End of School Year Gifts

My baby is entering the fourth grade! And just like I did at her age, she will be starting the fourth grade at a new school. I am saddened to know that tomorrow we will be saying goodbye to the teachers, nurses, coaches, and principals that have been there for her since she first attended daycare at the age of four. Since this is our final goodbye, we wanted to make a special gift for some of her favorite people.

I have seen this particular craft all over blog land, but wanted to share it with some of my hometown friends and family. Many of them have school age children and have also been wondering what to make/give their teacher as a "thank you" for educating, loving, and caring for their children. Here is what you will need:

clay pot

clay saucer

permanent marker

paintbrush

acrylic paint

glue gun

gumballs

small round vase

ribbon (optional)

small wood dowel

You will be making a "gumball machine" for your special teacher, nurse, principal, etc, and the entire project costs less than five bucks! Michael's only had one short clay pot left, so I grabbed it along with two taller pots. Personally, I think the shorter pots look cuter, so grab those if you can.

First you will want to paint your clay pot and saucer a color of your choice. Once dry, paint a second coat to really cover up the deep terra cotta color. Next, wash your vase (because unwrapped candy will be in there) and glue it to the bottom of your clay pot, like so:

Next, paint your wood dowel a different color (again, two coats), and when dry, glue the dowel to the painted saucer. Your saucer will be upside down as well so that it looks like a lid and not a dish.  

Once all your paint is dry, fill your vase with gumballs and place, not glue, your "lid" on top. Here are the three we created and you can judge for yourself whether you prefer the taller pots or the smaller pot for your own project:

The ribbon is optional but I thought it gave the whole project a special touch. You can also specialize your gumball machine by adding the name of the teacher:

Good gracious, I wish I had cute handwriting like some of my female friends. Here is the cost breakdown:

Gumballs (already had) - $0

Paint, brush, glue, marker (already had) - $0

Clay pot - $1.19

Clay saucer - $0.89

Round vase - $1 at the Dollar Tree

wood dowel - $1.49 for a pack of 4

ribbon (already had) - $0

Total Project Cost per Gumball Machine: $3.45

and that, my friends, is a cute gift for those on a budget!

Linking up with:

Simple Wall Decor

Hello there, bloggers! Since we celebrated my littlest ladybugs' birthday this month, I thought I would give her empty walls a little attention. Here are two simple, inexpensive, DIY crafts you can hang in a child's room for under $5.

First craft was creating a monogram for her room. I found a craft wood circle at Michaels for under a dollar and painted it with colors that matched her room. I glued a ribbon on the back and hung it above her headboard. Easy peasy and under $1.

For the next project, I wanted to hang a "Paper Fan Banner." I first discovered it here and I loved the simplicity of it (that and I already had all the supplies).

The link gives a FANtastic step-by-step tutorial and I don't know WHAT was going on with my camera that day, but I couldn't get a decent shot. I used soft colors for my scrapbook paper but they came out very dark and shadowy in the pictures.

The banner is cute and will do for now, until I can come up with a better way to fill up her wall. She, of course, at the innocent age of two has no clue on how much work I put into her banner and keeps wanting to grab it (this explains why I put it high up). My tween, though, loves it and wants to hang one in her room. ;)

Celebrating May

Blogger... you give me the hives. Please, no more service interruptions for the remainder of the day. Hubby is giving me a full day to relax and blog... I would like to do so without the headache you've caused me the last few days. Thank you.

Hi friends! I hope many of you are experiencing pleasant weather where you live. My city is currently experiencing a 100+ day drought. Not very fun. It's dry, windy, and hot!

This month has also come with many reasons to celebrate. First, my eldest received "Student of the Month" at her school!! HOORAY! I feel so blessed to be her Mommy.

Second, my littlest baby dove (headfirst) into the age of 2!

Happy Birthday my little ladybug. Mommy loves you so.

Lastly, the hubs and I have completed our terrible twos and have entered our 3rd year of marriage!

 You are my always, I am your forever.

All celebrating aside, I am ready to catch up on my blogging! Will post my latest project in a bit...

ALSO, please check out my new page tab entitled "House Tour." Feels good to see how far we've come in less than a year in our first home.



New Layout

Well hello there! Notice anything different about my page? I have been wanting to "clean it up" for awhile now and thanks to insomnia tonight, I was finally able to do it. Here are some things you might notice:

1) My new header! I always wanted a collage of photos as my banner, but I found nothing but complicated instructions all over the web on how to create one. Well, thanks to Picasa and a saint of a woman over at Clover Lane, I was able to create my new banner in under half an hour! Best part: IT WAS FREE!!!

Seriously, thank you, thank you, thank you, to this lovely lady for posting up the easiest instructions:

Here is the link to her instructions if you want to create your own special banner.

2) I have moved all of my favorite link party buttons to their very own tab. I had all the buttons displayed on the side of my page since the birth of this blog, but things were looking a bit crowded. I hope all my favorite "party hostesses" are happy with this. As always, when posting to a party, I will show where I'm linking to at the very bottom of that particular post.

Happy Sunday!