Teacher Gifts Galore

I bought these red 4"x4" cards, cream cs, and the Memory box stamps when I went to Stamp Bella in NC last August. I bought enough (so I thought) to make 30 cards. I cut the cream layer first (for all 30 cards) and stamped the sentiment. Then I stamped the birds on the rest of the cream cs. Oops! Only 20 birds and I ran out of cs.

When I came home, I layered the birds on SU chocolate chip and finished the first 20. I looked through my hundreds of stamps, and could not find anything to go with the "Christmas brings us together" sentiment. Sue to the rescue! She had these two cute snowmen (SU!) I layered on an SU green cs, then again on choc. chip cs. Phew! I packaged them in sets of 4 with envelopes in an acrylic stationery box. I had 2 left over, so I put them at Greenberry's.

If you follow my blog, you know how much I love the elementary school that Julia & Kathryn attend. One of the special ladies that works with my girls is Joy Ackert. We love Miss Joy! Joy took the time to send me a hand-made thank you card last year. She is new to card making, but she even used eyelets on the card she made me! I put this notebook together for Joy of simple card sketches, samples to go with the sketch, and the dimensions to cut each piece to make an A2 card. I used a Basic Grey dp on the cover and my QuicKutz Tangerine font with Bazzill cs scraps to create "Joy's card ideas".

Joy also loves chocolate. I got this paint can tin from Sue, and re-decorated it with SU stamps, markers, and cs. I filled it with M&Ms.

This Bayberry candle and tag is for our beloved Heidi Sonsino. (The stamps for the tag are by Rubber Stamp Tapestry.) Heidi is our favorite speech therapist. The quote is computer generated: "To bring good luck for a year, they say, you must burn a bayberry candle on Christmas Day. And if the flame burns bright and clear, then heaven will bless you all the year." Heidi truly is an angel. It is more than her beautiful blonde hair and her sweet smiling face. She is always happy and pleasant. We miss her very much. She will be out of school for awhile. Her cancer has returned again. She is a very young adult and has battled cancer since she was a teenager. We love her dearly! We pray for her every day and I hope you will too :)

I made this for Lynn Bittinger, Miss Joy's assistant. This is a trail mix. I covered the can with new SU dps Holiday Treasures" and choc. chip felt ribbon. I cut a circle of chocolate chip cs for the top and a Nestie scallop circle from old olive cs. I used a DCWV brad and two Bazzill primas to attach the tag. My mom actually made the tag (computer generated): "Sprinkle on the lawn at night, the moon will make it sparkle bright. Santa's reindeer fly and roam. This will guide them to your home."

Something that has been driving me crazy is all the stuff on the floor of my craft room. When I run out of room on the floor, I start to stack stuff on top of my stamp containers. I blame the mess in part to my lack of creativity/blogging in November & December. When I was frantically making the gifts (above), I decided I was going to try to use every Christmas-y item that was stacked on top of the Christmas stamps container. What was up there? Joy's paint can, the Bayberry and reindeer tags, and this soda pop label.
I actually made this label almost 2 years ago. I made the mistake of making it flat. When I went to wrap it around the bottle, it did not lay well. Have you learned this too? If not, learn from my error! On Saturday I carefully took it apart (my mom had laminated it for me in her Xyron). I adhered to the bottle, layer by layer. It took a long time. But the laminate held up nicely. I took this to a cookie exchange I attended on Sunday. I mentioned in an earlier post I have a new friend, Vicky, who also stamps. I knew she would appreciate this.

Now the top of my Christmas stamp container only has a scrapbook-in-a-box on top. There were a few other tags, but I moved them to my Christmas file. Ahhh....progress. All of our Christmas gifts for family are still in there. I have not wrapped any of those yet. I can't put wrapped gifts under the tree anyway, because Julia & Kathryn will un-wrap them! So I will have to wait until Christmas Eve to get my craft room looking better. And I still want to get my Revolution, Cuttlebug, etc. off of the floor. When is Nate Berkus gonna come help me? I guess I should write Oprah and tell her I need a "Knock, knock, it's Nate" visit!