One In A Mellon!

This year we gave Emmalee's teacher a giant watermelon!  She was a fabulous teacher, patient and very good at her job.  I wanted to give her something fun, and maybe not so teacher-y.  That was when I decided to give her one of my Watermelon Door Signs.  

I included this tag...

As far as teachers go,

You are one in Melon!

Thanks for the great year.

Great teachers are such a relief to worried mothers.

I am eternally grateful for teachers that strive for excellence, 

and love those children that they teach <3 p="">

Scotch Brand House Party

OK, I am so completely late in getting this post up for you all, but tell me, wasn't this Christmas the most crazy Holiday Season you have ever had???  It was for me.  Despite it all, we managed to squeeze in a house party sponsored by Scotch Expressions and Houseparty.com.

When I saw the party posted on House Party, and that I could apply for it, I hit my local store to see what all the fuss was about.  Have you guys seen all the new tapes out?  

There aren't just fancy washi tapes, but masking tapes, duct tapes, and even packing tapes.  The best thing is, you can just go to your local all-in-one store and grab them when you want them, no online ordering!

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When you win a house party, you get a fabulous box of goodies sent to your door to share with all of your guests.  When my box came I had some fun tapes, but so, so much more.  There was wrapping paper, bakers twine, fabulously sharp scissors, various types of adhesives for card making, cards, coupons and more.  These two were my absolute favorites:

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The high heel tape dispenser!!!

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And the Pop-Up Tape :0}

To get ready I spent like two days cutting different tags and holiday shapes out on my silhouette.  I bought some ribbon to go along with the Scotch supplies and we were ready to go.

We wrapped and chatted and giggled the evening away.  When the party was over, these ladies went home with some really cute presents.  

When I finally closed down my shop and began my own personal holiday season about a week before Christmas, I had a total blast sitting and wrapping gifts.  Seriously, it had to have been the first year I truly ENJOYED the wrapping part.  I have Scotch Expressions and House Party for getting me started!

Now, just for fun-zies, here are a few of my wrap jobs :0}

I ended up with lots of random left over holiday greenery from my ornament selling escapades.  This is what I did with them all, wrapped them to the boxes!

Don't ask me what happened here.  I can just tell you that a certain someone had a great time with all that tape Scotch and HouseParty.com sent us :0}

I just love the pine cones that came on this sprig.  They were way too big to use on my ornaments...even could be considered too big for this present, but who is gonna say anything about it, right?

We really like that tree made out of washi tape thing :0}

And there you have it.  All my hours of work, sitting in a landfill far far away :0} It was worth it.  When you are needing a little help getting into the holiday spirit, a good sit-down with some paper and tape can give you just the nudge you need ;0}

Thanks Scotch Expressions and HouseParty.com for the party!

"Yoda" Best Dad Gift Basket

I promised to show you my Yoda gift basket I made for Hubby.  He was the proud recipient of the "Yoda" Best Dad Ever" printable from last week.

Still a little broke after our move, I was going to take the cheep way out and just give Dad his OWN Star Wars movies with a popcorn and toppings and call it good.  I figured my efforts could be spend on the gift bag.

I didn't get to work on it until Saturday night, but it came together well.  I just looked at a picture of Yoda and turned a yard of felt into this pile of pieces.  I can't draw a stick figure, but give me a pair of scissors and magic things happen ;0}

Originally, I planned to make a simple felt bag that fit over a dollar store plastic bucket.  I was going to grab some cellophane to make it a gift basket, but when I stepped up to the cutting counter at Joanns to buy the felt, this bolt of green/yellow tulle was sitting there calling my name.  It looked pretty good with the pukey green felt, so I grabbed 1 1/4yds of the tulle for the top half of the gift basket.  

I just pre-ruffled it, then sewed myself a Yoda sandwich.  A nice over-achieving wife would have hand stitched each piece of Yoda's face, lovingly thinking about all the sweet, thoughtful moments her husband had spent in selfless service of his family.  Me, I hot glued the face together, stitched the hair and bottom circle to the thing, and thanked heaven that no one bothered me long enough to complete the bag.

Real life.

Later we went to Target to grab a couple things.  The kids suckered me into buying Dad...

THIS toy.  No need to worry.  We didn't JUST give Dad his own Star Wars movies :0)  Dad is always a fan of new nerd toys!

Here is Yoda with his ears sewn on.  I have a house full of company tonight, but I will try and get the pattern made up for you so you too can be proud owners of a Yoda head gift basket!!!

If you are lucky, you too can keep it next to your kitchen table for a week and keep thinking that Yoda really is eating dinner with the family ;0)

Nerd Crafts Forever!!!

Overflowing With Joy

OK, This little project was going out on a limb just a bit.  It also really reveals my weird sense of humor, possibly a little too much :0}

I am finally getting around to blogging a couple of the projects I did back in Sioux Falls while we were homelessly waiting for school to get out so we could move to Minnesota with Papa Bear.  I made these back at that same time as the High Heel Cupcakes, while staying at my friend Lindsey's house.  Can I just say, I have the best friends EVER!  They know that when Vanessa makes a visit, there will be crafts and craft disaster everywhere.  Somehow...they still let me come over!

Anyway, I wanted a fun, and can I say CHEEP, little something that I could give my friends from Young Women's or that the kids could give to their favorite teachers.  That was when we came up with the plunger craft.

Just hang in there a little bit longer.  I promise, it gets better.

We visited Dollar Tree and found the plungers there for $1!

SaWeeEEeT!

Life living between two states was rather expensive and the budget didn't have a lot of room for extras.  I could totally do $1.

I unscrewed the handles.  When I say "I", I mean Madison.  Then I cut them down to about 12" {again, when I say "I" I mean Lindsey's husband.  Yep.  I even put him to work}

Here are my lovely plunger heads drying in the warm Worthington, Minnesota sun on Lindsey's lawn.  I am sure the neighbors thought them lovely lawn ornaments :0)

After that, it was an easy project to finish.  We just screwed the handles back onto the heads, put the plungers in treat bags purchased at Walmart, topped them off with a $1 box of candy {also Walmart}, tied them shut with curling ribbon, then glued on a flower magnet {as an added bonus-flowers purchased at the dollar store}  I am figuring the plungers costing me about $2.50 each.  Not bad!

So here is a close-up and tags to go with each!

The tags, as if anyone would want a tag to go with a gift plunger :0)

can be downloaded HERE!  The tags are the perfect size to print up as photos at your local photo lab.

And there you have it.  Crazy little gifts to show our appreciation to friends and teachers before moving on to wetter pastures.  I was seriously wondering if Minnesota HAD a sun in their sky until this morning.  There is finally sunlight streaming into my room this morning.  YES!  I am very tempted to throw everything off my schedule and just go outside to soak up a few much needed rays.

Sunny wishes to you too today!