Last-minute Teacher Appreciation Gift

Here are some quickie teacher appreciation gifts that can be finished in just minutes! First, carefully disassemble a disposable tape dispenser.

Choose a piece of good quality, heavy, double-sided cardstock like this Amy Butler design by K & Co. and use the removed paper packaging as a template to recreate the appropriate pieces.

Reassemble. Then, embellish as you see fit. This one is about as simple as can be, basically, because it was really late at night and I was super-tired!

Add a nice message. (We added a hand-written addition on the back from my daughter.)

Then, because she was an Extra good teacher, we could not resist making her another little something. This is almost too easy. You just cut your paper down to size, fold it around (using a bone folder makes your creases extra crisp and neat) and stick. Add a label and insert your package.

This is seriously, a 3 minute project- tops! And as we all know, EVERYTHING and just about ANYTHING looks better wrapped up in pretty paper!

Museum Sketchbook Tote

Before our big 2-museum tour, I wanted Abby to have a little bag to hold all of the things she would need, but couldn't find anything that fit the bill just right, so I made one for her. I am NOT a very good seamstress and I messed up a lot along the way so no tutorial. Here is a good one that gives instructions for covering composition books... I'm sure anyone could adapt this and figure the rest out from there. I used 4 fabrics: Blue paisley for the main body, brown floral for the straps and spine, pink for small embellishments and white for the lining. Here is the outside cover:
Here is the inside:
On one side, there's a flap for holding writing and drawing stuff...
...and the other side has flaps for holding tickets, maps and memorabilia.
A regular composition book was inserted...
...and everything closes up and fastenes with a Velcro clasp. There are a couple of construction tips I should add: First, be sure to add sturdy reinforcement to your handle-straps and second, it is a ton easier of you add all of your embellishments before you fold the flaps over and sew them. Here is the front all snapped up and ready to go...
...and here is the back.
It was so helpful to have this along. The day would have been a nightmare without it; it not only gave her something to do and somewhere to hold her things, but it also gave her something to hold onto so she wasn't as tempted to touch anything she shouldn't. We actually (VERY surprisingly) had no problems with that the whole day!!
I loved the way she didn't copy the paintings, but just used them as inspiration to make her own drawings.
Here is the painting she was most excited to see in real life so we bought a postcard to take home.
Here's the day's haul... Seriously, what a lifesaver. For an older child, I could see a plastic insert for an id or money. For a more serious artist, I could see a proper sketchbook inserted in here.

Cat in the Hat Treats

When my daughter started Kindergarten, I felt like I needed a starter-mom course in the new parental expectations department. When I was in elementary school, nobody brought in treats on their birthdays and we didn't celebrate "school" holidays like Teacher Appreciation Week and Dr. Seuss's Birthday. Don't get me wrong, it's all well and good; I just wish I had KNOWN some of this stuff -although I still think the whole bringing goodies on your birthday thing is disruptive, exclusionary and encourages too many "sweets days", but for now, I'll consider it a necessary thing- especially since my daughter SHARES a birthday with the aforementioned Dr. Seuss. Can you believe that? I felt under DOUBLE pressure to come up with a treat that celebrated both. I remembered seeing a marshmallow-on-cookie pilgrim hat in an old FamilyFun magazine and had an idea: What if we doubled the marshmallows to make a tall Cat-in-the-Hat type had treat? It was super-easy although a bit time-consuming.

Ingredients:
1 bag Large Marshmallows
1 package White Almond Bark (or bag of White Candy Melts)
1 box Ritz Crackers

Stack two large marshmallows and secure them with a toothpick although I might try pretzel sticks next time so I don't have to warn the kids before they eat them. Next, melt the candy/bark. Place a dollop on a Ritz Cracker and place the marshmallow stack on top. Wait until secure (about 5 minutes) and dip the whole concoction in the melted white goodness. Be sure to scrape the bottom so there's not too much and place on wax paper to harden.
When the "hat" is dry, take a tube of red decorator's icing and pipe on stripes and a red top. Note: Although the effect was appropriately topsy-turvy, this technique was way sloppier than I had hoped plus it tasted just like pure food coloring. I think next time, I will make the stripes with red Fruit Roll-ups so I can make them neater. Any ideas?
In the end, you just can't go wrong with white chocolate, icing (even the gross store-bought kind), Ritz crackers and marshmallows (toothpick optional). They were a big hit with the kids- even thought they weren't the standard cupcake, and the teacher appreciated the fact that they fit the theme of the day.


Linking to:

Giant Candy Thank You Card

This is not a new idea, but it is always a hit! For the last day of school, we wanted to let Mrs. Cassidy know how much we loved and appreciated her so we decided to go B.I.G. We used a poster board, folded it in half and measured 2 inches from the fold and folded it again so when it was full of candy, it would close right- plus we liked how her name would show when it was open as well as closed- plus I didn't want to do math to get it all centered.Definitely use a bone folder (or a make-shift one like the handle of a pair of scissors) for this as poster board does not fold pretty on its own. Using coordinating paper, a ruler, trimmer, adhesive ribbon and the trusty Cricut (we used the Cuttin' Up cartridge), we made a simple cover to the card. It needed to be simple because, seriously, I am the WORST card maker. Then came the inside. I seriously had spent a couple of weeks collecting candy with names I thought we could use, then spent a few days writing and revising what we wanted to say... Abby helped with this part, of course. The night before the last day of school, it was put together. It was all layed out ahead of time, then written out sentence by sentence in a different coloured Sharpie marker (they are my first love I think- LOVE the Sharpie!) to help with the flow. The candy was also traced and labeled so when it was eaten, she would know what had been there and could still read it. Finally, the candy (and a couple of other things) were stuck on with regular tape- I didn't know which glues were toxic, plus I didn't want it to be too hard to disassemble). I took pictures of this the night before, but if you look closely in the following pictures you will notice the candy stickers Abby finished it with. I must say, it was a great finishing touch. It was so sweet when she presented it to her teacher before school. Mrs. Cassidy read it right then and there and gave the most precious hug and we all shed a couple of tears- that was a bit unexpected. We will miss having her as a teacher and next year's Kindergartners will be so lucky. This turned out to be more than a gift, but an experience for both teacher and student and I'm about to start getting WAY too sentimental so I think that's all I'll say about that!

Kindergarten Graduation Treat Bags

I cannot believe my First Born graduated from Kindergarten today! I feel like I've learned as much as she has this year. I got to know the kids in her class volunteering every week and when I was in the hospital, they all made me the sweetest cards. To thank them for being so wonderful, I made them all treat bags for graduation. I saw this and this and wanted to do something similar and eventually came up with this: It was pretty easy although a little time consuming. I wrapped a Reese's Mini Peanut Butter cup in black paper using a template I made and, with a 1 1/2 inch square punch, a small hole punch, a tiny piece of fuzzy ribbon and a small brad; made a mortar board top. Here are the steps for the "chocolate cupcake" as they're called in our family: And here are the steps for the mortar board: Then you tape the top on the PB Cup and the graduation cap is done! To accompany the cap, I cut a rolled wafer cookie in thirds and tied each piece with a ribbon to resemble a diploma. They were placed together in a baggie with a personalized topper. I was going to make them cuter adding their names with the Cricut and adding embellishments galore, but when it's the middle of the night, you've got to draw the line somewhere, right? I wrapped a Snapple box with some wrapping paper, through the baggies in and they're good to go! The children are getting these tomorrow and I cannot wait to see their little faces! It will be hard to say goodbye and I will miss hearing about their antics every day. I have a feeling there will be many play dates throughout the summer!