Upcycled/Recycled Gift for Teacher Appreciation

I have been volunteering in my Granddaughter "B's" class this year and when it came time for teacher appreciation week I knew I wanted to do something for B's teacher.

I've really loved being in her class and watching how she interacts with the children and helps them learn and grow.

She is just plain amazing in my book!

I really thought it was awesome how she dressed like a Dalmatian on the 101 st day of school!

The kids REALLY loved that!

I asked "B" what kind of things did her teacher like and she told me "Coffee, Monkey's and US!" (meaning the whole kindergarten class.) That really made me smile!

I decided to go with the coffee theme for a gift since I already had something in mind that would fit perfectly with coffee.

A few months earlier I had made some Green Bean Casserole and was pleasantly surprised to find that French's had a new container for their French Fried Onions.

When I saw it, I immediately started thinking of all the cool things I could make with it later on.

I have a bit of a confession to make here...I am a recycle junkie!

(And I don't mean the environmental kind who loves to "turn in" all her recycles to the local county recycle program...) I keep all kinds of "crap" as DH would call it because I am CERTAIN something can be made from it later! LOL!

The problem is...most of the time...LATER never comes and I am over-run with all kinds of glass, plastic and cardboard containers.

(Yes...I would be a perfect candidate for that reality show "Hoarder's"...
My husband is constantly reminding me of this. He isn't amused!)

I had saved a couple of those cool containers and thought one of them would be PERFECT for this project.

I loved the way the lid snapped on securely and knew it would work good for coffee.

The smooth plastic surface would be easy to cover with fabric or scrapbooking paper.

I decided to go with fabric because I thought it would hold up better with repeated use.

I bought some little coffee packets at the dollar store to store inside the container, knowing that B's teacher would probably want to eventually replace it with her own brand/taste in coffee when it needed to be refilled.

I had some jewelry findings that I had purchased at an Estate Sale and found the perfect embellishment to add to the container along with some coordinating ribbon.

I added black felt to the top of the lid and to the bottom of the container using a pattern I made from tracing the lid and bottom.

You can do this yourself or I created a PDF version of my pattern that you can download here for free to save you some time.

I wanted to personalize the container a little more, so that it would somehow hold a memory for the teacher of my sweet Granddaughter, so I took her kindergarten school picture and cut it to fit in a round frame (old earring from the jewelry findings) and attached it to the outside lid of the box.

I also wanted to let Mrs. R know how special she was to me and B and what a good teacher she is, so I included a quote about teaching on the inside of the lid, so she would see it whenever she opened the container.

I found this cute graphic/quote at a great website called Bitsy Creations. They have some really cute designs and many of them are offered as free printables.

If you'd like to download this particular graphic/quote please go here for the link.

As a final touch I purchased a small coffee themed kitchen towel and a gift card to Starbucks for when Ms. R wanted coffee on the go!

Little B was pretty excited when I told her that I had made something special for her teacher and she couldn't wait to give it to her!

Supplies and Tools used for this project:

Supplies/Tools List:

Re-useable/Re-sealable Plastic Container
Fabric Strip - 14" x 14" (approx.)
Black Felt - 5"x3" (approx.) (2 pieces)
Pattern for Felt Pieces - 2 pcs. (Traced from top and bottom of container onto paper) Download Here.
Glue Dots - Glue Lines, 1"
Ribbon, Sheer Organdy, Black, 7/8" (Ribbon Trends)
Ribbon, Grosgrain, Black, 1/4" (Essentials)
Aleene's Tacky Glue
E6000 Glue
Jewelry Findings/Embellishments - (Not shown in photo above) I used an old round earring and a cabochon
Scissors
Jewelry Pliers
Popsicle Stick (for use spreading glue)
Straight Pins (to pin pattern to felt pieces)
Printed Quote/Poem for Inside of Lid - (The one shown above can be downloaded here)
Gift Card
Small food/candy items to fill container (in this case coffee packets)

Thanks for stopping by!

This post/project is linked-up to the following sites/link parties:

Spicy Southern Collard Greens

Welcome to day 5 of the Shrimp N' Grits: A Southern Style Blog Hop!

From June 17 - 30, bloggers are invited to link up their family-friendly posts about life in the South: recipes, crafts, kids' activities, and more!

So grab a big bowl of shrimp n' grits, a tall glass of iced tea, and sit back on your porch swing, because we are getting ready for some down home fun!

For those of you who know me...you won't be surprised that I LOVE Southern Style Food, so being a co-host of the Shrimp N' Grits Blog Hop is right up my alley!

Even though I wasn't born in the South...my sweet Mama and her parents were, so I had an upbringing rooted deep in those traditions...especially when it came to food.

I remember visiting my Grandmother in Tennesee and watching her pick the food right from her Garden and cook it up fresh!

The smells in her home were heavenly and the atmosphere so loving and inviting!

What I wouldn't give to spend another day with her...she passed away in 2008 leaving a huge hole in my heart, but I am blessed that she was my Grandmother and am thankful for the great memories she left me with.

When my Grandmother served a meal, it was not your typical 3 course meal...it was more like everything but the kitchen sink!

I swear I don't know how she did it...I have trouble just getting one or two items on the table and her table was always filled to the brim with delicious, mouth-watering food.

One of my favorite things she made was Greens...turnip greens or collard greens...didn't matter...they both tasted great!

I live in California now and "Greens" here means green salad, so it's a bit hard to find greens at the local supermarket.

Recently I did find a discount grocer that carries the Cut-n-Clean Bagged Greens and I was pretty excited about that!

I never did get an official "recipe" from my Grandmother on how to make greens, but I remember she put bacon or ham in them, so I just tried my best to duplicate what I remember her doing.

My greens turned out pretty good, though I won't claim them to be as good as hers were!

Here is my recipe:

Spicy Southern Collard Greens

1 pkg. (or 1 lb.) of Collard Greens

4 cups of water (to just cover the greens in pot)

1 tsp. of Sea Salt

1 Stick of Butter or Margarine

1 Lg. Cube of Chicken Bouillon (not shown in photo above...I forgot to include it!)

2 tsp. crushed garlic

1 tsp. ground red (cayenne) pepper

5-6 pcs. Of Bacon (cut in half)

Cover Greens in large cooking pot with water.

Add the salt.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat to med low.

Add butter, chicken bouillon, garlic, red pepper & bacon

Return to a boil then reduce heat to low.

Simmer until tender, usually an hour to an hour and a half.

(I usually cook them for 3-4 hours as I like the flavors to really soak into the greens.  Just be sure to keep it on low and check often)

I like to serve them up with a tasty batch of skillet cornbread…another Southern Favorite!

I don't think I have to tell ya...but this recipe ain't "low-cal" if ya know what I mean!

You can make it lower calorie though...by using Olive Oil instead of butter or margarine and leaving out the bacon.

You can also leave out the salt and the bouillon for a low sodium diet...but let's be real here...if you want that true Southern taste...you need all that stuff that ain't no good fer ya!

(Oh...and I might add that my dear Granny lived to be 90...and she ate this stuff everyday!)

So take that for what it's worth...I'm no doctor and certainly wouldn't recommend eating this way all the time, but golly it sure tastes good to have a little bacon fat every now and then!

I will be linking-up my recipe to the hop and we'd love it if you link-up your Southern project, recipe or craft too! (See the inlinkz widget below)

Thanks so much for stopping by and relaxing on the porch awhile!

The Shrimp N' Grits Blog Hop is brought to you by:

All Done Monkey

Frogs & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes

With our wonderful co-hosts:

Play Create Explore

Simple. Home. Blessings.

JDaniel4's Mom

Caution! Twins at Play!

Creative Cynchronicity

Stuff-n-Such By Lisa

HomeMadeville

 

Shrimp & Grits Blog Hop

So happy to be co-hosting the Shrimp N' Grits Blog hop!

Welcome to the Shrimp N' Grits: A Southern Style Blog Hop! From June 17 - 30, bloggers are invited to link up their family-friendly posts about life in the South: recipes, crafts, kids' activities, and more! So grab a big bowl of shrimp n' grits, a tall glass of iced tea, and sit back on your porch swing, because we are getting ready for some down home fun!

The Shrimp N' Grits Blog Hop is brought to you by:

All Done Monkey

Frogs & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes

With our wonderful co-hosts:

Play Create Explore

Simple. Home. Blessings.

JDaniel4's Mom

Caution! Twins at Play!

Creative Cynchronicity

Stuff-n-Such By Lisa

HomeMadeville

 

15 Minute Craft - Ceramic Tile Photo Magnet - Mother's Day

Another Mother's Day has come and gone and I hope all of you who celebrate it had a wonderful day!

I was blessed in that I was able to spend it with 3 of our 4 children and 4 of our 5 grandchildren.

We really missed my mom and our son Rickey and his family, but I am thrilled to say, we will see them all soon!

Our family had a Mother's Day Brunch which has become a tradition of sorts in the last few years.

Every year, I struggle to think of a unique and special gift to give my sweet Mother-in-Law, she prefer's no gifts really, which is kind of my motto also, since the older you get the less you need.

Don't get me wrong...gifts from the heart are always welcome, but the best gift of all is time with your children and grandchildren! That is an immeasurable blessing indeed!

So, I always like to try and think of something that will bring back a good memory for her or touch her heart and as you can imagine, that often involves photographs, videos or mementos.

The timing could not have been better that I was participating in a Craft Lightning Challenge with Angie at the Country Chic Cottage and Carolina from 30 minute Crafts!

I thought it would be great if I could incorporate a gift for my MIL at the same time.

This lightning challenge requires that you come up with a craft that takes only 15 minutes or less to complete (minus drying time).

A great idea to get those on a limited time schedule to craft when they think they don't have the time!

I racked my brain to figure out what I could come up with that would only take 15-minutes, but would produce a lovely and heartfelt gift for my MIL.

I knew that it would most likely need to include a photo of some sort and a quote or poem about Mother's Day.

I remembered that just a few weeks before DH and I had gone Yard Sale-ing and I found a big bag of small 2x2 ceramic tiles that I thought would be perfect for fridge magnets if I could get them at the right price.

(I got the entire bag for $1.00!)

So, I thought if I could think of something good to use those for, for this project...DH would be proud of me!

(LOL...he thinks  we are gonna end up on that show "Hoarder's" one day if I don't stop collecting that kind of "stuff"!)

I decided to make a photo magnet for my MIL and wanted to make it relevant to Mother's Day.

I scoured (Googled) the internet for Mom's Day Poems and Quotes and found the perfect one for my situation:

"Men are what their Mother's made them" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I chose this because it really say's it all about how I feel about my husband and my MIL.

It is evident she did a wonderful job of raising good men! (4 of them to be exact...my husband has 3 awesome brothers!)

The love, kindness and honor that my husband has in his heart shines through in everything he does everyday and I know his mother had much to do with this as she has the same heart and makes our family thrive with happiness and love!

I could not be prouder to be a wife to her son and to call her "Mom"!

After finding the quote I searched for a photo of MIL and DH together that I could use on the magnet and came across this one:

I just loved it because it portray's so much about their life back then as well as our's today!

His family loved to go to the ocean, camp-out and go hunting and fishing.

This photo was taken in 1958 in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at a place called Cold Springs.

DH and I have tried to carry on those traditions in our children and grandchildren's lives as well, so this picture could not have been more perfect!

Here is my completed project/gift:

Here is what you will need to complete this craft:

Supplies/Tools List:

Ceramic Tile Piece, Square, 2"x2" (You can get these at most Home Improvement Stores)
Digital Photo (Cropped and sized to fit)
Photo Editing Program (Photoshop Elements, Picasa, Pic Monkey, etc.)
Quote or Poem of your choice
Font of your choice (I used Papyrus)
Photo Paper (Great White Imaging & Photo Paper - Matte Finish, 92 Brightness, Ultra White)
Ink Jet Printer (Lexmark X4975)
Scissors
Aleene's Tacky Glue
Krylon Workable Fixatif
Mod Podge (Gloss, Matte or Satin)
Foam Brush
Mini Pie Tin
Wax or Butcher Paper
E6000 Adhesive
Magnets (One or Two, depending on size & strength - 3/4" or larger)

Tutorial/Instructions:

1. Crop and resize your photo in digital imaging software (I used Photoshop Elements & Picasa)
2. Add Text to Your Photo (if desired) using digital imaging software (I used Picasa)
3. Print out photo onto Photo Quality Paper (Matte Photo Paper would probably work best and is what I used) on an Inkjet Printer.
4. Cut-out photo to size of tile (in this case, 2"x2")
5. Glue photo onto ceramic tile piece using a thick craft glue such as Aleene's Tacky Glue (Be careful what type of glue you use here, if it's too watery, it could tear the photo or ruin the image...that is why I recommend using Aleene's...it's tacky and adheres well without damaging the image.)
6. Let it dry for a bit (15-20 minutes)
7. Spray with a fixative (to protect the image from the initial coat of Mod Podge) - This may not be necessary for all images or printers, but I have had trouble in the past with colored images from inkjets "running" a bit when you brush on the first coat of Mod Podge, so just to be safe, I always use a fixative before I apply Mod Podge or other watery coating.)
8. Let dry for about 5 minutes. (Usually fixative dries very fast, but be careful not to hold it too close when spraying it or you could saturate the image and make it sticky which would make it take longer to cure. A light coat is all you need in this case.)
9. Apply first coat of Mod Podge with the foam brush. (I actually had to thin-out my Mod Podge a bit, because the bottle was older and had been sitting around for awhile and had thickened. That is why you see the pie tin in the supplies. I use that to thin out the Mod Podge when I add water.) (Usually you can use the Mod Podge straight from the bottle with no problems)
10. Let dry for 15-20 minutes.
11. Apply at least one more coat of Mod Podge. (This ensures a good seal and helps the project last longer. You can apply as many coats as you like, just be sure to wait 15-20 minutes between coats and I recommend waiting at least 8-10 hours before trying to wrap or handle any items that have been coated with Mod Podge as it becomes completely cured with time, but can be somewhat tacky at first).
12. Attach one or more magnets to the back of the tile using a strong adhesive such as E6000. (If you have very strong magnets, one will usually suffice, but the one's I had on hand were smaller and not as powerful, so I added two just to be sure the magnet with the ceramic tile attached would be functional)
13. Let dry for at least 30 minutes.

Ta-Daaa!! Your done in in lightning fast speed!

I had intended on getting a photo of my MIL with her gift at our brunch yesterday, but somehow in all the frivolity of the day, I forgot!

But I think she really loved the photo magnet and I know it brought back precious memories for her as will photos from yesterday's celebration do for me years from now.

Hope you enjoyed my post and will stop by again soon to see what I'm up to!

If you have a lightning fast craft to share, be sure to click on the "craft lightning" badge above and add your link to the list!

Thanks!

XO

Sesame Street Ernie Cake - My First Attempt at Fondant

Our precious Granddaughter C-Bear recently celebrated her second birthday.
I wanted to make something special for her big day and since she has recently become obsessed with sesame street...I figured anything to do with that would be a big hit!

Her favorite Sesame Street characters are Elmo, Ernie, Cookie Monster and Abby Cadabby.

I decided to make a Sesame Street cake!

(Just a quick reality check here: I have made several buttercream icing cakes using Wilton tools to try and make them look professional, with mediocre results… So, the fact that I wanted to make a Fondant cake was pretty much sheer insanity on my part!)

To be honest, I've never really considered making a Fondant cake before, because I was just sure it was way too hard and involved for me to even try.

Shine On Friday Party #74 & Craft Grab Bag Giveaway!

I'm excited to be co-hosting the "Shine On Friday" Link Party today with Kara at Happy Go Lucky and Amy at One Artsy Mama!

Come along and meet new friends and link-up...we'd love to see what crafty adventure's you've been up to!

It's Party Time!!

This week's Featured Link:
 One of the two most viewed links from last week's party is:

Organize game pieces with zipper bags by The Comfy Crafter

{Visit Amy over at One Artsy Mama to see other featured links}

As the co-host I am sponsoring this cool crafty giveaway!

A big Crafty "Grab Bag" that One lucky person will win!

To enter, just use the Rafflecopter widget below...Have fun at the party!



a Rafflecopter giveaway
    Now it's your time to SHINE!

 
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Show off your fabulous creations with us and be inspired by what others have created!

• Please link up crafts, recipes, home decor, etc.
•  Be sure to follow your awesome host, Kara at Happy-Go-Lucky, co-host, Amy at One Artsy Mama and me, Stuff-n-Such By Lisa...your guest co-host!
• Grab a button and post it on your blog to help spread the word
• Have fun and visit other links. Remember we all love comments:) 

- no commercial sites

- send us Starbucks gift cards {just kidding...kind of!}

Linking up your photos gives us permission to use them in features on our blogs and Facebook pages.

Simplfy your life and business with Shoeboxed.com

I love to craft, spend time with my family (especially the Grandbabies!) and blog about it...but one thing that I DON'T like to do, but it is necessary, is keep track of business and personal finances.

Whether it's paying a bill, filing a invoice or doing my taxes...if it has to do with money or filing...I'm not a fan!

Fortunately, I've discovered a great way to cut down on the amount of time I spend doing those things and it is a great site called www.Shoeboxed.com!

I simply gather my receipts and mail them in a prepaid envelope to Shoeboxed and they scan and store them securely online for easy access anytime!

If you have the Classic Plan or higher, they will return your paper receipts to you if you'd like, but if you are into a "greener" solution they will shred and recycle them within 30 days of scanning them.