Teacher Appreciation Note Pad

I borrowed this idea from How Does She? and I think it turned out great. My girls and I made these for their AWANA leaders as a thank you for their time and dedication.

Here's a list of what you'll need:
Ream of printer paper (About $4 at Staples, probably much less at Wal-Mart.)
Pens (Dollar Tree)
Markers (already had)
Curling Ribbon (already had)
Candy (a couple bags, around $5)

A local Kinko's or Office Supply store to "pad" the paper. (Cutting and padding cost about $6.00)
Total: $15.00 to make 3 gifts!!!


I picked up my paper at Staples and asked about having them cut and pad it but they were going to have to send it away and it would take about a week. I tend to procrastinate and didn't have a week. So plan B was Kinko's. They were able to cut the paper and pad it in the store, it was ready for me in less than 24 hours and only about $6.00. (For those of you who may not know, "padding" is the soft glue stuff on the one side of note pad.) We brought the note pads home and my girls went to town with some markers. They colored rainbows, crosses, thank you's and Jesus loves you's on the sides. They wrote a personal thank you on the top sheet and we tied ribbon around it with a pretty pen clipped on top.

These look great, but doesn't this look a little better?

Put a note pad and some candy in a gift bag and voila, a personalized thank you for that special leader or teacher.

Blessings.

Linking to: House of Hepworths

Mini-Vacation

Last Wednesday my Tall Man, girlies and I loaded up in our "oh so cool" mini-van and headed West for a little mini-vacation with my favorite in-laws. We picked up Dutch Bros, The Kicker is my summer time fave! Yum!! Anyway, our drive was uneventful until we ran into rain blowing in sideways and gusts that practically pushed us over the line. Then as I'm bragging about having driven the whole way and we're coming in to the first town for at least an hour the check engine and traction control light pop on and this flashes on the dash board. Not exactly what you want to see when you're still two hours from your destination, it's pouring down rain outside and the three little girlies and Pomeranian are getting antsy in the back. Thank goodness we were coming into a town. We googled the message and found that we should definitely find a place to stay for the night and have our car checked out first thing in the morning. So that's exactly what we did.

The next morning Tall Man got up before the rest of us and took the van to a dealership and had things taken care of. Thanks babe! The girls and I stayed back and did some damage on the Holiday Inn's continental breakfast. The coffee was pretty good and let's face it, that's what's important.

We made it to the in-laws and were able to relax. Then my dad and his girlfriend caught up with us and we took my dad to his first professional sports event. A Seattle Mariners Game. It was cold, windy, rainy and they lost. But baseball is the BEST sport ever so we survived. Here are a few shots from the game.

This one speaks for itself, Welcome to Safeco Field!

My dad and I at his first pro game. Happy birthday Dad!

#51 Ich-I-Ro! Ich-I-Ro! Ich-I-Ro!

It was retro Griffey Jr t-shirt night. Here you can see the crowd swinging their shirts to rally against San Diego. Unfortunately it didn't work and the Mariners lost the game.

Even though our van broke down and we didn't see a winning game, it was a pretty fun mini-vacation. My in-laws house is SO relaxing, I love spending time there. It was also nice for my Tall Man to share where he grew up with my family. As fun as vacations are, it's always nice to be home.

Grammy's Brag Board

A few weeks ago I was checking out some link parties and came across some different ideas for brag boards. I've had some laptop issues since then and can't remember the exact location of these ideas. =( So I apologize for not being able to link back to those pages. I decided I could wing it on a brag board for my mother-in-law. Here is a picture of the before:Here is a list of what you need:

unfinished board from Michaels $2.99 (I used a 40% off coupon on mine.)

scrapbook paper (already had)

Mod Podge (already had)

clothes pins (I already had mine from the baby game, but picked them up at Target for about $3)

spray paint

hot glue gun

Cricut for the letters, you can also use vinyl or stickers.

embellishments (I already had flowers & buttons so that's what I used)

Grand Total: About $6

I think this project is pretty self explanitory but I'll give you a quick tutorial.
First I spray painted my clothes pins a soft pink color. While those were drying I did the rest of the project. I cut my scrapbook paper of choice to size and Mod Podged it on. Used my Cricut to cut "For You" and Mod Podged that on. I put a thin top coat of Mod Podge over the entire surface for protection. By this time the clothes pins were dry and not so stinky, so I brought them inside and attached the flower and buttons with my hot glue gun. Once those were secured, I hot glued the clothes pins to the board. Here is the final project.

And here is a close up of the clothes pins:

Mother's Day... Late

I know it's been over a week since Mother's Day but it's been a little crazy around here and I'm just now getting to show you my gift from the Tall Man. He actually referred to my Mother's Day Frame post to make my gift. Home made gifts are the best, especially when your husband takes the time to put into words how he feels. So here it isThe sweet handwritten words are:

I love you because....

You are a woman of God.

You are an amazing mother.

You are the woman I adore.

You are the woman of my dreams.

You look hot in a Mariner's jersey.

You are God's greatest blessing to me and I thank Him for you everyday.

Happy Mother's Day. Love Always & Forever, Me

I put this sweet gift on my bedside table, inbetween two pictures of my Tall Man and I. One from our wedding, the other from a trip we took to Ocean Shores, WA a couple summers ago. I am SO blessed to have this man in my life.

Oh My Gosh! I Want to Thank the Academy!

Let me start by saying, I really hope you read the title of this post with a high-pitched, crazy actress voice. =o)

Today I was checking e-mail and discovered something oh so sweet! Nikki over at Nikki's Nifty Knacks awarded me with "The Versatile Blogger" award! Very cool! I've only been at this just over a month and here I am accepting an award. Thank you so much Nikki for stumbling upon my little project at My Northwest Nest and sharing this award with me. Now on to the hard part. This award comes with strings. I'm to share 7 things about myself. If you know me, you'll know I'm terrible at thinking up this stuff. So here we go:

1. I've lived within 40 miles of where I live now for all but 6 months of my life and I have no desire to live anywhere else.
   
2. I knew my Tall Man was "the one" when he offered to help me with my 1 year old who just spit up all over herself and me.


3. I never liked kids before I had my own.


4. I consider my Tall Man and girlies God's greatest blessings in my life.


5. As a child I dreamed of being an actress on the big screen.


6. I feel much older than my 27 years. I blame the Tall Man for this one, he's 8 years older than I. =o)


7. I L-O-V-E baseball!! Go Mariners!!

Now I get to share this fun with 15 blogs I have recently stumbled upon and am loving! So here you go ladies, you're an inspiration!

1. The VG Huis
   
2. Living With Lindsay


3. A Place for Us


4. House of Smiths


5. Just Something I Made


6. Birthday Girl


7. Thrifty Decor Chic


8. Just A Girl


9. U Create


10. How Does She


11. The Phillips Fam


12. Some Day Crafts


13. All Thingz Related


14. Funky Junk Interiors


15. The Shabby Nest