Teacher appreciation gift

We made this gift for the teacher of my oldest daughter.

She is a GREAT teacher, and we wanted to give her something to show that we appreciate her.

So we gave this glass jar, filled with Hershey's Nuggets, wrapped in cute apple paper.

The paper and other supplies I used are scrapbooking supplies that I have had for a while.

With my Silhouette Cameo I cut her name in vinyl to personalize the jar.

My daughter helped me cut a 12 by 12 inch sheet of scrapbook paper into 48 pieces that were 1 by 3 inch each. That is: I positioned the paper, and she moved the knife of my paper trimmer...

(First cut it into 12 1 inch strips, and then cut each strip into 4 equal pieces.)

On the top of the jar I made this label.

I sketched the apple by hand to match the apple on the paper.

Then, following that pattern, I poked holes in the cardstock, and stitched the apple by hand.

She colored the apple.

Together we added the scrapbook paper to the bars, using adhesive.

I used the following bag of Nuggets. It holds about 50 pieces: just perfect: we ate 2 and wrapped 48.

(I got the jar and the candy at Target.)

We hope she likes chocolate!

Shared at Sugar Bee Crafts.

I love spring...

Spring flowers...

My husband and our girls decorated these cute birdhouses for my birthday.

The unfinished one is from our 11 month old :)

I had seen this idea HERE a while ago:

save all your little scraps of yarn, and put them in a suet feeder, so that the birds can use it for their nests.

Since I had one laying around anyway, and I am always having these loose ends of yarn from all kinds of projects, this seemed a neat thing to try. I imagined the birds using it, and maybe the kids could even see them take some of the yarn.

(Insert laughing of my husband here, who thought I'd completely lost it, when he saw what I was doing...)

And I have to say:

he was right...

So far, I haven't seen any proof of them using it.

We even have a robin's nest in our yard, and I checked it out while they were away to see if they used any. 

Nope...

Oh well, it looks pretty colorful :)

And of course I'll leave it out there, who knows?!

I don't let myself get defeated that easily... 

Crochet hats, flowers, owl and sweater

Here are some crochet projects that I have been working on.

I haven't had much time to post pictures, so here they are all at once :)

Some hair clips for a little friend of my girls

A baby hat for a friend

A monkey baby hat

A baby headband with a rose

I used this pattern to make this little owl.

It's simple and cute.

I used the pattern for the body, and then did my own thing for the eyes and beak.

A navy cardigan for our youngest:

(I started out with a pattern, but modified it so much that it turned into my own...)

I really love to crochet.

It's relaxing, and so easy to take with you...

I can't really sit around doing 'nothing', so it's nice to have a 'portable' craft to work on.

Shared at Embellishing Life

World Down Syndrome Day - Check this out!

Today is World Down syndrome day:

3-21-2012 


World Down Syndrome Day is celebrated on the 21st day of the third month of each year to symbolize a third copy of the 21st chromosome in Down syndrome. This year is especially exciting as it is the first year that the date is officially recognized by the United Nations!

In honor of this day, parents of children with Down syndrome were asked the following question:

If they could go back right before they had, or adopted, their child(ren) with Down syndrome, 

what would they tell themselves?

Watch the following video for their answers, it's beautiful!

(My youngest daughter has Down syndrome, 
so that is why this clip is very touching to me.)

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Spring is here!

We're excited about the days getting longer, 

the yard showing some signs of life again,

and even some warmer days here and there...

So that's a good reason to celebrate spring with this banner.

I really like buntings or banners:

They're so easy to make, so it's a quick and fun way to add some seasonal decoration.

I just printed some sheet music on plain cardstock.

Then I cut them into banner shapes, first by cutting a 8.5 by 11 sheet of cardstock into 6 rectangles, and then cutting out a triangle from the bottom.

I added some scalloped circles, the word "SPRING" and some tiny flowers.

(I used my Silhouette Cameo, but you could also just print your letters, 

or cut some basic spring-y shapes, like flowers...)

I used tiny wooden clothes pins to attach them to some twine, and that's it...

(By the way: I thought it's pretty hard to take a good picture of a mirror, this one is hanging in our stair case, and I had a hard time keeping the reflection of unwanted elements, like light switches and steps out of the picture, therefore the funny angles...)

Flower Burlap Wreath for Spring

Our front door 'needed' something to get ready for spring.

So I made this flower wreath.

The best thing? I only used materials that I had on hand, so it's a cheap project.

Also, it was a very quick project, it took me about an hour I think.

I didn't take any pictures of the process, there are SO many flower tutorials available online!

One thing that I did do different, is that I didn't use felt, but some fleece scraps.
Fleece is very easy to work with, and it doesn't fray.


I used a dollar store wreath and wrapped burlap around it.


And, I used LOTS and LOTS of hot glue!!!

I love easy, quick & cheap projects!

Shared at  Delightful Order and Blue Cricket Design.

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