Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

Because there was so much going on last week, my son's school is celebrating Teacher Appreciation a week late. But I still started early! Here are some ideas for celebrating your favorite teacher.

I'm the homeroom mom, so I started by asking all the other parents to chip in $5 apiece for a different gift card everyday. I forgot to take a picture of Mondays gift, but we got her a book store gift card, and each child make a tracing of their handprint and wrote why they were thankful for their teacher. It turned out really sweet! I gave her a binder to put all the pictures in.

On Tuesday, we're giving her a plant in a personalized pot (made with my Silhouette). Inside the card is another gift card to Home Depot:

Wednesday, the kids are supposed to give her a big "Good Morning!" and we're gifting her with a "Thanks A Latte" gift card to Starbucks:

Finally, on Thursday (it's only a 4-day week class), I made her a card full of apples that says "You're the best of the bunch!" One of the apples has a gift card to Mardel's attached. In addition, I'll be making apple cupcakes for the class:

 I certainly didn't want to leave the music teacher out, so I made a cute pencil holder full of candy:

I'll be linking up here!

Happy Mother's Day! {Tiered Planters}

For Mother's Day, I made my Mom and Mother-in-law some Tiered Planters with their names and house numbers on them. It's been lovely outside, so it's nice to have a project that I could finish outdoors.

A close-up of the card I cut with my Silhouette. I slit a bamboo skewer to make a little stand for it:

I'll also be giving some homemade satchets and new pictures to the grannies.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day!

{I'm Blushing} Quilt Top

Kiki's been in a big girl bed for nearly 2 months now, however, I somewhat lost my motivation on this quilt part-way though. But now, I'm ready to finish it! All I have left is to baste, quilt and bind!



The pattern is "I'm Blushing" by Natalia Bonner for Moda Bake Shop. I love it! However, I used Holly Holderman for Lakehouse fabrics.

Fashion Starts Early

Obviously, I haven't been blogging much lately, so...what have I been up to? Running my own preschool clothing sweatshop, that's what!

Here's what I've made for Kiki in the last couple of weeks:

With the exception of two of the looks (the yellow ruffly top with pants and the maxi dress with the blue and yellow stripe), I've used two patterns:

First, there is this Apron Dress/Peasant Dress pattern from Portobello Pixie. It's so easy and fun to make!

Second, this great pattern from Whimsy Couture for knotted overalls. I just can't get enough!

And Kiki has actually been wearing them! It's so much fun to make girl's clothes. You can really go all out with the patterns and colors.

I'll be linking up here!

Teacher Appreciation {Quilted Wall-Hanging}

Teacher Appreciation week is coming up in May (AND the end of school--it has flown by!), so I figured it was the perfect time to make something handmade for my son's teacher. I've really wanted to make a quilt for her before Finn even started school, but I decided to pace myself and my patience paid off!

I've had the idea for this floating around in my head for awhile. I knew I wanted something with this sort of layout and size, but when I saw this at Moda Bake Shop, it sort of inspired me to get moving on putting this together. I didn't use their pattern at all, but it obviously has its similarities.

I especially love the back and binding. The rainbow colors worked well together. I hope she likes displaying it in her classroom.



I will be linking up to these great parties!

Easter Fun

I know I've been M.I.A. lately. I just can't really work up the motivation to blog much. I more in the "doing" phase at the moment. I've made Kiki scores of new clothes! I love making her stuff, but it's getting to the point where she may never even get around to wearing it. I'll have to do a round-up post of her clothes soon.

I hosted an Easter Party and Egg Hunt for our friends today, and it was a bunch of fun.

I took this picture before everyone else showed up. Everyone else brought so many treats, the table was overflowing!

These are chocolate-dipped Peeps and they are oh-so-delicious!

Egg-in-the-grass-cookies from MADE and Bunny Brownies with chopped up Peeps (I know, I felt like such a murderer!)





I love this simple garland. It's just felt circles that are sewn down the middle. Very quick and cute and you can change it up for any holiday!



And I wanted to use my new sketch pens for the Silhouette, so I whipped up an Easter basket banner with our names!

Another project from the Silhouette. It can cut these adorable intricate paper baskets! 





I Scream {Shirt}

If you've ever been to Las Vegas, you know that cruising the shops at the Ceasar's Palace is a must. There are enough high-end shops (the ones I never even dream of setting foot in, like Fendi) to amaze you, but enough regular people shops (like, you know, Sketchers) to actually do some shopping.

While cruising around a couple of weeks ago, I saw this outfit (below) in the window of Kids Kastle. I instantly thought, "I can make that!" So I snapped a picture to remember when I got home.

And here's my version:

I know it's not exactly the same. I was going to do two dips of ice cream, but they seemed like they might weigh the shirt down quite a bit, so we ended up with one.

I made the "ice cream" ball mainly by wrapping a ton of tulle around my hand then sewing it to a felt circle on back. Then I secured it to the shirt by making a ton of little stitches. I'm really afraid of how it's going to wash!

I'll be linking up with these great parties!