greetingarts

giving thanks

Oh. My. Gosh.  I'm so ready for a break.  I have four glorious days off in a row and I can't wait to sleep in late, have someone else cook, and just enjoy my family.

I made a Thankful banner (pattern here) and strung it in the teacher's lounge, along with a basket full of miniature books I made with the Giving Thanks pdf from Wild Olive.  

I made 80 of those suckers last night, with a little bit of help from the girls.  I think I have about 20 left... my mom might like some, and we're keeping a few in my purse and the kids' backpacks to jot down things we're thankful for as we think of them.  I'm betting those little books get filled up fast.

Happy Thanksgiving, thanks for reading about and commenting on my sporadic ramblings.  Enjoy the holilday!

welcome back[pack] to school

It happened again... the summer days flew by, the girls went another grade higher, and this time I have two school schedules and drop-off/pick-up times to figure out.

The middle schooler now has uniforms (silent "Yay!" from Mom) and I knew enough to get my photo before even getting into the car.  She's got a crazy schedule, it rotates daily and I couldn't begin to figure out where she's supposed to be when, but hopefully she'll have no problem remembering by next week.

I still made my traditional gifts for all of Jessica's previous teachers (who happen to be Rebecca's previous teachers, too). 

I pretty much followed the Mini Backpack Tutorial from the wonderful Inking Idaho (left sidebar under free tutorials, it's in 4 parts so I didn't link directly).  I filled it with Ghirardelli chocolate squares, and a heartfelt note to each teacher. 

Vacation is officially over, and I start back at work tomorrow.  Looking forward to a good school year and hectic, tiring but exciting days ahead.

first folds

We've been enjoying every moment of summer.  Mostly out and about, traveling, swimming, scootering in the park.  But once in a while we'll just stay home and pull out the crafts. 

Chronicle Books sent me a copy of Party Origami by Jessica Okui of Zakka Life, and the girls and I had a fun time checking it out and making some of our first origami projects ever.  Now that they are a bit older, and are more precise with their folds, it's a lot more fun and everything they attempted was successful.  One of these bird placecard holders was made by me, one by my 8 year old, as her first origami project ever, I think.  Can't really tell which is whose, can you?  Honestly, I don't even remember.

The book is in a cute little format, perfect as a gift because it includes the beautiful two-sided paper and is basically a little kit.  There is a *lot* of paper, 75 sheets, which is important for people like me who tend to hoard the "good stuff."  In this case, I don't really have to worry, because there is plenty to go around.  Good diagrams, simple.  It could have the potential to get someone started on a paper folding kick...

See Jessica's name there in the corner?  That's so cool. 

focus

I've got so many irons in the fire, sometimes it's hard to concentrate on one thing at a time.

1.  Embellishing bracelets to pass out during the class party.

2.  Putting together treats and decorations for the teachers' lounge.

3.  Making costumes at the last minute, with input from the designer.

4.  Attempting to knit up ghost necklaces, to add to a growing collection, but realizing that was one thing that just wasn't going to get done.  And letting it go.

Being able to focus is so important.  And my little lady can certainly vouch for that... she got glasses last week!  It was inevitable, and certainly no surprise to me.  She took to them very well, and now Jessie laments the fact that she's the only one in the family without them.  She can't wait until she needs a pair, too.  Silly girl.

shower favors

My cousin is having a baby, a girl!  I'm so excited, because I finally get to hand down some of those precious girly infant clothes I've been hanging onto for nearly nine years. 

 
And I got to use my Sizzix Big Shot and the Stampin' Up! Baskets and Blooms die to make some shower favors in my cousin's favorite sunny color.  I wanted to put lemon drops in them with a little "Thanks for dropping by" tag (get it?), but couldn't find wrapped lemon drops... so had to make do with butterscotch disks.

 
They looked pretty cute under the gazebo in the park where her shower was held. 

Can't wait to meet that baby!

apples for the teachers

I don't know why our school district chose to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week one week after National Teacher Appreciation Day, but... there you have it, that's what we did.  So last week we had our teacher appreciation luncheon, and I made some gifts for the wonderful teachers my girls been lucky enough to have, past and present. 

 
Ever since I came across a tutorial on these apple decorations a long while back, I knew I wanted to make some.  So this year I made four, put magnets on the back, and gave them to Rebecca's past teachers and Jessica's current Kindergarten teacher (who happened to have taught Rebecca first grade - two birds, one stone paper apple!).  They were a huge hit, and to be quite honest, I didn't really feel much guilt about cutting up a library discard book about contact lenses, glasses and spectacles, published in the fifties and horribly out of date.

 
Totally worth it, I think.

happy birthday, baby

 
I brought some treats for Jessica's classmates this afternoon, Play-Doh fancied up to look like cupcakes.  I first saw the general idea here, but instead of covering the labels with scrapbooking paper (which I would have to measure and cut to length, then adhere), I simply used decorative cupcake liners (which seem to multiply in my pantry even though I haven't bought any in years).

 
 And since I had a ton of crepe paper roses lying around from last year's teacher appreciation day, taking up valuable craft space, I just snipped the heads off, used my trusty mini glue gun and stuck them directly onto the Play-Doh lids. 

 
Now, I can switch gears and get ready for Easter next Sunday if I can just shake this darn cold I've got, and, more importantly, keep the kiddos from catching anything from me.

 
Happy birthday, Jessica, my baby.  I can't wait to see what every day of being six means for you.

47 hearts in a heartbeat

With both kids in school and class sizes increasing, I thought I was going to be in a bit of trouble with handmade class gifties for parties and things this year, but we got Valentine's Day all taken care of with no problem.

Jessica will be handing out 25 origami hearts, but instead of lollipops, ours contain miniature heart crayon/pencil thingies I bought at the after-Valentine's sale at Target last year.  I love how the heart looks like an oversized jacket and the smiley face pokes out of the top.

Rebecca decided on Friday after school that she wanted little crocheted heart ornaments like these, so I got out some small balls of yarn leftover from making socks and toys, used the pattern from Little Birdie Secrets (so darn easy to remember!), and made 20 in less than an hour.  The tags were die cut with my good old Sizzix.

 
And of course a little something for the teachers, plastic wine glasses filled with Cherry Cordial M&Ms and Valentine's ribbon.  I'll show you what I made for the kiddos some other time, for now I have to run off to help out with two classroom parties!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.  May there be lots of love in your life, today and always.

small packages

Assembly line crafting... I love it.

 
The methodical, meditative kind of automatic crafting where the only thing you have to think about is which colors and patterns look nicer together.  And seeing the stack of finished product pile up... 10, 20, 30 and more... so satisfying.

 
I used my Sizzix Big Shot (mine is a pink Hello Kitty model that was discontinued) and the Stampin' Up! Matchbox die, plus some scrapbooking cardstock and decorative paper that I bought in a pack at Joann years ago.  Add four pieces of chocolate that fit perfectly inside, also decoratively wrapped, tie some thin ribbon in a knot and you're good to go.

I don't feel like Christmas is three days away.  I'm just now beginning to feel easier about Jessie's injury, it's funny how much more resilient she is than I am.  But with Christmas right around the bend, and me hosting Christmas Eve dinner, I'm amazingly relaxed and not running around like a madwoman. Which, in itself, makes me a little stressed... like, I feel like I'm forgetting something and should be doing more?  Oh, whatever, don't mind me.  Yes, I just make myself crazy, don't need any help on that front.  Oh, you know what?  I do have some last minute knitting to do for my husband, that should keep me busy enough.

full days

Can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving, the days (weeks!) have been so full.

There has been a lot of much-needed cleaning, painful purging of the girls' closets, and even some stamping, cutting, pasting and knitting.  But no time for blogging!