Happy Valentine's Day

Today I will be hanging out with kids at Valentine's parties and am very happy to say that I managed to help pull off some penguin valentines for Maben.  

Maben is seriously obsessed with penguins and I now know more about penguins than I ever cared to know.  However, his enthusiasm and passion for penguins makes me more than happy to listen about them and figure out how to make them into a valentine, because no one makes penguin valentines.  (I checked) Colton picked Justice League ones from the grocery store. (Happy dance, cause this girl is short on time)

The penguin is compiled of just some shapes cut from my Cricut and some sticky eyes.  We also attached some penguins to the valentine, because they were left over from Maben's penguin themed summer birthday.

I had to scour the internet for a cute saying I could use on the back of the card and finally found gold.

These were printed out on 2x2 inch labels and then stamped with the penguin stamp. 

They are all packed up and ready to deliver to Maben's classmates tomorrow.  I hope his friends love them. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's day today! 

Washi Tape Thank Yous

I have jumped on the washi tape bandwagon.  After looking around for a decent looking thank you card and coming up disappointed, I decided to make my own.  I feel that the teachers and aides in my children's lives need to know just how much they mean to not just my child, but myself as well.

The papers came from my scrapbook stash and the washi tape came on this giant assortment from Target in on a clearance end cap!  It was 10 rolls for about $3.  I hand wrote the, "thank you," on each card.  I plan on writing inside each one a personal note to the teacher/aide that helped my children this year.

I made coordinating envelopes for each Thank You card.  Washi tape, a stamp and one jewel sticker finished with a heart punch.

I feel that giving a gift is great, a personal one is better.  I also feel that saying thank you is great, but writing it is better.

I hope that my children's teachers will know how much I love that they are making a difference and I appreciate them, even if we don't always see eye to eye.  I'm excited to hand these over with hand made gifts starting this week.  Colton's teachers are up first as preschool lets out two weeks sooner than the elementary school.

What do you give to your teachers at the end of the year?  Do you ever write them thank you notes?

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Sugar Bee Crafts: Take Look Tuesday 
Not Just A Housewife: Show Me What Ya Got #120

Origami Paper Boxes

I have always loved origami.  I can't even begin to tell you how many origami calendars I have had in the past.  So, when it came to needing to box up a few small gifts for friends, I turned to an origami box.  Not only is it a unique way to box up a gift, but definitely a money saving idea too!

I pinned the instructions on how to do this on my Pinterest board.  I ♥ Pinterest.  If you want to see what I am pinning, come check me out.

Upcycle: Make Your Own Curly Bows

I love curly bows.  I like them more than regular bows.  I had a genius idea hit me on how I can make some interesting curly bows.  Use magazines or catalogs!

I'm sure your mailbox is like mine and completely overflowing with holiday catalogs.  I took a few brightly colored pages out of the Brookstone that came.

I then cut strips, about 1/4" wide up the edge of the magazine, stopping about an inch from the edge.

Then, curl the strips like you would ribbon.  Do it lightly, if you pull too hard the strips will rip right off.

You will be left with a whole lot of curls.  I alternated which direction I curled them.

Take the uncurled edge and roll it up.

Press the rolled end, cut the sides about 1/2 inch up and fold the sides out.

Then tape it to your package.  It took less than 5 minutes to complete one curly bow (without taking photos).  

If you are looking for really vibrant, colorful pages for your upcycled curly bows, dig into those toy catalogs, if your kids haven't already.

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Transportation Art

I cleaned out my car the other day and came across a U.S. atlas that was 5 years old.  With all the construction and my lack of road trips has rendered this fairly useless.  I did think of a cool way to use up some of the pages instead of just sending them to the recycle bin.  I decided I wanted to make some art and use the map pages as the background.  I love to travel and hope to pass that love down to my kids.

This is the final group hanging together.  Each map page has a special significance to my husband or myself.  Each mode of transportation...not so much.  I did however try and match up the transportation with a map that might give it some meaning.

Map: Houston
Transportation: Rocket Ship

Houston is where we became a family.  It's where we currently call home and where my boys were born.  Obviously a rocket ship is fitting for Houston.  This city is home to NASA.

Map: Colorado
Transportation: Car

The city in which I was born is visible and I grew up in the Denver metro area.  My husband also spent a few years as a kid in the Denver metro area (back in the days before we knew each other).  The car is intentionally facing East, because we both met each other out East.

Map: Cape Cod
Transportation: Sailboat

Cape Cod is where some of my husband's family lives (I totally love that!).  I love the beach, ocean, fishing, lighthouses, etc and we have been lucky enough to vacation there a few times.  

Map: Western New York
Transportation:  Helicopter

I spent a lot of my time growing up in Western New York.  I just wish that I could have gotten Syracuse to be on the same page.  Syracuse was right in the crease, so there was no great way to save it.  My husband and I met each other while attending Syracuse University.  There is no real significance with the helicopter other than Maben recently got to sit in one.

In order to make the pieces of transportation I pulled out my Cricut (I know, I'm so old school compared to all those with a Silhouette). Some of the pieces were from Cricut cartridges, while some were not.  The helicopter was done with nothing but odd shapes put together.  All in all, I love how this turned out and am thinking of possibly doing a few more framed up to add to this collection.  I can always do a truck, airplane, bicycle/motorcycle, etc.

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