Teacher Gifts

     About a month ago Miss E and I made school supply cakes for both her teacher and as a centerpiece for the Teacher Luncheon that I put together for the teacher's at Miss D's preschool. I've been hanging on to this post so that Miss E's teacher did not see her gift before the last day of school.
     We used pintrest as our inspiration, but modified the "ingredients" to fit what preschool and kindergarten teachers may need. Making a school supply cake is just like making a diaper cake, although if you shop for supplies smartly, it is much more affordable.
     I liked making this school supply cake for the same reason that I like  making diaper cakes as gifts. They are very easy to put together, but they have a certain WOW factor that makes people think that they took you FOREVER to make!!!
     We shopped for most of the supplies at Five Below. The rubber bands, pencils, Elmer's glue, glue sticks, crayons, and scissors were all $1 each. I'm sure I could have gotten an even better deal shopping the back to school sales at the end of the summer, but in May that was the best price I could find. We bought the paper towels for $0.88 each at Walmart, and found a great deal on a HUGE package of craft foam, sidewalk chalk, and watercolor paintbrushes at Michael's. I used my coupon and we shopped the clearance shelf. We were able to make both cakes and still have plenty of sidewalk chalk, a couple boxes of crayons and tons of rubber bands leftover for either our craft stash or to make future school supply cakes. The stickers were a clearance find from Marden's. I think I paid either $0.25 or $0.50 per package. When I did the math it came out to be just under $25.00 per cake.
     For the bases we used 2 cardboard supports from the gluten free crust that we use to make our Movie Night pizza's every Friday. Mr. J has been making fun of me for wiping them clean and stashing them away each week for some time now, but I have found countless uses for them in my craft room! I also save the resealable bag that they come in. I mean, it's basically a FREE ziploc, right?  Anyway, back to the cake...We used scotch tape to cover the cardboard pizza bases with scrapbook paper that I had on hand.
 
   

     We used clean aluminum cans for the top tiers. I spray painted them with 3-4 coats of chalkboard paint and then used a cool chalkboard marker to write on them. I have been looking for the right justification to buy a set of chalkboard markers and this seemed like the perfect excuse reason! Using the same method as I use when making a diaper cake, I placed a rubber band around the can and then Miss E and I lined the outside with glue sticks. We filled the cans with pencils and paintbrushes to add more height to the cakes and themn moved on to the bottom layer.

     Miss E lined the craft foam up in rainbow order and then I put a couple rubber bands around the roll of paper towels and worked on securing the craft foam "rainbow." This was the trickiest part, just like with a diaper cake. I always struggle a bit to evenly space and tightly "package" the tiers of diapers around whatever base I have chosen. I actually have found it is easier to just use more diapers and swirl them into a circle using a bowl to make what is called a "boutique style" diaper cake. Unfortunately, this method was not possible with our school supply cakes since I really wanted to include the paper towels and I did not have enough craft foam to make the cake big enough. So, I just played around with it for a bit, and borrowed an extra set of hands from Mr. J to get the foam sheets around the roll of paper towels tightly and evenly.

     After securing the foam to the paper towels, the rest of the project was "a piece of cake!" I simply hot glued the paper towel roll to the base and hot glued the aluminum can to the top of the paper towel roll. Then, in doing as I had with the previous layers, I placed rubber bands around the bottom and middle of the cake and Miss E added the chalk, glue, crayons, stickers, and scissors. We made each cake a little different. Miss D's school had specifically asked for scissors and seasonal stickers on their wish list and according to Miss E her classroom needed more pencils. To give the cakes a finished touch I used ribbon and rick rack to cover the rubber bands and glued a fake flower from our stash to the front of the bows on the bottom layers. With some diaper cakes I have made in the past I have sewed the ribbons together quickly with my sewing machine, but this time I just used my hot glue gun since it was already on. 

     This turned out to be a fun activity to do with Miss E. She was very proud to go shopping with me for the supplies and put the cakes together all by herself. I think the cake made an excellent centerpiece for the teacher luncheon and yesterday when I helped Miss E deliver the other cake to her teacher, it was the talk of the school! Miss E just beamed with pride as she gave it to her teacher and all of her friends were oooing and ahhing. Seeing her pride put a big smile on my face and made my heart just swell with pride.         

     When I was teaching it meant so much to me to get a gift that I knew had taken thought and time to create. To this day I still treasure many homemade ornaments and keepsakes from my teaching years. Don't get me wrong, a gift card to Barne's and Noble or L.L.Bean is not bad either. There is also something about a practical, useful gift. In my "expert" opinion these School Supply Cakes are a little bit of both. They are thoughtful, practical, and  homemade. We will definitely be making more school supply cakes in the years to come...

Mrs. J :)

School Outfits

Miss E's First/Last Day of Kindergarten Outfit

Miss D's First/Last Day of Preschool Outfit

Miss E's First/Last Day of Kindergarten Socks and Hair Bows

Miss D's First/Last Day of Preschool Socks and Hair Bows

                                                                             Last fall instead of going to the store and buying expensive new school clothes, I used my gift card from the second hand store in our area to buy the girls new school clothes. All year round as the kids outgrow things, I turn them in there and instead of getting cash back for them I almost always opt for 10% more back in store credit. At twenty dollars a visit, it doesn't seem like much, but after a while it starts to add up. I was able to get pretty much everything that the girls needed to be "dressed in style" for the 2012-2013 school year.
     For their first day of school outfits however, I wanted to do something a little more special. Since I have been getting a bit more adventurous with sewing over the past few years, I felt confident that I could handle making a simple jumper for each of them without having to use a pattern. I simply traced a jumper that fit each of them, added seam allowances, and a yolk, and whipped them up in no time. The tops snap closed under the bows. I also added a custom applique to fit the "theme" of each jumper. Miss E's is a cat since it is her favorite animal and Miss D's is a Blue Butterfly because that was the name of her preschool class this year.
     As sort of a challenge to myself, I decided to use only items that I had on hand. Luckily, I had plenty of cute fabrics stocked up from previous 50% and 60% off sales at the fabric store and I was able to choose something for each girl that I felt truly captured their personalities. I also embellished coordinating ruffle sleeved polo shirts and socks (from the Children's Place,) as well as a pair of hair elastics. It only took me a couple hours total to sew both jumpers and in just a few evenings while watching T.V. I was able to hand sew the polo shirt, sock and hair bows to complete the outfits.

A close up of Miss D's socks just because they're cute!

Miss D's patched up leggings for her last day of Kindergarten

     For the last day of school I decided that it would be neat to have them wear the same outfit so we could compare how much they have grown. When I had them try on their outfits a few weeks ago, I realized that they had gotten so much taller (especially Miss D) that their once "jumpers" hand turned into "jumper shirts." We solved the problem pretty easily by adding leggings to their outfits. The only problem was that last night (the day before Miss E's last day of school) when we were setting out her clothes for the next day, we realized there was a small hole in the left knee of her only pair of matching leggings.
     After the kids went to bed, I dipped into my scrap bin, used some wonder under (or whatever it's called,) and made a quick little patch. I did not bother to reinforce it with any stitching since it was just for one day and I plan to turn the leggings into ruffle bottom shorts for the summer anyway, but I still think they're pretty cute for a five minute fix and Miss E just loves them. In fact, she requested a close up picture of her "cute new pants" I made her. I love how easy my children are to please at this age. I also love that they're still young enough that I can play dress up with them and make cute, little, ruffly clothes and accessories that they love and will wear.

Miss E on her first day of Kindergarten 9-4-12

Miss E on her last day of Kindergarten 6-13-13

Miss E on her first day of Kindergarten 9-4-12

Miss E on her last day of Kindergarten 6-13-13

Miss D on her first day of Preschool 9-10-12

Miss D on her last day of Preschool 5-22-13

Miss D on her first day of Preschool 9-10-12

Miss D on her last day of Preschool 5-22-13

     I plan to continue the first day of school/last day of school outfit tradition as long as my children will allow me to make them clothes. It is a fun way to create a keepsake for the school year and I love seeing how they grow and change in just one school year! I also figure that by the time the gradate, I will have gained the necessary sewing skills and confidence to make a fun keepsake quilt with each school year outfit.
     In the meantime I will continue to enjoy these cute, little people as they grow and I plan to take full advantage of the fact that they will still allow me to play dress up with them and make them coordinating outfits. This is the reason why I chose to stay at home with my kids. I know these years go by quickly and I want to treasure every moment and memory that I can as this parenting adventure unfolds.

Happy Summer Break!!!

Love, Mrs. J :)

The Twelfth Day of Homemade Christmas

Bath Crayon Stocking Stuffers

     I had to share one more stocking stuffer that I made the kids. These are bath crayons made from soap shavings. I found these on Pintrest a while back and had planned to try and make them with the kids, but before I knew it, Christmas season was in full swing, and I decided to make them as stocking stuffers instead. These are definitely something that you could make with children, but they are pretty messy, just to warn you!

So, here's what I did:

     

      I used my hand grater to make 4-5 bars of plain Ivory soap into shavings. I separated the shavings into 2 different bowls. Then, I slowly added water and food coloring a little bit at a time, stirring as I went along. It probably took about a cup or so of water and about 10 drops of food coloring, give or take. I wanted to make a nice, workable paste. This proved to be a little more difficult than I planned and I ended up using my hands so I could get right in there-that's the messy part! Once I had the consistency and color I liked, I used cookie cutters on a wax paper lined cookie sheet, and packed the soap paste evenly into them. Then, I set them aside in the basement to dry.

     It took A LONG time for them to dry and I ended up completely forgetting about them after a few days since I had tucked them away safely from plain site. I happened upon them about 2-3 weeks later, so of course they were dry by then! They had also kind of shrunk and were super-easy to pop out of the cookie cutters, which was something I had become a little concerned about in the first few days of waiting for them to dry.

     So, I popped them out of the cookie cutters, shaved off the brown edges with a knife, and packaged them in repurposed note card wrappers labeled with white contact paper labels, just like the regular crayons I made. I also saved the leftover colored shavings and I think that all I will have to do is add water to re-make a paste to make more. I can't wait to see how they work in the bathtub... And, who knows; maybe once I get into making my own goat milk soap, I will make goat milk soap bath crayons. Fun, fun, fun!

     

             

     I hope you have enjoyed the Twelve Days of Homemade Christmas as much as I have! I have done quite a bit more crafting this holiday season that what I have shared on our blog, but I did not want to reveal any of the gifts I will be giving tonight and tomorrow, so I will have to share some of my other creations with you another time. 

     Making this 12 day commitment has been much more time consuming than I had imagined! For those of my friends who blog every day, and have little ones to raise, my hat goes off to you! I will be stepping back a bit for a few days so that I can focus on my family. Miss E and Miss D will be home on school vacation through January 3rd and we have A LOT of family fun-time ahead...

     I am sure that Mr. J will be happy to get back to his farm talk as well. He won't say it, but I am certain that I've seen him roll his eyes at some of the "girliness" that has been thrust upon his blog over the past 12 days! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone and thanks for following along with our journey as we muddle our way through life as small farmers learning to be more self-sufficient.

Merrily Yours,  Mrs. J :)

The Eleventh Day of Homemade Christmas

Simple Sugar Scrub

     Last year I made a HUGE batch of sugar scrub to divvy up into small canning jars for teacher, friend, and family gifts. I was amazed at how easy it was to make and the kids were happy to help. It's always nice when something is simple and safe enough to have my little helpers join me!

     Well, this year I did not make a HUGE batch, but I did make a small one to use as Yankee Swap gifts and I had enough left over to make a jar for myself. Ever since the cold weather has hit, and with all of the crafting I have been doing lately, my hands have been a mess!!!

     I found these cute little plastic spoons at the dollar store, and I just had to put one with each scrub. I think they really complete the look. Below is the recipe I used:

Gardner's Lemon Sugar Scrub

5 1/8 C. Sugar

2 C. Grapeseed Oil

6-8 TBSP Lemon Juice

     I mixed it all in a bowl and used a canning funnel to put it into pretty, clean jars that I had on hand.  I topped the lids with circles of fabric scraps before screwing on the rings. Then, I tied a tag and the cute, little spoons around the lids with twine, and fished off the whole package with a scrap of grosgrain ribbon. 

     These are super-simple to make and there are a million different recipes out there, so you can probably find one that you can make with things you already have in your pantry. If you are still looking for a last minute gift for that special someone, maybe you can whip up a cute jar of sugar scrub for them today...

Merrily Yours,   Mrs. J :)

The Tenth Day of Homemade Christmas

Gone Fishin'

     Miss D and I made this fishing game for Mr. T. We already have a Melissa and Doug puzzle that is similar but Mr. T enjoys playing with beanbags so much that I thought this would be fun too! I bought the galvanized bucket at a craft store for a mere $1.49 and used only things that I had on hand to make the pole, fish, and bucket decorations.
     All I did was draw a simple fish shape on white contact paper and cut it out. Before peeling off the backing to decorate the bucket, I used that as my template for the fish beanbags. I used random scraps (some from the sweater pillows I posted yesterday too!) and sewed them, right sides together with a loop of ribbon inside and a washer threaded through them. I left the fish open at the tails, turned them right side out, and then Miss D used a funnel to fill them with rice. I quickly finished the tails with a decorative stitch and trimmed the edges with pinking shears.
     The fishing pole is just a weird plastic dowel that I had salvaged from one of the kids cheap dog walking toys we got at a fair. The toy fell apart within hours of being home and I had it in my craft room to repair, but since no one had asked about it I decided to disassemble it completely and re-use the parts for projects. It was really just a glorified weapon, so it's just as well! Anyway, Mr. J cut the plastic dowel to length for me and then I wrapped it in scraps of batting and sewed a "pocket" out of more leftover scrap fabric, to slip it into. I attached the ribbon to the end of the pocket for the fishing line. I turned the whole thing right side out, stuffed the wrapped plastic pole inside and finished it by hand.
     Once all of the fish beanbags were completed, I grabbed a magnet off of my fridge (one that Miss E stole from my brother's fridge over a year ago no less!!!) and tied it to the end of the ribbon. I cut out a letter T from patterned contact paper, and stuck it, along with the white fish shape to the bucket. I finished the whole thing off by tying a scrap like a bow on the handle of the bucket and Miss D and I wrapped and hid it in her bedroom closet until it's time to put it under the tree.
     She is so excited to give him his new fishing game, and is so proud of herself for helping Mommy make it! Miss E is usually my crafting partner so it was a treat for me to do something like this with Miss D too! I did some of the prep-work the night before, but we were able to fill and finish the fish beanbags and fishing pole all while Mr. J and Mr. T were out running errands one morning and Miss E was at school. It always feels good to spend quality time with on on my little ones, but it's even better when we're able to check something off of Mommy's never-ending To Do List at the same time!

Merrily Yours,  Mrs. J :)

   

The Ninth Day of Homemade Christmas

Sweater Pillows

     These pillows that I made for Miss E and Miss D are made from outgrown Hanna Andersson sweaters that my mom got for them last year. The girls wore them ALL THE TIME and absolutely loved them (I have a few pictures of the girls wearing them that I had wanted to include on this post but my scanner and the internet are not cooperating right now and we have lost power a few times today because of the wind, so I have decided not to push my luck!) Hanna Andresson clothes are beautiful, high quality and wash wonderfully. Any new Hanna Andresson clothes my children have are either from my mom or from the $5 rack when the outlet has a sale. We do have several gently used items that I have purchased in thrift and consignment shops, and they are typically great items to re-consign once the kids outgrow them because they really hold their value. 

     These sweaters, however, were so special to my girls that I just couldn't part with them, no matter how much money I could get for them! So, naturally, I had to make them into something and pillows were the simplest choice. I simply used my rotary cutter to cut them into squares, sewed the two right sides together quickly with the machine, turned them right side out, stuffed them with old pillow stuffing, and finished them by hand. Simple. Easy. Free... And I know that the girls will love them! 

The Eighth Day of Homemade Christmas

Ahhh...MOMMY TIME
     Well, my Christmas crafting has finally come to an end. Tuesday night I stayed up WAY past my bedtime wrapping, labeling, tying bows and sorting out all of our homemade gifts. The girls delivered their teacher gifts on Wednesday and I dropped by a few of our neighbors' houses to spread some Christmas cheer on my way to and from picking them up from school. I still have to catch up with a few more friends and neighbors, but I have boxed everything up and it's in my car so I can easily deliver things when the opportunity arises.
     Even though my house is a total mess, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I had planned to be completely done wrapping by now and I haven't really even started, but that's okay. It will all get done. I still have a handful of projects that I plan to post for my Twelve Days of Homemade Christmas countdown, but for now, I just need a little "Mommy Time." I hope you will excuse me if I share what I did last night when I was supposed to be getting to bed early...
   
I tried to relax, I really did. I even turned on the T.V. and found a show on Hulu Plus that I hadn't seen yet, but there it was, just staring at me. Taunting me... My empty, haphazard mantle! This year we decided to hang the stockings above our pellet stove in the Family Room, so our beautiful Living Room mantle above the real fireplace has been uncharacteristically bare. I have just been WAY too busy making gifts to come up with something I'm happy with.
     I have had clippings from our Christmas tree all cut and sorted for weeks now, just waiting for me outside, but for one reason or another I just haven't gotten around to doing anything with them.With less than a week until Christmas, time was of the essence. Our Christmas budget has been met and exceeded at least 3 times over despite my best efforts, so buying something for the mantle was just not an option. No, I needed to get creative and use things that I had on hand. Plus, now that I was"relaxing" I had decided that something must be done right away to remedy the naked mantel situation. I mean, how could I possibly sit on the couch and look at that ugly thing all night?!
     I thought for a bit, and decide that Mason jars would be my choice...And the greens outside, that were most likely wet (again) and that I had to go out in the dark to retrieve. Oh well, it was time to set my fear of the dark aside and rise to the challenge. My goal was to decorate the mantel and have it all completed and cleaned up before Mr. J got home from work so I could pretend that I relaxed all night and got to be early. :) So, I grabbed my jars, washed them and dried them. I grabbed some silver beads, 1/2 of a bag of cranberries from the fridge, old pillow stuffing (snow,)  and whatever real and fake candles I had in my candle cabinet. Then, I put my headlamp on and turned on all of the outside lights. I grabbed my gardening shears and dragged my poor dogs outside with me at 10 o'clock at night so I could gather my mantel decorations.
   
When I came back inside with all of my finds, I went straight to work. I quickly consulted with Pintrest and settled on a design. It only took me about twenty minutes, but I think it came out nice considering that it was completely free and essentially thrown together. It was also a nice break for me to create something just for me. Some Mommy time was definitely in order and now I feel refueled and ready to clean the house, wrap presents, cook, bake, and share the last four days of Homemade Christmas with you. Who knows, maybe I'll even be able to sit down for more than five minutes tonight to wind down for the day. Although, I do have an awful lot of greens left and no dorr decorations up yet...

Thanks for letting me have some much needed "Mommy Time!"

Merrily Yours, Mrs. J :)

The Seventh Day of Homemade Christmas

Tea Time

     Here's another little set I whipped up for the kids' play kitchen. Again, inspired by another expensive item from Amazon (nearly $17.00 without shipping!), I came up with another, essentially "free" version of my own. 

     I simply emptied out one of my boxes of tea and grabbed six chamomile tea bags from my craft stash (I use tea in my rice filled neck wraps.) Add to that some yarn, white linen scraps and pieces of old cut up curtains from my scrap bin, and now I had everything I needed. These took a little longer than the eggs, but I was able to finish them all in one night after the kids went to bed, so they were still pretty simple. 

     All I did was place two pieces of linen around the tea bag with the yarn pinned in place and sewed around them a couple times to secure everything. I then used a zig-zag stitch around the edges another couple of times for a finished look. I did the exact same thing with two pieces of curtain scraps except I just used pinking shears on the edged instead of finishing them with a zig-zag stitch. 

     
I think these came out super cute and since the girls play tea party at least once a day, I know that they will get a lot of use out of them! Again, I am sure the box will not last, but I can easily replace it with another empty box in the future. Between me and my mom, we go through a LOT of tea!!!

Merrily Yours, Mrs. J :)

The Sixth Day of Homemade Christmas

Pretend Fried Eggs
     Our little boy is obsessed with helping out in the kitchen. One of his favorite routines is helping his daddy make fried eggs in the morning. He delights in having a job and repeats "Egg. Help. Dada." until Mr. J pulls a chair up to the counter so he can help/watch him crack the eggs. He just beams from ear to ear once he's helping and repeatedly announces to everyone within earshot that the eggs came from our "Bock bocks!"
     Well, I saw a single pretend fabric egg on Amazon for nearly $8, not including shipping, and for a brief second I even had it in my shopping cart until my wheels started spinning. In less than 10 minutes I was able to whip up six fabric eggs from white felt scraps and some of the leftover yellow facecloth I used for Miss D's mermaid doll's hair. I knew I had plastic eggs in a box somewhere in my attic from when I taught preschool, so I tracked six of them down and put them all in a cute, little half dozen egg carton that friends of ours had saved for us.      
     Now, I am under no illusion that the carton, or the plastic eggs for that matter, are going to last forever, but I have plenty more eggs where the first six came from and I am certain that Mr. T will not mind if I simply take a full dozen carton and cut it in half when the time comes for a replacement. The fabric eggs will certainly last, and I cannot wait to see him cracking his own eggs into his pretend frying pan or the new toy stand mixer that he will be receiving for Christmas as he cooks and bakes in his play kitchen! The cost for this gift was essentially free since I had everything on hand, and I can only imagine the hours of entertainment it will provide for our little man.

Merrily Yours, Mrs. J :)

The Fifth Day of Homemade Christmas

I Spy Bags

     I've seen a million different versions of these on the internet and because of that I almost didn't share them, but to be honest, they were so fun to make that I just had to!!! I used scrap fabric and ribbon that I had on hand and some vinyl from a pillow sham package I had saved for the "window." I filled them with clean poly pellets that I got from my mom's stash. You could easily use rice instead, which is much cheaper. I did splurge at the craft store and spent a whopping $20.00 on enough beads and do dads to make about a dozen more of these! 

     The most time consuming part was taking pictures of the items that are hidden inside. I plan to print out the pictures below, laminate them with my Xyron machine, punch a hole in them, and hook them onto the ribbon tags with a loose binder ring. Once I make the tags, I'll share a final picture, but for kids that can read already, you could simply make a list, or skip that part altogether and just let them play "I SPY" without a key (I think that's what you'd call it.) I have already whipped up a few more of these to give as birthday gifts in the future and since I have so many leftover supplies, I plan to make even more. 

     As you can see, I got a little fancy with the stitching around the windows. This was just because I could and I wanted an excuse to waste all of my thread play with my new machine! If there is room these may go in the kids' stockings, but if not I will definitely still give them to them for Christmas and not hang on to them because I am curious to see what they think of them...

what's inside Miss E's I SPY BAG
(Lime green with pink ribbon tag)

what's inside Miss D's I SPY BAG
(blue flowered with pink ribbon tag)

what's inside Mr. T's I SPY BAG
(blue with green ribbon tag)

The Fourth Day of Homemade Christmas

Mini Beading Bag Stocking Stuffers

     Stockings are one of my favorite things about Christmas. I've always loved opening mine up to find all of the little treasures! Now that I get to fill them up myself, I tend to go a little overboard! This year I am making at least 50% of the kids' stocking stuffers, so I am hoping that I have just the right amount.
     I made one of these for each of my three children, but for some reason I did not get pictures of them all together. I figure these will be another fun thing to throw in my purse to help entertain the kiddos while we're in a waiting room somewhere. They were quick, fun, and cheap to make. I think I may whip up a few more after Christmas to have on hand for gifts.

First, I whipped up a simple bag
with ribbon ties using fabric and ribbon scraps.

Next, I found a set of small beads for $0.99.

And there you have it-
A nice, cute little package tied up with a bow
for a fun, fine motor activity on the go!

Then, I added a shoelace that I had on hand
from a lacing card project I made years ago.

                                                                                     
                                                            

                                                                                       Merrily Yours,  Mrs. J :)