simple teacher gift idea

At the beginning of the school year, the teachers at our school were asked a few questions about their "favorite things".
Favorite drink, color, candy, etc . . .
I saved the answers and I gathered a few of those things and put them in a brown paper bag, tied it up with string, and gave it to a very wonderful teacher.
She loved it.
So simple.

This year, our school's musical was The Sound of Music . . . so I thought it was very appropriate.
Thanks for stopping by.
~cheryl

linking up with:

"third time's a charm" personalized Dollar Tree tote

OK . . . I promised you I would write a post about how to make this personalized tote that I brought to my friend who just had a baby.

I brought her dinner and I wanted to carry it over in something cute, so I dressed up this bag I got at the Dollar Tree.
She almost cried when she saw her sweet baby's name on it.
To see what I brought her for dinner, click here.

I just love these bags!! They had them in other colors as well.  They are not real durable, but they are only $1.00, so I am not complaining!!  They are similar to the kinds you can get at the grocery store for a couple dollars, but these are way cuter.

I found these iron on letters at Hobby Lobby (right next door to our Dollar Tree . . . convenient).   



I just peeled off the letters and lined them up how I wanted them . . . I didn't put them in a straight line, I like to angle them all in a whimsical manner. :)

The next step was to just place the hot iron on the letters for 15 - 20 seconds . . . and this is where I failed. 

I didn't realize that the iron was going to melt the bag.

This is what the iron looked like.

I cleaned up the iron and went back to the Dollar Tree (luckily, it is only a mile away from my house).

I tried a second time using a lower iron temp (my iron has numbers ~ I set it on 4) and using only the tip of the iron instead of the whole thing. 

That worked great . . . until I decided to turn the iron up just a tad to make sure the letters were securely ironed on.

Big mistake.

Ugh . . . just turning the iron up a tad melted the bag again.

It wasn't that bad this time . . . if you look closely, you will see a hole under the name.  Not good.

Soooo . . . this time I had my husband go back to the Dollar Tree for me (and Hobby Lobby to buy more letters!) Why didn't I just buy extra supplies the second time?? I don't know . . . next time I will.

The third time was definitely a charm . . .

the key is LOW iron temp and using JUST the tip of the iron on the letters.  (I think the bag is made out of plastic)

I love how it turned out and now that I know just what to do . . . I will be making a ton of these!!  I'm thinking party favors, beach totes, soccer bags, teacher gifts, alternative to wrapping paper, etc . . . 

So, learn from my mistakes and go make a pretty personalized (and cheap) tote!!

Thanks for stopping by!

~cheryl

I'm linking up with:

meal for a new mother

When I had my babies, I was not really connected in any church or school groups so I didn't have many people making me dinners.

When I had my third baby, two people brought dinner to me and it meant the world to me.

I felt loved.
I felt cared for.
I will never forget those two dinners or the people who made them for me.

So now I try to take new moms dinners as often as I can. 
I hope they feel as blessed as I did.

Today, I took one to a friend who had a sweet baby girl.

This is what I made:

ValSoCal's Chicken Cordon Bleu Penne
(recipe here)**note: I added another half jar of alfredo sauce and decreased the bread crumbs to 1/4 cup (I used Italian bread crumbs mixed with melted butter)

Cut Up Fruit
(doesn't it look great?? It's all from Aldi and it was cheap!)

Toffee Bars for dessert
(recipe here)

I wanted to carry it over in something cute so I found this bag at the Dollar Tree.

I ironed the baby's sweet name on the bag.

(I will make a whole post about this ironing on process because it was a big fail, not only once, but twice.  I went back to the Dollar Tree two times!  Anyway . . . I have got it down to a science now.)


I added a hair accessory for sweet Mirabelle. (can you get over that name??)

It was a blessing to me to be able to serve my friend in this way.

Reusing Pretty Bottles - a kids craft idea

My Sweet Caroline likes to be "green". She doesn't like to throw anything away that could be used for something else.
Lately, she has been noticing how pretty bottles are.
They all have such unique shapes.

She decided to get out her acrylics and make them even prettier.

She used her Gesso first to prime the bottles.

Then she and Luke just painted away . .. so fun.

They turned out pretty cute, right??

"Get Well Soon" - craft idea

Today, I took a homemade gift to a sick friend.  The kids and I were trying to think of the best thing to give this particular friend and they reminded me of his love for m&m's. 
I purchased this plastic container at Hobby Lobby (they have glass ones at Dollar Tree) and filled it with plain and peanut m&m's.
Then I hot glued a piece of yellow paper and buttons all over the top.  I thought they kind of looked like m&m's. :)
I also hot glued a polka dot ribbon around it.I think it turned out pretty cute . . . I may be making these for teacher gifts. (filled with their favorite kinds of candy.)

This craft was super simple, super cheap, and the recipient thought it was super thoughtful. :) 

Who can you make one for today??