Easy Teacher Gifts on a Budget

I love getting gifts for my boy's teachers.  I have five teachers, so far, and don't want to spend an arm and a leg to let them know how much I appreciate them and value the time and effort they put into my sons.  But I think, even on a budget, I got them nice gifts (and from the feedback I received, the gifts were very well received!)  Here is the Christmas Bucket of Fun:

Each bucket contains the following: three plastic bags as padding for the goodies (see pic), one piece of tissue paper folded, one cupcake mix, one icing, either sprinkles or the spatulas and squeeze bottle from the baking set (I could only find four of the sets,) one personalized zippered pouch, and a personalized card and gift card for lunch.

Extra baking supplies that didn't fit in the bucket nor did it look pretty!

OK. I usually hate talking money, especially if I get gifts for crazy, good deals.  But here goes...  I paid very little for these Christmas teacher gifts, with a little planning.  At an after Christmas sale, I bought these buckets for ten cents each!  The tissue paper (one per bucket) was less than ten cents a sheet.  I bought the cupcake supplies (mix, icing (both on sale with coupons) and 11 piece baking set on clearance), made a zipper pouch and got them a gift card to our favorite fast food restaurant that is near the school.

Now, you don't have to do the gift card, but I know several of the teachers like this Chick restaurant (as do we) and I was very careful with our grocery budget over the last several weeks, so it was a splurge I am willing to make. I was able to see four of the teachers and they said the following: I am going to make these cupcakes with my granddaughter, I love to bake - you are so creative, I love the pouch with my name and that I love school ribbon is darling!  All gave hugs and had big smiles.

That's really what it's all about!  Though I was crazed trying to get everything done, I am so glad I was able to get it all together for them!  What do you like to give your hardworking teachers in your kiddo's lives?

Take Care,
Morgan

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Easy Teacher Pouches

Ok, can I say that this whole post was inspired by this cute ribbon?  Once I saw it, I knew I had to make some teacher pouches!  

I only bought the zippers and ribbon, both for a steal, and used up my fabric stash and iron on paper (laying around from a long ago project) and voila!

 

Cute gingham lining

In my old age, I am getting worse at procrastinating (though I am busy doing a lot of things), but on the upside I am getting better at sewing.  I sewed these five pouches from cutting to gluing the ribbon ends in less than three hours and we had dinner during that time, too.  I did these assembly line style from cutting all one time, ironing and such.  Though if I encountered a problem, which I did with my bobbin in the beginning, I put the pouch to the side and moved on.  During a break, I ripped out the seam and 'caught' the pouch up with his friends and chugged along.

If I were going to make these again, I would definitely iron-on the names at the end after making the entire pouch.  The first one you see in the pics was completed that way and I think it looks the best.  Oh, and you know your iron, if it's too hot and your doing the package directions on the iron-on paper, go with your gut! Momma burned the fabric on hers (because it said to hold it on there 20 seconds, so I did!) and got a real nice burn mark of the iron.  I was there counting and seeing smoke wondering why am I seeing smoke, not thinking IT WAS FROM THE FABRIC!  Sometimes I really wonder about myself!  :)  Plus, I let her name cool and then peel, so it came out darker.  The others I pulled off while hot (ouch!) and as a result, they are lighter, but still cute.

These are going in some end of year buckets for five teachers!  My two boy's have two teachers each and one for before and after school....  Whew!  That post will be coming shortly, too.

What inspires you to make a 'crafty' gift?  Thanks for coming by!

Take Care,
Morgan

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Christmas Gift Project

I am going to apologize in advance for the very bad pics you are about to see...  Now that we got that out of the way, I am so excited to share with you the project that took up my time for the last several weeks.  Now just to be honest, the project didn't take very long, but my procrastination did...

Remember when I did the mom's market and said I had a custom order from it?  Well, it was my middle son's teacher, so I wanted it to be perfect.  She ordered four pouches (for four of her daughters!) a regular 12 inch caddy and a custom 18 inch caddy.  This woman is a saint!  She has eight kids of her own and teaches at a mother's day out program, too!  Like instead of getting some peace and quiet away from her own kids, she goes and teaches someone else's rowdy kids!  She is a lovely woman who wanted some nice gifts for her family.  I tried my best to deliver some awesome gifts for her family complete with packaging...

Cute sequined letters.

For her 'little monkey'

A simple 12 inch caddy

Last name with year of marriage.

Helping to support the rivalry!  Whoop!

One the other side of the big caddy...

12 inch caddy packaged up

Wooden letters I found at HL ages ago

All of the pouches with letters

18 inch caddy didn't want to look cute, but I tried!

I really enjoyed making these and hope she loves them, too!  She didn't even get to see them finished, so it will be Christmas for her, too, when the gifts are opened!  What projects do you like to make for Christmas?

Take Care,
Morgan

Twins!

Shut your mouth!! No, not mine!  :)  My husband's friend from college and his wife, recently had twin boys!!  So, I decided this was an occasion for a monogrammed, zippered bag for the boys.  I mean momma could use the bags, she has two boys, right?

I hit craft pay dirt when she sent a picture of the nursery and it had a gray and white chevron fabric, which I have been coveting from my local HL.  I had actually picked up the bolt a couple of weeks ago wanting to purchase a couple of yards, you know, just in case I wanted to make something out of it, but talked myself out of it saying it will be there when I need it...  Well, I got the nursery pic and called my HL - you know, cause I roll like that - and they were out and didn't know when they were getting it again!  This is the reason why I have a fabric stash!  Anyway, I ended up finding another HL which had the fabric (30% off I might add) and with the three boys in tow went on a little day trip.  Crisis averted!

I decided to make everything the same because they are twins, but changed up the font on the monograms.  You know, they will have years of momma dressing them the same (from the pics I have seen thus far, she is on her way! which is so cute!) that they need a little individuality with different scripting...

Here goes: 

This blue, green broadcloth complements the color scheme in the nursery, so the stars couldn't have aligned better on this one...  I love giving homemade gifts, what do you like to give a new momma?

Take Care, 
Morgan

Free Christmas Decorations - Reuse and made new

I love using what I have already.  It's not that I don't like to spend money (just ask my husband!) but I like to spend money when I have to.  Not today, oh, not today....

I think Poinsettia flowers are lovely.  I have children, so I know there is a lot of back and forth on how safe they are around them and pets and so on...  Plus I don't like buying them every year, so a few years back during an after Christmas sale I bought 6 fake picks of the flower.  I didn't mind because they were pretty and cheap!!  I used them in my tree for pops of color during the Christmas season.  Well, that gets old after a couple of years and they needed a revamp.  I couldn't part with them, but wanted to find a great place for them....  I think this is it:

Please don't look at the safegaurd bumper for the fireplace!  I reused one of the 18 inch caddies from here , used two floral foams and stuck the poinsettias in there.  All free, totally easy and completely portable.  This can be a centerpiece during our Christmas meal or moved around where a little pretty is needed. 

I am so glad I was able to get a new-ish Christmas decoration that looks really nice!  What would you re-use and make new this Christmas season?

Take Care,
Morgan

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I am still here...

I have not been a good bloggy friend.  I know this.  I feel guilty about this.  So, that's why I want to get you all up to speed on why I haven't been a good friend...  It's because I overbook, take too much on and otherwise do too much.  How does one not do this?  Especially when there are so many fun crafts to do or when life is generally occurring?

Since Halloween, we had our second, sweet boy's birthday, a crafting market I showcased some items in, Christmas orders (arising from said market,) and decorating for Christmas; all the while, having our daily life occur.  I want to show you some of the fun, we have had along the way...
 
I made two balloon wreaths for the front door to celebrate birthdays.  Well, correction, I had one half-way made for the past year.  So, I finished it and another for our double doors.  I also made some fabric bunting; I like the idea that it's good for the Earth (no throwing it away) and maybe the boys will want to use the decorations for their children some day.

There are billions (like Dr. Evil says) of tutorials out there on the wreaths...  Word to the wise, buy more floral pins and balloons then you think.  I kept my receipts, just in case I had any leftover...  Not a chance as I had to go back and purchase more balloons and pins.  They don't go that far and I didn't even worry about the sides.  I just did the top, outward facing part of the wreath.

At the crafting market, I showcased some caddies and zippered pouches... I simply stained the caddies, which were 12 and 18 inches.  Left plain for the recipient to use as they wish.

Of course, I couldn't help but Aggie up a caddy.  Unfortunately, this one didn't sell, so momma gets to keep it!!  I know it's not a sound business model, but what the heck!  I love it!!

I did get a large custom order out of the market.  I will be showing some of the things I will make for one lovely customer in the next few weeks.  So, I was actually doing stuff and even documenting it along the way, just not blogging about it.

I will be better about completing my blogging duties, but as you can see I am a work in progress.  This is supposed to be fun (which it totally is!) but also, this blog was to help me finish crafts, too (which I have been doing.)  So, stay with me...  I am here and will continue to blog.  Thank you for hanging in there!

Take Care,
Morgan

Star Wars Family Costumes!

Ok, so Sweet boys 1and 2, REALLY love Star Wars!  I mean, the things they can make light sabers out of and how many times they can watch the movies....  Now, we let them watch the movies we grew up on, so that means Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewie, Princess Leia, you know the oldies, but goodies.  Plus, they don't seem as violent with their awkward light saber battles, I mean, Old 'Ben' Kenobi dies with one swipe of the saber and disappears?

Anywho, we could debate ad nauseum the quality of the movies, but they love them just the same.  So, Sweet boy 1 wanted us to be characters from the movies, so he and Sweet boy 2 were jedi, mommy was Leia, Sweet boy 3 was R2D2 and daddy?  Well he specifically said not to buy any fabric for him, so I didn't make him a costume...  Only to get a whiny what am I going to wear? when I sent him pics of each finished products...You snooze, you lose...  He had to wear the boys' old Darth Vader mask and call it a day...

Ta-da!!

No, the kiddo's weren't wearing masks, I just don't want their images out here forever.

So, I learned a lot about myself with this project...  I procrastinate.  Nothing really learned there, I knew that!  And I really let a craft/project intimidate me!  I am not the type of person intimidated by people, but a project, man that can really intimidate me!  I will feel bad about not finishing it or leaving it half finished, turn my eyes away when I see it on my craft table, but I don't feel bad about buying the materials for the project (maybe I should work on that!)  Only to find out that it was super quick or easy, just like this one.  I really need to work on this part of me, because I have a lot of great ideas but end up not doing the project or not finishing it only to really be happy with it in the end.

This was exactly like that!  Ok, so I did all my sewing Halloween morning during Sweet boy 3's morning nap (so, in an hour and a half)!  I bought the fabrics in advance, of course, and washed them all up.  I had a three yards of brown fleece, two and a quarter of white/knit polyester and one sheet of felt in blue and gray to make the costumes. 

Of course, I took NO pics, but this was so easy!!  This is going to be a descriptive tutorial:

Jedi robes - Got my fabric measuring tape (you know, the flexible one) and measured from each boy's top of the shoulder down to mid-thigh and doubled that number.  For the older one it was 30 x 2 = 60 inches and the younger was 20 x 2 = 40 inches.  I needed 100 inches of fleece, so I got three yards (108 inches) for wiggle room.  Put the fleece in the washer, no need to worry about the ends, fleece doesn't fray!  Yay! 

Took it out of the dryer and folded it in half, selvage to selvage.  So, I cut my jedi tie wraps (is that what they are called?) first and used my rotary cutter to take a two inch strip (two times) off the bottom.  Then I cut off a 60 inch piece of fabric (I didn't do anything with the width, you will need that to make the sleeves floppy.)  Then folded it in half, so you have 30 inches a fold and 30 inches.  Then, genius that I am, I had Sweet boy1, who was sick on Halloween - Boo!, lay down on top of the fleece like a cross, so I could cut the underarm and body parts.  Now leave room around the body and cut the arms at an angle down like they are going to droop.  Sweetboy 2 was at school, so I used a long sleeve shirt of his as my template.  Go to your sewing machine and sew the underarm to the bottom of the robe on each side - DON'T sew across the bottom! 

Now you are missing a head hole and an opening, unless you want a tunic, like the Princess Leia outfit.  So I laid out the robe and found the middle and cut through one layer (make sure you life it up as you are cutting, so you don't cut through both layers.)  When you reach the top, do a half moon cut-out - still laying the robe down.  Turn it right side out and let your jedi try it on.  You can alter it just by cutting at this point.  I doubly tied the wraps around their waist and you are done!

Princess Leia- Do the same as above except do not cut an opening down the front.  Knit doesn't fray, either!  Double yay! Fold over your white fabric, lay down and cut around yourself and sew up, just like above.  Cut a head hole and turn it inside out.  I used some of the leftover scraps to fashion a belt out of.  Put on your buns and you are the princess!

Baby R2D2 - Look at some images of R2D2 online and cut out your blue and gray felt.  Place on white onesie with your favorite white glue.  I did this Halloween morning and it was dry and stayed on the whole evening, during the wash it broke apart, but Halloween was fine.

Now this was an easy, cheap, quick Halloween costume set-up for the entire family (unless you are our family and daddy doesn't want you spending any money on him.)  Heck, we used a gift wrap cardboard roll and duct taped it into a light saber!  You could even do Darth Vader just like the Jedi Robes in black. 

The boys have yet to take off their jedi robes, so I consider this a hit!  Hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!

Take Care,
Morgan

'Sock Monkey' Baby Bag

So my friend had her 'expecting' baby shower this Spring.  For those of you who haven't had the experience of adoption, that means that you can 'expect' to receive a baby anytime when you are 'expecting.'  She ended up having a couple of showers, one of which was a Sock Monkey theme.  Since they didn't know if they would receive a boy or girl, it is a decidedly neutral, but easily femmed or boyed up theme!  I went to the 'western' themed shower, so this could have gone either way...  Fortunately, I had bought this fabric (thinking it was going to be knit, but didn't read closely to know it was cotton printed like knit) and was saving it for something...

Well not long ago, I received the email that she and her husband are now proud parents to a little girl!  I am so happy for them!!  I decided to make her a cute little bag, with some sock monkey fabric and her little girl's first initial embroidered on the outside and a striped fabric on the inside.  If it looks familiar, it's because it was in this post.

 Ok, I know...  I changed the ribbon after this picture to a red and white polka dot.  I was trying something different, to make the red pop, but it just stuck out like a sore thumb!  I apparently, don't have the eye for some things... 

I used a heavier weight stabilizer on this bag, which I wish I would have used on this bag.  It was ok to work with, but somehow even though I didn't have the boys with me I managed to pick up the 'non-iron' kind...  I definitely like the results of the stiffer stabilizer.  I went two and a half inches in on the mitered corners, but in the future, I think I will stick with less, since you lose a lot of the bottom of the bag.  In any case, this sucker is going to stand up (with the deep mitered corners and the stiff stabilizer.)  Don't know if you can tell with the pics, but this guy is 12 inches wide (12 inch zipper.)  It will be able to hold plenty, too...  It was still super quick, which I love, made it in less than one evening!

I hope the new parents love this bag!  I enjoyed making it and hope their little girl isn't keeping them up too much!!

Take Care,
Morgan

Monogrammed Bag for Baby

Ok, so all new mommy's need an extra bag to stow away all those baby things, right?  Without smaller bags, the diaper bag becomes this black hole of diapers, wipes, creams, and all those little do-dads that are needed for the babies...  Finally, on the third baby, I have realized these smaller bags really organize the diaper bag and make it a lot easier to find things.  So, I used the fabric from this stash and made a pretty big bag to carry some of said do-dads in...  Ta-da!!!

Check out that TAMU lining!

Fill that baby up!

Now, I love this bag, especially how it sits up and coordinates so nicely with this.  The 'formula' is just so versatile, just pick a width (12 inches in this case) and you are pretty good to go.  I finished this sucker in one evening, but did a lot of prep work beforehand...

Flashback...  My hubby bought me an embroidery/sewing machine last year, I know, most wives might be angry about that, but I REALLY wanted one.  Problem was, this guy was ALL computerized!!  That's why it took me a whole year of walking by it every day, dreading opening the box and dealing with all that new fangled machinery.  My old, no frills sewing machine has always done me right, why would I want to use that mean, old embroidery machine?  Well, because it can embroider, that's why!

It took one whole day for me to thread the thing, with the manual by my side.  Not to mention getting the design on there...  Putting the K and border on the fabric alone took about 6 hours, again, much longer than I thought, expected, planned for, but totally worth it in the end.  Don't even ask me why I tried so many times to spell out the name on the front!  You know, it's difficult re-positioning the hoop to sew everything straight!  Enough about that, let's go back to our happy place...   The silver lining, I have had enough practice to know that (1) I need a bigger hoop already and (2) I can bust out some more designs real quick in the near future... 

I am really pleased with the way this turned out.  Fortunately, the future mommy and daddy already had the name picked out and were willing to share it!  So, nice!  I can't wait to use my embroidery machine again and crank out some more of these bags!  What do you think new mommies need most in their diaper bags?

Take Care,
Morgan

Linking up to:
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More Wooden Tags - Holiday Edition

Ok, so these aren't original, but they are totally doable...  We all know how much I LOVE Southern Living, I went on and on mentioned it in this post.  Well, I saw holiday edition tags and knew I had to make them, especially the naughty and nice ones! 

I followed the same steps in this post, but actually used my smallest paint brush and black paint as my paint pen is way to thick for the squiggly marks.  As you can tell, I chose not to stain, though, they would look just as nice stained.

Source

Mine

I only made the punch tag for the drinks, since I had the ones I needed from my other post.  I think I will use the naughty/nice tags with holiday gifts (I put them on opposite sides of the same tag,) so people can choose which they would like to be...  It may be a difficult year for Santa, if people choose to use the naughty side most often!

I hope you enjoy this post!  Let me know what you think!

Take Care,
Morgan

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Aggie Baby Quilt

Now, I love making baby shower gifts! Especially when the future mommy and daddy are fellow Aggies! (Whoop!)  Now, if your are not from or live in Texas, you have no idea what I am talking about, but around these parts, there is a huge rivalry (which goes back generations, I am sure) between Texas A and M University (Aggies) and tu (University of Texas.)  Currently, they aren't even in the same Conference anymore, so I don't know how the rivalry will evolve; but, that is not what this post is about...  It's about an Aggie baby quilt!!

What better gift to give a baby, than a quilt?  She can use it for tummy time or to cover up during the brisk Fall weather at football games?  I wanted to give props to their alma mater (and mine), so I included some collegiate fabrics, but incorporated some girlie ones, too.  I splurged on Kona Cotton, which is supposed to be the best and softest after all the research I did.  My rotary tool became my best friend with the pennants and the ruffle.  Did I mention how much I love that tool?

This definitely didn't take as long as I thought it would, though, I ran into loads of problems since I NEVER sewed a quilt before, ranging from bobbin threading issues, broken needles and gobs of seam ripping!  So, drumroll, please....  Ta-da!!!

One inch ruffle all the way around.

Used lightweight, iron-on Pellon to make sewing easier on these guys.

I really would have liked to stipple (?) the white section of the quilt, but after three nights of ripping out seams, I didn't want to ruin it the night before the shower.  In any case, I am pleased with the way it turned out.  Here is the mommy-to-be with the quilt at her baby shower.  I hope they enjoy it for years to come!!
 

I can't wait to make another quilt!  What do you like to make for baby shower gifts?

Take Care,
Morgan

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Pacifier "Flowers"

Ok, so I have been MIA lately...  It's not really my fault, is it?  Well, maybe a little, yes...  Here goes, so my problem is that I have these grand ideas for homemade gifts and no time or energy to get them done.  But I DO get them done, at the expense of a messy, unclean house (no, my boys don't notice, that's for another post on why do I clean so much then?) and no blogging!

Anyway, remember when I said a baby shower was coming up (did I tell you how much I LOVE showers!?) and I was going to have some projects come from that?  This is the first and the best project of all time!  I was asked to make the diaper cake!!

It was so much fun, especially because the baby is a sweet, little girl, so the cake was all that little girls are: pink and cute!  The cake was pretty much a no-brainer, diapers, rubber bands and roll, roll, roll.  And the decorations were pretty much what a baby would need: comb and brush, shampoo, baby powder,  a knock softly sign, and even paci's.  The thing with paci's is that they are very useful (if your baby uses one), but not very pretty.  Not until I made some paci flowers!!  Ta-da!!

Now I couldn't find anything in blogland on these, so I guess I invented them...  Yeah, me!!  They are not very difficult and only took me about 5 minutes to do, but they made such a difference on the cake!  These could also be grouped together to make a really cute corsage (pinned or on the wrist) for the mommy-to-be.  Here is the tute...


Materials:
Pacifiers (I like this kind because they are flat on both sides and they are one piece, which is supposed to be safer for baby, too)
Double-sided tape
Ribbon

Instructions:

1. Get your paci's ready, just take them out of the package.  
2. Cut four pieces of double-sided tape and arrange them into a square on the 'top' (sucker side) of the paci.  I tried to get a pic of the glare of the tape, so you could 'see' what I was saying.
3. Start looping your ribbon around the paci.  I started the loop down (see right pic), then looped up (see bottom left pic) all the way around until the end finishing with a loop down.  I did this so the frayed end of the ribbon wouldn't be noticeable.
4. Cut the ribbon when you can see where the end will be and take the ribbon off.  Use this as your guide for cutting ribbon for all of the paci's you are making.
5. Re-arrange the ribbon around the paci, adjust as needed.  You are ready to decorate!

The future Mommy and Daddy can easily remove the tape, wash these up and they are ready to be used for the baby.  I made these early, so the grandma could see the first draft of the cake, but I would recommend doing these no sooner than two weeks before the party.  They were still sticky, when I was arranging for the party, but didn't still have their form (so I had to re-do the ribbon, but not the tape.)  I also made some cake charms, that will be in another post, very shortly...

The shower was super fun; it's so nice being around the girls for a while!  I hope this post inspires you!  What is the best part of a shower for you?


Take Care,
Morgan

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