Painted Wrapping Paper

It's that time of year when lots of fun things are coming up — Mother's Day, Father's Day, Teacher Appreciation days, not to mention birthdays and baby showers too. And all of these fun events may wind up in need of wrapping paper. Making our own wrapping paper is a great way to add a little more sentiment to a gift.

Using Oriental Trading Company's craft selection can inspire a wide range of projects, so we were excited to team up with them again. This time we were definitely inspired by their bright paints and fun paint stampers to make wrapping paper. I found almost all of the materials below on the Oriental Trading Company's craft website.

Science Tool Kit - A Homemade Gift

We gave this gift a while ago to a good friend of ours, but I loved how it turned out so much I couldn't resist sharing it with you too!

Over the summer our friend became really interested in science experiments, which lead to the creation of this homemade science tool kit for his birthday. We based several of the gift ideas on the activities we had done during our Science Week.

Photograph Paper Plate Flowers

Every year it's fun to think of something handmade and sweet we can make for the "grandmothers" for Mother's Day. But, we usually have to wait a little bit to share the project as my mom regularly reads our posts. (Proof that moms never stop supporting you, no matter your age or endeavor.)

We made these photograph paper plate flowers to decorate our Mother's Day gifts last weekend, and I just love how they turned out. Although we made them at home, this could be an easy classroom project too! 

In fact, the former preschool teacher in me would love to see a whole bulletin board of these in a classroom. 

Gingerbread Playdough Kit

As the holidays come up, it's nice to have something on hand for the other kiddos in our life. Even though we don't always give gifts to the adults around us, I do like having something little for the kiddos we play and visit with. It's even better if the gift can be something homemade and doesn't cost a lot.

Last year I had thought about putting together some kind of playdough kit, but couldn't find the right cookie cutters I had in mind. This year I was excited to find plastic gingerbread cookie cutters for 99¢ at our local grocery store. This lead to creating our Gingerbread Playdough Kits. 

Potato Stamped Tea Towels

We were really excited to be able to participate in the Kid Made Gift Series that is being hosted by Teach Me Mommy. We really like making homemade gifts, especially around the holidays. These potato stamped tea towels were something I'd been thinking of trying for a while now, and we just love how they turned out! 

Potato stamping is always fun and versatile, as you can create just about any kind of stamp you want. In our case, we want these to be holiday gifts to we made Christmas themed ones. 

Teacher Appreciation Gift: Seed & Flower Craft

We had a lot of fun this week thinking of ways to treat the boys' teachers. Although I always appreciate the things I receive as a teacher during this week, I also know how much I value the teachers who take care of my boys when I need to be working. It takes a lot of energy, care, and dedication to be a teacher of young children and we definitely know some of the best.

Throughout the week we thought of small ways to say thank you, so that we could provide treats for more than one day. These Teacher Appreciation Seed & Flower craft gifts were easy to put together and such a great kick off for spring. Our inspiration for the gift came from our Teacher Appreciation Sunflowers a few years ago. 

Easy Flower Pop-Up Cards

Although this week officially marks the rush into the holiday season, for us last weekend was a rush of birthdays. We had quite a handful or friends, big and small, who were celebrating their birthdays. One of our favorite types of cards to make for friends are pop-up cards.

Easy Flower Pop-Up Cards

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This method makes it easy enough to make more than one at a time, so while Big Brother created one for his friend's birthday present, I made one for a friend too. 

Teacher Thank You Tree Bookmarks (Free Printable)

This week marks Big Brother's last week of preschool before summer vacation. (He'll be headed back to the same program in the fall.) We wanted to find a way to say thank you to the teachers he has had this year. Preschool has been one of his favorite places ever, and it is his teachers who really make the place special for all of the kids. When we were brainstorming things we can make for people he started talking a lot about bookmarks, and it inspired me to help him create bookmarks for the teachers.

I had spotted many cute ideas on Pinterest for either plant or tree themed gifts, including several cute fingerprint tree ideas.

A Treasure Box for Daddy

We made this box last year for Daddy for Father's Day. We couldn't share it then as we wanted to keep it a surprise. But with Father's Day 2014 right around the corner it seemed like a great time to share.

Around this time last year I noticed that many little trinkets were piling up on my husband's dresser. The pile especially included little surprises created by Big Brother, as well as a few other special items. 

I spotted an unfinished photo box at Michael's and knew we could turn that into a wonderful Father's Day Gift. 

Sugar & Spice Teacher Gifts

Teacher appreciation week officially was last week, but I wanted to share what we put together for Big Brother's preschool teachers.

  

They were easy and cute to create.

Hand Painted Reusable Shopping Bags (Mother's Day Gifts)

We are very blessed to have many different mothers we celebrate on Mother's Day. We have several great grandmothers to honor and three grandmothers. Last year for the grandmother's we enjoyed making our Mother's Day Flower Pots. This year we wanted to make another hand painted project and decided to create reusable shopping bags.

A few years ago we had made butterfly prints with our hands and decided to base our bag theme on the same butterflies. We added in some grass, flowers, and a sun to create a more colorful bag. 

Sweet Holiday Smells Gift Jar

After years of receiving teacher gifts I love trying to think of things to give the boys' teachers which I know will be different, useful, and appreciated. I also like to have Big Brother involved in making them if possible.

I saw this cute idea for a neighbor gift, and knew it would a great idea for teachers too. The recipe calls for creating a mix of spices, herbs, and dried fruits which when placed in simmering water will create a lovely scent. We decided to make our mixes in wide mouthed half-pint jars.

In each jar we put the following: 

6-8 short cinnamon sticks (I had to score and break our longer sticks to fit)

3-4 dried bay leaves

3 tablespoons whole cloves

1 heaping tablespoon ground allspice

1 heaping tablespoon nutmeg

1 dried lemon slice

1 dried orange slice

1 dried apple slice

I loved how hands-on this could be for Big Brother, especially as he was making them primarily for his preschool teachers. We dried the fruit in our dehydrator, but you can dry it in your oven or find it at craft stores. 

When it came time to assemble the jars, I set up all the ingredients on the floor, where as always, we can get a little messy and it's okay. 

Big Brother did the counting of objects and measuring all on his own. 

We quickly learned it worked better to put the ground ingredients in first, and layer the other ingredients in on top of them. 

After we filled the jars Big Brother selected fabric from our holiday fabric collection to make the jars more festive. He was very particular about which teacher would receive which fabric. We placed the fabric between the lid and the rim, and tightened the rim gently. 

Before giving them, I printed out and tied on a label which read,

"Sweet Holiday Smells For You

Add to a small saucepan with water, simmer gently, and enjoy." 

We wound up making some more for my co-workers and a few neighbors as well. We're hoping they spread our teachers' and friends' homes with the smells which remind people of the warmth and goodness of the holidays. Or, as Big Brother excitedly told one teacher, "It's in case your house stinks." 

** A special note about spices: If you can buy the spices in bulk this project becomes much more affordable to make and assemble. 

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