Awesome to the Core Teacher Appreciation Card

While I've been traveling and moving a lot of things kinds of fell by the wayside. One of those things was Teacher Appreciation Week. I'm so grateful for the teachers my boys have been lucky enough to learn from, and I figure late is better than never... 

I started off with the new sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. I combined it with some inspiration from this week's Muse Challenge: I pulled the grey from the elephant for the apple basket, the yellow and pale blue elements for my color combo, the stars which I moved into the washi tape, and I added the leaves scattered about the main image like the original stars. The stamp set I used is a sneak peek of the June Stamp of the Month, which isn't quite available yet.

I colored the apples with my Shin Han Markers. I used the fine tip of the Pastel Green marker to pull color from the Leaf Green and Carmine markers to make the speckled apple surface. I paper pieced the basket of apples with papers from Central Park (blue grid and yellow sunburst) and Fresh Air (grey wood print) paper packets. I couldn't capture it with my photos, but the sunburst paper and the AWESOME sentiment banner are outlined with shimmer pen for a little extra something something. 

I hope you'll hop on over to Atlantic Hearts to play along with this week's adorable sketch!

Day 298: Homemade Toffee Candy Teacher Mason Jar Gift

So this is what I did with the tags from last night's post - I popped them onto these adorable mason jars filled with a homemade toffee candy to deliver to my boys' hard working teachers at our conferences today.

I got the jars on Etsy. I know I can make my own, and heaven knows there are enough mason jars in my house, but sometimes you need a little helping hand. These were adorable, and not too expensive, and best of all I didn't have to paint them myself. I did make the tags  (I'm sure you can see where the tag inspiration came from) plus the candy to fill them up. On the tags we wrote, "Thank you for every piece of knowledge." We heart our teachers!

Here's the link to the original toffee recipe I altered. It's simple, with few ingredients, and totally yummy! It was originally supposed to be an Almond Roca copy, but I crushed some pecans and unsweetened shredded coconut together in my food processor and put that down instead of the crushed almonds. Then I poured the toffee mixture on top (made with real butter and dark brown sugar) and topped it with melted Enjoy Life Semi Sweet Chocolate Mini Chips, because that's our favorite allergy friendly chocolate. You'd better just go ahead and make a double batch because it's so delicious! I'm going to save all the crumbs left from break it up for ice cream topping. Sweet!

I'm linking up to the Heart 2 Heart gifts from the heart challenge and the Paper Issues Owl I Want for Christmas party.

Day 297: Mason Jar Holiday Gift Tag

Tonight I'm trying to finish up our teacher gifts before conferences this week. I'll show you the whole enchilada tomorrow, but for tonight, here's the tag I made to go on our gift.

I decorated up the back a bit too, leaving space for the boys to add their own note. I used the December SOTM mason jar, which matches the adorable jars I got for our gifts. I stamped the heart onto the jar, all on Cranberry cardstock. Then I trimmed out the heart to back it with a bit of White Pines paper. I added some sparkly glitter polka dot washi tape, and I'm planning to tie them on with baker's twine and those wood veneer snowflakes in the background. Now that I've got cute tags I'm almost ready to fill the jars! 

Day 295: What Fun Holiday Gift Card Holder

Today I spent most of the day with Gabe at his first ever First Lego League Lego Robotic competition. It was a ton of fun to see him being such a grown up and responsible team member, but driving across town twice, hanging out for hours to watch the robots compete, and a celebratory pizza dinner did not leave a lot of crafting time...

I did, however need a gift card holder for Gabe's team coach since their last practice of the year is tomorrow. When I saw the new Retro Sketches challenge, I thought for sure I could turn that into a simple gift card holder! I started with a piece of Ruby cardstock cut to 4 1/4" x 12 inches. I scored it at 3" and again at 8 1/2". After folding it on the score lines I adhered the sides of the 3 1/5" flap to make my gift card holder.  

I covered the flaps with White Pines paper. Then I added a 1 1/2" belly band to the card, which I made 1/8" larger than the card so it would easily slip over those sparkly sequins. I embellished the band with lots of White Pines snowflake stickers and an American Crafts wood veneer snowflake. The sentiment came from Reindeer Bells, and it was perfect for what I needed...

since I used Jennifer's Hand to stamp the custom ending inside the card. I wanted it to reflect how much fun Gabe's been having in First Lego League (FLL) with his coach. I left a little space there for him to fill in his own note tomorrow before I seal it up with the gift card we got her and he takes it to school. I'm linking this card up to the Just Us Girls sequin challenge and the Paper Issues Owl I Want For Christmas holiday projects challenge.

Come visit the Tigard Playschool Bazaar!

I'm so excited to be headed out to the Tigard Playschool Holiday Bazaar. You might have seen us on the news, as recently our spunky little preschool was robbed of our Jog-a-thon funds. Thankfully, many sweet, wonderful members of the community have sent donations, and I am so grateful for the kindness and love in our community.  Of course, in any school, there's always a need for more funds, so if you are local, and have some time, stop by the bazaar and shop local while supporting our adorable preschoolers! 

Besides a full roster of creative crafters, we will be having a choir performance, and a raffle for a fabulous $1200 Traeger Grill. Can you imagine what a great holiday gift that would be? This grill is so top of the line, it looks like you could launch a rocket ship with it (says the girl who's in love with her cast iron skillet). The bazaar is from 9-4 at Tigard United Methodist Church in Tigard. Here's a link to a map/directions - we are tucked off 99W behind the Jiffy Lube at 99W and Walnut. 

I'll be there all day with a variety of hand crafted items (including my new Sparkle scarves) and a steaming cup of tea from my favorite coffee shop, Jubilatte, which is located right inside the church. I hope the bacon jam gal will be back this year!

Do you love my blinged out Mason Jars as much as I do? I'll do a post on them soon.  Now I've got to get to bed so I'll be bright eyed and bushy tailed when I get to visit with you tomorrow.

Ho, Ho, Hope to see you there!

Late night papercrafting!

OK - this is an oldie but goodie project. I while back I bought some of these wooden paperclips from Oriental Trading Co - painted white laready nice and sturdy...and affordable! I added some B&T papers (from Sonata...old school CTMH!) ribbons and a big Just Blooms flower and voila! Gabe's teacher birthday gift for tomorrow is born. 

I wanted him to make a card too but he was totally wiped after school today, so I adapted this neat flippy chirstmas card frame we made last year into a card that wasn't too overwhelming for him to finish off. His picture is on the front, and when you flip it open inside, he stamped a border around the middle and drew pictures with glittery gel pens.  He wrote "Love to Teacher Gina" across the top plus his own name a gob of times in sparkly purple gel pen. Not bad for an overtired and cranky 4 year old!