Gift Card Bouquet

I made this gift card bouquet for Meeka’s teachers birthday- yes, I am a room mom again. I wanted to share, because even those self-proclaimed “non-crafty” friends of mine could easily do this!

I bought some floral decorations 9in her favorite colors), a pail, and some circle paperclips and WA LA… here it is. I attached the gift cards to wooden skewers, which I already had at home…. seriously SIMPLE…. yet beautiful!

It has gift cards to her favorite restaurants, so its something she will use too!

Teacher Gift from the Class

I am the homeroom mom for Melina's Kindergarten class, so I helped the class give their teacher a personal memento for Teacher Appreciation Week. I snuck down to the lunchroom one day with a pot in tow and had the kids each put their finger prints on the pot. The boys did yellow and the girl did red. I told them I would turn this pot into a surprise for their teacher, so don't tell! I think they loved that and I know at some point they "casually" told her that they had a surprise for her, since I overheard them telling her yesterday, "See!! This is our surprise!" 

Once the fingerprints dried I made them into ladybugs and bees and wrote their names on the pot. I wrote Kindergarten Class A 2012 - 2013 on the top. And made a little tag that said Thanks for BEE-ing a great teacher!

The kids got to see the pot yesterday before we gave it to their teacher and everyone found their name. They were so proud of their gift; which melted my heart to see the sweet little Kindergarteners so happy  and eager to give this to their teacher!

We hand our kids over to these teachers for 36 hours a week and trust them to teach them both academics and character and to be a great role model for them. They have a tough job and its important to thank them for all their work in and out of the classroom!

Teacher Appreciation Flower Pot Gift

Easter Crafts

The past 2 days the kids have been in full Easter mode wanting to make crafts and prepare for Easter. This year we are hosting an Easter brunch for all of their Aunts and Uncles and cousins….this is a rare treat to have all of them together, so the kids are super excited.

The kids colored and cut out bunnies, then glued a cotton ball on the back for a tail. I got the pattern here.

We lined the bunnies up on the mantel.

We used some leftover paint samples and the kids traced and egg pattern and cut them out. Then they lined them up in the order of their choice and we strung them together with yarn.

The kids with their masterpiece!

The girls also made some foam creations with a friend during a playdate.

Melina made some place cards. These were here own creation.
She can be so creative!

And we made some bunny pops to share with the cousins  tomorrow.
These were super easy for the kids to make. They are rice krispie treats dipped in melted white chocolate with chocolate chip eyes. For the ears we put a couple melting chocolate chips in a baggie, melted them in the microwave, cut a hole in the tip of the baggies and "drew" them on. Let them cool in the fridge and done!

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

Valentine's Painting

On MLK day, after the dentist is was snowing and very cold. We stayed inside and decided to get out some paint and do some Valentine's Painting. We made heart stamps out of household items and we painted canvases too.

We made stamps from:

• a toilet paper roll shaped into a heart
• Bubble wrap cut into a heart and taped onto an oatmeal container lid
• an apple

For our canvases, we made the word LOVE on one and we made XO's no the other. We made them in masking tape. Then the kids went crazy painting with red and pink. Melina even used the toilet paper stamp to reverse stamp after she and Meeka painted the canvas.

masking tape on the canvas

painting their canvas

The final product. The kids were trilled with them!

Homemade gak (slime)

Since we have had illness in the family and the weather here has turned cold again, we have been spending a lot more time inside the house. This week we made gak, which filled some time for us, and gave us something new and exciting to play with.

Empty 2 full 8 oz bottles of Elmer's Glue into a large bowl.
Fill the bottles back up with warm water.
Shake and then pour the water/ glue mix
into the bowl as well.

Add a drop of food coloring to make it fun!
Pour 1/2 cup warm water into a glass and add 1 tsp borax powder and
stir until dissolved. Slowly add mixture to glue mixture and stir. As it forms into slime you will need to kneed it with your hands.

Have fun with it!
(Meeka would not touch it. Carson thought it was great!)

Store in a baggie for future fun!

Kiwi Crates: A Crafty Idea

Who likes mail? Me, Me!!! And my kids! And what’s better than getting a package? Getting one filled with projects! For Christmas this year my kids received Kiwi Crates from their Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. They got a 3-month subscription. There is one box for the girls and one for the boys, and because there is a sibling add-on option with Kiwi Crate, each box will come with the extra supplies needed for 2 kids, for only a couple bucks more! Each month they will arrive filled with Art and Science Projects! What kid wouldn't like that? 

Check out our first box!

The green box arrived!

Its wrapped up so pretty, with a sneak peak on the lid
about whats inside.

Each child got a pair of scissors. There was only 1 paint box,
but 2 brushes (the sib add-on).

The first project was making a
penguin bowling game

The box came with 6 penguins for each child.

And a sticker sheet and a marker for each child.

They loved making their penguins!
Most of the penguins have a story about
why they look like they do (made up by my kids).

The cardboard penguins were sturdy.

Each child also received a ball and
a set of score cards with different ways to set-up
the penquins.

The next project was creating postcards of Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights in Alaska.

They started by using oil pastels and drawling the lights.

And then they painted with watercolors
over top of the pastels.

The postcards will be great for sending Thank You Notes
or just a little something to say Hi! They are heavy
cardstock, so great quality.

The boxes also came with a penguin ice cube tray. There is a little booklet of science experiments to do with ice too. We
made the ice cubes, but we did not get to the science experiments last weekend. Hoping to get to them this weekend.

So if your looking a a unique gift for your kids or someone else's, or you just want some easy crafty and fun things to show up in your mailbox, so you don't have to plan out activities, then Kiwi Crates are the thing for you!



I did not receive any compensation from Kiwi Crates, I just posted this for your knowledge because I think they are great!