I made this!

Today was a lovely day away from life chores & spent with my beautiful Art Gypsies (aka art group)!

I decided to host the project this month & since the weather is getting colder, I decided we should make t-shirt scarves! I've seen these scarves in stores for $40!! We made them for under $5 with a big stash of shirts I bought at the thrift store!

I only got a pic of my first one & got too busy to take others! But you can find TONS of photos & tutorials on how to make these on Pinterest!

A bunch of 1/2"-1" strips in three gray tones to make an infinity scarf!

I also made one like this:

My sister made one like this:

Only she used one shirt with a coffee theme & cool background graphics!
Another friend made one similar to this:

And another like this:

Mom made a pretty red one like this…

I found all of these styles on Pinterest & there are some good videos on YouTube as well!
So, go ahead & give it a whirl! Super easy! Super Cute! Super Gifts!! I plan to make a few more when time allows!!

TTFN!
Cheers!

Thanks to Maggie's wonderful Teachers!

Maggie has had a wonderful year at the local elementary school & will be "graduating" from preschool in today! I can't believe she will be in Kindergarten next year! Where does the time go???

First day, 8/20/10

 

Ms. Lisa

Ms. Kim

She had two wonderful teachers this year, Ms. Lisa & her aide, Ms. Kim. I wanted to get them something special for the end of the year because they really just do so much for our little ones!

 

So, I discovered that Ms. Lisa loves to cook, but I couldn't really gather what kind of cooking was her favorite. So, I opted for one of Rachel Ray's cookbooks because her food IS yummy & fairly simple to pull together!

For Ms. Kim, I know that she LOVES to be creative & crafty! So, I thought this "Delight in the Details" would be a great inspiration for her.

And, of course, I HAD to make cards to go along with their gifts, right?!

I had seen a stamp at Michaels that would have been perfect for their cards, but I forgot to actually buy it when I left there the other day!! Silly me!

So, I used my own stash to copy the idea of the stamp...It was a cute birdie with the saying "time flies when you're having fun."

I started with a premade card from one of those boxes by DCWV, (I know! I could have just made one from cardstock, but I never have the right sized envelopes!).

I stamped the front of the card with my Burlap stamp (Ippity - from my friend Noelle's shop!) in a Timber Brown StazOn ink.

Then I Glimmer Misted a small paper doillie with a sand tone & stamped a faint image of a clock in the middle (Tim Holtz). (In case you're wondering how I got ALL the edges to adhere? I used a spray adhesive to attach the doillie to the card.)

Earlier in the day, I scanned a picture that Maggie had painted of a bird, shrunk it down & printed a couple out for the cards. I attached that to the front of the card & then added the saying, with my dymo. 

 All inspired from a simple stamp with the same idea! I made each of the teachers the same card, but the insides are different.

Here's Ms. Lisa's:

I don't have any picts of Maggie & Ms. Kim, so her's is much simpler:

(These stamps inside are also Ippity/Unity from the "Moment in Time" collection & the paper is from a DCWV Garden Party matstack.)

I think they turned out very cute & I love that they have a little creativity from both of us!

So, the next time I post, I will put up some more pix of Maggie at "graduation," her first Field Day at school AND her first dance recital this weekend!!!

Maggie's ECE Class 2011

TTFN!

FAB Teacher Gift Idea

I know, I know! It's still summer & YOUR kids are OUT of school!!

But my little one has gone year-round at a little pre-school down the street 

& today is her last day there before she enters Pre-K at the public elementary school! 

WHOA! They grow up so fast!

So, I spent the last 2.5 hours pounding out these great teacher gifts for all the teachers & staff!

It only took me about 3 hours to do 16 candles! (Funny how that worked out, me being a product of the 80's & all!!) 

I had seen these adorable cards in the dollar bin at Michaels & just knew that I wanted to use them for a teacher gift project!  Then I remembered these beautifully decorated candles I saw on the Martha Stewart site, (that & incidentally, my best gal-pal Shirley made similar one's for my 40th b-day party decor!) & bingo! I had a quick & easy idea ready to roll!!

Here's my list of supplies:

1. 16 candles from Walmart. You will find these with all the other candles, but in the aisle with the religious candles. They were only $1.30 each!
2. 2 sheets 12x12 white textured cardstock, such as Bazzill
3. 2 sheets from a child's writing tablet found at the Dollar Tree (you could also use other school themed papers or even ledger paper!)
4. Glimmer Mist in assorted, coord. colors. (I used 1 on the white paper & a combo on the tablet paper)
5. 8 Cards from Michaels with Apples on them or simply use a stamp & 
6. some craft colored cardstock!
7. Good, strong adhesive - I am addicted to my ATG gun, but I did have to use a smaller tape runner on the little apple squares
8. A ruler, paper tearing tool, trimmer & Distress Ink.

The first thing I did was Glimmer Mist all the papers & let them dry. (You can speed up the process w/a heat gun, by kitchen was already 80 degrees today!!)

Because I wanted a soft yellow & didn't have any, I used a pretty "Sunflower" yellow to change the white paper; the ledger got a combo of "Tattered Leather & Mustard Seed." 

While the papers were drying, I cut the apples from the cards...

Because I wanted to re-purpose the other parts of the cards (the odd looking craft colored pc on the top left is the leftovers!), I trimmed as close to the apple cutouts & prints as possible. I then adhered them together (a large Xyron would have been great for this part!); I also had to trim up the edges a little inking them with walnut stain (a staple around here!). I set those aside for later.

Once the papers were dry, I measured the cirumfrance of the candle - approx. 7.25 & cut my papers to that length.  I then decided to tear the edges of the yellow background paper, but I needed to figure out the width first - easy peesy - use the finished apple squares that were approx. 2.25 inches & decide what you want the band to be like! I decided that I wanted mine to be a tad smaller than the apples, but with the tearing, they turned out about the same!! LOL! And I'm fine with that!

Next, I trimmed the tablet papers to 1" strips.

(You can't really tell here, but the table paper has this nice green/gold tint to it from the "Mustard Seed" mist! Looks great w/the yellow & the reds in the apples & the candle!!)

After that, it was just a matter of putting it all together! I ran my adhesive gun down lengthwise on the torn edges of the yellow first, applied it to the candle as straight around as possible - didn't need to worry about overlap too much since the apple square would go over the seams. Then, I did the same with the tablet paper strips.  (I did try to adhere the strips together first & then to the candle, but I got some buckling.) I continued doing all of the yellow & tablet strips on the candles first since the squares took a little more glue & placement.

Once all of those were done, I applied tons of my tape to the apple squares (so the edges that curved around the candle don't lift too badly) & placed them over the seams. Viola! All done & ready to take to school this afternoon!!

You'll notice that some of them are centered lengthwise & some not - the silly manufacturer put the price label ON THE SIDE on some of the candles!!! So, in the interest of time (& frustration!) I decided not to remove them before hand & simple just staggered the placement on the each one a little. This would have really driven me bonkers if all the candles were in the same room at the same time, but since everyone was only getting one candle each, I didn't think it mattered as much!!

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial - it's the first one I've ever done! So, let me know what you thought ok?? Maybe I'll do more!!

TTFN!!