Simple Teacher Gifts

Update: This is what I call a crafting FAIL! I was just using the dish towel I kept for myself and the ink is bleeding and rubbing off. Back to square one...$5 gift cards for each teacher are sounding better and better. I'm hoping to salvage some of the towels by pretreating them and running them through the wash.

This week I've been working on teacher gifts. We love the folks who teach our kids at their homeschool enrichment program, Sunday school, etc. and wanted to give them something they can put to good use without breaking the budget. I'm aiming more and more for giving gifts that don't create clutter in someone's home. This year I opted for nice dish soap (you know, the kind you don't often splurge on for yourself) and a flour sack towel that I sewed with a decorative snowflake stitch and stamped to give it a festive look.

Supplies, cost breakdown and a few notes:
flour sack towels - $1.00 each at Wal-mart
Note: These are not great quality, but should make it through the holidays at least. I prewashed and ironed these before stamping and sewing.

rubber stamp - $5.xx with coupon - will be able to use for other things

red stamp pad - on hand
Updated to add: Do NOT use the kind of ink I used. Crafting FAIL!
Note: I used Color Box pigment ink which may not be the best, but I didn't have time or energy to track down an ink suitable for fabric, so take that into consideration if you're doing something similar. I did try acrylic paint dabbed onto the stamp for one but I didn't like the effect.

2 spools red thread - on hand

Mrs. Meyers Clean Day dish soap - $2.98 at Wal-mart (Score! Coupons were attached to the bottles at the store I went to.)

red yarn for wrapping - on hand

sewing machine - Mine is not the top of the line by any means, but it has some fun decorative stitches.


For under $5 per gift I am rather pleased with the result and I'm happy to give a gift I would gladly receive. In fact, I did receive one. I kept one since I am my kids' teacher and I do 90% of the dishes in this house. :)

Merry Christmas!

Because a Girl Just Needs to Accessorize

A few months a friend sent me a link to this doable Martha Stewart craft that held the promise of corralling all kinds of girlie things for my daughter. We modified to what we had available, but it turned out well and has helped (notice I didn't say "cured") the problem of having these items laying all about the house.

What we used:
unfinished 9 x 12" frame - free from an auction box stash my mom had
wood cutout - $.25
paints - on hand from previous projects
paint applicator - for such a small project, I found that facial foam rounds work well, we had some around but they would be inexpensive in the cosmetics section of Walmart/Target
ribbon - on hand
hot glue and gun to secure ribbon - on hand
good quality hooks - $2 at Walmart for way more than we needed for this

The only unfortunate thing is that she could really fill at least another full frame like this with all the stuff she has.

Another Take on Wool Dryer Balls

Last fall I saw a post Monica at The Homespun Heart had done about making wool dryer balls to take the place of fabric softeners. I let the idea sit for a while, then started one ball and quickly ran out of the only wool yarn I had on hand. But a couple months ago I wondered if I could use strips of felted wool knotted together for the same effect. I started with a piece of felted wool that was originally a sweater and later sewn into a decorative pillow cover.

I started with my little ball made from the wool yarn, about 2" in diameter.

Then I cut several strips of the felted wool into a 1" x 11" size. I used my Olfa mat and cutter, but precision is not important to this project so you could easily do this by hand. I ended up using about twenty strips for two of these balls.

Then I just started tying strips snugly around the yarn ball and continued to do that in a random way until all the grey yarn was concealed, with strips overlapping and intertwining with one another, so it wouldn't be likely to unravel in the washer or dryer. I used about 10 of the strips around the grey yarn ball and it ended up like this.

With the remaining strips I just tied them together around the center and each strip ended up with more of an exposed tail. After these were made I just threw them in the wash with a regular load and then into the dryer with that load. Now I just keep them in the dryer all the time as they seem to absorb some of the moisture from the wet laundry to speed drying just a bit. They also seem to add a little more loft to some of the items you launder which can get matted and lumpy with machine laundering. And I haven't noticed any static cling since I started using them. On the first few dryer cycles I did notice more red lint in the lint screen, but that is no longer an issue.

Overall, this was a quick and easy project and I'm pleased with the results. And as an added bonus, it was all free for the doing.

Simple Valentines

We had a fun but low-key Valentine's Day weekend. It started out with a few simple decorations being crafted and put out on Friday including this felted wool heart. I made it by cutting out two hearts from a piece of felted wool, formerly part of a garmet. It was a quick 5 minutes of sewing the heart together, adding a hanger made of white twill tape and pinking around the top heart.

Of course, whenever the camera comes out, the kids think they must have their picture taken, even if they are not always cooperative in providing good shots.
We also spent some time making homemade valentines for each other and wrapping up some gifts, using paper supplies and wrappings we had on hand, of course.We enjoyed a Costco entree for our Friday night dinner and had enough leftovers for another easy meal for Valentine's Day lunch, combined with salad, strawberry milk and a festive cake with cherry chips and heart sprinkles. The kids each received a box of conversation hearts, a new pillowcase made by me, and a poster-sized alphabet coloring book I found on clearance last year. They are certainly worth far more than the under $5 gifts they received, but we have more toys and books than we know what to do with and we don't intend to make this a major gift-giving holiday. I think they are just as delighted with a few simple treats as they would be with lots of expensive gifts.

We capped off the day with supper at a nearby burger joint with gift cards from some special folks for the kids, who each enjoyed their own kids meal with ice cream. Now that's a rare treat!

And here's our girl who loves Valentine's Day and delighted in making countless valentines throughout the week and her very own heart doorhanger. (My husband and I both noted how much they are starting to copy what we do within their own capabilities, which is sweet and scary all at once.)

We love our kids to pieces and had a great day together as a family!

Much love from our home to yours!

A Bit of Knitting

In the last few months I've taken up knitting again. Knitting is a fun little hobby which I find satisfying, even if I have only basic skills. And I can really appreciate a creative pursuit that doesn't create a mess all over tables and countertops, like sewing and scrapbooking and cardmaking do for me. And I like that knitting is such a portable craft.

I'm glad I finally completed a scarf for my husband which was on the needles for about 2 years, sitting in a dark cupboard. I think it will look great with his winter wool coat. I've also been cranking out quite a few dishcloths, which are not too exciting but functional and I like to give a little homemade something every once in a while.

I thought a case for my needles would be handy and made this one out of two placemats I found on clearance from a home store for about 50 cents each. Since they were already finished, I just cut one down to about 2/3 the height of the original, added some twill tape for ties (recycled from a gift wrapping), sewed the pieces together and sewed vertical lines of varying widths to make the pockets for individual or pairs of needles. I love simple, inexpensive projects!

I am knitting some things for each of my kiddos for Christmas. Two scarfs down, one hat to go.

Little Pumpkins

This summer we had some volunteer pumpkins come to life in our garden. Though at first I thought they were going to be squash, I'm glad we ended up with lots of unplanned greenery and some cute little pumpkins to share and enjoy this fall. Sportster took some into his class, we painted some and we hope to give more away this week. Earlier this week it looked like a freeze was on the way so I harvested many of them and we had a family pumpkin painting night. I have a confession to make, though, I don't usually initiate having craft times with my kiddos. But this time their wishes seemed so simple to fulfill so I couldn't resist. We just hauled out the kid paints and brushes we had on hand and used those. It was a good reminder to me that it really is the simple things you can say 'yes' to to your kids which become fun activities and great memories for them. The pumpkins themselves will not win any artistic awards, but that wasn't ever the point. I'll be looking for more ways this week, month and year to take time out for fun with my kiddos.

And thanks to my sweet husband for picking a few flowers this morning on his way out the door to brighten my day.

A Box for This, A Box for That

Over the last couple of weeks I've been getting the inspiration to get a bit more organized around here, especially in the little areas. You know, the areas that tend to annoy you because they are always a bit out of order or where you can't quickly find what you are looking for when you need it.

My accordion check file coupon organizer just wasn't working for me anymore. I needed more categories and more space to store the coupons, but didn't want to spend money on something that was supposed to be saving me money. We had a few spare baby wipes containers around the house so I gave it a shot. I took an empty clean container, drilled a hole on each end, strung a ribbon through the holes and knotted them on the inside of the box. For the dividers I typed up all the categories on the computer and spaced them according to how tall I wanted the dividers to stand in the box, printed them off on colored cardstock, cut them up and folded clear packing tape over the top edge to reinforce the card. So far it has been very handy and I've been able to locate coupons so much more quickly this way. Here is what it looks like.

Another area that needed to work better for me was my ribbon box. This is obvious from the "before" shot, ribbons thrown in there in a jumbled mess.

With the idea from this free magazine I put together a much more orderly box using a 6-quart plastic bin and a 3/8" dowel, cut to the appropriate length. I did not have the bin or dowel on hand, but in total this project was still under $2.50. And that's a small price to pay for so much order.
A business professor from my university days once made the statement, "Order creates energy." This idea has really stuck with me and I do believe it holds true, especially in regard to our home. When everything has a place and is in its place I do have more energy and am more enthusiastic about starting and completing whatever task is at hand.

Drawstring Bag

We've been working at improving some of our window coverings so in the process we've had some discards, including a curtain used for our entry window. Since it had a top and bottom casing I thought it would be great to turn it into a simple drawstring bag. I sewed up the sides, threaded a piece of twill tape through the casing, and sewed the ends of the tape together. Excuse the wrinkles, ironing is not my priority. I love to reuse good items otherwise destined for the garbage. I think I'll use this as a dirty laundry bag when we are traveling.

Total project time: 10 minutes.

Total cost: $0.

Simple Totes

With Christmas over for another year and the weather in Colorado so conducive to being a homebody right now, I was ready for a little crafting time. I love little projects that are easy enough for me to complete while my kiddos are napping. I found some napkins really cheap on clearance and decided to whip up some little tote bags because I'm tired of the number of plastic shopping bags entering our household on a weekly basis. I may make a few more from retired kitchen towels, too. So, here's to shopping a little greener....now if I can just remember to grab them before leaving the house.