Teacher Gifts: Easter

I had so much fun putting together these little Easter treats for Arden's daycare teachers! 

I made them about 2 weeks ahead of time too, just in case I went into labor early!

I searched for & found a good variety of egg-shaped candy to go w/ the theme of tags:

The eggs were just begging for a little nest so I added some pretty pink easter basket straw stuff on the bottom of each bag.

There may or may not be a little $5 Starbucks gift card tucked in the very middle of the bag.

Coffee goes so well with chocolate!

{Easter printable found here}

Nurse Thank You Gifts

Last pregnancy I put together little "thank you" snack baskets for our nurses at the hospital filled with mostly healthy snacks like granola bars, oatmeal pouches, fruit, etc. & was generally happy with how they turned out.I absolutely love the concept of some kind of thank you for all the nurses so I knew I wanted to do something similar this time around too.

However, there were a few things I wanted to change/do better.

Last time I don't think I had actually finished assembling the baskets before I went into labor! I bought all the snacks + the baskets but everything was just in grocery sacks. I think a family member ended up assembling them - totally fine but this time I want to have them ready to go! Also, last time I forgot to make a sign ahead of time last time so at the hospital I had to quickly scribble a little note to go with the baskets so the nurses would know who they were from. This time, I'm gonna have a note ready to go as well.

Last pregnancy I had made two sets of snack baskets - one for our L&D nurses and one for the nurses on the recovery floor. Baylor is a big hospital so they totally separate these two areas. My intention had been to leave one basket w/ the L&D nurses and then one basket with the ones upstairs. Easy right? 

Things I discovered:

1. Labor takes a long time. So we ended up going through 2+ shifts of nurses in each area (and even more on the recovery floor since we were there for 2-3 days!). What this meant is that when I dropped off a basket for the L&D nurses during the day, I realized that we'd totally missed the night shift nurses (unless of course their were still leftovers by then!). Who knows what ended up happening - I'm sure it was fine, but I remember being frustrated that the people I wanted to thank might actually end up missing out on the treat depending on their shift. 

2. Timing of the delivery of gift matters! Like I kind of mentioned above, I delivered the baskets after Arden was born & by then all different nurses were on shift & because it was just a general basket of treats for everyone to share, I couldn't control which people actually saw the thank you! I remember walking to the nurses station on the recovery floor, handing over the snack basket, and realizing that I didn't recognize a single person working. This time around I'm going to keep the treats in our room so that we can tell nurses to take a treat while they're in our room. 

I know, I'm over-thinking this. 

But trust me, this is actually really fun for me.

So this time I knew I wanted to do some kind of food/snack treat again because 1. who doesn't like food? But really because  2. I think consumables are an easy generic treat (as opposed to chapstick or soap or something specific like that).

I searched around Pinterest, combined a few ideas, went shopping, did some crafting, and came up with this:

Reeses Pieces & Peanut M&Ms!

With very punny little tags, of course!

Last time I had done snack-sized treats since they were part of a bigger basket & everyone was just helping themselves.

This time I went for full-sized candy bars since theoretically people will just be taking one (or one of each!)

This time I'll prooobably be taking the cute little basket (thank you Target!) home with me instead of leaving it behind.

And I definitely won't be sad if there are candy leftovers, ha!

Tag printables found here (TY!)

Inspiration for the two candy bars found here and here

Mason Jar Thank You Gift {DIY}

A few months ago, I was faced with the dilemma of needing a large

quantity of thank yous that wouldn't break the bank.

This adorable little mason jar gift saved the day

and let me combine two of my loves (crafting and baking)!

  

Let's face it, pretty gifts are great but when there's an

 edible component AND a reusable factor,

they're even better!

There are 3 parts to this craft

1. The lid

2. The decorations

3. The contents

Materials:

Mason jars

{with lids that come in two pieces}

Mod Podge

Scrapbook paper

{in patterns that make you happy}

Paint brush

Scissors

Pencil

Ribbon

Cookies

{or some other yummy/cute filling for your jar}

I found this large pack of pint-sized jars at Walmart for only about $15!

First, you want to work on the lids.

There is an incredible tutorial over at The Sweet Spot blog called

Pimp Your Mason Jars

that describes how to perfectly cover your lids with scrapbook paper.

Covering the inner lid with paper is ingenious and SO cute!

It adds just the right amount of flair to make this gift something

that people will actually use again.

Two things to note with about the lids:

1. Once the lids are covered with paper, they fit a little more snugly in the ring.

You can still separate them if you try, but they almost turn into one piece.

2. I worked on all my lids before actually thinking about

the fact that I was going to fill the jars with cookies.

While the mode podge doesn't come into direct

contact with the contents (unless you turn the jar over, of course!),

I wasn't comfortable with putting edibles directly in the jar under a Mod Podged lid, 

so I ended up putting the cookies into little bags.

The moral of this is to consider what you're putting inside the jars before Mod Podging!

Next, your want to work on the jar decorations.

I decided to make little tags and tie them around the jar with white silky ribbon.

The tags looked cute from the front and gave me plenty of room on the back to write personalized notes.

I made the sheets in Word, and glued each sheet to poster board paper.

Then, cut out each circle, and punched a hole in the top of each

tag so I could thread the ribbon through.

Here are a few pictures of the finished jars before I added the cookies:

Next, I baked dozens of chocolate chip and snicker doodle cookies!

The hardest part was making them perfectly circular and small enough

to fit through the opening of the jar.

I stacked the cookies, put them into little cellophane bags, and tied a twist-tie around the top. 

I set each little bag of cookies inside each jar...

...then put the lids on the jars, and they were finished!

And there you go!

Adorable little mason jar thank yous!

The best part about these gifts, besides the tasty little treat, is that you've also given the person a jar that can totally be reused for organizing buttons, beads, etc.!

DIY Christmas Card Wreath

This Christmas card wreath is definitely one of my top favorite crafts I've made this year.

Make one.

You'll love it.

I fell in love with the idea when I stumbled across someones blog through Pinterest (the same place I got the idea for the glittery clothespins I posted about last week) and just had to make one for myself.

The Materials

• Some sort of large craft ring/embroidery hoop which will be your wreath
• Glitter clothespins
• Glue gun
• Optional: spray paint

Directions

First: Prep your "wreath."

I went to JoAnns in search of  an embroidery hoop but couldn't find one big enough. Instead, I found a large, gold, metal ring that I decided would work perfectly. Whatever you choose to use, make sure the width of the ring is at least thick enough to glue something to and sturdy enough to hold up lots of clothespins and cards (so something like wire wouldn't work for this)!

I has decided that my wreath was going to be white and silver so I spray painted it white before I started. We had the spray paint on hand, but you can use anything you want to cover the ring/hoop. And if you happen to find a ring/hoop that doesn't need to be painted....well then you've saved yourself a step!

While the ring/hoop is drying, you can prep the glitter clothespins. I spray painted these white before glittering.

Now that everything is ready, you can begin the assembly process.

I apologize in advance for the poor quality of these next few pictures.

1. It was getting dark and so there wasn't as much light in the room
2. It's very difficult to actually glue gun something and take pictures at the same time. You can go ahead and try doing it yourself if you don't believe me!!

Determine ahead of time how many clothespins you want to use and where you want them to be around the ring/hoop.

Also decide which direction you want them to face. You can mix facing them inside and out or keep them all facing out like I did.

When you're ready to get gluing, apply a drop of glue on the back of your first clothespin.

Then stick the clothespin on the ring/hoop.

Continue the entire way around until you're done!

Since my ring was on the thinner side, I turned it over once the pins had dried and applied glue on the back as well, just to make sure they were securely fastened!

 

Once it's totally dry, find a pretty ribbon and tie it in a bow. Hang your wreath somewhere it can be admired and clip away as your Christmas cards start arriving!!!

DIY: Glitter Magnets & Clothespins

I love glitter and anything that sparkles. 

I also love arts n' crafts.
Give me some glue, scraps of paper, and Popsicle sticks and I'm one happy camper.

Anything DIY? Yes please.

I've also recently fallen in love with Pinterest.

Have you not heard of Pinterest!? It's a virtual pinboard that lets your organize and share all the beautiful things your find on the web (stuff like recipes, articles, blog posts, DIY projects, clothing, inspirational design ideas, party themes and decorations, etc.)

It rocks.

Can you imagine my joy when I found not just one, or two, but THREE darling glitter crafts on Pinterest!?!

Oh boy. JoAnns? Michaels? Are you ready for me?

The projects:
1. Glitter Magnets

2. Glitter Clothespins

3. Christmas Wreath (Don't worry, there is definitely glitter involved.)

Obviously I couldn't choose just one. I mean honestly, you need basically the same materials for all three crafts. And it hardly makes sense to clear off a huge table and whip out newspaper for one tiny craft. Ya know?

Plus we use clothespins all the time in our house - they're the most perfect chip/snack/cereal clips ever.

And who doesn't need glitter magnets?

Do you every justify stuff in your head like that?

It happens to me all the time.

And so, I've got three glittery projects to share with you. The third one (the Christmas Wreath) is going to be a separate post because it requires glittery clothespins...and well...we've got to make them first!

The Materials:

- A pack of ceramic magnets
- A pack of clothespins
- Glitter in your choice of color (coarser glitter is better than anything super-fine)
- Glue
- Mod Podge
- Paint brush
- Newspaper
- Muffin tins
- A metal pan/cookie sheet

At first I laughed when I read I needed a metal pan.

But trust me, you want it.

Magnets...they stick to each other, you know? It's not such a problem at first...but imagine what will happen if you cover a magnet in glue and they do their magnetic thing...

You get the point.
(Disclaimer: yes, the bottom of my baking pan has scratches. I have no idea how they got there!)

The muffin cups are perfect glitter holders. I chose silver and gold :)

First, cover your magnet with glue and then place it in the glitter.

Wooho! Sparkly magnet!

Set it on your pan to dry and then do the same thing to all the magnets.

Once all your magnets have been glittered, let them dry completely.

While I waited for the magnets to dry, I started on my clothespins.

Do exactly the same thing for the clothespins: cover them with glue (using the tip of the glue container to spread it out) and then sprinkled the glitter on them.

So pretty.

I did a second batch of clothespins for my Wreath project. I spray-painted these pins white before glittering.

Once the glitter/glue has dried completely, cover each pin and magnet with Mod Podge. You don't have to do this step...but personally...as much as I love glitter...I don't want it all over our apartment. The Mod Podge seals in the glitter so it can't be scraped off. Genius.

The Mod Podge looks weird but will dry completely clear, no worries.

When applying the Mod Podge, try to paint it on smoothly and wipe off the edges of the magnets and pins.

The finished product?

Glittery.
Sparkly.
Wonderful.

Doesn't everything look better when it's closed with a glitter clothespin?