teacher and classmate gifts

There are only a few days left until school is out and summer vacation starts!  Yay!  I'm looking forward to life slowing down with pool days, sleeping in and relaxing our schedule a bit.  Before all that good stuff can happen, we have a little bit of work left to do.  

And part of that work is getting teacher gifts together!  I know teachers work SO super hard and don't get the pay and recognition they deserve.  So the least I can do is give them a token of my appreciation at the end of the year.  This year I went with chocolate!  

For my son's pre-school teacher (he's graduating pre-school this year, sniff) I did a jar full of assorted chocolates along with a gift card that can be used at a variety of restaurants.  

We are also giving the director of the school a jar of chocolate love too.  I put the gift note on the top of the jars.  My kids have been going to the same pre-school for about 7 years.  And now my baby is graduating.  We will miss this school and the sweet women who run it!!

I couldn't forget all of the wonderful teaching assistants around the school that help with everything!  They are wonderful!

I wrapped large chocolate bars with some cute patterned paper.  I wrote a lovely saying (found here) onto some coordinating paper, and then tied it all up with a bow!  Let's pretend that I didn't put the papers on this chocolate bar upside down, ok?  

My little guy spends lots of time learning and playing with his classmates so I did a little gift for them too.

I just wrapped a jar of bubbles with some curly ribbon and attached a small note!

Well, that's 3 things off my giganto list of things to get done in the next couple of days!  I gotta go get busy!!!

Where I've been

Whew!!  Life is crazy right now.  This month has been so busy- it's probably the most busy our little family has ever been!!  Here is what we've been doing:

A few weeks ago, my daughter and I went to a Little Big Town concert.  It was so so so good!

I'm working on a bunch of fun stuff.  My son's pre school is having a Spring Fling next weekend and I'll have some of my crafty goods there.

We went to see Iron Man 3.  We are all fans so it was no surprise that we loved it!!

My sweet boy's allergies got so bad that he started having breathing trouble.  It was scary seeing him struggle.  Thank goodness for medicine that quickly helped him to breath again!! 

My husband's mother and grandmother came for a visit.  His sister also came, but she isn't pictured here.

The reason for their visit was to celebrate my husband's birthday.  We had a big party at our house.  It was lots of fun!

I got to celebrate Mother's Day with these crazy kids!  Being a mom is the BEST!!!!

I got called to be the Young Women President in my church.  Holy cow!  Crazy!  I'm super excited to work with the girls ages 12-18 that go to my church!  I received these roses last week at mutual- our weekly activity night.

And last but not least, I got a new cell phone case.  Isn't it fantastic?!?!  Rue 21- $4.99.  Can't beat that price.  

So, what have you been up to the past few weeks?

colorful wooden magnets

My kids have tons of stuff going on- soccer, dance, school assemblies etc.  There are tons of papers around our house that always get stuck to the heart of our home- the fridge.  So since I can't do anything about the gobs of papers, I decided to at least make cute magnets to hold them.

The magnets are bright, colorful and FUN!!

I started with these bare wood pieces from my local craft store.

I mod podged some cute patterned papers to the front of them.

Then using a craft knife (amazon link), I cut the excess paper off.

I sanded the rough edges and gave each piece a few more coats of mod podge to seal it.  

I glued a small magnet (amazon link) to the back of each wood piece.

I love the variety of colors and shapes.

And they look great holding up a pic of my pumpkins!!  

linking up to:  Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Skip to My Lou, Today's Creative Blog, The Scoop, Naptime Creations, Chef In Training, Tatertots and Jello

Mother's Day round up

Are you thinking of making something crafty for your mom or mother in law for Mother's Day? Here are some ideas for you.

You could make her a Wooden Message Board with photos and sweet notes about all of the things you love about her.

You could make her a personalized Handmade Pendant. You could make it in her favorite colors or with her favorite quotes or even with a photo. Hmmm... the mom's in my life might be getting one of these.

You could make her some Chevron Art with her favorite colors.

You could do Money Balloons for her. Maybe with sweet notes instead of or in addition to the dollar bills.

You could make her a Canvas Bag to haul her stuff around in. One can never have too many bags.

You could make her Personalized Utensils and Pot Holders, with her initials and in her favorite colors.

I can't believe Mother's Day is this Sunday! I better get busy on gifts for our Mothers!

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Washi Tape Clothespins

I love clothespins and use them all over my house.  I use them on my chicken wire message boards  in my craft room and on my message board in my kitchen.

Well, all of those clothespins were plain.  And sad.  And naked.  And that just won't do. 

So I took those naked clothespins and dressed them up.

I started with medium and large sized clothespins that I got at my craft store.

And some of my stash of washi tape, also purchased at my local craft store.

All I did was stick the tape on the clothespin...

and cut the excess off with an exacto knife.

Super easy and super cute!!  With all of the different washi tapes available, you can make a variety of clothespins.

linking up to:  The Scoop, Today's Creative Blog, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Naptime Creations, Chef In Training, Not Just a Housewife, Sugar Bee Crafts, The 36th Ave

SNAP 2013

Last week I flew to Utah to attend the Snap Conference. 

My flight was delayed because of weather in Denver.  Normally, I don't mind delays because that's extra alone time for me.  I grabbed some lunch and a magazine and was pretty happy.

Unfortunately, on my connecting flight, I got super sick.  It was the worst flight of my life.  I spent a good chunk of time praying for relief from the pain I was in.  The other part of the time I spent becoming one with the barf bag.  It was horrible. And terribly embarrassing!

After some TLC from my mom and a good night's rest at her house, I headed down to Thanksgiving Point the next day.

I was super excited to be in the midst of amazingly crafty women!!  I took so many fantastic classes.  My mind is still spinning with all of the information I learned!

pictured top L to R, top to bottom:  Jen from Tatertots and Jello, Wendy from The Shabby Nest, Desi from The 36th Ave, Susan from Freshly Picked, Rhonna from Rhonna Designs, Shelley from House of Smiths, Amy from Idea Room, Becky from Organizing Made Fun, Lisa from Pennington Point, Becki from Whippy Cake, Lisa from Moxie Pear, Less Cake More Frosting, Katie from Vintage Rose Wraps, and 2 of the girls from The Crafting Chicks

I met Tausha from Sassy Style Redesign and Melissa from Hollyhocks and Honeybees.  They let me hang out with them and take a trip to Dear Lizzie Boutique.  It was so much fun getting to know these girls!  I've read their blogs for a while now and was thrilled to meet them in real life.

I met so many amazing women!  I feel truly blessed for having the experience of going to SNAP! 

pictured- Chrissy, Leanne, Heather, Melissa, Kelsey and some fun girls at the pajama party.

These are the business cards I handed out at Snap.  

I'll be spending the next few days, maybe even weeks going through all of these fun business cards I got.

linking up to: Snap recap