gifts...I have no idea if Mrs. S. does or not, but it's worth the chance for me.)

(In making the sugar cookies, let me tell you what torture it is to have scrumptious cookie dough in the fridge that is strictly off limits!!  UGH!  The only time I don't eat cookie dough, due to the raw eggs, is during pregnancy.  It was pure torture.  However, on baking day I made up for it.  I'm not certain of the number of cookies, but I think it was under ten.  These are my really irresistible sugar cookies...the kind I can't walk by without eating one...or more.)

How do you say thank you?

(The photo of M above shows her wearing a long necklace with graduation caps on it.  It was given to her when we went to a graduation party last year.  I don't think she equated her "closing day" ceremony with graduation, but when she asked to wear it, we said yes.  In case you are wondering, she has pony tails and wanted to wear her headband.  Then she added her sunglasses to the top of her head...all before heading off to school on Thursday.)

Homemade Stamp

A while back, we had a 55th birthday to celebrate in the family.  We made a homemade card to give.  We made a stamp, and used handprints to make the card.

To make a stamp for the number five, first draw a block-style 5 on paper. Then turn it backwards and trace it on sticky foam. After cutting it and removing the backing paper, I placed it on a wooden block. I made a stamp pad from a folded paper towel and paint. Then I had my child stamp away on the inside of the card! It wasn't until hours later that I realized that there are eleven fives...fifty-five!

I thought two five-fingered hands would be a nice representation of 55 as well, so I painted hands and attempted hand prints for the front of the card.

Homemade stamps are easy and fun!  Give them a try for yourself!

Another Wall Hanging

I love personalized items-note cards, pillows, key chains, wall hangings...and even if I have not made a personalized wall hanging for my son yet, I have made a few as gifts.  Above is the most recent one that I made for a newborn baby of a friend.  (Isn't Felicity a beautiful name?)  It is really basic with just paint for the background instead of scrapbook paper.  (I didn't want to clash with nursery decor.)  For the lettering, I used a brown behind a green print that had brown and pink in it, though you would need to click the photo to enlarge it to see all of that.

You might notice the shiny glare...the Mod Podge I used was glossy.  Next time I will use regular matte finish.  The photograph shows just how imperfect it is...if you have any tips for keeping lettering straight while using Mod Podge, please share!  I'm glad it was appreciated despite the flaws!

If interested in how to make a personalized wall hanging or changing it to a barrette holder, you can click the links.

Make a Gift Bag

Earlier this month I went to a baby shower.  Part of the gift I purchased came from a little toy store that gives white paper bags with the purchase.  Instead of buying another gift bag and wasting this one, I just decorated this bag.  I dipped cookie cutters in paint and pressed to the bag.  Simple...though the picture certainly shows how crooked my prints are.

Name Bean Bags

You might remember my thoughts to make several handmade gifts for my family.  Well, it was just a thought...not reality.  I still like the idea of trying to make fabric letters for my kids, but I after cutting out one letter's layers, I thought it was just too much.

Since I still wanted to sew a toy that had letters, I made bean bags for my children.  Each bean bag has a letter of the child's name.

These are rustic.  I know.  But they have great potential for throwing and word building.

You can create words other than their names, too.

VEGAN-for my friend Jenny

Silly Eagle Books first gave me the idea for name bean bags.  But she used fabric paint...and I did not want to buy fabric paint or freezer paper.  I had the thought to just use a fabric marker, but really I tried, and it didn't look good.  So I used applique.  I learned how to do it when I made the name pillows.

I have always had a thing for lettering.  I cut these letters fully free-hand.  (When I was in high school I used to draw the names of my favorite bands on my book covers and notebooks to look like their names on my cassette tapes.  I was pretty good, too, at Poison and Cinderella.  Though my taste in music has changed, and I pay much more attention to lyrics than I did then, I still like to play with letters and words.)

If you are interested in cutting letters from fabric or paper free-hand, I totally recommend it!  To keep the letters all the same height, I first cut a long rectangle of fabric.  Then I cut that rectangle into smaller rectangles, always keeping the height the same.  It is not necessary to have all the rectangles the same width because some letters should naturally be wider than others.  (W takes up much more width than I.)  Then I just cut.  Of course you could draw the letters on the fabric, too, but this worked great for this project.

I appliqued the letters to the top of the fabric squares and then sewed them, leaving a small opening for the beans.   (A funnel is helpful!!)  We learned that Roman beans are much too large, dense, and heavy to be in a bean bag.  It would have been a weapon for my children!  We changed to a smaller black-eyed bean.  They turned out well enough for our family.

If you decide to make name bean bags, I'd love to see your result!  Paint sure would have been simpler, but these work, too.  I didn't have any masculine small-print fabric, so I used the navy stripes.  I really liked the feminine purple with multi for my daughter though.

Shopping!

Since I was a young teen, I have been buying my own gifts to give to my parents and four siblings.  That means that my babysitting money was quickly spent.  When I was in college I began shopping by mid-fall for Christmas gifts for my family and friends.  Now I shop year round, looking for deals and things that remind me of someone.  Now that many of my siblings have children and/or spouses, and I shop for my husband's family, too, December could be tough financially.

We keep things realistic.  With over 25 people in our parent/sibling (and significant other)/niece/nephew category, we know our limits with spending money.  Though we don't have a firm budget, I do try to be careful as in my spending WITHOUT shopping on Black Friday.  That kind of chaos is not my style.

I currently have a shopping list.  I have a group of gifts that I know I can buy locally (because that is how I prefer to shop and I wrote about its benefits and the 3/50 project that you might want to read).  I have another shopping list of items that I will purchase on-line through stores/sites that offer good deals.  I will likely do most of this shopping on Black Friday sitting in Grandma and Grandpa's living room.   LL Bean has free shipping through December 20th.  I intend to purchase several hanging toiletry organizers because I love mine!  I will also do some shopping with Amazon and likely CSN Stores. Whenever I use Amazon, I try to use an Amazon associate by clicking on a blogging friend's Amazon link.  It gives the associate a tiny percentage of the purchase price instead of just giving it to Amazon.  Yes, I am an Amazon associate, but my purchases cannot benefit me, but I want them to benefit someone!

One more thing...it's good to support stores that support Christmas...not just the "holiday" that brings them in tons of money.  You can check out a naughty and nice list for stores who support Christmas if you wish.

So what about you?  Are the deals worth it to you on Black Friday?  Do you do any (all?) shopping on-line?  Do you have any gift favorites for giving this year that you want to share?

Father's Day Hand Prints

If you are a grandpa or the dad to my kids, you should skip this post or spoil your surprise.

This photograph does not show the potential for this "card."  My inspiration came from Izzie, Mac, and Me.  Cindy had made a framed set of prints at Christmas.  It was so adorable, so be sure to check out her set. 

I wanted something more card-like to give to each of the grandfathers and my husband than Cindy's framed prints.  I traced each of the children's hands on to cardstock.  Then I cut those out and traced and cut hand prints from contrasting scrapbook paper.  Each heart holds the child's name.  The oval at the top could be titled with anything, but I decided to put the date and Father's Day there.

It's simple...maybe too simple for some, but you can always make this idea your own!

I'm linking up to Crystal's Craft Spot Challenge.  Click button for more Father's Day ideas!

Button Snowflake

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We don't "do" glitter in our home.  Derek has a strong dislike for it.  :)  Frankly, I'm not fond of the mess it makes after the project is completed either.

We have lots of craft sticks, and I wanted to celebrate our snow with a snow craft.  So we made these snowflakes as a variation to glitter snowflakes that I have seen a lot.

Mine were pretty simple.  I glued the four craft sticks together and painted them with white acrylic paint when the glue dried.  (I think silver would look great!)  I wanted M (age 3) to help, so I only used craft glue to attach the buttons, but hot glue may hold better.  M had great fun choosing white buttons and placing them on the glue.  We used a ribbon so that it could be an ornament.

We made a bunch of these button snowflakes.  We kept one for our Christmas tree, and gave the rest away.

We gave one to our neighbors.  They are a family of eight, so I wrote each person's name on a "spoke" with the year 2009 in the center.

(Since the children are both sick...the messy variety...posting may continue to be sporadic as I use the evenings after they are in bed to recover from the day.)

Teacher Gifts

So I just realized that M now has

1. a teacher
2. an aide
3. an SLP
4. a bus driver
5. a bus aide
6. Sunday school teacher

WOW! Now, as a former teacher I really appreciated Christmas gifts from my students. My favorites were not "teachery" but things like Christmas ornaments, lotions, and candles. I also loved books for my classroom. The best were the little gifts the children choose for me themselves. (I still use a bookmark from Claire on a regular basis.)

It is very, very strange to be on the parent side of education. I really don't know the personalities of any of these influential people in her life except her Sunday school teacher. (Or their health concerns. Hopefully with my plans they aren't on low fat, low sugar diets.)

I'd like to make (sew?) stuff, but I'm just not sure what would be appropriate. The bigger issue is what I have the time to make! I still want to do create some things for my own family, and I am not sure that I will get much of it completed. I guess I better get to work. But first I need some better ideas. Right now all I can think to do is a chocolate chip cookie pie and a homemade bookmark. Maybe we'll do those two items with a book for the classroom, too, for the teacher and SLP. Is it lame?

I don't like Christmas to be about the gifts, yet I like to give. Oh, and I tend to be frugal.(You can say cheap). Somewhere there is a balance! Last year M made pasta necklaces for some special ladies in her life. I'd like for her to be involved in the gift making process somehow, and the chocolate chip cookie pie is an easy way to do that. It's an easy recipe, and she can easily help.

What do you do for the teachers and such in your child's life? Do you have any suggestions for me? (I know gift cards would be appreciated, but I don't prefer to give them.) Any ideas for gifts that M could help make (other than food)?

Would you please forgive me for posting about Christmas (again) before Thanksgiving? It's the handmade thing that makes planning necessary. (Or at least I can tell myself that. In reality, I try to buy Christmas gifts year round. The earliest I've ever been done Christmas shopping was when I was in college. I finished in October once. Now that I have children, shopping doesn't happen often.)

You can also check out my handmade gift plans. We'll see what I have time for.

Let me know your ideas for handmade items or teacher gifts!

Today's the last day for the Fun Felt Giveaway! Be sure to check it out!

Handmade Christmas Gifts

So I probably have some big dreams for Christmas this year; but in actuality I probably won't get everything done. 1. Mouse puppet - I will be making a pattern and the mouse will go with 2. Felt fruits and vegetables - I'm not sure what free patterns are out there since I need some very specific patterns. I will probably make them up as I go, but seriously, if you have an idea of how to make GRAPES, please share with me! Together the mouse and the fruit will go with the book Lunch by Denise Fleming. It's a great book and great for a little puppet kit. 3. Silhouettes - I just think it'd be neat to do these now before the children get any older. See my sidebar for two examples under "upcoming projects." 4. Family Tree - These will be for some family members. I already made some. You can see some here. So those are some ideas I have at this point. When I saw the idea over at Mommy's Wise Little Bookworms, I decided to take a break from our stress and share. Want to see more handmade ideas? Head on over to here. (It's nice to be home from the hospital, but it is better to not worry about E. Maybe I'm in denial, but I am really hoping that this was a one time thing. Even though he is on meds for seizures, I am really hoping that they aren't even needed. You know?)

Family Tree

This project was inspired in early summer when my older sister gave me a necklace that had a tree on it and it said, "Family is nature's masterpiece." Really, the credit goes to God, but it's a wonderful necklace and 100% my taste. I have a thing for trees.

Shortly after getting the necklace, I had a vision to make a visual family tree. I set to work drawing the tree. This took MANY hours. It's been a long time since I drew anything other than flowers, rainbows, and sunshines for M. (I used to be a bit of an artist. During college I even took a couple classes...enough for an art concentration with my elementary education degree.) At first I was going to keep the leaves uniform by drawing a pattern first. In the end, I decided to draw each leaf freehand. It makes sense since cutting them out is not an exact science for my hands.

I'm pleased with the outcome. The leaves can hold the name of family members. The circle can hold a family surname or initial. Of course it's important to leave blanks for new spouses, adoptions, or births.

If you make one of your own, please let me know! I do ask that you respect the time and effort I put into this and not copy the tree exactly as it is, but just use it as a guide.

Though I think it would be fun to sell (a tweaked version of) this one day, I am really pleased with how it turned out. The first people to get this were the three friends that signed up for the Pay It Forward post. This is the gift I sent them. They, in turn, choose something...anything...to send to three others.

The three blogging friends who got this (not filled out so that they could frame it and give it as a gift if desired) were Debbie (a friend from my church) at Debbie's Digest, Nicole at The Activity Mom, and Lisa at Cheerios Underfoot.

When I was spending an evening cutting (actually many evenings) the trees and leaves, Derek asked me why I didn't just use the Cricut. Wouldn't that be nice? The Cricut just doesn't do customized cutting for me. Wouldn't that be nice though? (I did use the Cricut for the circle and initial though.)

What do you think? Any suggestions for improving the design before I make any more? I'm already thinking to use darker brown for the tree. I used an off-white paper for the background, but a creamier color might be better. I'm not sure if a printed background would be better. What else might help?

Personalized Barrette Holder

I made this last week, but I am finally getting around to taking/posting pictures. M (not that the photo doesn't say the rest) has been wearing clips in her hair since she was about four months old. Baby clips never worked on her thick, long hair. We've lost a few since we haven't organized them. Hopefully this will work. AND it will be the first item to be hung on her wall. (We're slackers like that. Before we moved she had three items hanging! That was more than a year ago.) I was inspired by Katie's Nesting Spot, but this is my simpler version. Her directions are wonderful!

I bought a cheap unpainted oval at Wal Mart. I painted the edges with a close matching green to the scrapbooking paper I had chosen. On top of the green, I dry brushed white. I used Mod Podge to attach the paper, as well as the lettering that I had used a friend's Cricut to cut. (My next project will be using my very own Cricut! Woo-hoo!!) I chose all capital letters because I don't like the "a" and "g" to be extra loopy for a little girl's bedroom.

I used a hot glue gun for the ribbons. Now I wish they were longer and set further apart. I noticed the clips slide a little on the ribbons. If it becomes a problem, I will place a button at the bottom of each ribbon.

Something I never would have thought of is the backing. Katie suggested using felt to protect your walls. Wonderful idea!

I like this project enough that I will probably do it again, but without the ribbons-just as a decorative piece. You can see more creativeness at Creative Cats Tuesday. (a few days late!)

FYI: We have company coming this weekend and going away for a bit, so I'll be taking a short break from posting. :)

See my newer name plaques by clicking!