A great teacher gift {A SIMPLE INFINITY SCARF} for an infinite amount of thank yous!

Let me just start out by making a disclaimer.... I am a teacher.  I have been teacher for 10 years now {oh yes, I am to that point where adults run up to me in public yelling, "You were my 6th grade teacher!!"}.  Any-who, with that said, now that I have my own littlens with teachers of their own, I like to try to make teachers' gifts usable, special, and a little unique.  This year my daughter is in preschool and between all of her "teachers" there are 12 usable, special, and unique gifts to come up with AND since I am a teacher as mentioned before, I am on a budget!

So I saw these adorable, soft, cozy infinity scarfs the other day- price tag, $12.  Not too shabby.  In fact, I thought that was a great price... then math kicked in 12 X 12... I am pretty sure I am suppose to know this math fact and it is way to close to $150, which I don't have just lying on the nightstand.  SO my wheels started turning and I thought- how hard could one of these suckers be to make- simple I am sure!  And- another disclaimer- I sew... when I need to, and I don't necessarily know what I am doing.  AND, it was even pretty simple for me.  In fact, I spent 3 hours one morning {while watching a 4 year old and 1 1/2 year old at the same time} and got all 12 done!  And my total: $27!

Basically you need 1 cut yard of fabric for every 2 scarfs.  Since all of our teachers have different personalities, I just went through the sale bin (with an additional 40% off coupon in hand) cuddling with fabrics and since I need one cut yard, I got 6 different fabrics to try to match the different personalities... and let the CUT COUNTER do the cutting- woo-hoo!  {I hate cutting fabric!}  I snapped pictures once I had the kinks worked out to share with you- I hope they help!!

(Click HERE to see this tutorial in Google Drive- you can zoom in to see each step clearly there :)

 So 12 scarfs for just under $30, not to shabby!

I made up these little tags to go with them and had them printed at Costco.  You can download the tag HERE if you are in need!

And there you have it- cute, cheap, cuddley scarves for the teachers- hope they enjoy!!

OH- and added bonus... I got the best Photo bomb ever while trying to get my hubby to snap a few pictures of the scarves... isn't she a cutie!?!  Love this picture :)

A Handprint, Toilet Paper Roll Turkey

This is no new concept... turning a toilet paper roll into a turkey- but I had to share, because of course, they turned out adorable!  Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

A Little Pumpkin Baby Shower- A Cute Fall Theme!

 

When I found out my sis-in-law wanted to have a "Little Pumpkin" themed baby shower, I was thrilled!  How cute is that for a fall baby??  Here are some pictures from the adorable shin-dig!!

The Front Table included lots of pumpkins, some cute belly shots, lots of fall cuttings, a memento box for the parents to be and new baby girl and a few baby name books for fun!  And of course a Little Pumpkin banner!!

 

 The Table Centerpieces were pumpkins with flower arrangements, requested by the mom to be.  I found small vases at Dollar Tree and helped to stabilize them by pouring rice inside of the pumpkin and around the outside of the vase.   I also made these cute painted jars from old spaghetti sauce jars and olive oil jars- I loved these as well!!  To add a splash of color my girl friend helped me to whip out table runners from Joann's clearance section fabric that helped tie together all the colors as well!

 

A Memento Box was placed at the head table and at each place the guests were given "MAD Advice" sheets and "A note to the little pumpkin..." sheets to place in the memento box.  I just printed these on postcard sheets I found at Office Depot.  The parents to be will have fun reading the new parenting suggestions an the little one will be able to grow up to read the notes from friends and family to her.

The Cupcakes were a Pumpkin Cupcake with a Cream Cheese Frosting- super yummy!!  Just piped on the frosting and added a cute pumpkin candy on top.

And a fun little mimosa bar with orange juice, cranberry juice, and a pomegranate spritzer to top off the cute fall theme!!

 

And it was a success... we wore out my red head- sure sign a wild time was had, lol!  Hope this gave you some fun ideas if you are thinking of doing a little pumpkin shower yourself!!

PS- Looking for some cute DIY Little Pumpkin shower invitations- check out these printable ones HERE!

In the Nest, Ready to Learn Classroom Behavior Chart

Since school in getting ready to start for most of the world (we have already been back two weeks now!), I figured I should share our little behavior chart for our classroom so some of you all could take advantage!!  We are doing a little birdie theme, which I may get myself together enough to take pictures and show, but for now, here is the behavior chart!!  The students each have a clothes pin with their name and they all start out on green (woo hoo!) and can move up for good choices and down for poor choices!  Ours hangs on one of our cabinet doors and works wonderfully!

You can download the prints HERE.  I sent them to Costco and ordered 8X10 prints (there are four in all and costs about $6 to print).  You will have to cut the red from the purple.  I glued down the pieces on some butcher paper in the correct order and laminated to help make it more durable. 

Hope you enjoy!

Little Pumpkin Baby Shower Invites- Free and Customizable!

So my sister in law is pregnant with a beautiful little girl... which means I get to help throw the baby shower {fun, fun, and more fun!}.  Since the shower will be in October, we are going to have a 'Little Pumpkin' shower.  Since I am in charge of the invites, I kind of went crazy making all sorts of invitations and letting her choose a style that she liked best.  And since I have all these already made, why not share them??? 

To use these backgrounds, just download them HERE and open them in a picture editing software that allows you to add text.  My favorite and easy to use program is Google's free Picasa program.  Once you add your text and save as a jpeg file, you can send to your favorite print shop (mine is Costco, lustre finish).  I personally use a wholesale postcard printing service (like Overnight Prints) which not only gives you a nice sturdy card stock, but also allows you to add details for the invitation on the back and can usually be ordered with envelopes!  Oh- and is super cheap... but will take longer to get through the snail mail!

Let me know if you are able to use these for your baby shower- I would love to see!!  Also, any questions, just let me know!  Enjoy and happy showering :)

 PS: Many of these design elements and fonts are free to use for those of us amateurs who are not making things like these for money!!  I would like to thank just a few of these awesome places for having free goodies!!

Persnickety Prints
Kimberly Geswein Fonts
Pugly Pixel
The Coffee Shop Blog

Old DVD Case Turned Traveling Coloring Case... Genius!!

We are going on a road trip in one week.  When I say road trip, I mean 12 hours in the car with a four year old who is famous for being bored and a one year old that we can't even manage to keep strapped into a shopping cart or high chair... so in other words, we're screwed!  And it is totally karma... one of my good firends just took her boys 1,300 miles on a trip to a family cabin and as she messaged me the beautiful pictures along the drive I kept telling her how nuts she was taking a two year old and four year old that far in a confined vehicle... why it didnt occur to me at that time that we would be doing something similar just a month later, I don't know... but I do know that WE ARE SCREWED!

So, what is one to do?  Go to Pinterest!!!  I even started a 'Play Time {On the Go}' board to add everything I found to!  But within 10 minutes of searching for 'road trip with kids' I found this genius little idea that I am adding to my arsenal of activities for the trip.  A DVD case turned into a small and very portable AND contained coloring case.  I was instantly in love (so much I dont know if I even pinned it yet!) and began throwing one together ASAP because, as the hubby reminded me before he left for work today, we have seven days to go and we need a list and a packing plan NOW.  I figured this was even better, secretly doing what I love while also preparing for the trip, lol!

Anyway- check out how cute this is!  I am not going to give you step by step directions because Stacy at {handmade by stacy vaughn} did an excellent job in her tutorial on her site.  The only thing I changed was using hot glue to hold everything together and adding a piece of ribbon along the inside.  It took just over a half hour to complete start to finish and the only hard part was cutting out the center DVD part (see Stacy's page to see what I mean!!).  And one thing I would have changed in the future... pay attention to the color of the DVD case... I just grabbed one that seemed sturdy, but now that it is done, I wish I would have grabbed the white case right next to it (really- why I didn't catch that??)!

And big sis is so in love with it... I only got about half way through making it before she knew something was up, mom was making something WITHOUT her help- yikes!  So she helped with all the final touches and put all the colored pencils into the pouch :)

So... with this one little idea added to my bag of tricks... I still need more, lol!!!  If you have any great on the go type of activities for toddlers and preschool, please share the link or idea below... I sure could use them :)

A Fun Baby & Belly Picture Idea

So yes, little sis is already one... and I still haven't shared this, but I do love how it turned out and wanted to get it up here eventually!  So, here it is, our fun belly and baby picture thanks to my sweet hubby :)

(Click on Picture to Enlarge)

Just a quick how we did it: The pictures were taken in front of our sliding glass door with sun coming in, sheer curtain pulled across.  With a little added light in the editing process, it completely whites out the background.  Once we had both shots, I used Picasa (google's free photo organizing and editing program) to create a collage joining both shots and adding the writing.

 Now my sis-in-law is pregnant and I am on the search for fun and creative belly pictures once again!  If you have any, I would love if you'd share the link below!

Preschool Artwork Collage for the Scrapbook

This was big sis' first year in preschool and and while I knew I wanted to save pieces of work from her year for her scrapbook, I didn't really understand how impossible that would be until I had a whole box full of stuff!!  I decided instead of putting the actual work inside of her scrapbook, I would do a collage of some of her best pieces to put opposite of her class picture.  Picasa (google's free picture organizing and editing program) has an easy-peasy collage tool, so I was able to throw this together in about 30 minutes while the girls played on the back patio this afternoon.  I found a good lighting spot in my living room to take a picture of each of the pieces, threw them onto the computer, did a little cropping and editing, then put them into the collage.  Even better, Costco does cheap 12X12 prints that I can slide right into her scrapbook- double win!!

Now I just have to decide if I am going to keep all her work as well- yikes!!  LOL!  Anybody have any good tips for your kids' artwork and school papers??

A Shabby Chic First Birthday

Little sis turned one this month.  I had a blast throwing all the details of her party together... a shabby chic sorta affair with a little country garden feel to it.

The Invites
I design the invites myself using Photoshop Elements and use a business postcard printer online to print- for about $25 I can get 50 of these on heavy duty card-stock, rounded corners, and envelopes!  They also print the back- so all the details (and more adorable pictures) go on the reverse side!  Love this little trick to help save money!!

 Making the Banners
I went to our librarian at school to see if she had any discard books (older books usually missing pages) and I was in luck!  I used old book pages, packaging paper (which is kind of a paper bag feel and you can get at any hardware store), and I printed out the letters on 4X6 lustre finish paper at Costco.  To make things go quicker, I used a spray glue I had left over to throw them together- and I loved how they turned out!!

The Outfit
I made this shabby chic little outfit {the tutorial is HERE} for under twenty dollars and only about an hour of time.  It turned out super cute when paired with boots and some ruffly socks!

The Decor
I went with a country garden feel... think burlap, red checkers, and mason jars!!  I found favors in Target's dollar section: hand shovels and rakes, bubble wands, and pin wheels.

The Grub
The hubby got up early to smoke us a pork shoulder... YUM!  So the menu included chips and salsa to snack on, BBQ Pork sandwiches with a homemade Carolina style BBQ sauce, sweet baked beans, salad, watermelon, and a fresh strawberry-cucumber water, lemonade and sweet tea to drink.  The cake was a delicious dark chocolate with strawberry filling with a smoosh cake in white cake for the munchkin... so fun!  A perfect welcome to summer :)

I had a blast putting it all together and most importantly, little sis had a great time with family and friends!!

PS- I am all about sharing... you can download all of the following tags and birthday banner letters HERE (They are JPEG files designed to print on 4X6... I use Costco and choose lustre finish which is similar to matte)!  Just share the love by following my blog :)