Teacher Appreciation Week

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week. I had fun making the week special for my daughter's kindergarten teacher. The theme was out of this world teacher’s.

MONDAY:  Door poster. 

All the kids got a kick out of finding their alien.

 

Tuesday: Bring flowers for your teacher

Wednesday: Bring a dessert from the Kindergarten Class.

One of our other room moms brought a dessert for the teacher luncheon 

Thursday: Bring a note for your teacher

My daughter wanted to draw her and Ms. Brittle at the beach

 

Friday: Class Gift... Thumb Print Plate

"You made an impression on us this school year!"

 

Our class gift:

Using Crayola Air-Dry Clay I made a plate. I purchased the clay at Michaels craft store. I think I paid roughly $8.00 after using a 20% coupon. It is super easy to use and had a great texture after it dried.

The best way to make this plate is. 

• I took plastic wrap and covered a large plate. This is to protect the plate and it is also easier to take off the plate once it has dried. (I used one of my decorative chargers, because i wanted it to be a bit larger than a normal size dinner plate) 
• I took out the clay and pressed it into the top of the plate trying to keep it at least 1/4" thick throughout so I had a nice solid plate. Using the plate below will allow you to get the natural shape of a plate. I used a little bit of water to get the plate smooth. You want to make sure your center is thick enough for the kids to press their thumb prints into the plate and it doesn't break through to the other side or leave it too thin in that spot. Remember this is handmade and will not be perfect. You will have various imperfections. 
• Once i had my plate shaped I used a tooth pick to carve into it. My daughters teacher loves the beach so I drew some seashells on it as well and wrote out the year and grade. If you make a mistake no worries. just wet your fingers a bit and rub over your design and then re-do it.
• Next i took a few paper towels and wet them and rung them out. Then i opened them up and laid them on top of the plate and then wrapped the whole plate in plastic wrap, stuck it in a shallow box and took it with me to school the next day. 
• At recess I had each child press their thumb print into the center of the plate. I then took the plate home. I put it on the counter took off the plastic wrap and let the plate dry for a full 3 days. 
• Once I felt that it was completely dry I took it off the decorative charger. 
• Then I painted it the teachers favorite color. I bought some acrylic paint as well as some acrylic high gloss glaze. Once that dried i added a very light brown wash and then wiped it down so it was only left in some spots. Then I let that dry. Next I glazed it with the gloss glaze. Let that dry completely on both sides before the next step.
• I also purchased a thin black paint pen. I wrote along the Edge of the plate "Thank you... You have made an impression on us this school year! Kindergarten Then in the center i wrote all the kids names. 

The Teacher absolutely LOVED this gift. As well as the kids. They were sooo excited to see the final product!
(if you make this remember to tell the teacher it is for decorative use only) :)

my pin-spiration for this plate came from...
 http://www.rentstorkmemphis.com/jr-kindergarten-fingerprint.html

Thanks for Reading!

Be Creative!

Amy

100 days of School!

(tags)

We made it 100 days of Kindergarten!  I think i am just as happy that i survived the morning rush for 100 days. :)   Having fun being room mom. I made a sign and a little goody for the kids. 

 Classroom Door Sign

For all the kids.

Download the tags here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hljhyqc86j2kjbl/100days20ea.pdf

Easter Cake Pops, Cake, and Bunny tails.

-->

Last Easter I made the cutest Cake Pops and Cake. Not only were they totally adorable they were super yummy.

CHICKY CAKE POPS:

First I made my Cake Pops in my baby cakes cake pop maker and got my perfect circles. I let them cool. Next I dipped my sticks in melted chocolate then inserted them into my cake balls. 

Let them cool in the fridge. The next step I dipped my pops into melted yellow chocolate. Before the chocolate dries you need to put your decoration for the chick on. I used three orange sprinkles for the feet. Two flat round orange sprinkles for the beak, two flat yellow round sprinkles for the wings, two flat yellow round sprinkles for the top of the head, and then two purple round sprinkles for the eyes. 

CHICKS IN A NEST CAKE: 

First bake two round cakes ice them and stack them. Next take coconut and put about a cup into a plastic baggy. Put a few drops of green food coloring inside the bag and shake, till all the coconut is green. Next sprinkle some of the coconut on top of the cake and insert the two chicky cake pops on top. You may need to cut some length off your cake pop stick. To finish it off i added some of the left over coconut to the corners of my plate and put some jelly beans in the nests. 

Bunny tails:

First i took card board and cut a circle about 3" in dia... can be from anywhere (I used a old cereal box and the circle doesn't have to be perfect) Next I cut a white ribbon long enough to tie around a child's waist. I then cut two slits about 1" in apart in the center of my circle. I then fed the ribbon through my slits. Next i glued a bunch of cotton balls to the top. Be sure to go all the way out to the edge so it covers your card board. then your done. 

My kids loved wearing their tails during the Easter egg hunt. :)

AMY

Hutch to Message Center.

After moving some furniture around I decided to take the hutch off my china cabinet. So instead of throwing it out we decided to turn it into a message center. A place to hold mail, keys, upcoming event invitations, a calendar for the month, homework packets, the kids backpacks and a few other knick knacks.

Here are some before and after photos.

BEFORE

 

AFTER

 

Valentine LOVE. :)

This year Emelia get’s to celebrate Valentines day at school. After seeing soo many cute ideas on Pintrest this is what I have decided to make. (inspiration idea from http://24-7-365.blogspot.com/2009/02/lavish-me-with-praise.html)

PHOTOSHOP:  Luckily I had this photo from last years valentine photoshoot with Jenner Rose Photography. Emelia was holding red balloons so with my handy photoshop skills i took the balloons out, so it made a perfect hand to hold the pop. Then designed a cute valentine card.

I'm planning on printing these photo cards on 4x6 photo paper, Next stick the lollipop stick through the photo....  and then mount them to pink card stock. 

THE TREAT: The pop is a marshmallow that I lightly dyed with pink food coloring, dipped them in white chocolate, sprinkled with some white sprinkles and then topped off with a conversation heart. 

It was super easy to make and shouldn't take me too long to make. :) (that's always a plus!)

 Emelia ended up eating this marshmallow in 2 seconds. She loved it.
Photo by: Jenner Rose Photography (orange county, CA)

Valentine "Heart" Door wreath

This project was inspired by a wreath I saw on pintrest. 

http://donablogg.blogspot.com/2011/11/hej-fran-kransverkstaden.html

I ended up changing it up a bit.  

What you will need:

• A wire Hanger
• Fake plant greens. You want them to be on the long side so you can wrap them around the wire.
• Wooden Heart
• Red, White, Black or Brown Paint
• Red Ribbon
• Floral wire and wire cutters

How to make it:

First I took the wire hanger and shaped it into a heart. 

Next I cut lengths off my greens and started wrapping them around my heart shaped wire hanger. In certain places I used the floral wire to re-enforce the greens onto my wire. once i covered the whole heart. 

I painted the wooden heart, tied on my ribbon and then attached my wooden heart to the bottom. 

A beautiful door hanger for a Loving season. :)

Keep Creating!

Amy

Painting Artist party

 

When i had my art party business "The lil Artist" people would hire me to come to their homes and do some kind of painting or craft with the kids. Here is Amy & Emily's 6th birthday party. 

I had so much fun with all the girls!

 All the girls had fun creating a one of a kind piece of art. They created 3D art.
They painted a scene on the canvas then painted wooden shapes and a wooden letter (first letter of their name) Next we glued them onto their canvases.

 Next all the girls took a turn mixing in various drinks, soda, and juices for some yummy Artist Brew.

Then the all the girls painted on one canvas for a colaborative piece of art for the girls room. They also had a art scanvenger hunt and found photos of paintings and art supplies.

 Here is the cake and decor.

 Party favors: Art sets and a drawing notebook.

 Here i am with my two assistants. I miss my art party business. 

One day when my kids are older I will definitely start it back up.

(Photography by: Jenner Rose Photography in orange county)

http://www.jennerrose.com/blog/

The Adam robot

 

I mad this precious robot for my good friend Jenny's baby, Adam. His room is vintage robot themed. So i wanted to create something that would fit right in. 

I set out for Michael's craft store and went to the wood and paper mache box isle. I started looking at all the various wood pieces and started designing him in my head. What would make the best head, arms, legs, hands and feet. Then I came home rummaged through my husbands tool box in the garage. 

And this is what i came up with. It was really fun to try to figure out what things would work best to create him, and to use my imagination even as an adult. 

Here is a link to baby Adam's amazing nursery. 

http://www.jennerrose.com/blog/?p=2158

Pirates treasure Reward system.

In our house we have created a great reward system for the kids. It has been a great way to create responsibility and better helpers in the house. 

 I went to Michael's craft store and purchased wooden treasure boxes, two clear paint cans, and the jumbo sized gems.I wanted to get clear cans for the gems so the kids could see the gems they could earn. Next i let them paint their treasure boxes.

Then we determined all the things they could do to earn gems. Some activities are worth more gems than others. 

Some good chores for kids are:
-pick up toys
-put clothes in the hamper

-put their dish in the sink

-vaccume

-sweep the floors

-take toys upstairs

-help set the table

-clean their room or playroom

I also included things that sometimes they complain about doing that are not necessarily chores but i figure if it could eliminate an argument or tantrum.

Such as:

-Get ready for bed

-Brush your teeth

-wake up for school

-going potty

-eating well

-getting along with sibling

-playing nicely 

-getting in bed and not getting out 100 times. :) 

-sleeping in their beds all night

Then once they have earned all the gems they get a reward. It usually takes about 3 weeks for them to earn them all. 

They don't always have to be toys but if it is it is usually a $5.00 or less (dollar store sometimes)

or we do a fun activity my daughter likes to get her nails done, my son likes to go to the ice cream shop. 

I have also taken gems away for bad behavior or have threatend to take them away and it seems to work pretty well.

Silhouette Gifts

What you need: 

• A digital photo of a persons profile
• A computer with a photo program (in my case I used adobe photoshop)
  
• a picture frame

 Bring up your photo in photoshop, and delete your background like below.

Then use your paintbrush tool and paint in the photo. I painted in a bow on my daughters head

Next print out your image and then frame it for a more classic silhouette.

For a more modern twist you can add their name, and place it on a colored background