Teacher Appreciation Candy Card

National Teacher Appreciation week is May 2-6, 2011 with Teacher Appreciation Day being on Wednesday the 3rd.

We like to send a little something each day of the week in appreciation of Savannah Grace's teachers.

Our first craft is a candy card....



Suggested supplies -

Poster board
Craft glue
Double stick tape or tape runner
Die cut letters
Embellishments of your choice
Boxes or bags of selected candy

Step 1 -

Fold the full size poster board sheet in half and cut. Fold each half sheet in half again, making two cards.

Step 2 -

Using craft glue or double stick tape, attach your background embellishments to the front of the card. You can trace something from coloring books or various clip art sites from the internet.

Step 3 -

Using craft glue or double stick tape attach your desired lettering to the front of the card. I cut my letters using the die cut machine at school but you can use Cricut cuts, pre made ones from the craft store or trace some from fonts on your computer.

Step 4 -

Attach your chosen embellishment to the front of the card. I made decorative flowers by gluing beads to the center and attaching that.

Step 5 -

Now move to the inside of the card. Attach your desired background embellishment and letters as you did on the front.



Step 6 -

Attach your desired candy using craft glue to the desired location on the card. I use Whoppers for my chosen poem so I covered the "S" on the candy with a construction paper dot.

Your card in now complete - give to your favorite teacher in appreciation for their hard work and dedication to our children everyday.

Front -

Inside -





Purse theme, pink and damask 10th birthday party.

Every year I let Savannah Grace chose her birthday theme. For some reason she always comes up with the hardest themes to pull off. This year it was purses - We are really in love with the black and white damask print right now, so chose that along with pastel pink as our color palate.

The decorations -

I customized Chinese lanterns to match out theme and colors (instructions are posted in a separate blog entry).

The birthday banner was created from full size 8.5 x 11” scrapbook paper and cardstock. The backing is black cardstock with the corners rounded with a punch. Applied on top are various patterned papers cut into the frame I desired. Letters, cut with the Cricut machine, were applied to the top. I punched holes in the corners and attached each piece with pink tulle.

The birthday gifts were wrapped in damask paper bought at Hobby Lobby at Christmas. I hand tied the ribbons from florist ribbon and attached little purse embellishments printed on white cardstock.

I found the perfect party balloons on ebay in damask, pink scroll and soild pink.

I made decorative labels from cardstock, scrapbook paper and coordinating ribbon.

The damask napkins (actually bandanas found at Hobby Lobby) were tied with pink satin ribbon and embellished with more of the purse cardstock purses.

The food –

For the past several years we have had cupcakes instead of a cake for birthdays. I searched the interest for ideas for weeks for the cupcakes and found some with tiny purses as embellishments. I then searched for weeks and weeks for some little purses, without success. I finally decided to try and make some from gumpaste. Let me just say gumpaste is a sticky mess, like playing with adult playdoh. It was difficult to get each purse even remotely similar even though I measured out each amount. Eventually, I did end up with enough that looked similar enough to use on the cupcakes. I found damask baking cups at the supermarket and had the local bakery bake the cupcakes. I then embellished them at home with the little purses and pink sugar pearls.

We made party punch with fresh fruit floating on top. We served strawberry ice cream cups placed on a pretty cake pedestal. Party goodies included pink snowballs, brownie cookies, chocolate chip cookies, strawberry marshmallows, pink and white m&m’s, and raspberry Hershey hugs.

All in all the party turned out as planned and our little girl was provided with special birthday memories to last her a lifetime.

Our crafty Easter eggs.

Every year we drag out the glitter, glue and craft paint and spend the evening together decorating the Easter eggs.  This year I boiled 36 eggs and only ended up with 14 that didn't crack- no clue what happened there.

Tiny paint brushes, craft paint, glue and glitter resulted in our yearly crafty eggs.

My favorite is the tiny blue birds in a nest, Savannah Grace's is her golden glittered egg and Steve's is his Alabama Crimson Tide egg. 

The time we spend decorating the eggs each year are precious and fond memories for us all.

How to make a fabric basket liner.

Since our dear Maine Coon cat has decided that Easter basket grass is his new favorite treat, we can't bring it into the house.  I couldn't use the cute colored grass as always and needed to make a basket liner to dress up the plain white basket.  It was relatively easy and took about an hour to complete.

You will need...

Basket of your choice - any shape or size would work about the same.
Fabric of your choice - craft felt would even work.
Brown paper bags or newspaper - to make your pattern.
Pen, pencil or marker.
Straight pens.
Coordinating sewing thread.

Step 1 -

Using the brown paper bag or newspaper on the OUTSIDE of your basket - measure the height and circumference of your basket and cut for your pattern (be sure to add for the amount of fabric you would like to hang over the outside of your basket).

Step 2 -

Set your basket on paper and trace around the bottom, adding 3/4" seam allowance.

Step 3 -

Using the pattern pieces you made from paper - cut from your desired fabric.  You will have the long fabric piece, which becomes the walls of your basket liner and a round circle, which becomes the bottom of your basket liner.

Sew the long rectangular piece together to make a "tube" and hen one edge to make a nice finish edge.

Pin the "tube" to the circle, gathering as you go to make it fit. 

Sew the bottom to the sides where you have pinned.

Step 4 -

Fit the liner into your basket and cut slits on each side where the handle fits. 

Turn the liner over the edge of the basket to the desired fit. 

Hem or zig zag stitch the slits to finish them and keep from raveling.

Using more of your fabric make some simple ties and sew to each side of the slits where the handle with be.

You now have a custom basket liner so the Easter Bunny can fill the basket for your precious little ones....

Customize Chinese Lanterns

In my search for party decorations I found these cute Chinese lanterns at Dollar Tree but they are less than our ideal party color choices.  I decided to decoupaged them to give a new look. 

Supplies needed -

Paper Chinese lanterns - white works best
Small paint brush (I used 1")
Mod Podge
Tissue paper
Paper napkins in your color/pattern choice
Ribbon for bow and streamers
Ribbon for hanging

Instructions -

I first spray painted the lanterns white since the ones I bought for $1.00 were yellow (they can be found already white).

Cut the tissue paper into small squares then twist the center, forming a small "puff".

Cute slits into each end of your paper napkins - makes them easier to go around the top and bottom edges.

I then painted a thick layer of mod podge over the entire surface of the lantern.

Lay the napkins (It took two for my lanterns) on the lantern and add another layer of mod podge on the top, using your paint brush to push the napkin into the lantern grooves.

Cut the extra napkin from the top and bottom edges.

Let the lanterns dry over night.

Hot glue the tissue paper puffs around the top and bottom edges to add some extra detail.

Make bows from your desired ribbon and attach to the front top.

Hang your lanterns from small ribbon at the desired lengths.

Enjoy your beautiful, custom and cheap party decoration.