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Teacher Gifts

Gift Card Candy Lei | Gift Gloss

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Spring has sprung, the flowers have started to bloom, the sun is warming up and we are entering the spring gift giving season.  Mother's Day, Graduation, Teacher Appreciation, Weddings all start to fill our calendars.  With our calendars filling up, we now have a need for easy and fabulous gifts! I don't know about you, but over the years I have found that I LOVE getting a gift card.  That way I can get exactly what I want, plus it's an excuse to go shopping!!  The problem… they are kind of boring when you gift them.  With the help of my favorite GiftGloss you can give a boring gift card with a little pizzazz!!

 

If you aren't familiar with GiftGloss it is a fabulous way to create stunning gifts for your friends and family.  GiftGloss® is a unique gift wrap material, developed by the FoofQueens®, that allows you to create snazzy gifts in minutes. Whether you’re wrapping a birthday treat, wedding gift or plate of yummy cookies, GiftGloss instantly turns your gift into a show-stopping celebration! It's a fabulous slide n' tie sleeve that all you have to do is slide your item into and then tie it off on both ends and voila, you have a fun gift. 

For the candy leis I picked some fun candy and tied off the end of the gloss with what ever material you would like. I used baker's twine, but you could use anything. Then dropped in a few candies at a time tying it off every few inches to create the lei effect.

 

Then drop your gift card into your desired spot and tie it off just like the candy…

Once you have the desired length, tie the two ends together and you have a fun gift card candy lei…

Now what mom or teacher wouldn't love this fabulous sweet treat? I embellished mine with a fun cupcake liner flower that I made with my i-top button maker. Here is how I made it…

I used two small cupcake liners, two large cupcake liners and one i-top brad. I trimmed the edge of one of the small cupcake liners to fit the brad and secured it in place by folding it down.

   

Load into the i-top. Take the second small cupcake liner and place on top of the loaded brad top and then place the bottom of the brad inside the i-top and click it into place.

   

 

Take your two large cupcake liners and arrange them how you like by manipulating the center of the liner to create the desired effect.  Take the brad that you just created and push through the center to create the flower.

 

You can then take your flower brad and poke it through the gift gloss and secure it to embellish your gift card candy lei.

How fun is that? Now you can be excited to give a gift card, rather than sheepishly handing them a boring flat envelope thanks to the FoofQueens and GiftGloss!!

The FoofQueen are offering you guys a fabulous deal so that you can create some of these for your spring gift giving needs…

As a special offering for our readers, enjoy 20% of your entire cart when you use Code Whipperberry at the check out~ Expires May 20th, 2012

Thanks FoofQueens, you guys are WONDERFUL!!

Mirror Memo Board | Teacher Appreciation Week

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Can you believe the traditional school year is coming close to the end.  You know what that means… It's time for Teacher Appreciation week!!

The other day I was hosting a get together at my house and for hours I was busy playing hostess.  When everyone headed home I finally had a chance to take a look at myself in the mirror and almost SCREAMED!  My hair had gone totally NUTS!  I yelled at my husband and asked how long my hair had looked like that… to my chagrin he lovingly said, "the whole time… I thought you were trying something new."  Ahhhhhhh! I was mortified.

Although the experience was not one of my favorites, it got me thinking.  I'm sure that teachers have the same problem.  They are busy working in front of their class for hours at a time and do not time to run to the bathroom to just double check to make sure they haven't morphed into a bag lady.  It would be a perfect teacher appreciation gift to give your teacher a small mirror to add to his or her classroom for those quick little hair and makeup checks throughout the day. Then I thought it would be good if it could serve a dual purpose.  That's how I came up with the idea for the mirror memo board.  Here's how I made it…

I started with a thrifted mirror that I spray painted white and then distressed a bit.

I found some great washi tape at Target that coordinated with some fun clips that were perfect for dressing up the mirror. I framed the boarder of the mirror with the tape and then with another tape pattern I created another boarder on the frame.  It looked great!

With my Silhouette CAMEO I cut "Mrs. Johnson, You make life beautiful!" out of a lovely green vinyl and applied it to the mirror.  I used Courier New and Sign Painter as my fonts for the saying.  Then I glued the coordinating clips to the bottom of the frame with E600 and that was it.  It truly can't get easier than that!!

For good measure I added the cutest apple Post-it Note pad holder to the mix.  All I did was again, used my Silhouette CAMEO to cut the same green vinyl to add Mrs. Johnson's name to the apple.  A perfect addition to any teachers desk!

Here is another Teacher Appreciation Idea from last year that I just loved…

It's a super cute pencil bouquet that our teachers just loved.  You know you can NEVER have too many fun pencils, especially if you have a classroom full of kiddos who are constantly needing new ones.

Vanilla Bean Heart Doughnuts | Recipe

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Ahhhhh… can you feel it? Love is in the air.  As promised I have the recipe for the Vanilla Bean Heart Doughnuts that I featured last week with our Gift Gloss post.  These little gems are perfect for any Valentine goodie or gathering.  Don't worry, you don't have to make them heart shaped.  Any good donut baking pan will do.

I found my heart doughnut pan at Target if you want to make the heart shaped variety or you can find a good ole' round doughnut pan large or small at your local baking store or online. Here is the recipe that I used.

Vanilla Bean Doughnuts

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 vanilla bean

2 eggs slightly beaten

3 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and spry pan with non-stick cooking spray

In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add buttermilk, vanilla, eggs and butter. Cut the vanilla bean length wise and using a knife scrape out the vanilla seeds and add to the mixture.  Mix just until combined. Fill each doughnut cup 1/2 full and bake accordingly.

large doughnut pan or heart shaped pan 10-12 minutes

mini doughnut pan 4-6 minutes

The top will only slightly brown and the doughnut will spring back when touched.  Let doughnuts cool in pan for a few minutes and then place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Now my little secret is… I dip the doughnuts in melted chocolate to create that lovely glazed look.  The funny thing is I now prefer my doughnuts with a chocolate topping!  I used the red colored candy melts along with some white jimmies from Sweet baking & candy making supply. I prepared the chocolate according to package directions and then added a tablespoon of canola oil to the chocolate to thin it out a bit.  You'll have to check the consistency of the chocolate and may need to add a little more.  Just start slow until you get your desired consistency.  Don't worry, the chocolate will still set-up with the oil.  Carefully dip the doughnuts into the chocolate and then sprinkle the top with the jimmies.  Put doughnuts into the fridge or freezer for a few minutes until the chocolate sets-up. The lovely thing about the chocolate is that it makes it super easy to package your goodies without making a huge mess and they taste aaaaaamazing!!

What kind of goodies are you making this year? Here's another fun Valentine idea from WhipperBerry…

Heart shaped cookies with a free packaging printable.  Yes… I have a thing for heart shaped goodies!

Valentine Snow Globe | Anthro Inspired

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I have to admit… I have fallen for the Anthropologie snow globes from this last holiday season! While I was putting all of my holiday decorations away I just couldn't part with my snow globes. I decided that I would make  a Valentine's Day version.  Here you have it… my Valentine Snow Globe.

I took my Anthro inspired snow globe and removed the trees and safely stored it for next year.  Then I used my Epic tool and my new Sweetheart Nesting Scallop Heart die  from Lifestyle Crafts to make the pink heart. I made two and then placed them back to back with two, two inch pieces of a paper drinking straw in the middle to secure to the bottom of the lid with some large 3D glue dots. For the tutorial on how to do that click here.

Then I used a fun felt Christmas tree ornament for the large heart.  You could of course, make another paper heart for the large one.  I just happened to have the perfect felt heart already on hand. I did the same with the two felt hearts.  I placed them back to back and placed two, three inch paper straws in between to help secure the heart to the lid.  They were a little wonky so I used a small section of the paper straw and some glue dots in between the hearts to secure them a little better…

Don't worry, people won't notice the straws at all. It will just look like you have beautiful hearts floating in your snow globe! What else do you think we can do with the ever popular snow globe?