DIY Teacher Appreciation Week Gifts

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day! A couple years ago, I shared some easy DIY teacher appreciation week gifts so I am back to share some more! Teacher Appreciation Week is here but there is still time to put together the cutest DIY gifts.

Thank you for helping me grow!

 I found this idea on Pinterest from jenny collier but I thought I would do my own take on it. I picked up a couple orchids for each classroom and used supplies I already had at home for the card (card stock, stamps, and twine).

diy teacher appreciation gift thank you for helping me grow

We DONUT know what we would do without you!

This adorable free printable is available from Happiness is Homemade. Print and deliver with some yummy donuts for a treat for your teacher. I love this idea because if there is more than one teacher, everyone can enjoy this one.

diy teacher appreciation gift donut

Thanks a LATTE for all you do!

Here is another adorable free printable from Life Anchored. I attached if directly to a Starbucks gift card for all of the teachers, but I also love sticking the gift card into an empty Starbucks cup. Super cute.

thanks a latte teacher gift diy

What are your favorite ways to show your teachers how much you appreciate them?

Candy-Free Valentines

Thanks to Pinterest, I really love making valentines, especially candy-free ones! This year was no exception! I chose two super easy options that fit the kids perfectly. Kenley loves her fruit and veggies, so she is giving little clementine cuties to her classmates. I associate all things nautical with Crosby, so as soon as I saw the nautical themed valentines to go with the Pirate’s Booty, I knew they would be perfect.

You’re a cutie!

I had all of the supplies needed for the valentines, aside from the clementines, which I picked up at ALDI. I put these together while catching up on How To Get Away With Murder over the weekend and they were super quick. The party bags I had were too tall, so I cut them down after I had assembled the valentine. You can also get the smaller party bags if you’re buying them specifically for the valentines.

The supplies needed are as follows:

candy free valentines

candy-free valentines

AHOY!

I also had all of the supplies needed for these valentines too, aside from the Pirate’s Booty which I had delivered in just two days, thanks to Amazon. I technically didn’t even have to leave the house to make these and I just love how they turned out.

The supplies needed are:

candy free valentine

 toddler valentine

Seriously, these were so easy and so cute! If you still need more ideas for candy-free valentines, you can see my past valentines here, here, and here.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

my weekend in photos

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greg worked on friday night so the kiddos and i held down the house. heather and i got up saturday morning to run and the weather was absolutely horrible. it was cold and so windy so our 8 miles turned into 6 and i was perfectly fine with that decision.

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afterwards, we headed to o2b kids to celebrate kyler’s birthday, super hero style!

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crosby says “cheeeeeese”!

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happy birthday kyler girl!

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we debated having a fire on saturday night but figured it was too cold for that and we wouldn’t enjoy it, so we watched the martian instead on our warm, comfy couch. it was really good!

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kenley and i did a little craft together this morning after i saw this pin on pinterest. we modified it a little and used washi tape instead of ribbon, so now she has festive artwork in her bedroom!

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i headed to panera to get some work done when the kids went down for their nap and ended up meeting a friend for a chat and a quick trip to target. we ended the day with a very quick trip to the y and a broncos victory!

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we had a fun, chilly weekend. how was yours?

Pinterest Christmas 2015

The Pinterest Christmas blog series (in its fifth year!) started as a motivation to actually do some of the DIY projects we pinned on Pinterest & a way to share them with friends & family. Over the years other bloggers have joined & we have spent the month of December DIYing & sharing our Christmas projects. Sometimes the posts are tutorials with step-by-step instructions & other times it is simply sharing a completed project! You can check out past Pinterest Christmas projects here!

Pinterest Christmas

This year we’d love you to join in on the fun of Pinterest Christmas! Misha {from Emerald City Diaries} & I will be hosting a Linky Party set up for the entire month of December where you can share your own Pinterest-inspired projects & discover what bloggers are sharing too. And, we’d love to see the Pinterest Christmas graphic included in your posts!

Here is what you can do now to get started:

(1) Get on Pinterest & pin those holiday projects! (See our Pinterest Christmas board here)
(2) Get your craft on! If you want to do a tutorial, make sure to take pictures during each step.
(3) Write up your Pinterest Christmas blog post.
(4) Join in on our Linky Party! Click on the blue button below to add your blog link beginning December 1st! Feel free to add as many links as you’d like.
(5) Come back and see what other bloggers are creating.

diy Christmas ornaments + decor

pinterest christmas diy

This week I’m sharing a hodge podge of different little crafts I did to decorate this season. You know how much I love to make ornaments, so I continued that tradition this year. After finding this adorable fabric scrap ornament, I dug up a pack of styrofoam balls that I had purchased way back for probably a very good reason, which I cannot remember now. I also had a little bit of scrap fabric left over from my Christmas garland I made last year, so this project was a freebie! I started with the ribbon and a stick pin so I could hang my ornament. I then cut the fabric into (approximately) one inch squares and started poking them into the styrofoam ball. The fabric stuck on its own, so I didn’t need any pins. I would imagine you could use any tool that has a sharp point. I ended up using a this little cleaning gadget that came with my sewing machine. I love how it turned out and I definitely want to make more in the future.

diy ornaments

diy ornaments

The other ornament I made this year was Crosby’s birth announcement ornament! Misha also made one for Eloise and did a little tutorial on it, so check that out here!

diy ornaments

This year I felt like I needed more festive decor for our TV unit in the family room. I had my eye on these waterless snow globes and felt like they would be perfect. I picked up a few extra Ball jars at Jo-Ann Fabrics (they also make smooth edge jars too!), as well as the fake snow. I found the trees on Amazon for $12. The small globes are candle votives that weren’t getting used in the house, so I decided to use them. I used the flat lids of two other Ball jars and attached them to the votives with spray adhesive. They look great from a distance, but not the best up close. I should have spray painted the lids white, but I’m not losing any sleep over it. They look great where they are!

diy christmas decor

Along with the snow globes, made a little festive vase. The (p)inspiration came from these JOY bottles and I just modified it a little bit. If Santa were to bring me a Cricut machine for Christmas, you will probably be seeing these JOY bottles again next year. For this project, I used one of the many frappucino bottles I have tucked away and painted it with the frosted glass spray paint. I put three rubber bands around the bottom of the bottle to make three stripes. I filled the bottom of the bottle with fake snow and put in two stem of cranberries.

diy christmas decor

Thanks for keeping up with our Pinterest Christmas projects this season. For more projects and inspiration, check out the other blogs in the A Pinterest Christmas series [Emerald City Diaries | Greg & MaggiThe Gilbertson Family | The Pena Family | This Grey House | Without A Doubt]. Share your Pinterest Christmas projects with us! Comment on one of our blogs, link back to a post, or use #PinterestChristmas2014 on Instagram!

Pinterest Christmas // 2014

pinterest christmas diy

I am so excited to be co-hosting the third annual Pinterest Christmas blog series happening in December! Each week the hosts will be sharing Pinterest-inspired projects related to the holiday season. The projects could be anything from decorations and crafts to traditions and recipes. Each of us will be sharing our projects in the weeks leading up to Christmas. We would love for you to join in on the fun. Plan your projects, post them, link back to one of our posts, and leave us a comment! Not a blogger? No problem, we’d love to see your projects on Instagram! Use the hashtag #PinterestChristmas2014

The hosts:

[Emerald City Diaries | Greg & Maggi |  The Gilbertson Family | The Pena Family | This Grey House | Without A Doubt]

Need some inspiration? Check out the posts from the previous two years here.

Happy crafting!

A Pinterest Christmas – diy felt garland

This is the second year of A Pinterest Christmas blog series happening this December,
where myself and several bloggers across the country will be making fun,
Pinterest inspired (Pinspired) holiday decorations, treats, and keepsakes.

pinterest christmas logo

This week I am sharing two types of felt garland.
The first is felt ball garland, inspired by small bird, as well as Misha and Maggi who whipped these up last year.
There are great tutorials on how to make your own felt balls, but I opted to buy my felt balls pre-made.
After searching on Amazon (my first go-to online retailer), I found what I was looking for on Ornamentea.
I got 50 wool felt balls in retro pastel.

wool felt balls, felt garland

Other supplies I used were hot pink thread and a sewing needle.
I laid out the balls in a pattern, then Kenley decided to pick them all up for me, how sweet.
After bedtime, I strung the felt balls on the thread and hung it up!

The thread is probably not as sturdy as embroidery thread or twine,
so I don’t plan on storing this away after the holidays in fear that it will get very tangled.
I plan to find a another place for it around the house.

diy felt ball garland

diy felt ball garland

Check out Amanda’s take on felt ball garland.

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The second garland was inspired by one of my favorite bloggers Ashley Ann at Under the Sycamore.
I picked up my Christmas themed fabric and felt at JoAnn’s Fabrics.
The small sheets for felt were 34 cents a piece and an 1/8 of a yard of fabric was less than one dollar,
so I would say that this was a pretty cheap project.
It would have been nice to have pre-cut fabric circles, but I cut out my circles during naptime while watching Parks & Rec.
My circles or squares are definitely not perfect, but they will do.

diy fabric felt garland

My supplies included fabric squares, felt circles, scissors, and a sewing machine.
Once I had my pattern laid out, I started sewing. I left and came back to this project several times,
but finally got it done!

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I hung it up on the pantry door around my chalkboard.
Kenley’s response was “wow, that’s boo-ti-ful. Mommy made that.” Melt. my. heart.
If it’s boo-ti-ful in her eyes, that’s all that matters!

diy fabric felt garland chalkboard

diy fabric felt garland chalkboard

Have you made any felt garland lately? Link in the comments, I’d love to see it!

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Looking for more (p)inspiration? Check out these other bloggers participating in A Pinterest Christmas!

Amanda @ Without a Doubt
Misha @ emerald city diaries
Maggi @ Greg, Maggi & Rodney
Abbi @ The Peña Family

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Click here for last year’s projects!

A Pinterest Christmas: DIY Pom Pom Wreath

This is the first post in A Pinterest Christmas blog series happening this December,
where myself and several other friends and friends-of-friends across the country will be making fun,
Pinterest inspired (Pinspired) holiday decorations, treats, and keepsakes.

pinterest christmas logo

DIY pom wreath (p)inspired from the little things: cute, crafty, and candy coloured

http://jenniferjohner.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451774c69e2012876119c74970c-500wi

This is what we like to call the lazy girl pom pom tutorial. All you need is yarn and scissors!

Sally and I started this project a couple weekends ago when we should have been packing up our house.
Instead, I unpacked my craft supplies and we had ourselves a crafternoon.
Kenley and Margot joined, but they were not much help.

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To make your pom pom, start your yarn with some slack and get ready to wrap around two fingers…
or three or four, if you want your pom to be bigger.

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Wrap, wrap, wrap the yarn.

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Continue to wrap until you have a good chunk. If you think you should do more, do it.
You can never have too much, but you can have too little.

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Slide the yarn off your fingers gently creating some slack on the other end.

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Wrap the slack from the end around the center and pull very tight.

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It should be wrapped tight enough that it should look like a bow.

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Once it is wrapped tight, tie a knot in the middle with your two ends of slack.

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You should still have some slack after you have tied the knot. This will come in handy later.

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Cut open the yarn on each side of the tie.

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You should have no loops after you’ve made all the cuts.

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Gently roll the pom between your hands to give it some fluff.

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Getting closer.

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Trim the ends of the pom all the way around so they are all the same length, giving the pom a rounded look.
The “haircut” is really what makes the pom look great.

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Ta-da!

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I got a plain wreath at Jo-Ann’s for 40% off, so it was around $11!

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Tie the pom onto the branch with the slack that was cut.

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Progress!

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Here is the final product! I am obsessed.

For the adorable bow tutorial, head over to Sally’s blog to find out how I did it.
It’s easy, but not as easy as our lazy girl pom poms.

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Don’t forget to check out the other fun projects happening each week during A Pinterest Christmas:

Amanda @ Without a Doubt – DIY Sweater Wreath
Sally @ Chacha and Mogo – Pom Poms All Around
Michelle @ this grey house – Quick & Easy Wreath/Garland
Misha @ emerald city diaries – reindeer wreath & felted garland
Maggi @ Greg, Maggi & Rodney – Letter Wreath

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Have you made any fun wreaths lately?

my weekend in photos

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she already knows what to do with the phone

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she just walked right over to me while i was trying to take her picture

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amy and ryan came to play and watch football on saturday

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we watched ucf put up a good fight against ohio state
and watched iu win against umass, thanks to espn3

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i completed lots of fun, random crafts this weekend between football watching.
mod podge is the greatest thing ever.

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excited about being at her favorite store, target.

Football is back.

football on sunday is back. one of us was very pleased with our rookie qb and team today.

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after a busy weekend last week, we were happy to lay low this weekend.
what did you do? any fun crafts? did your team win?