Friday, May 28, 2010

Bulletin board re-do


I have recently decided that I like wearing necklaces. I didn't for a long time. I have also decided that silver is a fine and practical metal and costumey jewelry is fun. Yeah, I'm a little late on the band wagon...

So, I had all these new necklaces...plus a few old ones, and they were getting all tangled and wonky (yes, that is the technical term) jammed in several drawers and baskets.

I had a bulletin board that I bought for about $6 at Target for Connor's room, and hadn't done the make over for yet, sitting in the garage (wow...could that be the worst grammatically phrased sentence EVER?!?) and I made this. A little paint, some ribbon, a button, and the mighty glue gun...




It was functional, but looked a little naked.





I painted a couple sets of letter stickers black and called it done. Much less naked. I really wish the frame was wider...and I need to decorate the push pins somehow...even Sanford said he doesn't like them...but it's not bad for using what was in the house. Now, if I could just keep the cat away from it...he thinks the hangy-danglies (yup...another technical term) are there purely for his enjoyment! ;)

Thursday, May 27, 2010

DayCare Mother's Day Gifties


Okay...we're just going to go with~better late than never~ and not even discuss that it's almost June...

So for Mother's Day this year, the kids did breakfast in bed...I put the tray, a muffin, a juice box, paper plates and napkins, and a small vase in a big gift bag, completely sealed it shut and attached a letter to the dads on the front...It looked like the gift was TO the dads...but it was actually just directions telling the dads to put a flower in the vase and that they could feel free to add to breakfast (c'mon slackers...at least a little coffee!) I also made sure that each gift had an entire pack of paper plates and suggested to the dads that they use them all day so that they wouldn't make dirty dishes for mom to deal with later ;)

The homemade part of the gift was a tray to put the breakfast in bed on...




We did silhouettes earlier this year when we were doing Dr. Seuss books...I LOVED how they turned out! I used the total cheater method where you take a picture of the child's profile, print it out, cut it out, and paint it black...it's a beautiful thing. Awesome and ridiculously easy!




I mounted them on cardstock ovals, mod podged them onto Michaels wooden trays that I had already painted, slapped a few extra coats of sealer on them and they were done. The hardest part was painting the color band around the tray.

I was going to make one of Connor for myself, but he is in the middle of growing out a complete buzz and his silhouette is a little awkward...I should be able to do it in a few weeks. I would totally put this up in my bookshelf in the living room. It's completely decorative and would match the cutesy artsy collage I put up a few weeks ago...Did I ever post that ? hmmmm...

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

career choices



Connor seemed to really enjoy playing catcher this year, and he looks so cute in all the gear!



He's got the stance down perfect and even managed to catch a ball or two ;)

The boy is looking to the future though...if the catching gig doesn't work out, he can always be....




MaRiO or LuIGi....seriously, he's killing me with the mustache!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Random Cards...

Here's a card I made for my brother's going away shin-dig...He decided to have a bit of a mid-life crisis early and quit his job, move to San Fransisco, and start over...Actually I think it's brave and exciting, and while I'm annoyed that he had and then quit a Pottery Barn job (helloooooooooo....40% discount) I'm happy that he's found something he likes and seems to be getting settled! Love you Justin ;)




So, the card is all PTI...that new ~enjoy the ride~ set is the cutest thing ever!...okay, no, not really, the spoons I saw in Crate and Barrel that had little metal enameled lemons dangling on the end were the cutest thing ever....but this stamp set is great! I LOVE the little car and how it can be the front end or the back end...soooo clever!


I also like how this card opens...Mary Ellen...Sanford's favorite school secretary, sent me a Valentine's day card laid out like this and I couldn't wait to try it. I attached several gift cards accordion style on the back side of the main panel...it worked out great.




Here's a card I made my mom for mother's day and then promptly forgot to give her...oh well, (don't look mom)...I'll give it to her next year! I really like the kraft envelopes from Papertrey...I hate putting a kraft card in a white envelope...oooh...gotta go...I hear a truck outside and Mr. Brownpants is "out for delivery" with my May PTI order...purchased happiness could be just a few steps away ;)

Friday, May 21, 2010

Display for Connor's Report


This month Connor's class had to do animal reports. They had a few weeks to get books, do research, write notes, and then write up a few paragraphs. Connor chose bees because he's afraid of them...like yelling, screaming, running away, afraid and he thought learning about them might help...Good for him! You gotta love how their minds work sometimes!

So he tells me they have to do a speech after they turn it in (basically just read the report to the class) and they can have a visual aid. He then looks at me and says "Just something small...like a piece of cardboard, Mom"...what?!?! Is the boy implying that I might go over the top or something? Where would he ever get an idea like that? I am soooooooo known for my restraint! (insert sarcastic snort!...and laughing mockery from my spouse!)

So Connor chose some pictures and we printed them ...and then I chose a few more to round things out...and we made this from things lying around the house...





He printed and trimmed and taped and typed the labels. After all, I would never DO my son's homework...I might just help a little with the layout and design on the creative stuff. ;)

Oh, he also brought in honey sticks to hand out to all his classmates after his speech.

The boy got an A+...woo-hoo! He rocks! And mommy got to use some of her stash and expensive tools thus justifying their purchase and making room for new goodies all while helping the offspring...win-win everywhere! There is nothing like a school project to make all that money forked out for craft supplies look well spent!! :)

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Teacher Appreciation Goodies

Well....I forgot to take a picture ( I know, I know...knock me over from NOT surprise!) of the bath basket I made for Mrs. Lee...but it looked a lot like these...just a different flavor and different bath scrubbie...these are ones I made for Sanford's secretaries the week before...I sent in something to both of them every day of Administrative Assistant's week...yeah...this is the only thing I took a picture of...




For Sanford's secretaries, every gift had a tag with the sundevil on it somehow...it didn't always match, but it was what he wanted...here's a closer shot of what's in the tin from the Target Dollar bins...I scored big at the Bath and Body Works sale the week before...I thought I had gifties for a loooong time...um, not so much...these 2, a birthday giftie, one for Mrs. Lee and Connor wanted to send one in for the teacher in training...and all those extras were gone...




Here's another idea stolen straight from somewhere in Blog-land...sorry, I can't remember where...Decorate one of those embroidery floss holders that you can get for $2 at Michaels...




and fill it with office supply type stuff...oh, and a little chocolate.

Cute, personalized, and practical.

I know you aren't supposed to give teachers stuff with apples on it...but I always think mine is cute enough to be okay...of course, the teacher is probably telling her husband that she would LOVE this gift if it didn't have a &*%%^$ apple on it ;)





so then we're on to the standard Starbucks gift card...the guy behind the counter was so cute when I asked for a clean cup to put it in...he got out the tissue paper, and since it's brown, suggested that we leave a little hanging out over the edge of the lid, like coffee had spilled. I told him it was a cute idea...then promptly tucked it all in once I left the store. A gift with something spilled on it?!? Even pretend spilled?!? I just don't roll that way!!





I used one of those wooden coffee stir sticks to attach the flag to...





yeah...pretty over done, but still cute and in her favorite color...and c'mon...at least I didn't just have Connor hand her the gift card...

The kids were also supposed to wear purple one day because it is her favorite color...ummmmm...yeah, no purple in the boy's closet. I went to Target to try to buy a purple shirt...no deal...and since it was 9:30 the night before he needed it...I had to punt. I bought a $7 shirt with a guitar on it, came home, took out a sharpie and wrote...you guessed it...MrS. LeE RocKs on it...she liked it well enough to email me and tell me, so I guess it was even a little better than purple :)

I can't remember what else we did...I had lots of plans...but a little bit of a procrastination problem...oh well, I guess I can save it for the end of the year...uh-oh...that's two weeks away...better get busy!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Teacher door decoration



so... I volunteered to decorate the door for Connor's teacher for Teacher Appreciation Week...I know if I was a teacher, I would want my door decorated...and I know my son and think that anyone who spends 6 hours a day teaching him certainly deserves their door decorated!





I'm not sure if you can see it, but I used glitter modge podge on the letters and then took stickles and made stars over the modge podge...it looked cool in person...




Here's a close-up of the guitar...Sanford was at football and Connor went on a steam train trip with his grandpas...so I was home alone with no one to do anything for on Sunday, all I had to worry about was myself...that's probably why I spent 2 hours making a paper guitar...that and I have a few issues...the darker purple center is glitter paper...her name is Lisa Lee...can you see her name on the guitar?




Then I used the cricut to cut out stars and put each students name on one and strung them to hang...





I thought ~Mrs. Lee rocks~ was a pretty good sentiment for 3rd graders...not to girly, not too juvenile...I got to school at 6am on Monday morning to put it up...no one else was there that early...the custodian finally let me in at 6:30...so I got it hung up and it looked great with the stars dangling...but I forgot to take a photo...One of the room moms emailed me one, but I'm not sure how to move it...I'm impaired that way...

We sent something in for his teacher every day...again, she ABSOLUTELY deserves it!! I forgot to take pictures of everything...but tomorrow I'll post what I did take pics of. I'm bummed that the thing I made that I thought was the cutest I didn't take a photo of...aqua blue cookie jar with a label on the front that said~Treats for the Teacher...to share or not~ filled with smarties (thanks for making us smarties) and dum dums (not dum-dums)...I tied on black and white gingham ribbon and it was adorable...oh well...I'll be better at taking pictures next year!

wHoOPie!!!!



okay...innocent enough looking envelope right?? I almost just recycled it without even opening it...then I realized it had real postage...and yes, I open my husband's mail... always ...okay... almost always...if I didn't the pile of unopened postage would reach epic proportions and I wouldn't be able to move in the kitchen...hmmm...if I couldn't move, I couldn't cook...okay...perhaps I need to rethink the mail thing :) anyway....enough babbling...so, here's this envelope...





and inside were GolDen TicKeTs...LITERALLY...and figuratively!





Sad as it sounds, Antiques Roadshow is the only show that I religiously watch...Don't bug me from 8-8:50 on Monday nights...whatever it is can wait...and NO, I don't want to tivo or DVR it...I just want to watch it..there are no commercials to fast forward through, so just go away and let me watch my show!...whew...not that I feel strongly about it or anything.

Any way...when I saw that they were coming to San Diego, I applied for tickets and made Sanford apply to. I never heard anything back and the hubby said he didn't either...he's a liar that way! So when I opened the envelope and these popped out I was thrilled...when I called to thank him and ask why he didn't tell me, he got annoyed that I opened his mail because he wanted to surprise (translate as torture) me. He admitted that he was planning something along the lines of the infamous "Pooh Shoes" incident of 1996. NO thank you! Any way...we're going to the Roadshow! Whoo-hoo! I have no idea what we're taking, but we're going!!