Baby Girl Onesies

I made these onesies for Baby girl! Aren't they cute? I have been making onesies for baby shower gifts for years, but I always used plain white onesies. Then I saw someone on Facebook make the same onesies, but she put the iron on decals on to colored and striped onesies. Why didn't I think of that?! So I went to Goodwill and got some cheap onesies. I bought the iron on decals at Michael's. JoAnn's also has some cute ones. Be sure to wash the onesies first so they shrink. Then just follow the directions on the back of the iron on decals. Makes a terrific baby shower gift!!

Baby Shadow Box

I have been wanting to do this since B was born 2 1/2 years ago and I finally did it!! I love how it came out! I am getting rid of B's clothes in preparation for Baby Girl, but there are some items I just can't bear to give away. I have been trying to come up with creative ways to use some of those emotionally attached items. One way is to have a quilt made with some of his clothing. I definitely plan on doing that but it is very expensive so it will be a little awhile before I can do it.

The other way is to do a shadow box. I decided to use the outfit he wore for his birth announcement, a copy of his birth announcement, and a wooden letter B. I got the shadow box at JoAnns and the wooden letter B at Michael's. I painted the wooden letter B and let it dry. I glued some scrapbook paper in the back of the box. Then I hot glued the outfit, the B, and the birth announcement on to the scrapbook paper. It really was easier and faster than I thought it would be! I will also be making one for Baby Girl! Anyone else have creative ways to show off some of those adorable baby clothes?

Art Binder

I am always looking for creative ways to save B's artwork. I don't like the idea of throwing it all in a box for no one to see. So when I saw this idea for an art binder, I knew I had to make one. I love that I can leave it out so family and friends can flip through it.

Baby Shower

There was a decorating onesie station. Look at all of those cute oneises my baby girl will be wearing!

 

 

 

 

 

My friend used her present of clothes, bibs, and toys as decorations. What a great idea!!

Look at these adorable favors! The paper says, "This is a gift for you today, So when I'm born you'll light my way, And when that happy day is here, burn this candle and spread some good cheer."

And more adorable favors. These are bath salts made by my friend. She used baby food jars and spray painted the lids. Then she glued the butterflies and scrapbooking paper to decorate the jars. Not sure if she made the bath salts or bought them.

One of my gifts was a Date Night Basket. It has a soda stream, quesadilla maker, popcorn, brownie mix, and a Toy Story puzzle for B. Another great idea!!

My co-workers threw me a baby shower this week!! There were so many cute things there that I just had to share them all! Hope these give you some inspiration for the next baby shower you attend!

Snack Box

B started preschool about a month and a half ago and he is still adapting to it. He is finally participating in the fun activities but he isn't eating there. We tried bringing Lightning McQueen dishes for him. Still wouldn't eat. Tried bringing him a bag of snacks from home. Still wouldn't eat. I saw this snack box idea on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try. The box is actually a bead organizer from Michael's. I made sure to get one where the dividers could be taken out. I also got some stickers while I was there for his name. I put car stickers under each snack as a little reward for eating. B got very excited when he saw the box with his name on it and all the snacks inside. Hopefully that means he will actually eat some of the snacks at preschool. Wish me luck!!

Letter Cookies

My son is obsessed with the alphabet.When I saw this on Pinterest, I knew he would love it. I printed out the alphabet card from teaching-tiny-tots. I found the alphabet cookies at Whole Foods. B LOVES these cookies. He picks up a cookie and says the letter. We are still working on matching the letters on the board. He likes to just point to the letters and say them. I also printed out his name so we could work on that too. Now I am looking for other letter foods that we can use to practice the alphabet.

Thomas Binder

Do you have a little one that loves Thomas the Train? I do! My son loves Thomas. He is always asking me the names of the different engines. I don't know about you but I can't remember all of their names. Some of them even look alike which makes it more difficult. So I made this Thomas binder. I printed out pictures of the different trains from the Thomas and friends website. Then I put them in page protectors and put them together in an old binder I had. Now we can look up the train names together.

Color Red

color activities

color bag

red collage

red food-strawberries, tomatoes, watermelon, strawberry granola bar and fruit twists

 

 

 

red painting

Brandon's preschool focuses on a different color every week. Last week the color was red. These are the activities we did at home to practice the color red. We actually do these same activities for every color. 

1. Color bag-I fill the bags with dice, pom poms, counting bears, linking cubes, and anything else I find around the house. I got the bags from Oriental Trading. 

2. We make a collage using feathers, pom poms, letter stickers, colored sticks, buttons, etc.

3. I plan a meal that includes foods with the color of the week.

4. B paints only with the color of the week.

 B's favorite is the collage. He especially liked the Lightning McQueen stickers!

Another Teacher Appreciation Gift Idea

As I mentioned, next week is Staff Appreciation Week at B's preschool. Wednesday is bring edible goodies day. I saw this cute idea at Mommy's Kitchen. I found the containers at Dollar Tree and filled them with M&M's. Then I added some ribbon and the label. The label says:

You’re My M&M

Green: is for the inspiration you give

to me each day.

Blue: is for your patience in showing
me the way.

Orange: is for your warmth and
caring smile.

Yellow: is for the way you can always
make me smile.

Red: is for my life that you have touched
this year.

You’re a very special teacher just like this jar,
that’s clear!

You place knowledge in your children’s hands
and melt into their hearts and lives forever.

You’re a “Magnificent” and “Marvelous” teacher!

Thank you for being my M&M!

Teacher Appreciation Gift

Next week is Staff Appreciation Week at B's preschool. Parents are expected to bring something in to go with the daily themes. Monday's theme is flowers and plants. I didn't want to get them flowers or plants because I figure most other parents will do that, but I wanted to stay within the theme. So I decided to make flower pens. I have received many of these from students over the years and I love them. I bought a pack of pens, silk flowers, and floral tape. I made the stem shorter and taped the flowers to the pens with the floral tape. So simple and inexpensive!!

Volunteer Appreciation Gift

We had our volunteer tea today at school. (Not really sure why it is called a tea. We don't serve tea.) This is what I made for my parent volunteer. It is a variation of a Mint Mug which I saw here. It has spearmint gum and peppermint candies. I tied a green ribbon around it and put a label on it. The label says, "Thank you for your invest"mint" of time to help our classroom run smoothly. It really "mint" a lot to me." The best part is it only cost me $4.00!!

B's Lightning McQueen Room

Curtains

Comforter I put on the wall above his bed.

Rug

Name sign my friend made.

Lightning McQueen bed!

For many different reasons, we decided it was time for B to get a big boy bed. He was outgrowing his crib, bedtime was becoming a struggle, and we would need the crib for Baby Girl. Sleeping in a big boy bed is a major transition and we wanted to get through it before Baby Girl gets here. Luckily, B loves his new bed and new room. What little boy wouldn't love a Lightning McQueen room!!

Hubby ordered the bed from Walmart. Since B is such a big boy, we decided to skip the toddler bed and go straight to the twin bed. I got the curtains and bedding at Babies R Us and the rug at Target. My MIL got the comforter and my friend made the name sign (isn't it cute?) Everything was perfect for his new room!!

Flashcard Book

 

When I saw these flashcards, I knew they would be perfect for my son. He is obsessed with letters right now. What does every 2 year old do when you give them a stack of cards? Why throw them around of course!  So I had to find something to do with them. I saw this on Pinterest. Great idea!! I punched one hole in the middle then put some ribbon through it and made a flashcard book.

Mother's Day Gift Idea

These aren't what I had originally planned to give to the Grandmas for Mother's Day. My first idea was to do a hand print vase like this. Unfortunately I had trouble getting a good hand print from my 2 1/2 year old. So I came across this cute idea from Aunt Peaches. I decided to add some pictures to go along with the art work. I found the jars, ribbon, and flowers at Michael's. I bought jars with lids so the Grandmas could take the flowers out and make the jars more useful. These would also make great gifts for Grandparent's Day!

Mother's Day Gifts

I had major issues with the Mother's Day gifts I had planned for my third graders to make. I ordered craft kits but I didn't receive them in time because they were 2 days late. Then I gathered up some last minute supplies for my students to make bookmarks, which I left at home. Grrrr...So I had to come up with something Friday morning with the supplies I had on hand. I decided to make MOM banners. Cute, simple, and I had all the supplies I needed. I copied some pages for the kids to color and glue on their banners. They cut some fringe on the bottom and added a border to the top to make it more fancy. The only thing that would have made this better would have been some yarn to add to it so the Mom's could hang them. I think they came out adorable!

Desk Inspection Fairy

I have noticed that many of my students' desks are very messy so I decided it was time for the Desk Inspection Fairy to pay a visit.  I checked 6 desks and only 3 passed the inspection. Those that passed received a bookmark. The other students noticed this and I saw many of them cleaning out their desks this morning, just in case the Desk Inspection Fairy decides to make another visit. Love when something so cheap and easy motivates my students!

My First Blog!!!

I have one crazy, busy life and I decided to blog about it!! Hoping I will have a few ideas that others will find useful and creative. Since I will be blogging about my third grade class, my 2 1/2 year old son, the upcoming arrival of my baby girl, and my non-profit organization, I think there will be a little something for everyone!