Various Teacher Gifts

Yesterday was the last day of Teacher Appreciation Week for my oldest son, Ryan.  I wanted the final gift to be a bit more.

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Personalized Hand Sanitizer

A couple of weeks ago Shannon had a bunch of people over for a craft night.  It was a ton of fun to work on some teacher appreciation crafts with a group of ladies.  I think I might start that in the fall after my  move to Ohio.

One of the items that we made was a personalized hand sanitizer.  I've had this on my list to make for a long time, but just never got around to do it.  Thanks to Shannon, I got it made.

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Holiday Gifts that I made

It is almost the end of January and I just getting around to sharing all the Christmas gifts I made for family and friends.

As some of you read, I decided at Thanksgiving to do a Handmade Christmas.  Take my advice, don't start as late as I did!  I actually think I will start soon on gifts for this next year so that I am not stressed making gifts versus enjoying the holiday season.

Surprisingly though, I got all the gifts finished, a few shortly after Christmas but who doesn't like a surprise gift!  Check out all the gifts I made.

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A "Love" Sign-A Tutorial

This is something I created last year. I just love it! It's a perfect post for today because today's my youngest daughter's third birthday. Happy birthday, Sweet Mariella!

I needed a craft fix.  I wanted to do something that I could finish in a reasonable amount of time (Something I could finish in a night!). I wanted to do something I hadn't seen before.  Finally, I wanted another Valentine's Day decoration.  I love what I came up with!

I got a black from at WalMart for $3.  It was for 2-4x6" photos.  I used a piece of red scrapbooking paper.  It says LOVE on it.  I got some flowers from a scrapbook store that look like they were made from pages out of a book.  I used distressing ink and a blender stamp.  I had black fuzzy vinyl and transfer tape.  My tools were my paper cutter, a glue gun, and my Silhouette.

First, I cut the scrapbook paper to fit the entire frame.

Then I cut, "Daughters" out of my black fuzzy vinyl. I used the font, "Waterfalls" 170pt. I pulled away the excess vinyl so I was left only with the word I needed.

I used transfer tape to lift the vinyl.  This does not work as well with fuzzy vinyl.

I placed the transfer tape, in position, on the scrapbook paper and peeled it away. The letters were attached to the scrapbook paper.

Here's a close up of the print on the scrapbook paper.

I went around the edges of the paper with the distress ink.  I put the ink on with the blender pad and lightly distressed it.

I put the paper in the frame.  I just discarded the mat that was included with the frame.  I hot glued 2 flowers directly on the frame.

It's done! My daughters make me think of love so it's all relevant to me!  I love it!

Christmas Gifts

Here's a post I did from last year. I thought you may be able to use some of the gift ideas.  Speaking of gift ideas, I'd better get busy creating.  Christmas is less than two weeks away.  YIKES!!!!

'Tis the season to be busy.  Busy, I have been!  I have played nurse, baked, blogged, shopped, crafted, cooked, cleaned, decorated, wrapped, and played hostess for the past month!  My oldest daughter had her tonsils, adenoids, and a lymph node removed on December 9th.  She did wonderfully!  She's a tough one!  Anyway, that's where the nurse role came on.  The rest, just goes with Christmas.

Jill and I started this blog during the busiest time of the year!  This year was certainly no exception with the two weddings I went to, out of state, at the end of November. Then, the giveaways.  They sounded like a great idea at the time, and we had fun doing them, but wow... that was just another addition to our overflowing plates. No worries.  We've already begun thinking about our giveaways for next Christmas.  Woah... I guess I should let you in on a little secret.  The giveaways will continue throughout the year... just not on a daily basis.  We'll do our best though.  Giveaways are great fun.  I won four puzzles for my girls, on a blog, this Christmas!

Anyway, I wanted to share some of the Christmas gifts, I managed to make this year.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of them all.  Have I mentioned my sleep deprivation?  I am not at my sharpest without sleep. Hopefully, I'll get those folks to send me pics and post them later.

Some of my gifts were copy crafting!

I made a pair of these for my mom and myself.  Notice I made my snowman one block taller.  I liked him better this way!
 http://undermypolkadotumbrella.blogspot.com/2010/11/2x4-snowman.html

Copy crafting at it's best http://undermypolkadotumbrella.blogspot.com/2010/11/photobucket.html

For teacher's gifts I attached clothespins on the back for their gift cards.  Such a cute presentation!

I made 10 of these for friends. You would have thought I would have taken some pictures of the unwrapped gift!

Here's the first one I made for our family.
It's a HowDoesShe craft. http://www.howdoesshe.com/2x4-to-birthday-boardtutorial

Then there's the wreath I copied from Jill.  I added some bells and a ribbon and voila I have the perfect UK wreath for my brother in law, Jim: a huge UK fan. http://www.oursevendwarfs.com/2010/12/sparkle-wreath-tutorial.html

Then, there are the coasters.  I made a set for my daughter's teachers, a set for my mom, and a set for my mother in law.  She's retired Navy so I made hers with great Navy scrapbook paper.  I just forgot to take a picture of them!  Grrr... Here's a tutorial Jill did on the coasters.  http://www.oursevendwarfs.com/2010/12/gift-idea-inexpensive-coasters-tutorial.html

And then folks, I got creative on my own....

For my daughter's teachers' gifts I put a few handmade items together to come up with:

A tshirt, four kinds of homemade treats, and coasters, all in a decorated, reusable, plastic bin.

Stay tuned for a tutorial on these easy shirts.

We'll do an embellishing with vinyl tutorial soon!

Seven layer bars and Brickle cookies http://www.oursevendwarfs.com/2010/12/cookie-swap-recipes-part-1.html and http://www.oursevendwarfs.com/2010/12/cookie-swap-recipes-part-2.html

White candy bark and peppermint bark (recipes coming soon).

Then there were photo boards:

These things are so versatile and amazing.  Remember the "We Believe" one I did? http://www.oursevendwarfs.com/2010/12/making-photo-board-tutorial.html

I made some changes and a variety of gifts!

Another present for my UK loving brother in law.  Skeeter is his dog.

The glare so takes away from the cuteness of this.  My father in law is retired Navy so I thought this would be a great place for him to put Navy memorabilia.

This one is for my Daddy.

This is for my brother.  My girls will tell you, he is the best Uncle Ever!  They're right!

Here's another "We Believe" for my friend, Amy.



Remember the "Grateful" subway art?

http://www.oursevendwarfs.com/2010/11/making-subway-art-tutorial-2.html

I made this for my sweet, sweet, Aunt Esther.

Then there's this calendar creation I came up with. (I'll do a tutorial soon...)

For my Mother-In-Law.  Notice the Navy paper on the date blocks?  She's retired Navy, so fitting.  Then, to keep with the patriotic theme, I did white and red stripes.  It looks "flag-y" to me.

My brother's.  I used the same paper on his numbers that I did on his "We Love Uncle Darren" board. Matchy Matchy!  I also did themed paper for each month. 

My Dad's is sideways.  I still haven't learned how to flip pictures, sorry.

This was a gift to my daughters, from my friend, Lesli.  She got the idea from HowDoesShe.  So cute!http://www.howdoesshe.com/bucket-o%E2%80%99-chalk

Here's the inside of the bucket!

This is the burlap pillow Lesli made me.  I LOVE the font she chose.  Too cute!

As you can see, it's been a busy time for all of us crafty gals.  There's still pictures of my handmade gifts, I didn't post, because I forgot to take them.   Still, I hope you're inspired to get your crafts on!

Personalized Signs Made with Vinyl

I really enjoy making personalized gifts. I think it's extra special to give someone something made just for them. Here are a few of the signs I've made recently.

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Thanksgiving Subway Art-Tutorial

What do you think of this Thanksgiving decoration? It was another one I was glad to see, after having it in storage almost a year!

Making Subway Art-A Tutorial

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A Simple Thanksgiving Decoration

I made this and shared it on the blog last year.  I was excited to get it back out with my Thanksgiving decorations. It was easy to make and is a classic decoration.

I saw this sign http://thecraftingchicks.com/2010/10/be-thankful-board.html and put my own twist on it.  I LOVE it!  Simple and personalized.  What could be better?

A Couple More Fantastic Thanksgiving Decorations

This is another repost from last year.  From what I understand, makia creations no longer exists; however, you can still easily create these great projects!  I hope you are as inspired as I was!

One of my favorite crafty blogs is http://howdoesshe.com/ I must admit, I am a follower of this one.  I have been inspired by their ideas, so many times! Two of the girls that created the blog have started a business, selling craft kits for their projects.  This is a fabulous idea!

For one of their projects, I ran to a dozen stores looking for the necessary materials.  It was at the beginning of my crafting frenzy and I didn't realize that it was okay to substitute.  Save yourself the trouble.  Substitute when necessary! Anyway, their site was my inspiration for the "Turkey Feather Photo Stand" and "Truly Thankful" board I copycatted.  http://www.makiacreations.com/thanksgiving_kits Because they are selling the kits, they don't offer tutorials.  Because it's a copycat craft, I didn't set up a tutorial either; however, it's pretty simple.

    I free handed the turkey body and turkey head on mdf.  My lovely husband cut them out with his jigsaw.  He also made little triangles for the waddle part.  I used his belt sander to smooth all the edges. (Have I mentioned how wonderful it is having a supportive husband with all the right tools?) I picked out the perfect papers (this is a time consuming task for me).  I mod podged them on.  When they were dry, I re-sanded to blend in the edges.  I stained the edges to better blend. I wood glued them all together with that wonderful Elmer's wood glue. After it was dry, I drilled 9 holes to the top of each turkey.  I cut 9 pieces of six inch wire for each turkey.  I bent the top of each wire with pliers so they would act as photo holders.  I then wood glued the tips into the holes I drilled. I probably didn't need to wood glue them because they fit pretty tightly; but, decided to anyway to keep from losing them when I pack the Thanksgiving stuff away each year.  I made two different turkeys.  One for me, and one for my mom.  Now, I just need to take some pictures to put in these little guys.

  Now for the "Truly Thankful" boards.  I made two different ones that are very much alike! That darling husband of mine cut scrap wood into 11x16 pieces for me.  The wood was already eleven inches wide, so we went with that. I chose 16 inches because I like the torn paper look on the edge of the board and I think it makes a great wall hanging size.  I sanded the wood and rounded the corners, using that belt sander. I selected my paper (another tedious task!). I had to use two sheets since the paper comes in 12 inch squares and I needed 16 inches.  I tore the second piece to give it that rugged finish. I mod podged it and let it dry.  I re-sanded it and stained it to blend in the edges. (Do you see the mod podging pattern?) I drilled the holes on top for hanging.  I decided on cranberry vinyl to give it a punch of color.  I spent forever picking out what I thought were the perfect fonts.  I cut the words on my Silhouette SD.  Jill and I both have a Silhouette so you'll notice we use them on many of our projects.  They are HUGE time savers!  I applied the vinyl using transfer tape.  I added the ribbon around the wood and through the holes to add a little girly touch.  I then attached handles for hanging.  You will notice that each frame hangs differently.  Lesli got a steal of a deal on the hanger style one and picked it up for me.  I only had one.  So, I improvised on the second hanging (again for my mom) and used a piece of the wire I used for the photo feathers.  I twisted the edges around a pencil to give it the spiral look and worked the ribbon around it. I think it turned out nicely too. Voila!  Two more copycat crafts completed!

Thanksgiving Advent Calendar

This is a project we shared last year. It's up again in our house. Some things are too good not to share (or share again)!
Advent calendars are great teaching tools for our children.  Santa leaves notes to my daughters, in our Pottery Barn advent calendar. http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/telluride-advent-calendar-new/ My older daughter really got the concept of "Counting down to Christmas" using this calendar.  I've decided it's important to do this with other holidays too.  We found an Thanksgiving advent calendar that reminds us to be grateful for the things in our life.  Another wonderful lesson for our children. http://jellybeanjunkyard.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/tuesday-tutorial-give-thanks-gratitude-board/ This is adorable, reusable, and not accomplished in two and a half hours like she says.  At least not for me.  I'm thinking it's more of a four hour project.  Of course, maybe I was hung up too much on the font and paper choices.  Could be!  A couple of hints.  I used vinyl for the title and the numbers.  It works wonderfully and you get to skip the gluing on step.  I recommend putting the numbers on last.  I mod podged mine.  When you mod podge paper, it tends to warp a bit.  Because the vinyl was on, it shriveled in some places.  It still turned out well, but would have been better if I applied the vinyl at the end.  I also decided to make bows on mine instead of just the ribbon ties.  Something that helps, keep all the bows in the same place, is making a template.  I just decided where the holes worked best, punched them in the template, and used the template 30 times to punch the holes in all the cards.  Since I am not good at eyeballing, it kept everything in the same place and was easy! You could use this idea for every holiday.

Give Them Roots Give Them Wings

I love the quote, "Give them roots and give them wings." My mom says it all the time.

I needed something to go about the bulletin board in our craft room. I took a 54"x6" piece of 1/4" birch plywood and painted it with black chalkboard paint. I planned on painting words on with white paint to make it look like a chalkboard but changed my mind and decided to use vinyl.

I used white vinyl for "give them"  and chose the font: Tiranti Solid LET.

I used tan vinyl for "roots" and used the font: Oh Photo Shoot.

I used light blue vinyl for "wings" and used the font: Waterfalls.

I really like how it turned out and think it finishes of the bulletin board space nicely.

Halloween Silhouettes

Here's another easy to make Halloween decoration!

I made this with things I already had on hand.  I LOVE when that happens!

Here's what I did....

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Halloween Countdown

Happy October!  We promise to share great seasonal crafts and recipes with you this month!  Stay tuned...

Great Halloween decorations, part 1:

Last year I made about a dozen, "Countdown to Treats" sets for friends and family.  I got the idea from the HowDoesShe girls and their great tutorial. As you can see, I changed the "Countdown to Candy" to "Countdown to Treats". Otherwise, I used their ideas and created a great decoration that can be used every year!

My daughters love to countdown to special days and are able to count backwards with this!