Pack a Little Picnic (Part One)

Welcome to a blogging mini series! This one will only be a couple posts long, featuring a picnic that the certified teachers hosted for our school's phenomenal classified staff members! These people are literally the heart and soul of a school, bus drivers, secretaries, custodial staff, kitchen staff, classroom assistants, recess aids, librarians, all the people that keep a school running in tip-top shape! Teachers would, in all honesty, be significantly crazier than we already are if these people were not part of a school. Classified Appreciation Week is March 4-8 this year and the teachers pulled together to host a beautiful lunch! 

A hosted luncheon is not complete without a theme inspired invitation! Being a craft nut, if you haven't figured that out already..., I volunteered to create the invitations! I started with rolled craft paper, and used a paper cutter to trim them into 4" by 5.5" rectangles.

I then used a lace edge punch, shown below, from Martha Stewart's craft line, to frame all of the edges of the craft wrap. 

I then glued the craft paper to my picnic table cloth scrapbook paper! Those were cute into 6" squares.

The final piece of the puzzle was the information for the party, of course! Using my new obsession for downloading adorable fonts, I created a fun and spunky information postcard.  The "In celebrations of YOU" is in Office's standard Rockwell.  The large "PICNIC" is Coffee Tin.

The remaining information is Strawberry Limeade. These fonts are both from free websites, so go get them!

After attaching the pieces, used a teacher's go to, glue sticks, then final product was cute and simple! But they got rave reviews! Thanks for those compliments, I'm glad you enjoyed the invites! 

'Tis the Season (Part Four)

Is it strange that one of my absolute favorite parts of the Christmas season is wrapping presents??? I love giving gifts to people, but they have to be wrapped just so. Go figure. Every year I coordinate all of my gifts and make them match. 

This year I found the cutest item at my favorite store, Vintage Hardware. For ten cents, I acquired an old printing press metal stamp featuring a reindeer and tree! Not meant to be a craft stamp, but it works!

I used chocolate brown or bright red ink to add the stamp to each name tag. The color of stamp determined the color of string that I used to tie up the gifts. Red stamp = red string, brown stamp = brown string. 

Of course I had to have a theme! In good holiday spirit, I chose "Brown paper packages tied up with string," a lyric from the song "Favorite Things" sung by Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. Initially I planned on stamping the words in place, but after completing the first present, I realized that I just didn't have the time! Note to self: Find a stamp or order a custom one with the phrase as a whole. 

I chose to use a bright red pen to simply ink the phrase onto each package.  It is a good thing that I teach cursive, my practiced penmanship held up to the test!

The final product is a group of simple yet festive holiday packages for joyous gift giving!

Give Thanks!

This November my family hosted some of our extended family for Thanksgiving. It was especially wonderful this year because my brother and his girlfriend were able to be with us for the week from Minneapolis.  I was put in charge of decorating the dining room for the event.  I chose to cut brown shipping paper into 8.5 by 11 inch sections so I could run it through the printer.  I selected two different fonts with two different sayings.   The fonts were downloaded from the Internet, Kunstler Script and Mailart Rubberstamp.  I then cut them into strips by hand, not being bright enough to use my paper cutter. It went pretty quickly though, and they didn't need to be perfect.  

I then simply created loops and opted to tape the edges together for time and efficiency purposes.  The chain became the table runner instead of a traditional cloth one. 

I also created my own place cards out of colored card stock and more brown mail wrap paper.  I created a stencil of a maple leaf from my school's Ellison punches then took the stencil home to trace and cut out.  My wonderful father helped in the process by being the tracer and scissor man.  I greatly appreciated his help! I then glued the leaf centers, but not the edges, to the card stock.  Each leaf went on slightly differently allowing each place card to be unique.  I added the names using dark brown ink and small alphabet stamps in haphazard patterns.  

The final piece of decorating utilized our old upright piano and a handful of brown paper lunch bags.  I had read a blog about how to print on paper bags and decided to give it a try.  It was quite simple and worked perfectly.  I used the same Rubberstamp font from the paper chain so they were connected, and printed one letter per bag.  I spelled out the word THANKFUL.

I then cuffed each bag by rolling the top down twice which made it easier to light the votives that were inside.  

Each votive lived in a glass holder so they were fire safe and used a clicking lighter with the long bendable nozzle to light them safely.  We ate earlier in the day before it was dark out, but after the sunset, the effect was beautiful.  

This year was so full of blessings and I had so many things to be thankful for, especially the wonderful time with my family and getting to see my brother. I hope your Thanksgiving was full of blessings too.  

How I Will Remember You!

Thursday, June 14, 2012 may be the most difficult day in my short teaching career yet.  I say goodbye to my second year students as they embark on their journey to middle school! I am fully prepared with tissues and water-proof mascara because I am quite certain I will be in tears. Just writing this is making my eyes damp! Oh gosh!

This winter I had a genius (well, I think it's genius) idea of a great personalized gift to give my departing 5th graders.  The concept seemed simple at first, but as I delved into the project I realized that it may be a bit more challenging than I anticipated! I started by creating a ring of notecards, one labeled for each 5th grader, and I began creating lists of words that describe or remind me of them. Some have ridiculous seeming words because I wrote down something they did or said at one point in the past two years.  It is easy to talk about kids in full sentences, but narrowing them down to single words was WAY more difficult than I thought it would be. After I compiled my words, I entered them into Wordle, a word cloud creator.  A word cloud is literally a random grouping of words that you choose to enter. I then adjusted colors and fonts until I had each one personalized to the student it was about.  I then printed them on 4x6 photo paper so they looked really nice.

Each cloud then got its own picture frame, purchased at IKEA in packs of two for $2.99.  They are simple, inexpensive frames, but they worked perfectly for the project! 

I then used Scrabble tiles to personalize the frames with the students names (Thanks to my aunt Kathy, Craig, and my parents for the donation of tiles).  I have decided that Scrabble games should come with more Ls and Es! I used super glue to attach the tiles in a tilted manner, because after consulting an expert (my dad) we decided that straight tiles just looked wrong. Each frame has a different layout, some tiles run across the top, bottom, and shorter names went down the sides.  The goal was to make it so no two were the same, just like my kids!

In the end they turned out way better than I even anticipated and I am so excited for the kids to open these up and reflect on our two years together! 

Wrapping was simple, brown craft paper and some natural colored raffia bows. After the extensive project, I figured that wrapping should be the easy part!

Here's to a memorable two years and to bright futures for all fifteen of these kids. I wish them all of the best things in life. 

Love, 

Ms. Grothe

  

Happy Housewarming!

This weekend I finally put together a housewarming gift for my wonderful friend Ali! I picked up all sorts of treasures from some of my favorite home decor shopping locations.  I created a gift basket using a creamy, yellow locker basket from Vintage Hardware. I then proceeded to fill it with all sorts of neat finds.  My items, besides the creamy basket, were all in various shades of green, not because I planned it originally, but because once I started with green, I just couldn't stop. The main item inside the basket was a West Elm stripe favorite throw in beansprout and ivory.

West Elm is my new favorite home decor company! 

I then added a stack of three minty crackle painted flower pots from Dollar Tree. They are so adorable, I'm contemplating returning to buy some of my own!

They came in a few colors, so you have options!

I then added a three pack of flour cloth dish towels because they are my favorite for all things kitchen, plus they clean up nicely with a bit of bleach.  I also added the latest issue of one of my favorite magazines, Country Living! Always chalk full of great decorating ideas, products, and food. 

I especially loved the June edition this year!

While hunting around our local Goodwill, I came across two brand new, Pyrex liquid measuring cups.  They were identical and each hold two cups.  Of course I snagged both of them, one for Ali and one for me! What a great find!  I also added a fun, flowery frame that I found last year on a 60% Fred Meyer clearance table.  It has been sitting in my gifting pile waiting to find the perfect person that it should be given to.  I instantly thought of my developing green gift theme and new it would be a great addition in Ali's basket! Thank goodness I know that Ali LOVES Goodwill and good deals as much as I do, so she would not be offended that she is getting gifts that were steals! :)

Discount Pyrex and picture frames.

The last piece to the gift puzzle was actually three pieces.  I picked up three fresh herb plants from our Fred Meyer, taking advantage of the Memorial Day weekend Garden Center sale! I picked up onion chives, cilantro, and lemon verbena.  I then cut squares of craft wrap that covered the unattractive black, plastic store pots.  I folded the edges over the corners of the pots so they look slightly pleated, then used natural colored raffia to secure the paper in place with bows!

These would make absolutely terrific place markers or favors for a summer party!

Any good gift has to have a good card to accompany it, so my next task was to create a simple, green themed card!  I started with a crafting and card making staple, a paint chip! Acquiring new paint chips is literally the only reason I go to Home Depot.  They have the multiple color chips still, when most companies are stocking individual color chips only.

Happened to have the perfect green chip!

In order to make the chip less industrial and harsh looking, I used my Martha Stewart lace paper punch that I picked up a few months ago at JoAnn's.  

I only punched one end, only because I liked the look.

I then used a stamp that I have been dying to use, because it is just so cheery and cute! The uses for the stamp though are limited, so it was great having a purpose for it! I used a chocolate brown ink and placed it on a white pricing tag from my scrapbooking box. I attached the tag using a glue dot on one end and a green (go figure) brad through the hole at the other end.  

Picked up at Michael's for $1.00!

So simple, but so happy!

I finished the card up with a simple To and Heart in a matching chocolate brown marker. The card only took about five minutes to construct, but it matched the green themed basket perfectly!

:)

The finished product turned out so wonderfully, it may be one of my most favorite gifts I have ever given! Thanks Ali, for letting me blog all about your neat present! And may your new home bring you many wonderful memories and blessings! Love you!

The final basket!

Bouncing Baby Fun!

Enjoy the picture ideas and basic captions for baby Hannah's shower that I helped my cousin Amy decorate for.

Hannah stamps on punch cups!

Mom's seat at the table, stamps on craft wrap.

Jars and plates make for a simple, elegant cupcake stand!

Doilies mixed as a runner, with jars of treats and flowers.

Tables, pink butcher paper covered with craft paper.

Lanterns filled the window, and pennants draped the wall!

My cousin Amy created adorable onesies with iron-ons and pinned them on a clothesline.

The clothes line! HANNAH!

Welcome to the world baby Hannah, and congratulations to Jeremy and Brittany!

And thank you Amy, for letting me share your creative and adorable ideas!