Today is the last day of school and last night [yes, I am a procrastinator]

I wrapped up these little gifts for my kids' teachers.

Included in this little gift basket is some:

"Fresh Picked Strawberries" soap from Bath and Body Works,

"Fresh Picked Strawberries" hand sanitizer from the same place,

Strawberry flavored Mentos and

Orbit strawberry remix gum.

*The cute berry basket is from Zurcher's Party Supplies/Kara's Party Ideas.

I found the inspiration HERE [on the blog, eighteen 25].  Theirs is super cute.  And they give you a free download for a super cute tag as well so you might want to go check it out.  Apparently the Johnson's don't believe in color ink cartridges though.  So this is what I came up with. 

And for the kids' bus driver??? 

Chocolate.  

That lady deserves some.  THAT, I am sure.

That's gotta be one crazy job.

"You deserve chocolate" inspiration can be found HERE.

[On the blog, eighteen 25, yet again.  Geesh.  Those girls are clever.] 

Happy beginning of Summer to all of you.

[And I want to wish my husband, Ryan, a very happy birthday today. 

You are the best babe!  XOXO.]

You and me.  New York, NY.  2011.

~ Amber

First Day of School

What am I going to do with myself?

These little kiddos headed off to school today and I've got more time on my hands than I know what to do with.  Actually, I know I will stay quite busy but I am going to miss them!  It's going to be very quiet around here from the hours of 9:00 am - 3:30 pm Monday thru Friday.

I tried and tried but this was the best picture I could get of Thing 1.

Can you tell that he's not thrilled about having his picture taken?  I was trying not to become the "embarrassing mom" so I didin't push it :)  Now that I think of it though, I didn't even get a hug before he left.  We'll have to make up for that later!

 

And this little one is really excited to be going into the 1st grade!  She's my sensitive girl so I hope she does o.k. making new friends.  Oh, they're both growing up so fast.  I'm kind of bummed...

So I tried to be crafty last night and make a little gift for their teachers for the first day of school.  I found the original idea while I was playing around on Pinterest the other day.  I was inspired and "pinned" the picture and link away on my pin boards just in case.

The girls from Bee In Our Bonnet (a really cute craft blog) originally shared the idea on their blog last August.  Their survival kits were so cute!!   I just had to copy!  (Theirs are much cuter as I started shopping for the supplies for mine at about 9 o'clock last night and was making labels until 3 o'clock this morning.  There's nothing like last minute...)

This little survival kit is full of goodies a teacher might need on the first day of school. Just a little somethin' to let her know we're thankful for her!

Don't you just love Pinterest though? It's so fun and sooo addicting!

I love that all of my favorites are in one place, organized into categories

(like "my dream home", "quilt love", "sweet treats", etc.)

with little pictures and the links to each one. 

If you want to check out my pinboards, click here.

So, are you addicted yet? 

O.K. So I'm a Procrastinator... (a Quick & Inexpensive Teacher's Gift)

I didn't put two and two together that today is the last day of school before Christmas break.  I knew I wanted to get my kids' teachers a little something (I couldn't get their book marks in time like I had planned so I'll have to do that for their end of year gifts instead.)

So at about 10 p.m. last night I decided I should probably go to the store and get them something.  For less than $4.00 I was able to make these gifts (of course that is because I use to be big-time into scrapbooking and had all of the embellishments, paper and wrapping supplies on hand.)

A tile with an initial represents each of their last names. 

An hour later I had these 3 homemade gifts ready to go!  Who doesn't like to have a little scratch paper on hand in a stylish notebook?  I know I do.

Happy Holidays!

Linda's Giveaway Prize

Dear Blogger,

Why do you have to be so difficult? You know I love you. I give so much of myself to you, and you still question my motives. Why can't you trust me when I tell you what order I want my pictures to be displayed in? Why do you have to reverse them just to make me mad - when I specifically told you I wanted the last one first!?! And then, you have the audacity to make me click and scroll, click and scroll, ever so slowly to put them back in the order I originally told you that I wanted. We've been together for so long now. Why can't you just let me put all 13 pictures on at once, rather than making me only put 5 on at a time. I'm a big girl, Blogger. Can't you just treat me like one for once in your life!!!

O.K. Sorry about that. I don't know what came over me.

Anyways, the point of this post is to say that Linda has received her Golden Crow Brag Book and I thought I'd post some pics. Oh, and I have to say I am quite impressed with the postal service right now. I mailed the package on Thursday around noon and it was in Linda's possession on Friday afternoon. Wow. That's pretty good! But anyways, Linda won this personalized Brag Book from the giveaway I did a couple of weeks ago. I hope you like it Linda! For the rest of you, I am a crafter, not a photographer. Please excuse some of my blurry photos. I did my best.

"Sisters" gift exchange

My Sisters and Sister-in-laws did a little gift exchange this year. Those of us that felt crafty did handmade gifts and those that did not feel crafty, bought lovely items from charming retail establishments:). My sister Tammy, gave me a darling frame that had a little plaque at the top that said "Children" and then at the bottom it said:

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about."

I love the frame and quote. That quote really is true. My children enrich my life and make me a better person. I thank God every day for the opportunity to be a mother to two amazing little people! I've been searching my files looking for a very sweet picture to put in that frame - thanks Tams! She also gave me soap and paper that came in beautiful individual Christmas boxes. I love those kinds of things! You know me well!

I got to give to my Sister-in-law, Brittany, so I gave her a replica of a box I had made for myself a couple of years ago. It's meant to organize your family's annual Christmas photo and card/letter. There were dividers with tabs inside for her to write the year on. It was fun to make. I hope she liked it! I actually made two extra ones to sell on Etsy. Those are the only ones I took pictures of so here are some pictures of those. Brityany's was a combination of the two below.

I can't wait to see pictures of the other gifts that were made by my Sisters! If YOU have any handmade gifts you made this Christmas, post a link - I'd love to see them!

Tammy's Brag Book

Today I got the pictures of my sister (Tammy's) brag book. I had so much fun making and personalizing it for her. It took me a long time to actually get the three done after I initially purchased the chipboard books, but once I got going I had a blast making them.

Cassie's Brag Book

My sister, Cassie, sent me pictures of a brag book that I made for her a couple of months ago. I made one for my other sister, Tammy, awhile back too. They were really fun to make. I don't get to do crafty little projects like this as much as I use to do, but I love it when I do. There is one for me in the works right now, maybe you'll see some photos in the near future. It was fun to personalize each one with names, dates, and personality traits.