Monday Madness – Menu/Weekly Planner Free with Purchase

When we went to SNAP a couple of weeks back we gave out Menu and Weekly Dry Erase Planners {Part of our Organize It line} To give the ladies a little taste of these cute products. 

 

They were such a HUGE hit we thought it would be fun to extend a similar offer to you!  For this weeks Monday Madness spend $20.00 or more on any products of your choice and we will include a FREE menu/weekly planner. {Frame not included. . . .although if you wanted a frame you could just purchase an 8x10 trim frame, the Eleanor Trim frame is show in the picture below on the right and the Brooklynn Trim frame is show on the right}.

Monday Morning Madness, Neighbor Gifts

Ready or not the Holidays are upon us.  One of the things that makes the time of year so memorable are the traditions that we repeat year after year.  I know many of you may not agree with me, but one of my favorite traditions is the giving of neighbor gifts.  Who’s with me? You might wonder why I am such a big fan of this tradition.  A couple of reason really. I have fond memories of baking Christmas banana bread (banana bread with chocolate chips and Marciano cherries) with my Mom and making candies with my Day for our neighbors.  I also love seeing what people come up with.  I love the cheesy sayings tied to the dollar store presents just as much as I love the plates full of goodies.  But most of all I love the idea behind a small token of thoughtfulness and the “hey we are friends even if we only talk twice a month because we have too many kids and our lives are crazy” that the neighbor gift represents.

The tricky part about the neighbor gift though is coming up with a cute, creative and inexpensive idea that people will enjoy.  Well that is where we can help!

Some of you may have seen Nikkala from The Crafting Chicks’s cute idea using the mini frames.  Well our collection of neighbor gift possibilities doesn't end there.  Here are Ten of our favorite inexpensive and easy to make craft projects that are perfect for neighbor gifts.  (wondering which one’s Kim and I have actually used . . .I starred them) 

10. Fridge Magnets (sold in sets of three) **

9. 4x6 Eleanor frame with BELIEVE print (the print is reversible with a Valentine print on the back)**

LAST MINUTE TEACHER GIFT

 I had big plans this year to make a cute craft for my boys' teachers as an end of the year thank you gift.  That shouldn't have been too hard, since HELLO - I happen to have access to lots of craft supplies.  I've done it before, and it has always been a big hit.  But this year the week got away from me (that is not a surprise lately) and the day before school ended I decided to bag the craft and do a cute gift card instead.  Well then the DAY got away from me (are you sensing a pattern here? Ha!) and I was going to pick the gift cards up that night.  By the time we had dinner with cousins from out of town and the final tee-ball game of the season, and then a last minute cousin sleepover - the gift card idea got pushed to the wayside.  So after getting 6 children to sleep (or at least quiet) in our basement, I started looking around my house for a treat I could make the teachers instead.  Since it was 11 o'clock, this needed to be a quick treat.  What is the quickest treat out there?  

Rice Krispies!  Okay, I know what you're thinking.  Rice Krispie Treats -super lame.  But if you're thinking that YOU.ARE.WRONG.  Because these are not just any Rice Krispie Treats.  These are crazy-yummy, hide them from the kids, eat half the pan all by yourself Rice Krispie Treats.  If you don't believe me, you need to try them - they will change your life!  Okay, maybe they won't change your life, but they are really good.  Its the combo of the brown butter (gives them kind of a carmel-y taste) and the sea salt.  And it may or may not call for DOUBLE the amount of butter as traditional Rice Krispies - that could have a little something to do with it.

Once they were done we boxed them up in some cute little gable boxes from Poppy Seed, attached the label to the front with a glue stick, and tied the recipe (printed on cardstock) to the box.  The recipe was personalized by having my boys sign the bottom 'from the kitchen of' part.  Super cute, easy, and cheap!

Gable boxes available at Poppy Seed (in store).

Teacher Appreciation Freebies

Well just to show how self absorbed I can be I just figured that since my kids don’t get out of school until after Memorial Day, that nobody else did either.  I did also take my sisters kids into consideration when I made that assumption, they are on year round and aren’t out until July.  So I apologize that this is a little late for many of you, but here is a short list of freebies that we have listed on the blog for teachers.
Subway Teacher Print

http://www.4shared.com/photo/dlGqzXCn/Description_Teacher.html

Valentine Treat Box, and a Free Download

Normally I am not this on top of things, but since I will most likely will have a very brand new baby the week of Valentine’s to take care of I have been trying to get presents for my kids, their teachers, my husband, my Mom and MIL taken care of.  I LOVE these boxes because they are fast and easy.  Fill them up with a treat (like carameled popcorn) and you are good to go.


We sell the treat boxes at our shoppe.  They are $1.95 for the big and $1.25 for the small.

Show and Tell

Over the last couple of weeks we have been making crafts like crazy to use as displays for the store.  After awhile you start to get board of doing the same old things.  Soooo we started to get a little creative.  Here’s some of my favorites.
Kim made this Home Sweet Home block, but instead of glazing the bead board she flipped it over and used the smooth side to adhere scrapbook paper to.
We decided we needed a wider variety of vinyl options for the Child of God plaque.  So we added chocolate and hot pink option for the names, and white and beige for the overlays.  Love the idea of sticking the plaque inside a wreath.

Kim also made these darling back to school count down blocks.

You Are Loved

Ok check out how cute the Teacher Appreciation prints turned out stuck in a frame,  All you year round school ladies, I’m telling you this is the easiest projects EVER! 

I bought the frames at walmart, left one black and spray painted the other two.

Loving the print and stick in a frame idea so much that I created these little babies below.  I thought these would be perfect for just about anything.  Presents for friends or daughters, YW handouts/birthday gifts.  Let you imaginations go WILD!  The images were created as 4x6 prints, but you can of course adjust them.

http://www.4shared.com/photo/08f51YmK/You_Are_Loved_-_Orange_copy.html

http://www.4shared.com/photo/NgqZQuBb/You_Are_Loved_-_Pink_copy_2.html

Last of the Teacher Appreciation Freebies

Sorry these are a little late.  Saturday ended up being a sick day at our house {{The Hubby works on Sat. so a sick day for me means lying in bed watching cartoons with three kids crawling all over 
me. . .super relaxing. . .super rejuvenating}}.

For those of you who like options. . .lucky you!  My oldest son has THREE different teachers to say thank you to this year. . .so here is the print I created for them in THREE different colors.  My plan it to find three cheap frames, paint them some funky colors and stick these prints in them, easy enough {{and that’s what we procrastinators need, EASY}} 

I’ll post pictures when I have them done.

The pictures below were created as 5x7’s

http://www.4shared.com/photo/n1473N30/Teacher_Appreciation_Printable.html

http://www.4shared.com/photo/L28zxf_m/Teacher_Appreciation_Printable.html

http://www.4shared.com/photo/P_ji6RQ1/Teacher_Appreciation_Printable.html

Teacher Appreciation Card

If you are like me you are suddenly realizing that the kids only have two days of school left and you’ve got NOTHING.  Well hopefully we can help you out.  Here’s the first freebie for the day. {{ I have a few more up my sleeves so check back today and tomorrow!}}

. . .and remember, love it, share it!

www.poppyseedprojects.blogspot.com/freebie

This one is real simple, a print and fold card! 

http://www.4shared.com/photo/mm8XwGL8/Teacher_Appreciation_Card_copy.html