Teacher Appreciation

Last week was Nate's last week of school. Jen and I decided it would be fun to send a teacher appreciation gift every day for the last week. (I know, teacher appreciation was back in April, but going along with my "wait until the last minute" nature, I waited until the last week of school!).

We crafted EVERY night. Kind of reminded me of boutique season. It is always fun to get together and craft. Every time I do it, I remember how much I miss it.

So here's Monday's gift. A stack of 10 cards that say "A Note from Mrs. Brighton" in a cute little matching box:

Tuesday's gift was this little gift box. Inside is a box of Theater candy. I think Reeses Pieces. And attached is a little post it note key ring. Nate wrote on the inside of the post it note.. "OWL always remember Mrs. Brighton"

I've seen several versions of this on the internet and various blogs. They are so cute!! I was going to do a 6 pack, but at Walmart, there was only ONE six pack left in the whole store. So, we thought that one bottle looked just as cute.

And these are giant clothespin photo frames. I actually had a picture of Nate on the first day of school standing next to Mrs. Brighton's door-- pointing to the poster of all the kids names on it. It was perfect! I matted it and stuck it in the clothespin. We also wrapped a SKOR candy bar with a tag that said "Mrs. Brighton helped me to achieve high Skors"

And finally Friday. Since it was July 1st, and the last day of school, we gave this to her on Friday. It is three rolo sticks wrapped to look like dynamite. They turned out so cute!!! Package two of them up in a painted box and there you have it.

Nate loved giving his teacher gifts throughout the year, and I know Mrs. Brighton loved them also. She always took the time to send home notes of thanks. Actually, Friday, after the week was over, the thank you card she sent home was the ones that we gave her on Monday. I smiled as I opened it. I'm glad that she will put them to use.

Next year is kind of sad. It will be the last year I make things for Nate's teachers. And I'll be doing it solo... as Tyler will be going to Jr. High.... It's a sad day for Nate as he rode his bike to school for the last time with Ty. But one more year, and I will be the mom of a Jr. High boy myself.... Yikes!!!

Teacher Appreciation...

It's teacher appreciation week at the school! I've done these banners every year (minus one) for Nate's teachers. For some reason, this year's was a HUGE feat. Took forever and a day to do these... Keep in mind, these are 6 feet long!

This was the banner for Ms. Hansen, which is Nate's teacher. It says: Ms. Hansen... The Best in The West... And all the kids' names are on the stars. I also made her a little notebook (it was so last minute, I didn't even get a picture of it). But it was pretty cute, it matched the banner with the same cowgirl and writing on it.


And this year they asked me to make two banners. This is for one of the other teachers in fourth grade. While i loved making it, TWO banners is TOO much work for a full time working mom!! I think next year I will be back to one banner! LOL. Anyway, this one said "We Love Ms. Kelso.. A Bushel and A Peck". The kids' names will be on the apples, but I don't have her class list.... Funny thing about this banner is I was making it in the middle of the night at the last minute to get it done, and for the life of me, I couldn't remember the teacher's name!! I couldn't ask Nate or call anyone.. so I finally thought to go on to the school's website to look it up! Good thing it was on there!

My Sanity...

Yep, my sanity is scrapbooking. Once a month I go to a crop, with these friends (minus Janine who travels too much to scrap these days!). Although I don't do a lot of scrapbooking anymore, it's more like "paper crafting". I make cards, gift albums, notebooks, stuff like that. Maybe someday soon pictures will actually make it to pages again... but for now, I am just glad to get out with some friends and have a good time.

Jen works at Roberts. It's the perfect job for her. She is the one that hosts the crops... She doesn't get to scrap, but hey, she's gettin paid to be there, right? We've turned it into a potluck/scrap night.... And Yes, I'm goin again next week!

Neighbor Gifts...

I always try to come up with neighbor gifts that don't require any baking. One, because I feel like everyone gets enough "baked" goods over the holidays, and two because I'm not a great cook. The past couple of years we have done wrapping paper, gift tags, etc.

This year I found these cute little ornament photo holders at Michaels. They were on clearance so I had to go to 3 different Michael's to get enough for work and neighbors. I knew exactly what I was trying to say... something along the lines of "favorite memory, display here" but I couldn't find a poem or quote to fit. I found the first verse online, but then actually ended up writing my own second verse... I think they turned out pretty cute... SIMPLE, but cute...

(One small disclaimer: As with my christmas cards, I still have about 8 of these neighbor gifts on my kitchen counter that never made it out. If anyone wants one... let me know :) ).

Boutique Tomorrow!

Don't forget to come see me at the "Girls Day Out Boutique" tomorrow. I've got lots of projects I've been working on, and I'd love to see everyone, so stop by and say HI.

Here's a quick pic of one of the items for sale. These cards are only $1.50, or 10/$10. What a bargain! LOL. These also come in cute gift boxes... a set of 8 for $10. Makes a great gift.

You can also see more pictures on my almost NEVER (but working on updating more often!!) scrap blog here!

Boss' Day...

It's that time of year again. Here's this year's edition of Boss' Day gifts. They turned out so cute, and can't wait to make some Chrismas ones!

Details are on my scrap blog here.

Father's Day... "DAD" Book

As promised, here are the pictures of the father's day "DAD" book. We (well, Charley) has very few pictures of him and the girls when they were little, so I've been wanting to put them into an album for him. I thought this would be something fun the girls could work on when they were with us on the weekends. Well, turns out we had very little weekend time before father's day, but I still think this turned out great. I cut all the pages on the Cricut (cartridges used are George and Base Camp), put the book together, and the girls did the rest. Oh, and yes, he loved it.

Board Notebooks...

So I learned how to make these notebooks on my cricut with the design studio software. I LOVE them!! I am definately going to make more. They are just made from chipboard and have blank white cardstock between each page. Bound together with the bind it all.

I have a dear friend at work (yes, her name is Connie) who pretty much "donated" all her surplus scrap supplies to my friend and me. She had some great stuff, and I was able to start a collection of supplies for the girls... who by the way I'm hoping will be my life scrap buddies! Anyway, I made this book & beaded pens as a thank you gift for her. She loved it.

Happy Boss's Day!

So tomorrow (or I guess I should say today) is boss's day. I always say that one of these days I'm going to benefit from this holiday. But,I guess for now, I'll just be the one up all night making the cards. Seems like I'm doing this same thing every year at the last minute.... Actually, I enjoy this kind of stuff, so I'm really not complaining.

My two bosses were easy. They like simple crafty stuff. Charley's boss, however, is a guy... quite a bit of a challenge! So he's not getting a card. He's getting FOOD!!

Anyway, I just finished these and I'm sitting here waiting for Charley's boss's dessert to come out of the oven so I can go to bed. So while I'm waiting, I decided to post and read a few blogs. I really should start working on these things sooner!!!

More than BYU??

So he says he loves me more than BYU? Wow... I should feel honored! Well, actually I do. Charley made this digital page all by himself! I'm pretty impressed... and, as long as I come in before football, then I'm happy! (Afterall, the best time to ask him for something... like a new appliance for example... is right after BYU wins!!). Ask me about the story of my new fridge sometime!!

Ten Things...

Since I wasn't very tired last night and Charley wasn't feeling very well, I thought I'd try some more of these digital pages. I decided I better do something to make Charley smile, so that when he asked me what I've been working on, I can say more than just "working on the blog!" (Sorry babe!). Anyway, I have been looking for more ways to let Charley know how much I appreciate him and everything he does for me. He really does make me feel like a princess! I need to remind myself everyday how lucky I am to be married to him!

So... here ya go honey... this is for you... I love ya!

An Elite Retreat...

My team at work (The Elite Team) had our team retreat on Aug 8th. We had such a blast! We did everything with a camping theme. We started out with breakfast at Cracker Barrell. After that we went to the Spruces up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We played Volleyball, Painted canvases, had a BBQ, roasted smores, and just did team building activities. It was by far one of the funnest retreats I've been on. Since we had so many fun pictures of the retreat, I made this fun little album for our supervisor, Teresa. We're going to present it to her in our team meeting tomorrow.

Welcome...

...To our new family... and our new family blog! We're so excited to keep in touch with everyone and update family and friends. Life gets so busy that we lose touch with those that are important to us. Please visit often as we would love to hear from all of you!

Just a brief update on use, we were married June 4th, 2008 at the Salt Lake Courthouse. It was a very small & simple ceremony. (We've decided that's the best kind). 10 minutes of vows and we were official. The it was off on a plane. We're so excited to begin our journey together, and we invite you to join us along the way.