Thursday, May 6, 2010

Little Teacher Appreciation Baskets

I saw this idea here and made it my own using all the baby food containers I have been saving! I didn't use all the sayings but I did fill the containers with paper clips, mints, change (for a soda), a post-it notepad, and cute magnets from the dollar bin at Michaels. To bundle them all together I put them in baskets I found in the Dollar Spot at Target.

Teacher Appreciation Treats

The preschool asked for parents to help with making their staff feel appreciated during Teacher Appreciation week. I asked what was involved and was told that for Wednesday the "theme" was yellow & lemons. So in true Allison fashion, I took that and ran with it.

I made these milk carton treat boxes for Christmas cookies and figured they would be perfect. I saw the idea here and figured out how to make them. (see tutorial below) Inside of the carton, I made cake mix cookies from lemon cake mix - box of cake mix, 1/2 c. oil, and 2 eggs. The teachers LOVED them. Really, they were so easy! To top it off I added in a water bottle, embellished with the scrap paper from the treat boxes, and a packet of Crystal Light.

Milk Carton Treat Box Tutorial
Maybe one day I can get this on video or do a better job of explaining this but for now this is all I got :)

1. Using a 12x12 sheet of sturdy cardstock, you will cut to size and score lines for the fold. These treat boxes were 4 inches tall so I cut the paper down to 8.5 inches tall by 12 inches wide.
2. Score paper 2 inches from the bottom.
3. Next, score paper 2.5 inches from the top.
4. Score paper 1 inch from the right side. This will make the flap for assembling the box
5. Continue vertical scoring lines measuring each one 2.75 inches from the last. (2.75 x 4 = 11 inches) This will make the sides of the carton.
6. Fold paper along all scored lines. Cut the the 2 inch lines on the bottom. Fold the 2nd and 4th flaps into triangles.
7. Glue box sides together. Fold bottom flaps in to create the bottom of the box. Then fold the triangle flaps up and glue it all down. You now have the bottom of the carton created.
8. Bring the front and back top edges toward the center, folding the sides in (like a milk carton top).
9. Hole punch the top and tie closed with a ribbon (after filling with some treats, of course)

I know this isn't the best tutorial :( I will try to post pictures that go along with each step soon. Might even try a Flip video if I can find a camera person.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Teacher Appreciation Treats coming soon!

The gifts for Chris's teachers are done and I am hoping to post pics and a tutorial for the milk cartons tomorrow. I am just WAY too tired tonight since I was up until 1:30am last night getting them done. Who is the crazy lady that signed up to make treats for the Preschool staff?!?! Oh, yeah, that would be me!

It was all worth it seeing how it brightened their day today. Chris and Cameron paraded around the school passing out the milk cartons (full of lemon cookies) and water bottles complete with Crystal Light Lemonade attached. They were blessed so all my hard work paid off! Teachers work hard and they deserve to be pampered a bit!!!

Check back soon for the treats and the tutorial!

Friday, April 30, 2010

Craft Room Reveal

It's done! My craft room is finally done! Almost a year ago (for Mother's Day) Bryan told me the home office could become my craft room. He no longer needed a home office since he has his business office now. With the boys being so curious, crafting in the dining room wasn't working. Leave anything out for a bit and they were getting into it. So now a year later, the room is done! As you can see from previous posts, this has been a long time in the making. I moved things around several times, we got new furniture, I purchased cabinets and drawers to put it all away, and the last step was to paint!

Here is the finished product!!!

SCHOOL AREA
This is what you see when you stand in doorway. The left side of the wall is the school area. Bryan and I are calling the office the SCOR, school-craft-office-room. I am homeschooling Christopher next year so I wanted a space to work for him that is away from the distractions of the other boys. Cameron also has a desk for future schooling. He can work on some preschool type activities while Chris does his school work.
Chris's desk is on the left and Cameron's desk is on the right.

CRAFT AREA
View from the doorway looking at the right side of the room, my crafting space!
Lots of cabinet space for supplies - stamps, adhesives, embellishments (eyelets, brads, tools), etc. The clear boxes at the bottom are for pages that are being worked on for the boys' scrapbooks. Hoping to get scrapping very soon and get closer to being caught up on their albums.
This cute buckets are from my wedding! They were the centerpieces on the tables in the reception. Now they are repurposed for craft supplies. These have chipboard, stickers, and rub ons. More are in the cabinet underneath that hold small letter stickers, various scissors, and more.
This is my main workspace.
From top to bottom:
top shelf - paint & CM cutting system
long shelf - various sizes of ribbon (the boxes are FULL!!!)
hanging rods - flowers, buttons, pens, tools
underneath - Cricut machine & drawers for bow stuff, cards, and ongoing projects
This is more workspace!
More storage on the walls!
The tall cabinets hold scrapbooks that are in progress, idea binders and tear files, more paper pads and scraps, Cricut mats, 8 1/2 x 11 paper, and TONS of alphabet stickers.
Notice all the pictures I need to scrap on the left. They are FULL of pics from Jan of 2008 - February 2009! I need to get busy.
Close up of the wall storage over the work area.
Small trash can for little pieces of trash and a bin for little scraps.
Lots of stickers - now I can actually SEE what I have!

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!!!

Thanks to my wonderful husband for 1) giving me the space to be creative (and relax!!!), 2) for painting the room for me on Monday and Tuesday nights after working ALL day, and 3) for putting up all the shelves and rods all afternoon today.
Bryan, I love you so very much. You are always willing to go above and beyond to make me happy. Thank you so much for loving me!

Check back soon...

I will be working all next week on gifts for Mother's Day and Teacher Appreciation Week! Check back soon to see the final products. They can't be posted until after they have been given ;)

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Cowboy Party Decorations

Howdy folks! For my son's 3rd bday, he wanted a cowboy party. I was thrilled this was his pick since I had a few Cricut cartridges with adorable cowboy themed designs! For the sign on the front door, I used the Old West cartridge to cut out a large sherrif badge and then the Howdy shadow and word. First, I was going to just put it on a solid background, but I found that to be too plain. As I was working on the banner (see below) I had some scrap patterned paper so I used that to create a "patchwork" quilt look behind the sherrif badge. I LOVE the way it turned out. (NOTE: please excuse the bubbling of the Mod Podge! I was in a BIG hurry trying to get all the decorations done so there was some bubbling and lifting)
This is my favorite banner I have created so far. I used 2 shades of brown and cut out (using the Old West cartrdge) a rustic, western poster. Then found several papers that looked western to add some color. The font is also from the Old West cartridge. On the ends, I took a left over barn and sun and cowboy from the invitations to embellish the banner a bit more.
At Michael's they have wooden unfinished frames for $1. I purchased two and created menus for the food and drink. These can be reused for a Old West BBQ by just changing out the paper in the frame.
For goodie bags, each child had a brown lunch sack with their initial on a sherrif badge. I tied it with some rustic rope and that was it! So simple. Inside was a water gun, a foam sherrif badge the kids made when they arrived, and some gummie worms. The children also received a bandana (red for boy and pink for girls) as they entered so they looked the part! So easy and yet so wonderful!

Recent Card Creations

My Cricut machine has paid for itself several times over already! I have owned a Cricut for about a year and a half and I don't think I have bought a card since then. I make my own now!!!

As soon as I saw the Everyday Paper Dolls and Paper Doll Dress-Up cartridges, I knew I needed them and would use them for so many different things! In my mind I envisioned cute birthday cards for the little ones in my life, birthday card invitations, and scrapbook embellishments.
This is a card I made for two sweet friends that have little girls that are turning 2 in the next few months. There are so many cute outfits and backgrounds I can't wait to make more!
I was looking through the book that comes with the cartridge and I discovered a Mom-To-Be outfit for the paper doll! So cute. I have a few pregnant friends with showers coming up, so I made two of these and have them stashed away for the right mom.

About Me

My photo
The Mills family was established on April 20th, 2002 when Bryan C. Mills married Allison Wilson. The family grew in 2005 with the birth of Christopher and then again in 2007 when Cameron first made his appearance. It just grew a little more in 2009 with Zachary's arrival and then again in 2011 when Ethan entered the world with a bang! We hope to continue to grow our family as God allows. We are truly blessed and praise God each day for the joy we bring each other!