4 Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

1260.  That is the number of hours your child's teacher spends with your little one in a school year.  Each of these hours is filled with patience, knowledge and love.  Even if your kid is driving them up a wall, a good teacher still loves and cares for the kiddo as if he/she is her own.  Let one of the most important people in your child's life this year know how much you appreciate everything they do to make your little one successful.

Teacher appreciation gifts can fit ANY budget.  One of the best gifts a teacher can get is a heartfelt note from the parents of one of their kiddos.

Here's what we did for Chloe's teachers this year.

On Monday, Chloe took a bouquet of flowers for her teachers to enjoy throughout the week.

Hy-Vee bouquet of Lillies: $4.99

Vase from the collection under the sink: FREE
Thank you card from the junk drawer: FREE

*Tip for Fresh Flowers:  For fresher flowers longer, fill the vase 1/2 with water.  Add 1 capful of Hydrogen Peroxide to kill any bacteria in the water.  Add 1 teaspoon of sugar to "feed" the flower.

On Tuesday, we set a goodie bag for each teacher.
A large container of Hand Sanitizer: $1.00
Fingernail polish removed: $1.00
Fun summer color of finger nail polish: $1.00
Cute nail file: $.50
Traced and cut out preschooler hand with "You deserve a hand for all you do!": FREE

On Thursday, some chocolate bars and mixed candy for a sweet treat for each teacher. 

A glass candle holder: $1.00

Mixed candy: $2.00

On Friday, an Easy Mug Cake mix to enjoy for each teacher.

A tupperwear container with a tight lid: $.50

1 box of Angel Food cake mix: $1.50

1 box of Chocolate cake mix: $1.00

A note with instructions: FREE

*Add 3 tablespoons of cake mix and 2 tablespoons of water to a microwave safe mug/bowl for 1 minute.  Top with icing, powered sugar or whipped cream. 

*To make this totally adorable bow: How About Orange 

Total spent for a week of spoiling: $9.75 per teacher.  A measly price to pay for the gratitude we feel toward both of her preschool teachers. 

How do you show your little one's teachers how much they mean to your family?

XO! 

$2 Tutorial for Wall Art

A few months before Aria was born, we moved Chloe from her room to another room so we wouldn't have to change much for the nursery.  (It was already pick, the crib fit well along with the changing table.. ya know).  But with such an easy transition from toddler room to nursery again, all the wall art stayed the same from Chloe.  I wanted to make something specifically for Aria - I'm feeling guilty because she doesn't get a lot of her own things.. mostly hand-me-downs (clothes, toys, wall art).  After standing in her room for a few minutes to decide what the "theme" really is in there... I decided on some pretty pink butterflies for her.  

Here is the steps I took in creating this look for approximately $2! 

I had the picture frames that I picked up at the Target Dollar Spot ages ago and never really had a plan for them.  They came in a pack of 3 and they are 5x7.  I began by cutting white cardstock to fit inside the frame using the temporary picture that comes inside frames. 

If you don't have one, this grid cutter is a great asset to any crafter's home

I googled images that I wanted and converted them to a .studio file so I could cut them on my Silhouette Cameo (LOVE IT!) 

Don't mind the mat... it's well loved

I peeled the butterflies off the mat and centered them onto the cardstock and inserted them into the frame.  TIP: before putting the back of the frame on, pick it up and check the look of the picture - there's nothing more annoying than having to pull up the little metal brackets again because your image is off center. 

Because my frames were so cheap, they didn't come with a wall hanging bracket on the back so I had to do some problem solving.  I considered using the pop top trick like I did with my fabric wall art but I went with some ribbon to give it a little more "length" in the art. 

Hot glue the ribbon to the frame. 

Tie until you are satisfied with the bow and there you have it! 

I cut my ribbon a little short and was not happy with the bow I was able to produce so I tried a different approach to "fake" a bow. 

Cross the ribbons as high as you'd like the nail to hang and hot glue together.  Fold over 1 side of the ribbon, glue and fold over the other side, glue. 

To hide the fact that this bow isn't really tied, I picked out some buttons and jewels to dazzle the center of the bow.  

And there you have it.  Super cute wall art for less than $2 in materials (including frames!) The whole project took about 30 minutes with a 3 year old bugging me to help and begging for them to be in her room. 

Best of luck... XO

Necklace and Ornaments... must be Christmas

I've had several requests for the necklace shirt and it is one of my favorites!  This is was the first one on a colored shirt and I tried out an iridescent white (which turned out more like silver).

And with some free time to myself today...  I whipped up for my first Christmas shirt idea.

What would you put on a Christmas shirt?

XO!

Previous Work

I've been working on setting up my Facebook page to show off the goods (boy is facebook a lot more complicated than I ever gave it credit for).  
I have yet to figure out how people can search for me, how to set up a contact button on it, or a link to paypal (which can be done, or so I'm told). 


I'm also hoping people will start become fans of mine via Facebook.  I have a goal!  When I reach 30 fans, I will host a give away.  The winner will be allowed to choose between an initial tee (with their choice of fabric) or a set of hair clips (again, with their specifications). 
Which means, if your not a fan yet... you should be :-)   
                                        Be My Facebook Fan!


Remember that Facebook button in the top right corner.. click it! 


Here are some pictures of shirts that I've done in the past for my little one or as gifts for inspiration! 

XO!