Monthly Onesies

I picked up 13 onesies at Hobby Lobby this week. Don't get any crazy ideas!!! Daniel rifled through the bag when it was sitting on the dining table, and had a few colorful comments to make. But, seriously. Stop that! They are for a baby gift I made yesterday with my Silhouette and some heatpress vinyl.

In fact, it's my favorite baby gift, ever! A year of monthly onesies with a bonus personalized outfit...


Have I ever mentioned how much I love my Silhouette?! Well, I do. It's amazing.

I Had Good Intentions

I could kick myself! I stayed up late the night before school putting together first day of school gifts for the kids' teachers. I designed and printed three different sets of stationary cards.


I labeled a cute mug with my Silhouette.


I wrote sweet, endearing cards for each of the three ladies and then wrapped up the gifts so that they would be ready when we walked out the door.


Unfortunately, I slept so hard that I completely forgot the gifts. So, they were great second day of school gifts today. Oh, well.

Put a Name on It

I have this amazing cutting tool that I'm obsessed with. Daniel got the Silhouette SD for me for Christmas, but I only recently had time to begin using it. Now, I can't stop!

These water bottles were a hit with the swim team members who qualified for the state championship meet.


Of course, Abigail had to have her own personalized water bottle.

And, this vinyl is water proof so I can even put this bottle in the dishwasher and it is still in perfect condition. How could you not be jealous of that?!

I even made a back-to-school care package for my niece and nephew and labeled their pencil boxes.

I won't bore you with showing you every folder, gluestick, pair of scissors, pencil box, etc. that I labeled for Cooper and Abigail to take to school. I'm addicted to this stuff!

My favorite item I've personalized so far was a birthday gift for one of Abigail's friends. I found a Kaboodle for Elisan and couldn't wait to show Abigail. I know it wasn't nostalgic for her, but I'm a child of the 80s. This thing is awesome!


Now, I have some t-shirts to make. Seriouslly! This Silhouette can do anything!

Getting the Grub in Order

I've mentioned before how much I love organization. I just have to have a place for everything to go. Lately, our pantry has been getting out of control. Again. The shelf labels I made last year just aren't enough to keep things in order.

Today, I added a shoe holder to the mix. Now, I feel better about things.


I'm sure your day is much more complete now that you know my protein bars have a new home.

Star Spangled Pretzels

A national meet at UT coincided with the Fourth of July this year. So, I decided to tackle both events and make patriotic treats for our friends/neighbors that could also be treats for the swimmers. Who doesn't love pretzels, white chocolate and sprinkles?! I thought so.

Hannah Banana

My cousin has this fabulous business that I am finally enjoying. She creates these fabulous cards, and you've got to get some!

She made these awesome thankyou cards that I give to our swim coaches after each meet.



She can create anything your heart desires. Go check her out here!

It's Bow-utifull!

I can get pretty crazed about the kid's bedrooms. They've established the habit of making their beds every morning and not going to breakfast until the bedrooms are clean. Yea! Abigail's had this habit down for a while, but it took longer to get Cooper to catch on.

I just can't stand for their rooms to be out of control. Everything has to have a place to go. Lately, Abigail's jewelry and accessories have been exploding everywhere. It just makes me crazy! I finally decided to fix the situation, well, at least the hair accessories.

I have some fabric scraps left over from her window treatments I made. Daniel always has scraps of plywood in the garage. Those two items and a staple gun came together today to make me a bit less crazed.




Did you hear that? That was me and my big, fat sigh of relief. I love to see organization.

Zumwalt Rehearsal Dinner

A few weeks ago, the kids and I trekked to the armpit of Texas and spent the weekend in Lubbock to celebrate a wedding. Daniel's cousin, Travis married beautiful Claire in a fun wedding. But, to start the festivities, I hosted the rehearsal dinner Friday night.

Since Travis is a Marine stationed in California and this was the couple's last weekend in Texas, we sent them off in style with a Texas-themed barbecue. It was a fun theme to plan so I was inundated with ideas.

I especially had fun putting these invitations together. They were so cute!


Daniel helped put together this sign to greet the guests. I love the rustic look that came together with some boards one of our dogs so nicely donated from our backyard fence. How sweet of Alamo to contribute to the decor! Ha!

The bags on the table around the sign were filled with peanuts as a party favor for the guests to take with them. Again, it was Daniel's idea to print on the paper bags, and it turned out to be adorable. I loved it! I've used this idea a few times since because it's inexpensive and simple to run the bags through my printer at home.


The centerpieces also came together beautifully. They were just Mason jars wrapped in burlap and raffia and filled with daisies and sunflowers. I just love fresh flowers, but it is usually unreasonable to budget for 13 arrangements. Not this time! I picked up the fresh cut flowers in bundles at the grocery store, and my mother-in-law grouped them into these arrangements. I don't think I'll ever use a florist again, because the floral department at the grocery store was so helpful and gave me easy instructions on putting together the arrangements and even helped keep the cost down. Even I was shocked to get all of the stems for 13 centerpieces at less than $70!

 
I wrapped up the flatware in bandanas for napkins and tied them with raffia and a cute personalized tag.



These personalized cups and napkins were a favorite new idea for this event. I can't wait to find an excuse to order more of these cups!



I even labeled the water bottles with four different designs and wrapped "Howdy" labels on the straws. See what I mean?! I had just too many ideas for this Texas theme.



Abigail and Cooper were also in on the action with their western attire.



I am kicking myself for not snapping photos of the actual dinner and especially ones with the bride and groom. Ugh! But, once the guests arrived I was busy hosting. Oh, well. You get the idea...

The final day of teacher appreciation gifts was my favorite gift. I'm a nerd, and I love, love, love office supplies. Hopefully the kids' teachers enjoy the same thing, at least a little bit.


I picked up these craft organization boxes, or tackle boxes as I call them.


I designed some covers to personalize each teacher's box.


I get excited just thinking about organizing and having cute paperclips. I know, I already admitted it, I'm a nerd.

Whew! I'm always happy to have this week in the books. I'm sure the teachers enjoy and appreciate the attention, but it is a chore. At least this year I had fun putting these together.

You are Scentsational

Today's teacher gifts are in honor of a friend from church who has been a teacher for more than 20 years. I have never heard her utter an unkind, unlovely word about the students other than when it's warm and and they come in from recess, they are very stinky. Ha! So, I gathered up an AirWick fragrance dispenser and spray with a gift tag that says "You are Scentsational". Maybe it will help conquer the stinky kids.


Of course, this cutey is never stinky. Yeah, of course.

Tea is for Teacher

Today's teacher gift was one I wanted for myself. I found these awesome insulated, reusable coffee cups and had to buy them. I just wish I had bought one for myself. Gifted with a stack of tea bags, and topped with a "Tea is for Teacher" tag, I think these turned out pretty cute.

Popular Teacher

Another reason I began working on valentines in January is the madness that Valentine's week is at our school. In their infinite wisdom, the PST (our school's version of the PTA) schedules Teacher Appreciation Week to coincide with Valentine's Day. I see why they thought that was a good idea. I also see why that is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea. It causes moms, like me, to be a crazy mess all week. To be able to deliver 15 teacher gifts, three classes of valentines and contributions to each day's teacher lunch, all while still maintaining my regular crazyness... Well, you see where that train can go off the rails very quickly. This year, I began getting our teacher gifts together in January. Thus, no train will derail this week.

Today, the kids delivered one of these to each of their teachers:


I gathered two popcorn tubs and a bag of microwave popcorn, and added the tag: "To a POPular Teacher". If RedBox will start selling gift cards, next year I'll add a giftcard to these gifts.

Valentine's Day - Part III

Part 3? What?! I only have two kids, right?! I know you're wondering if I made valentines for myself, but I'm not that crazy. Actually, I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day and we don't observe it's silliness. But, the kids have to participate in their school parties, and I enjoy the excuse to get crafty. And, Cooper gives me two excuses to get crafty. He has a Monday/Wednesday/Friday class as well as a Tuesday/Thursday class, so he has to participate in two parties. I know, it's extreme excess, but they don't ever ask for my opinion. Thus, I present to you the third valentine.



Can you tell I ran out of craftiness?! Yes, it's just a plastic boat to throw in the bathtub. I like to get crafty, but I do have limits and a third valentine was past my limits.

I bagged up these boats, threw in some of these...


...and added a bag topper that said "You Float My Boat". Oops, sorry! I forgot to take a picture of these assembled. And, as I mentioned before, my effort limit has been passed. So, you'll have to use your imagination.

Valentine's Day - Part II

I am most impressed to show you Abigail's valentines. It is not my design, as I found these in a magazine, but I love them! They are perfect for Abigail since she is constantly bopping around with her iPod.



It's a box of candy hearts disguised as an iPod, or an iLove. Ha! The earbuds are Rolos covered in foil and attached with white string. I even laminated the "screen" and "click wheel" to make it more realistic. Too cute!



I bagged them up and added a bag topper that says "Dude, You Rock!" These have to be some of the cutest valentines I've ever seen. I wish I could take credit for the creativity.

Valentine's Part I

I started working on the kids' Valentines about three weeks ago. There is just too much going on when Valentine's actually arrives, and I recall begina  frazzled mess last year. I wanted to avoid a frazzled mess repeat. Also, I don't like to busy with crafts and such when Daniel is actually home for a weekend. I'm anticipating him being home the weekend before Valentine's Day. It will be the first weekend we've had him home (other than two weekends when we had company visiting from out of town) since October. So, you can understand why I'd rather be myself than Martha Stewart.

In actuality, I was so glad I started on these in January, because it took me much longer to finish them than I anticipated. Today, I'll share Cooper's valentines.


This croc was a pain to make! I had no idea it was going to be so time consuming. But, I must say that they turned out pretty cute! I found the template online and printed it onto green cardstock. The pain was cutting out all the pieces and assembling it. The body of the croc is a pillowbox to hold candy, so glueing that together was not a quick job.



I bagged them up added a bag topper that says, "This Croc Thinks You Rock". Cooper loved them.


Now, I just have to convince him that he has to give them all away...

Let's Go Shopping!

Mother's Day is almost here and I must share one of my new shopping loves if you are looking for gift ideas. Holly K Designs makes awesome jewelry and beautiful decorative wall crosses.




This set is one I gifted to Maggie that I absolutely adore! When I ordered it, I asked Holly to design a full set based on the USC logo and school colors. She did not disappoint with this necklace, bracelet, earrings and ring.


For my own birthday last month, my mother-in-law gave me this garnet wall cross. It's so cute with a textured base and bronze leather covered cross inset bordered by marbles.


Also for my birthday, my sister gave me this leopard and marble cross. I was surprised that the crosses were so large and can't wait to see them on my walls.

Not only is Holly super talented, but she's also Daniel's cousin, and I love being able to support family members who are talented. She just recently released a new large line of jewelry you can see here and here. Happy shopping!

We Love Our Teachers

In an act of cruelty, the kids' schools scheduled "Love Your Teachers" week to coincide with the week of Valentine's Day parties. We were asked to show the teachers that we love them each day this week. Yeah, every day. Don't get me wrong, we love the kids' teachers so much, but this wasn't exactly the best week to throw in extra things to do each day.

I had a lot of creative ideas in mind for the week, but last weekend was not freed up to allow me to complete them, so I ended up throwing some things together at the last minute each night this week. I think it turned out okay, though.

Monday, I used one of my ideas leftover from last year and decorated some hand sanitizer bottles.




Tuesday, I cheated and wasn't crafty at all. Instead, we left the house a few minutes early that morning and picked up a Starbucks gift card on the way to school. (This was probably the first time I've been grateful that Cooper only attends school three days a week. Whew! That saved me on some gifts this week.)

Wednesday, I baked pumpkin bread in my mini-loaf pan. I know pumpkin is not a normal treat for February, but I just happened to have everything in my pantry to throw it together.


If you like pumpkin bread, this is a very yummy but super easy recipe to use.


Thursday, I took another easy road and picked up a Blockbuster gift card and paired it with a microwave popcorn package.


Friday, the kids delivered hand-size apple pies. I was originally planning to make raspberry-swirl cheesecakes for each of our teachers, but when I found this idea yesterday, I decided it looked extremely less time consuming. I was right!


Now, I'm ready for the weekend when I'm not going to bake or craft or do anything! Whew!