Teacher gift idea

I know this post is a little late for giving to a teacher this holiday season, but thought I would post it anyways. Always something you can make in advance and give during Teacher Appreciation Week. Or use the gift idea for someone else this holiday season.

I took a plain front small notebook (mine was cardboard, not plastic) and applied some craft glue to the front of the notebook. Then I added the scrapbook paper to the front and trimmed around the edges to clean it up. Using my Cricut, I cut out the letters for my son's teacher and glued them to the front.

Pair it with a nice pen and it makes a cute little set. Also made some of these for birthday presents for friends.


Who doesn't love a personalized present?

Firecracker Tee

I've seen tons of 4th of July shirts at stores like Old Navy each year, but they always have the year on it and then you can't really pass it down through kids, or I don't know it's never been something that's caught my attention enough to buy it. 

This year, LMM is definitely big enough to enjoy the holiday festivities, so I want to make sure he's appropriately outfitted. Plus we'll be going on vacation for a few days with my in-laws. So after perusing the Internet and different holiday shirts, I saw a firecracker on a tee shirt and thought, "I could totally make that!" 

So here we go: 

• I started out with a white Granimals tee from Wal-Mart. (Even luckier for me, I got the last 3T white shirt on clearance :)
• Picked up 6" of red star fabric in the fabric aisle while there. I cut out a 2" wide by 8" long strip and rounded the edges freehand. Fused some Heat 'N Bond to the wrong side of the fabric and then fused everything to the white tee. 

• Next I cut out a star shaped piece of blue fabric with dots on it that came out of my scrap bin. (I went on the computer and actually printed a star picture so I had a template to cut the fabric from. I didn't want my points all off.) Once again I fused the Heat 'N Bond to the fabric, then everything was fused to the shirt a couple inches from the top of the firecracker body. 

•  After everything was placed where I wanted it, I ironed it down to keep it in place. Then I pinned some lightweight stabilizer to the back of the shirt and used my ziz-zag stitch setting on my sewing machine (at .5 length and 3.5 width) with a matching red thread to do a tight ziz-zag stitch all around the body of the firecracker and star. 
• Once I finished with that, I used a disappearing ink fabric pen to draw lines between the star points and I did a ziz-zag stitch on top of the lines. 

•  After all the stitching was done, I snipped all the threads, removed the stabilizer from the back and ironed the shirt out. 

Now all we have to do is wait for the 4th and party in style!

Cost of the project (including materials I already had in supply) about $4

How to Make a Fabric Name Banner

I posted a photo of the name banner before, but this week I had the time to make two of them! Shocking huh?! Actually I did it while MJD was crafting at his table or sleeping. 

So here's the low down on how to make one: 

• Buy 4 different 1/4 yard of ribbon (in the picture I'm posting I used only 2 fabrics b/c of the color scheme she wanted, so mine is a little smaller than normal.)
• Use pinking scissors to cut the fabric into about 1" strips. Here's a picture:

• Use a long piece of ribbon to hold everything on and tie the fabric strips onto the ribbon with a simple knot. (Yes, it will look like it's flying everywhere, that's okay.)
• Cut out a shape background from card stock so it's a little sturdy. I used a Cricut machine, if you don't have one you can just hand cut the paper with some template. 
• Then cut out a smaller shape to layer on top of the large background. I alternated my color pattern, you can do whatever you want. 
• Then cut out your letters for the name you want to use, or saying. Glue them all together and punch a small hole in the top of each backing. Use a piece of ribbon to attach the letter to the banner and you're done! 
• Hang it on a nursery or bedroom wall or door. 

Some other ideas on how to use these:

• Instead of a name use holiday words and holiday fabric to decorate your home for the seasons such as Valentine's Day, Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas
• Make for a baby shower.
• Use for a birthday party either with a name or HAPPY BIRTHDAY
• Give as a holiday gift with words such as NOEL, FAITH, JOY, etc.