Thanks for Helping Me Grow

It's that time of year again. School is almost over so it's time for Mommy to get creative with a teacher appreciation gift. My little chicks have been SO blessed this year with teachers. In the past we've had some... well... uh... not so great teachers. But this year, oh my goodness! Each of these ladies have been absolutely wonderful to my chicks. I would love to go all out and give coffee cards, movie tickets, gift cards for yummy restaurants but when you multiply all that by 3 it equals one broke North West Nest.

I wanted to do something different than last year. You may remember our Clipboards for Teacher. We've also made note pads and signs. The jars of caramel corn and pots of goldwere holiday-ish {seen the "we're gonna be sisters" episode of Hannah Montana?} but you could probably put an end of the year twist on them.

We decided to go with a live plant and a cute little saying. Over the weekend the chicks and I ran to Lowe's {my fave home improvement store} looking for houseplants, pots and potting soil. We saw some cute cactus but I decided they wouldn't be so "cute" to transplant. Then we saw a table of Bromeliads already in a weathered looking terra cotta pot for about $7 a piece.

We thought these would be a great pick because they are a pretty hardy plant that's not going to flower once and die. Bromeliads are also considered an "O2 for you" plant. This means they generate oxygen and will add humidity to a room during dry conditions. So they're low maintenance, requiring only an hour or two of indirect sunlight per day and they purify the air! I think that sounds ideal for a classroom setting!

I used a small foam craft brush to apply a couple thin coats of Valspar's chalkboard paint in a rectangle on one side of the pot. Then used my chalk ink marker to write "Thanks for helping me grow!"

Ta Da! Done!

These will be easy for teachers to keep home during the summer months and bring back for a little color in the fall and winter months. When the Bromeliads grow they'll look like these.

I think they're very pretty and my little chicks are excited to share them with their teachers on the last day of school.

Blessings.

Linking to: House of Hepworths

Fun in the Car

Our family is taking a trip to Lake Shasta, California this summer so I decided to put together some fun things for my girls to do in the car. Here are just a few things I have for them to pass the time.

Personalized clipboards. Just like the ones we made as teacher appreciation gifts but with a little twist.

The back of these clipboards are painted with chalkboard paint! They can draw like crazy, use an old washcloth to erase and start all over again! No billions of paper scraps in the car! It's really a win-win situation.

I picked up these pencil cases at Michael's in their dollar bin. Brought them home added some stickers, pencils, pens & chalk and they're ready to go!

I didn't do anything to these, but I got them from Target on clearance for about $2!! Now mommy doesn't have to stress about the hidden dangers in a plastic water bottle sitting in the car all day. And we're being green! There were three different styles... perfect!

I also grabbed some activity books, stickers and card games from home for the girls to play with on the way and to have some quiet time once we get there.

I hope you're having a wonderful summer and have been able to take a little vacation or sometimes even better, a staycation!

Blessings!

Chalkboard Pantry Door

For the last two years I have been trying to convince my Tall Man that our pantry door would look great if it were painted with chalkboard paint. He was not thrilled with the idea of two black panels on the door. About a year ago my favorite mother-in-law brought our girls a chalkboard, easel style. It's big, it's bulky, and takes up quite a bit of room in my pretty nice sized pantry. After stubbing a few toes, knocking it over and spilling chalk everywhere, Tall Man was on board with painting the pantry door.

As soon as I got the okay I ran to Lowe's with a 10% off coupon and picked up a can of chalkboard paint. Didn't take long and the door was taped and painted. Woo hoo!

I also picked up a pack of Chalk Ink pens from Michael's (kind of pricey at $12 for 4.)

I love the way it looks now. My girls like being able to doodle close by while we're at work in the kitchen. Here it is!

Blessings.

Linking to: Centsational Girl