Classroom Teacher Gift

It's that time of year again!  Time to celebrate our teachers and let them know how much we appreciate them and what they have done for our kiddos this year.  I saw this idea on a blog where the mom sent out an email to the class parents and had the kids secretly answer questions about their teacher.  Then she put the answers together in a book and presented it to the teacher along with some money she collected from the class as well.

Our school does not allow us to collect money from the parents for anything, but we can collect answers so I did just that.  Last year I did this for G's Kindergarden teacher and it of course made her cry.  This year, I did it again.  It's such a great idea!!  EVERYONE can participate.  It doesn't cost the students or parents anything to do and is always well received by the teacher.  Plus, G's First Grade teacher is leaving the school (and the city) this year, so it makes a great keepsake of her time at this school.  I can't wait to give it to her on Friday!

So here's a picture of the finished product!

All this is is an index card binder that I purchased from Office Max and a package of pastel cardstock that I cut to fit.  Each sheet of cardstock made 4 "pages" so the one package gave me more than enough pages to complete both this year's project and next year's too! Each of the answer pages are 4" x 5.5".  I punched 2 holes to the cardstock so that it would fit in the binder and would be easy to flip between pages.

For the Title Pages I just cut the cardstock a little bigger.  About 4.25 x 5.5 instead of just 4 x 5.5.

I covered the binder with some pretty scrapbook paper and then used a coordinating paper to line the inside of the binder so that the ugly folds were covered.  I printed directly onto the pages for all the kids answers but for the title pages I wanted them to stand out, so I printed onto velum and then taped them onto the cardstock.  I used some fancy scissors to cut around the titles and then drew around the edges with markers to create a "frame" for the title words.

To get all the answers I sent out this letter:

I sent them to school in envelopes with stickers on the back to "seal" them.  On the front of the envelope I wrote "Please return to Gabe's Mom."  I asked the teacher if I could come to school and hand out something for an end of the year thing.  I told her that they would be sending the envelopes back to school and if they came back just to make sure that my G brought them home.  It worked really well because since G is in the Functional Classroom a lot of the time it made it seam like a secret for him and she was very excited to help the kids help Gabe. :)  When I handed them out I made a big deal about the fact that it was a secret and they weren't supposed to talk about it at school or anywhere else, but could read it when they got home to their parents.  Then of course the teacher added that they shouldn't tell Gabe because he doesn't know about it and it just sealed the deal.  I also sent out this letter in an email to all the parents that I had emails for and in the letter I asked them to send me answers via email if they could.

It really worked out well because it just so happened that every time I went up to either pick up the envelopes or hand them out, G was in his other classroom, so it REALLY added to the whole idea that it was a surprise for him. :) (NOTE: later I found out that a little boy spilled the beans that it was a surprise for Ms. P, but who knows if she believed him or not)

I also went to have lunch with G during school hours so that I could add the BEST part of the book...their signatures!

Even if I didn't get answers from all the kids (which I didn't) I wanted all of them have had a part of the book somehow, so every child signed the book.  I brought up some of the smaller cards with me to lunch and walked around with a pen and had each child sign.  It worked out to 4 pages with 5 signatures each.   I then came home and added them to the book behind this title page:

I absolutely LOVE getting these answers back! Some of them were really heartfelt (This year Ms P taught me...) -

And then some were just completely hilarious! (What is Ms P's favorite color?) -

It is a great book.  I really enjoy putting it together each year.  After it's done I always send a list of all the answers to the parents so that they can see what all the kids said also.  It's just too good not to share.  I do invite them all to come when give it to her.  I always wait until the last day when they are not doing anything anyway. 

College Survival Kit

It's that time of year!  Time to celebrate all the hard work of your favorite High School or College Graduate.

I happen to know a Grad or two and needed a gift to give them to commemorate their achievement.  I didn't want to spend a lot on the gift, but wanted something that was both fun and useful.  So I came up with this:

A College Survival Kit!  It cost me all of $11 to put together!! EVERYTHING came from the Dollar Tree!!!

It has everything need to get a High School Grad off to a great start in college!  Here are the supplies:

Large Basket
Laundry Detergent
Fabric Softener
Dryer Sheets
Laundry Bag
Eye Mask
Pens
Highlighters
Index Cards
Mini Stapler/Staples
Ramen Noodles
...and of course...Chocolate!

I even made a tag with a list for my grad so they would know exactly what was in it. :)

 To decorate it I wove a cute ribbon in and out of the basket, tied a bow and added a silk flower. You can find these items at the Dollar Tree also, but I just happened to have them around the house.

Put all your items in the basket where they fit and look nice and Voila!  A perfect gift for your grad!! :)

This can be done for either a boy or a girl and is the perfect gift!  Plus, it only cost $11!!!!  

14 Days of Valentine's Gift for the Hubbs

I don't know about you, but my husband loves to eat.  I mean...loves it!  We also don't really do gifts for Valentine's Day since our Anniversary is right around the corner in the next month, but we do exchange SOMETHING.  So this year, I saw this idea on the "Houghton Family Blog" and just had to execute for P this year.

Last year I made him the "52 Reasons Why I Love You" Deck of Love and that was a hit, but I needed something else. Later in her post, she put a link to some cute tags that her sister made on Etsy.  I just recreated the same tags myself, but if you want to buy them instead of making them, you can find them here.

Basically you take the cute sayings and attach them to the candy/food items and then give them to your loved one one at a time each day until Valentine's.  It's sort of like the 12 Days of Christmas, but it's the "14 Days of Valentines." You can attach them with tape like the gal on the blog did, or you can put them in cute bags with ribbon and such.  Whatever you like.  There are a few more than just 14 of these cute tags so you can either omit a few, or just give a couple on the same day a few times.  That's what I'm going to do. :)

Here's the list of the tag sayings and the Item it goes to:
You are PRICELESS to me - 100 Grand Candy Bar
I want you NOW & LATER - Now & Later
You stole a PIECE of my heart - Reece's Pieces
You o'FISH'ally have my heart - Swedish Fish
You ROCK my world - Pop Rocks
I am STUCK on you - Gum
I like the way you ROLL - Rolo
You are the STAR of my life - Starburst
I'm NUTS about you - Pay Day or Nutter Butter Cookies
I'd be in KNOTS without you - Chocolate Covered Pretzels
You are the APPLE of my eye - an Apple or Carmel Apple Sucker 
Being yours is a JOY - Almond Joy
You are my SWEETIE - Sweet Tarts
You COLOR my world - Skittles
I have a CRUSH on you - Crush Soda
Thanks for going to BAT for me - Baby Ruth
You are a HOT TAMALE - Hot Tamales
I SODA think you're amazing - Any kind of Coke or Soda product

The really funny part about this whole thing...I've been sick and wanted to make sure to have this all ready for him by Feb 1st.  I have not had a chance to get to the store at all due to this monster cold/flu thing so I made him go get all the candy. :) I just told him it was for Valentine's and he assumed that it was for our son's class...oh well. :) Little does he know he just bought his own Valentine's Gift! :)

Marriage License Canvas

I recently got an idea that I wanted to display our marriage license.  Of course I didn't want to just break out a shadow box, and display an old piece of paper with my bouquet, but I did want something unique and interesting, yet still true to who we are.  So, I came up with this:

 I took a piece of old canvas that was sitting around and painted a chevron pattern on it.  By the way, it takes a long time to tape off a chevron pattern! :)

 

Then I went to my Silhouette machine and cut out our initial onto a copy of our marriage license and modge podged it onto the canvas.  After that, I outlined it in black sharpie.

 Using the Silhouette again, I cut some vinyl of our names and our wedding date and stuck it to the canvas.

 Voila!  A unique and creative way to display your marriage license! P REALLY likes it.  He couldn't believe it was actually OUR license!  Perfect to display since this year will be 10 years! Time really flies I'm telling you!  What do you think?

Breakfast Gift Basket

Hello!  We recently attended a wedding and needed a gift last minute.  Well, I decided to get creative.  We didn't know the couple very well as the bride is a coworker of P, but we still wanted to get something nice for them.  They also didn't give us any registry information so it's not like we could have just gone to Target or Macy's and pick something out.  Thus, the following was created.

A Breakfast Gift Basket! Most of these items came from the Dollar Tree or Wall mart and the total gift cost around $12 when finished!

Inside, we put some pancake mix, syrup, Folgers Breakfast Blend ground coffee, Earl Grey Tea and some Coffee Creamer (no refrigeration needed).  We also put in some cute Coffee Mugs!

To make it all fit in the basket, and not fall I added some wadded up paper to the bottom of the basket.  The things I needed to be taller I just added more paper under them.  Just keep adding till it al fits and looks nice!  To cover the paper underneath, just add a little bit of shredded tinsel or paper.

Poke that tinsel around in all the spaces to make it look professional.

These are Dollar Tree Mugs that I wrote on with a sharpie and then baked in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Pinterest says it works, so here's hoping! :)

I also shrink wrapped it, added some cute tulle tied around it and a fun gift tag.

The basket came from the Dollar Tree too!

Well, there you have it! I hope they liked it and can get some use out of it.