Teacher's Gifts with Etsy Love {Sunbasilgarden}

Took my boy to school this morning, for his last day there in 2010 and in hand we had his GF/CF Coconut Bliss chocolate 'ice cream' bar for him to eat at the class party and his teachers' gifts.

Often, I hand make their gifts, but I knew that time would run short this year. Thankfully, when I saw Sunbasilgarden's uber cute hand crafted soaps, I knew I had a great solution!

He has two great teachers, one received the Pink Sugar Cupcake Soap and the other the Fresh Pear Cupcake Soap.  Lauren, the woman behind Sunbasilgarden, also sells the four cupcakes as a cute set, packaged in a bakery tray.

His aide received an adorable, don't ya wish it was summer, Lime Water Ice Soap.  And again, Lauren sells an adorable gift set with all four flavors, er..um...I mean scents.

The cupcakes & ice water soaps all came with cute tags on them for me to write on, but since its for Christmas, I replaced them with these adorable retro tags I found online.  Print them on cardstock and simply cut them out or add glitter, Stickles, or use a spica glitter pen to add a little festive flair!

This Pomegranate Paradise Salt Soap is in my shower right now.

And while Lauren is closing up Sunbasilgarden for Christmas in a couple of days, doesn't this Winter Wonderland Soap with scents of peppermint and vanilla sound perfect for January?

Or how about some Hot Chocolate Whipped Soap?

And the bar version of Hot Chocolate Soap....aren't those marshmallows cute?!

Under the Christmas tree are a couple more cute Sunbasilgarden soaps all wrapped up.  Did you do any Etsy shopping this holiday season?

And I'm Tickled Pink, bringing all this cuteness to school today and because Holly has featured my art journal cover on her Tickled Pink post today!  I'm quite happy to link up again today...come play, so I can visit you too! :>

We interupt the regularly scheduled program.....for {Teacher Gifts}!

We made it!! YAAAAYYYY!!!! My boy's last day of school was yesterday and it was SO nice to not only complete the school year, but also to turn OFF my 5:40 AM alarm clock!!!! I cannot express how happy that makes me! :>

Yes, I know I promised to return with {Part Two}of the doll house with pictures of its completion and I'm sorry I haven't gotten that up yet. I was trapped in the kaleidoscope of the zany & zippy, Crazyland that is the last week of school! So, please pardon the interruption to the regularly scheduled program as I have some teachers, aides, and principal gifts to share! :>

We had two teachers, two aides, and one principal that we brought end of the year thanks and goodies too.  While these were the people who we wrote, created and packaged bits for, we do know that it takes many more people to make a successful school year for our children and we are grateful to all that contributed!!

Initially, we were thinking Gerber Daisies, as I had the tag's wording in mind.  But, when I went looking, I found these fabulous and fun plants!  They are Celosias and the flower is spiky, feathery, vibrant, and look like little colorful Christmas trees, up close.  They could not be more perfect!  You can read more about Celosias here and here.  I have uploaded two close-up shots of the flowers themselves on Flickr here and here.

I had fun playing around with my fonts when coming up with these simple, but very appropriate tags for each plant.  I made them in MS Word, matted them on brightly colored cardstock, used different colored eyelets, and layered on another bright color with a spiral paper clip.  (Click on the pics to enlarge them and make them easier to read!)

The Celosias were four inch plants in the standard green plastic pot....perfect for planting, not so great for gift giving.  So, wee girl and I made a quick trip to Jo-Ann's and bought some dark green burlap.  We cut it into squares and Princess helped hold the burlap folded up around the pot, while I tied on some twine from the hardware store that I had.  Tie on the tag and they are a sweet little gift!

Teachers definitely put in so much time and effort and these two teachers, in particular, we all appreciate so much.  We wanted to give them a little something extra to show that.  So, I wrapped up four cards (1, 2, 3, 4) and envelopes and tied them up in wide pink grosgrain ribbon for simple, yet sweet gift giving. 

As we were giving out our end of the year gifts, a teacher surprised me with an extremely thoughtful gift.  She took pictures of our son through his school day, with his friends, classmates, different aides & teachers, in the classroom, at lunch, and recess.  She said that she knew that I scrapbook and wanted to give me pictures to scrap.  How thoughtful is that?!?!?!!

We have worked with this teacher closely for the last two years and I do not have words to express how wonderful she has been.  I am sure that when any of us look back, twenty years from now, we will remember her very well and still be grateful for her.

This small set (1, 2, 3, 4) of cards were wrapped up in a beautiful bright green wide sheer ribbon and tied off in a bow.  These were going to his classroom teacher who is full of smiles, enthusiasm, and a passion for teaching!  Our boy says that she was funny, great at teaching math, super nice, and that he enjoyed listening to her read stories to the class.  We so enjoyed her being our son's teacher this year and she will be missed!

One aide in particular, had a special connection with our son.  He enjoyed her so much, thought she was funny, and absolutely idolized her thirteen year old son....so much so, that her son was kind enough to come spend time after and before school a couple times a week with my boy this spring to talk about Star Wars, guitars, and Lego's.  How cool is that?! 

Princess and this aide shared something in common......they both enjoy their accessories!  In the last weeks of school, Princess often noticed my boy's very stylish aide wearing statement rings.  So, when we were thinking about end of the year gifts, Princess was the one to come up with the idea of giving this aide a statement ring.......and so we did!  I don't think the picture does it justice.  Its really fun and funky!

They have worked together for the last two years and in that time they talked, laughed, learned and taught, ran together (she runs half marathons....good thing 'cause my kidlet is fast and doesn't stop moving!! :>), played, and shared stories every day at school.  We will miss her next year!

Sending a BIG shout out to ALL the teachers out there (including the ones in my family!).......THANK YOU!

Thanks for visiting, I love it when you do! Hope you are having a fantastic weekend!!

Word Fun

LoL!! I have been looking for this site for a couple of months now and then what do I see on Ali's blog this morning??!! Wordle!! I was using it about once a month for awhile there and then the marble that held that information must have jumped ship, because suddenly I couldn't remember it at all. Thank goodness for such an awesome blogging community!! :>

I like plugging in my blog's url once in awhile. It only takes the words from that page (at least that's what it seems to do!) and so its fun to see what words you are using the most (as the ones you repeat are larger in the Wordle cloud) at that time. And it most definitely makes me happy to see that I use the word 'smile' a lot!!

While nosing around, I stopped in at the Wordle Blog and found this post on how to make Wordle safe for educators to use in the classroom (in other words, how to keep inappropriate words from kidlets' eyes and use Wordle as a learning tool). And for any of you Star Wars fans out there, here's a fun little post to check out!! Have fun! :>

Tim Holtz Tag & Christmas Teacher Gifts

Rocky Candy, how I love you....let me count the ways..... Well, if I truly did count.....this post would go on and on and on and on and on and on and ON! {And since I'm already a chatty gal, I'd rather just leave room on the post for that chatter!} But, needless to say, I LOVE the stuff, both the Stickles and Distress Crackle Paint alike...thank you Tim Holtz!

Here are some of my tags that I made based on his first inspirational tag from Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas:

I made five total. These three went on top of the blank Stampin' Up! tags I made for my son's teachers' Christmas presents this year.

In addition to the uber fabulous Rock Candy Stickles and Distress Crackle Paint, I loved how I made my snowmen! I do not have Tim's fun snowman stamp, so I punched out three circles, taped them together, layed them on top of Grunge Paper (I didn't even realize it was Grunge Paper and not Grunge Board, until he did a tag later down the line with it.......then I went back and looked and what do ya know!!! :>), traced and cut out my snowmen.

Next, I inked them up with black ink and embossed them twice with clear embossing powder. I inked up the snowflake stamp with Versamark and then pressed it down into the embossed snowman while the embossing powder was still warm. When it cooled down, I removed the stamp and it left a snowflake depression in my snowman (Thank you Claire for showing me that technique! :>). And then I added the white paint, followed the rest of Tim's instructions, and I had SO MUCH FANTASTIC FUN!!!! I felt like an inky, sticky kidlet making these and I think I had a permenant Chesire smile etched into my face! :>

Using assorted Stampin' Up! tag stamps, I made fifty-four tags, eighteen for each teacher. I used my Spica glitter pens to add some sparkle, some crystal Stickles for snow, and threaded each one with coordinating embroidery thread.

To present them, I threaded through each set of tags with a double strand of silver cord, put a signed large Tim snowman tag on top, and tied them off. School let out a week before Christmas this year, so these were practical for the teachers to use on their gifts. Practical, crafty, and fun makes for a great gift in my book and hopefully, in their books as well. These three women have been wonderful assets in our son's life and we are thankful for all of them!

Supplies:
Cardstock: White - Georgia Pacific; Certainly Celery - Stampin' Up!; Pure Poppy - Papertrey Ink; turquoise & blue - Stash
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue - Stampin' Up!; black - India Ink; Faded Jeans, Broken China, Worn Lipstick, Weathered Wood - Tim Holtz Distress Inks for Ranger
Stamps - Stampin' Up! (all except snowflake....$ stamp from stash)
Other: silver ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Grunge Paper & Board, Stickles, Distress Crackle Paint, Spica glitter pens - Copic; Paint Dabber - Adirondack; Versamark ink; clear embossing powder, embroidery floss & fibers - Stash

Another Teacher Thank You

We had another teacher to thank, Ms.Vicky, who was just simply wonderful to work with this year! She is kind, thoughtful, and really had our son's best interest at heart. I do not think I could say enough nice things about her. Just like with Ms. Connors, we really lucked out!

For Ms. Vicky, I decided to make her Lauren's Captured Card Case and fill it with.....cards! This was the first time I used this template and I was delighted to find that it is Beyond Easy!! I made this in the wee hours of the morning, one night before school was out and even with lacking sleep, it was still super easy. I filled it with this, this, this, and this card. Initially, I was going to make a cute matching set, but as a lot of you know how fast the last couple weeks of school can fly by, I ran out of time. I didn't want to short change this fabulous teacher though and still wanted to give her handmade cards, so I just pulled from some that I already made.

K&Company's Brenda Walton Mira Specialty Paper Pad has the most fabulous papers I think I've seen in a paper pad! I had sworn off paper pads/stacks/slabs since I so often forget to use them and while they can bring the price of patterned paper Way down, if I'm not using them, then its not only a waste of money, but of storage space as well. However, this pad has tickled me so much that I'm running out of the first one I bought several months ago and actually went out and bought a second one recently!! The patterned paper with the bird came from a piece in that pack. I cut it down and then to add just a little bit of interest, I used the burnished glitter technique from Spike, which I learned from my friend Dana at Paperdaydream (you should see the Gorgeous butterfly with dry embossing she put on her blog yesterday!). I burnished glitter on the birdy's eye and her branch, both with Martha Stewart glitter.


I hope everyone is having a fantastic day so far! The sun has amazingly decided to come out and play today.......it didn't shine through the overcast sky until after 5pm yesterday. Would you believe that?! On June 1st?! It was a surprise, but the kidlets and I had a really fun day yesterday and as I listen to them play with a tub full of cars and airplanes, making every sound effect possible, I'm hoping for another great one! Just wanted to wish you one as well and thank all who craft some time to for a little blog surfing, a little creativity, and a little play! I know I will! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Kraft, Dark Chocolate, New Leaf - PTI
Patterned Paper: Brena Walton Mira Specialty Paper Pad - K&Co.
Glitter: Aquamarine Crystal, Brownstone - Martha Stewart
Template: Captured Card Case - PTI

Thank You Teachers!!

School finished up the '08-'09 year on Friday. We were crazy fortunate that our son had the most Fabulous teacher this last year. Not only is she an outstanding teacher, but she was also the perfect fit for our boy! He grew and thrived in her classroom and we will certainly miss seeing her daily next school year!


Confession time! Like many of us, I am addicted to dollar departments. Every time I enter Target or Michael's, the gravitational pull toward the Dollar Spot or that lovely dollar aisle seems to be unbreakable. My daughter will ask, "Mama, where you driving?" (aka where am I pushing her in the shopping cart to?!).......um...to-the-land-of-cute-craftable-good-deals...can't stop now!!! And even worse, those fabulous one dollar craftables go into the ever growing collection at home and just wait and wait and wait and wait.....and wait to be used!!

But, this time, when I bought this adorable mini watering can, I knew exactly what I would be using it for.......a perfect little pencil holder for our perfect teacher! I wrapped a piece of Pure Poppy stitched grosgrain ribbon around the neck, adhering the whole piece with my ATG. I then made a bow, threaded two buttons with SU's hemp twine, and tied the whole thing together, knotting it in front of the top button. I adhered the bow embellishment to the Pure Poppy ribbon at the neck of the watering can with Fabri-Tac. This is a fabulous adhesive, especially for bulky tied ribbons and is a perfect item to coupon at Michael's!

When it came time to adhere the mini chalkboard, I used a new glue...well, new to me, that is...Zip Dry Paper Glue. Laying down a line of the glue onto the watering can, using the button as a centering line, I placed the chalkboard on top of the glue. It wiggled quite a bit, so I just held it tight for about five minutes and then it held and didn't budge! The most difficult part of this little project was writing with chalk on the mini chalkboard. Thankfully, I was able to erase and start over....many, many times! I finally realized that my handwriting did not need to be perfect, but rather, it was most important that it was legible and that I got all of the letters into that space!

When I made Mom's Mother's Day gift, I did not realize that I would become hooked on Lauren Meader's Timeless Templates. Yes, I should have known better!! Again diving into my tubs of delightful craftables, I came up with two little pails that I got at Target Dollar spot, two for $1. I checked out all of Lauren's templates and their measurements and discovered that the one that would fit more than one of the pails is one of the templates that I already have...yay! After trying to print "From the Desk of" and arguing with my printer that was not taking the cardstock (it took it the last time, so I think it has multiple personalities!), I printed the templates out on regular printer paper and just layered it on top of the cardstock to cut and score. And do you know what?! I like making the template better that way!! I didn't think I would, but I do and have the added bonus that the score lines are not printed on my project, distracting the eye!


What was even more delightful than these cute little craftables was that this became a major use my stash project! The patterned paper came out of an old Die Cuts With A View Fall stack and was inked with some Distress Ink. I made a ribbon flower by twisting and folding one piece of ribbon at each petal (kind of like how a cause ribbon is folded - pink for Breast Cancer, red for Aids or Heart Disease, etc.) and adhering each layer of ribbon with Fabri-Tac. The layered buttons were tied off with more hemp twine and then instead of tying them on to the flower, which would have changed its shape, I used more Fabri-Tac to adhere the buttons to the top of the flower.

I filled the mini pails with colorful paper clips & binder clips that were in my office supplies. And into the mini watering can went our perfect teacher's favorite brand of pencils, Ticonderoga. It took forty-eight pencils, I think. I wanted a little extra something that she could use at home as I suspected she would keep the other items in the classroom, so I included seed packets for zucchini, french leeks, and carrots for her garden. I thought they still tied in with the gift because of the cute watering can!


Lastly, I would really like to thank all the wonderful teachers that teach our children, guide them through their learning adventures, and help them thrive! I would like to thank all the parents who get involved in their kidlets' education. And I also want to thank everyone who supports the schools in their communities, whether or not you have kidlets attending. Without such strong community support in our town, my son and his classmates would not have experienced music class, art class, square dancing, spirit days, movie nights, star gazing night, and all the other wonderfully enriching activities that are paid for and put on by the PTO. Our community support is also what provides lots of our technical equipment, field trips, and other educational materials that would not be possible for our little school to have. So, thank you again to all who support their community schools and help provide the education and enrichment that is necessary for all of our kidlets to thrive and hopefully return that generosity for the next generation!!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Pure Poppy - PTI
Ink: Weathered Wood - Distress Ink by Ranger
Patterned Paper: Fall Stack - DCWV
Ribbon: Pure Poppy Stitched 5/8" Grosgrain - PTI; Natural Hemp Twine - SU!
Buttons: Stash....if I had to guess, I would guess either SEI and/or Autumn Leaves
Other: Mini Chalkboard - Darice