What has been taking up my time...

Over the past week and a half I have had a ton of stuff to do with raffle cans being the biggest project that HAD to get done. The ladies at the school saw the teacher appreciation gifts I brought in during teacher appreciation week and came looking for me to ask if I would do raffle cans. Silly me said "OK", 17 raffle cans later I was totally regretting that answer. I am really glad I was able to help and think they turned out GREAT, but it was a lot of work and a lot of staying up til 1 am to get them done on time. So here they are in all their glory! (at least 6 of them) I am really sad I didn't get a picture of all 17, but I was tired and the bed was calling me.

There were made from the huge peach cans from the school cafeteria, construction paper, my cricut, fabric and tape, lots and lots of tape! If you have any questions on how I did them let me know! Each of the 17 places that donated items to be raffled off had a can and you could place your tickets in the can of your choosing. The carnival had a great turn out and lots of fun was had by all!

Teacher Appreciation

Ok so I know it was last week and I know I should have posted this sooner for all of you who needed ideas but guess what?? The school year is coming to an end here soon and I know all of you could use some ideas for teachers gifts for that as well.

A few weeks ago Lippy Lou's teacher asked me to help her with a crafty project because Lippy Lou is always telling her how crafty I am. I of course said YES! We planted sweet potatoes in recycled peach cans from the school cafeteria during earth day and the kids decorated the cans and I came in to take pictures of the kids so that their mom's would also receive a nice picture of them on Mom's Day! Little did Mrs. Hansen know that I also had a trick up my sleeve and the timing was prefect for Teacher Appreciation.

I went in on Wednesday and took pictures of each of the kids in Lippy Lou's class, came home and photoshopped them all and sent them to costco.com to print same day. I picked them up a few hours later and went to work. I used my cricut to cut out the flowers and letters, purchased 11X17 shadowbox frames at Michael's for 40% off, used pop up stickies to attach the "flowers" to the shadowbox and made up my own vase. In case it is hard to see the words say "Thank you for helping us BLOOM and GROW". Oh and yes I know one flower doesn't have a picture, that is because Little Suzy wasn't in class the day I took pictures, I have promised to come in and take her picture and get it ready for the flower before the end of the school year.

I worked until midnight on Wednesday on the first one and then again until 11 pm on Thursday for the second one, it was a lot of work but so well worth it. Lippy Lou has two teachers, Mrs. Hansen and Mrs. Pheiffe. Mrs. Pheiffe is a student teacher who just recently took over the classroom for the remainder of the year for her studies. Mrs. Hansen has been a WONDERFUL teacher, easy to talk to, great to work with and awesome to bounce ideas off of when it comes to Lippy Lou's behavior at home. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher for her this year, we have truly been blessed beyond measure.

Friday morning I walked the girl to school proudly carrying each of the shadowboxes in hand. Lippy Lou was just BEAMING with pride. She showed anyone who would look and we got all sorts of ooohs and ahhs. We found Mrs. Pheiffe first and Lippy Lou prsented her with her box and she was excited to see all the kids shining faces. Then we set off to find Mrs. Hansen and found her walking down the hallway. Lippy Lou slowly walked up to her and turned her shadow box around and tears welled up in Mrs. Hansen's eyes...and yes in mine as well. She was so sweet and proceeded to parade around the school showing anyone who would look. it was so cute to see her so proud of her "kids". So if you get the chance to offer to do pictures for your child's classroom and make a shadowbox for your favorite teacher you should, they will love it!

Here's Little Lippy Lou from Tenbucktwo