Paper Love

Wednesday brought us snow day #2 this week, and we put it to good use making homemade Valentines.

Catie’s preschool class even got to decorate a box to collect their cards in, which delighted me to no end.  I felt very nostalgic for my own childhood whilst helping her pick out just the right frills.  I always loved decorating that box, and was so disappointed that Annie didn’t get to do that last year (or this year, either, for that matter). 

Catie opted for pink-on-pink paisley fabric, red ric rack, white fluffy lace, seed pearls, and red ribbon roses.  And her name written in red glitter.  It’s girly fabulous, which suits my little fashionista to a T.

For the cards, we went completely old school as well.  Interestingly enough, the throwback cards are a financial setback, since even though I bought the paper doilies at the dollar store, these cards cost me about 5 times as much as just buying the pre-made ones would.  But ours are cuter.  And certainly more unique, since no one seems to make homemade Valentines anymore.  Such a pity.

Annie was methodical

Catie was creative

and Lilly had a wardrobe malfunction

She also thoroughly impresed me.  While Annie and Catie were writing their names on the back of their cards, Lilly decided to make her own mark on hers – in the form of tracing her little handprints, all by her OWN self.

It was an extremely messy project

but the end result was well worth it.

Another fun project we did was the heart flower suckers from last month’s Family Fun.  (Love that magazine!)

These were super easy and a big hit with the kids (and teachers!) that we gave them to.  Thumbs up!

Mess and all, it was another great snow day.

Home Makeover: Flawed Edition

I’ve been intending to blog about my adventures with a paint can (or 10) for quite some time now, but I’ve never quite gotten the homestead neat enough to do it.  (If you’re a regular reader you know I’m a messie.  I make no excuse for this.) 

I finally decided I had to post, neat or not, because otherwise we’d move before I ever got the chance to show off my hard work.  But here’s the catch: I’m doing it one room at a time.  This makes it much easier for me, because I can shift all of the clutter from one room to the next while I take pictures.  That way everything looks  fake beautiful for blogland, and I don’t have to do any actual organizing and de-cluttering.  Genius, right?

Our house is about 2 1/2 years old.  Weird that I felt the need to re-do everything?  Well not if you know me.  First of all, I love to paint.  Love it.  And while the shades the builder selected are quite lovely, there are only two of them.  And that just doesn’t work for me.

It all started with the kids’ playroom, which was quite dull.  The color was builder’s choice, a golden camel-ish color that is attractive in our master bedroom, but looked dull and depressing in the kids’ areas.  We could have had him use different paint colors (we bought the house while it was being built so we chose all of our finishes) but what would be the fun in that?

Much to my husband’s chagrin, I announced I wanted to paint it lime green.  He was not on board with this decision.  And really, he is the only one with a decent paying job which pays for the paint. (Although it’s worth noting that the only reason my stay-at-home-mom gig pays so poorly is because he’s the one underpaying me.  Humph.)  However, unfortunately for him, I am the one who does the actual shopping and painting.  So guess what color we got?

No, I didn’t really buy it against his wishes.  That would be wrong.  I first helped him to understand that his wishes were misguided.  And then he of course realized that he would never win anyway I was right all along.  And when it was all said and done (entirely by me, I might add) he decided he likes it too.  And I didn’t even have to tell him he likes it, he realized that all on his own.

I The girls love VeggieTales so I used the same Veggie decor from the playroom in the old house, and made a new valance for this window.  (Pardon me if it’s picture overload.  I’m kind of a home voyeur and I love to look at pictures of other people’s houses, so I’m assuming you’re the same.  Right?)

And while the end result may not be worthy of posting on ‘Rate My Space’ or anything, I’m pretty happy:

In fact, I love the green even more now that it’s on the walls.  It made me happy the whole time I was painting.  And since our playroom is the bonus room above the garage with only one window, the amount of light is always an issue.  This color made that room 10 times brighter and more cheerful!  It’s a lot more fun to hang out there now.

And if any of you were looking at these pictures and thinking, “Does she seriously think that is a straightened up room?” the answer is yes.  Yes I do.  I have low standards, and it’s a playroom after all.  If the mess is contained within and I can walk through barefoot without injury, then all is well in my book.  So cringe away tidy ladies, I have made peace with my mess.

Next stop, kid’s bedrooms!   Tune in next week for more of my Makeover Mondays!

*Makeover Monday will be a weekly feature, and this is the first installment.  I hope you will consider joining me!  Feel free to snag the button above (Thanks, Nicole!) and link up with pictures of your own projects – painting, room decor, furniture, landscaping, your wardrobe… Shredheads feel free to post the all-new, shredded you!  Any kind of makeover works for me, and it can be an older post too.  Just link back here and sign Mr. Linky!

Oh, and I know there was no advance notice, but just in case you’d like to play along THIS week, here ya go:

Have you thanked your teacher today?

Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week – did you know that?  It’s a week-long celebration, but Wednesday is the big day, so to speak.

We’re blessed to have a really amazing teacher and assistant, and I am all too eager to thank them at every opportunity.  The girls and I have been working on some fun projects for them, and just in case you are lacking for gift ideas, we’re going to share ours for inspiration.

I try really hard to give teachers something a little different, and something that I think they will use.  I have 3 big rules that I think must be followed for successful teacher gift-giving.

1)  Nothing teacher themed. No apples, no schoolhouses, no pencils.  Just because they teach doesn’t mean they want to live and breathe it every moment.

2)  No mugs, no Christmas ornaments.  Too typical, and they have plenty already.

3)  No perfume/cologne.  I don’t know how that got to be a common teacher present, but it’s way too personal.

I do not think that a teacher gift needs to be expensive to be appreciated, so don’t fret over buying pricey gift cards.  Teachers love your kids, and they love seeing them them use the skills they are developing in school.  It’s another way of rewarding them when they see that their hard work is paying off!  So here’s what we came up with, a present for each day.

Monday:

An easy-peasy and fun project.  I purchased the following:

2 cobalt blue glasses (to use as vases), $.77 each at Wal-Mart

1 large bunch of silk daisies, $3 at Wal-Mart

1 bag of glass marbles to hold the flowers in place, $1 at Dollar Tree

3 rolls of floral tape (only need part of 1 but it was a 3-pack), $1 at Dollar Tree

12 ball point pens, $1 at Dollar Tree

Total cost: $7.98 for two (could have been less if I’d bought flowers from Dollar Tree also)

supplies

Fill the glasses with the marbles.  Use wire cutters (or kitchen shears) to cut each individual flower stem off of the base, leaving several inches of stem to work with.  Hold the cut flower stem against the pen (writing tip away from the flower) with one hand, and with the other hand wrap tightly with floral tape, covering the entire stem. 

wrapping the pen

When you are finished wrapping, just tear off the floral tape and press it down – it sticks to itself.  Easy!

A finished pen

Now I know you may be thinking this isn’t your style.  I understand.  It’s a little cute for me, too.  I wouldn’t put it in my house.  But work is another story.  It’s nice to have a place where pens belong so there’s always one handy, and when they are cute and decorative no one’s going to be walking off with your pen.

Here’s our end result:

The finished project!

Annie was super excited about this one, and can’t wait to take it on the first day!  You could use a nice wired or grosgrain ribbon to tie on a bow, too.  We’re attaching this note:

Flowers brighten everyone’s day, and we hope these long-lasting blooms will brighten yours for many days to come.  (And they’re practical – I dare someone to subtly swipe a flower pen!)  Daisies symbolize innocence, a trait that you are well-acquainted with.  Thank you for fostering growth in our children while still protecting their innocence.  Daisies also symbolize gentleness, a characteristic that you most definitely possess.  Thank you for being a kind and caring influence in my daughter’s life.  Her world is a better place with you in it!

Tuesday:

I bought 2 super cute journals at Dollar Tree (total cost $2.12) and Annie is writing and illustrating her own stories for each of her teachers.  This is FUN project for her, and a great chance to show off the writing, spelling, and creative skills that the teachers have helped her further this year.  Annie’s chosen to write the adventures of SuperTeacher and her sidekick Mrs. Fabulous.  I think these will be a big hit!

Annie's SuperTeacher stories!

Wednesday:

This is Teacher Appreciation Day!  I wasn’t sure how many of the parents would know about the date, or have the resources to come up with a gift, so I took it upon myself to initiate a class project.  First up, I sent a note home to all of the parents, asking them to send in a favorite recipe.  Then I went to Wal-Mart and bought two 3-ring binders (on clearance this time of year, $1 each), a package of clear sheet protectors ($3.67 for 50), and a package of card stock ($2.97). 

I volunteer at the school every Wednesday, so last week I had the children color pictures on card stock for Ms. Kristen and Ms. Lois.  I also snapped a picture of each child. 

Teacher Appreciation books with kids' artwork

As the recipes come in, I’m printing them out on card stock and attaching the submitting child’s picture to each.  On the reverse side of the recipe will be the picture they colored, so each child has their own page in the class recipe book.

Photo developing will be $2.40 bringing the total cost of this project to $11.70 for two.

The recipe we’re sharing is for homemade pesto sauce, a family favorite.  In keeping with that theme, Annie’s taking each of the teachers a small flower pot with a basil plant in it.  Flower pots $1 each, and basil $3.48 for two, both from Wal-Mart.  Total cost for 2 pots, $5.81.

Thursday:

Chai latte gift basket

This is a basket chock full of David Rio Instant Chai latte mix.  We are going to pair it with several dozen cookies and attach the following note:

You know we think you’re the best around, but even the best need a little help sometimes.  Here’s a treat to enjoy and share with your ‘support team.’  We appreciate them, too!

Basket from Dollar Tree, tea from Garden Party Teas, cookies have to be store-bought (school policy) so we’ll hit Kroger.  Total cost $27.68

Friday:

I ordered recipe card holder craft kits from Oriental Trading. Ours are like those, but spring flowers instead of fall leaves (they must be sold out now).  Annie and Catie worked together with Elmer’s glue on the flowers, and I used a hot glue gun to do the stems and clips so they would be nice and sturdy.  We ordered enough of these to give one to the Grandmas for Mother’s Day, as well as one for all of the teachers (library, computers, etc) and the principal, assistant principal, and a few others.  Annie made a sign that says, “Thanks for all you do!” and she held it up so I could snap a picture.  I’m having copies of the picture printed and we’ll clip it onto each of the teacher’s pots.  Total cost for 12 crafts and photo printing, $7.83.

photo/recipe card holders

For her teacher and teacher’s assistant, these are just part of a larger present.  We put together ‘teacher survival kits’ which include things like Tylenol, Tums, earplugs, Airborne, hand sanitizer, coffee, some bath products, candles, wine, popcorn, m&m’s, a book, a movie gift card, and it all goes into a large popcorn tub.  You really can get a lot of this stuff at Dollar Tree too (including the brand-name Tylenol, Tums, coffee, and more!)  .  Total cost for 2 baskets, $90.  Could be much cheaper if you left out the wine, but really, do you know a teacher who doesn’t need a glass of wine?!?!  (I wasn’t quite finished with them when I snapped this picture, but you get the idea)

Teacher survival kits!

A few other ideas I’ve used in the past:

-Buy a jar or vase at Dollar Tree and fill it with scraps of paper on which you’ve written all the various reasons that your teacher rocks.  This is cheap, easy, fun, and feels fabulous for both giver and receiver.  This idea is great for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and lots of other occasions too!

-Potted plants are always appreciated!  This time of year even the blackest of thumbs tries to go green, so get a nice hearty plant like a petunia and some flower pots and get to planting.  Even more fun is to let your child paint the pot before you fill it!  If you’re gifting a reluctant gardener, give them some Bloom Booster to go with it – a miracle drug for your plants!

-Pictures of your child, or the entire class, are another inexpensive yet thoughtful gift.  Teachers love to remember the classes from years past and realistically they can’t keep every trinket and memento they are given.  Pictures have staying power!  A really cute idea (and one that I’m using for the end of the year!) is to have the children twist their bodies into ‘letters’ and snap pictures.  Crop the pictures to spell out a special message like ‘Thanks for a great year!’

So there you have it, my not-so-brief guide to thanking your children’s teachers.  I would love to hear some of your ideas as well!  I’m done with this year, but I could always use a creative stockpile to draw from in the future!