Feeling Very Appreciative

We have been blessed with so many wonderful teachers the 4 years my son has been in school. Teacher Appreciation Week is a great way for me to show how grateful we are for all they do for our son. Plus it gives me even more reasons to sew and craft!! =)
I made a card and new bag for my son's homeroom teacher.




She was thrilled with the bag. It is a great design, I bought the pattern from may & mae on Etsy. It's called the March Bag and you can find the listing HERE.

Then I made some supply boxes to hold all the little necessities teachers need, INCLUDING chocolate.




I even found mini staplers that use regular size staples! I was inspired to make these from a great tutorial found HERE, such a fantastic idea.

I bought the smaller version of the storage box she used which had 7 compartments instead of 17. Both size storage containers can be found at Walmart. I added a coat of gloss Modge Podge on the top of mine to seal and protect it.

My son also has a number of other teachers and Teaching Assistants that he works with so I wanted to make something special for them too.
I designed a Starbucks themed card, to go with the Starbucks gift cards we planned to give them.

Exterior:


Interior:


Then I made little fabric fold over wallets to hold the gift cards.




These were a lot of fun to make and really a great way to use and combine scrap fabrics.

Sure hope all they feel all the appreciation we have for them! Ahhh now I can relax... well maybe for a little while?

Happy Easter Images

Have been having a wonderful time Easter decorating, crafting, gifting and landscaping! It has been so beautiful here in Florida this weekend, and it really feels like spring, and a time for rebirth and new beginnings!

Hope you are having a fantastic Easter weekend as well! xo

p.s. the tutorial for the adorable fabric carrots can be found at www.shinyhappyworld.com

Sweet Pea

My Bunco group had a surprise baby shower for one of our players last week, so I had fun making some baby themed goodies!



I think I my have had as much fun making the little onesie card as I did the actual gift!



The sweet pea stamp is adorable, and it actually came from the $1 bin at Mike's a while back. The stamp was rectangle shape and too long for the card, so I just colored the words on the stamp with a Stampin Up marker and stamped that first. Then I cleaned the stamp, colored the baby portion with the markers and stamped that above the words. I used color pencils to shade the pea pod.

Directions for a onesie card can be found HERE =)

When debating about what to make for her gift, I thought about all the cute clutches I have seen lately. I figured why not make a diaper clutch? That way when you don't need to carry the big diaper bag, you can grab the clutch and have wipes and dipes handy when needed.



She's having a girl, so I went with pink! It is just big enough to hold a wipes case and a few diapers.

I was a little nervous about the gift because I don't really know the Mommy to be that well, but she really liked it so I was thrilled =)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Nothing says Happy Valentine's Day than a cute little chunk of plush cheese, right??



Well, maybe not for you...but it is for a great girl I know. Her sister's Valentine's request was a stick of butter, because she LOVES butter...



She even had a dream that I made her a stick of butter, and I am happy to report that it lived up to her expectations =)

I also made some more box bags, these are so handy and really can hold a lot because of their shape.



If you'd like to give the box bag a try, my friend Stacy at Stacy Sews has the perfect tutorial you can find HERE.

And last but not least I FINALLY was able to make the Swaroski crystal hearts that Martha featured last year.



I had to modify her directions a little because I do not have the budget Martha obviously has for Swaroski crystals! LOL But I think they turned out beautiful anyway.

You could uses a variety of beads or crystals to make these, as long as you have small sizes for the bottom point.

Hope you all have had an awesome day, xoxo

Love Notes

Today is the day for my son to exchange Valentines at school! I used to love this day when I was little =) I think he could take it or leave it. Oh well, he still wanted me to make handmade Valentines for him and use a gator theme, so that was alright with me.

I made a simple folded card that could hold a JUMBO roll of Smarties, and a last minute addition of a mechanical pencil. Because according to my son, everyone likes mechanical pencils! Duh...

Here is the front:


And the inside:


But of course I couldn't stop there...I made some Valentines for my friends and family and my son's teachers. I have been doing a lot of crafting lately with my new Big Shot and having so much fun! I decide to do a little purse shaped card with a flower brooch on the front that they can remove and pin on their sweater, jacket or bag =)

Front:


Inside:


Brooch:


The Brooch is made of interfaced fabric and felt, that I cut out using the Big Shot and a flower die, stacked them and added a faceted heart scrapbooking brad and added a pin back to the back. Super simple!

Hopefully everyone receiving these handmade Valentines will be feeling the love! XOXO
I have more Valentines goodies to show, but some are still under construction...gotta get busy!

Sorry about the dark pictures, but it is a cold, gloomy, rainy day here in the sunshine state =( But hey, at least there isn't snow!