Finished Gifts!

these are the paintings C made. one is for her teacher and the other two are for her grandfathers for father's day. they are acrylic on flat canvases. it was their first time using real paints and real canvases, so it was exciting for all of us to see the results. as you can see, they came out pretty good!

these are the paintings that M made for her dadda and her two grandfathers. you can see that on her first painting she started out really enthusiastic. she didn't want to stop painting on it, until i showed her that she had two more canvases to paint on and asked her if she was done. so she quickly continued on the next one and on this 2nd one she started mixing paints more, which caused me to get a bit worried about the colors getting all muddy. so i tried to discourage too much mixing and by the 3rd painting she wasn't having so much fun anymore. she started putting the brush onto the canvas and looking at me for approval and then moved on to the next color and repeated the process. i felt bad that i ruined her fun and she obviously did, too cause she didn't want to paint much more after that, which explains all that empty space. too bad. still, i'm really proud of the work she did and hopefully the next time we paint she will want to paint again and be more careful, too.

seeing as how father's day is tomorrow, i thought it would be safe enough to show what my girls and i made for their dadda.

first off, i decided to do a typical (read cheezy) father's day t-shirt. i chose to do this one with the words "this dad deserves a pat on the back" freezer paper stencilled because at the time we were working on this project my husband was also going through some work-related stress that was getting our whole family down, but it obviously affected him the most. and i think that despite all the worry he had, he was still taking care of his responsibilities and being a wonderful husband and father.here is the back where the three of us stamped our hand print as if giving him a pat on the back. i didn't have enough fabric paints and so i borrowed a few from my MIL. those are the ones that didn't show up so well because the paints she let me borrow were thinner and probably not meant for printing on knit shirts. i think they were more for painting on silk with paintbrushes. oh well! i know he probably wouldn't have worn this shirt anywhere but at home. i don't blame him either, but still, it was a nice project to do with my girls.

i still remember when i only had C and she was 2 years old that we did a similar father's day present with a t-shirt that said "my daughter walks all over me!" and i had C walk around the shirt with paint on her feet! it was very messy! but what i find amusing is that the next day we did that project she asked her father if she could paint with her feet and he was so confused! i had to explain it all to him after we gave him his present on father's day. we had a good laugh!

this is another t-shirt that i made using the silhouettes of my girls. i also did this with freezer paper stencils. i had to ask my husband for help with this project because i'm still not really good with using our drawing program. he usually doesn't ask any questions because he knows it will be a surprise for him, even if he does help me out. i hope these shirts don't fit him too big. i made the mistake of ordering them a size too big. we'll see!

and here is another project we made using pictures of my girls from M's birthday party. i printed the pictures on paper because i wasn't sure if the project would work out the way i wanted and so i didn't want to waste any of our photo paper. i cut the pictures into oval shapes glued the pictures onto wax paper. i then helped the girls glue the sequins because my glue bottle was really difficult to squeeze. and then had C make some crayon shavings and let the girls sprinkle glitter and crayon shavings as they pleased.

once they were satisfied i put another piece of wax paper on top and a layer of newspaper on top and below the project and ironed it just enough to melt the crayons and making a seal around the edge of the picture. after it cooled off, i cut it out using scalloped edge scissors, punched a hole on top and tied a piece of string for hanging.

More Progress and Feeling Better

this is where i'm at on my teacher gift. i embroidered the words "criss cross applesauce", "thank you!" and her name on the bottom (not shown). i remember when C first started saying "criss cross applesauce" and she would sit with her legs crossed on the floor, like a really good student. apparently my C is what you would call a teacher's pet. she strives to impress her teacher and always do her best. i admire that she tries to do her best and that she respects her teacher so much that she wants to get her approval. i'm glad that she has learned the importance of being a good student from what we've taught her. so, because her teacher says this a lot to her students when she wants them to sit and pay attention, i thought it would be nice to embroider it onto her present. i still need to finish embroidering and add the drawing that C made of herself. i'm working on it right now.

other than that, i have been really busy getting some cleaning done! my body is achey and sore, but i think it was well worth it because now i have nice, bright, clean floors! it had been ages since i last did a thorough cleaning of my kitchen, dining room and living room floors. i don't really like to clean cause i feel it takes away from all the crafting i could be doing, but since i've been getting a lot of crafting done, i thought it was time.

so, i guess i'm finally out of my depression. i feel good and i feel hope and i look forward to this summer! i need to start planning what trips or activities we would like to do this summer as a family and what new projects i want to start on. the future is looking bright and full of opportunities!

End Of School Year Teacher Gift

as i'm finishing father's day gifts a lot quicker than i had anticipated, i started working on an end of the year teacher gift. i wanted to continue with the embroidery/appliqué kick i've been on for a while in gift making. i've loved every piece of work i've made and given away and i'm starting to think that one day i'll have to make something that i'll be able to keep for myself. especially if they are embroideries of my daughters' drawings. so, i decided to go with the typical 'apple for the teacher' gift. i know many people think that this is done so much that most teachers are probably tired of gifts with apples. but, i think (and i might be wrong!) that in my child's school very few parents, if none, actually remember to thank their child's teacher at the end of the year. my guess is that C's kindergarten teacher hasn't received many gifts, so i'm sure she will appreciate my gift, even if it does have the typical apple. i hope she likes it because of the hand work that i'm putting into it and because it will also be a cooperative project with C. as you can see my appliquéd patchwork apple is complete with embroidered stem and appliquéd leaf. like i said, i still have some more details to add, but i thought i would show my work in progress.

i asked C to make me a drawing that i could add to the appliquéd apple and she made me a small drawing of herself. she asked me if she should draw herself with her missing tooth and i thought it was a good idea, so this is what she came up with. actually, the picture is of the embroidered version. her drawing was actually a lot cuter. but i guess i wasn't getting the stitches to cover well, so i kept adding stitches until i made her mouth look like she had botox and some invisaligns! seeing as how i wasn't doing a good job, i decided to not add this piece to her teacher's gift. she made me another drawing with a simple line smile. i think the new drawing will be easier for me to embroider. we'll see! but, i decided to keep this piece for myself because although i think it doesn't really do her drawing justice, it is a reminder of this time in her childhood. i hope to do a lot more embroideries of my girls' drawings and someday make a quilt out of them. i think this piece will look quite nice in C's embroidery quilt.

Teacher Appreciation

i first heard of teacher appreciation week/day through the blog skip to my lou. she gave so many wonderful ideas for gifts and sayings to show your child's teacher how much you appreciate their hard work. at that time my oldest daughter, C, wasn't even in school, but i made a mental note to try to do something nice for her teacher once she was in school. C started kindergarten this past september and i almost missed teacher appreciation day. but i was able to make something nice for her and gave it to her just in time on friday after school.

as you can clearly see, i'm not very good with wrapping and presentation. i'm trying to improve! but i took advantage of the free vintage postcard download from doe-c-doe. i thought it added some more handmade charm to my handmade present and went really well with the vintage fabrics i used for the gift.
i made a fabric fortune cookie, following lady harvatine's fabric fortune cookie tutorial. i thought my wrapping was too plain and this added the final touch. the tutorial was very clear and easy to follow. i included a strip of orange origami paper on which i wrote, "we are fortunate to have you as C's teacher!". this was also an idea from skip to my lou.

i used the tote bag pattern from the angry chicken's "Bend the Rules Sewing" book. i've used this pattern so many times because it's quick and easy and i can embellish it or personalize it however i need. in this case i wanted my daughter to contribute, seeing as how this was a present for her teacher. so i had her handwrite her teacher's name and what she thought of her, using an air erasable pen on the fabric that was to be used for the pocket. i also marked the lines on which she was to write with the same pen. once i got the message, i went over it with fabric marker. i accidentally set the air erasable ink pen when i tried to set the fabric marker. i forgot that it still had the air erase ink and was a bit impatient to finish the tote bag. i had only two days left to complete it and present it to C's teacher, Mrs. R. i decided to just let it go and look at it as those lines on the handwriting paper my daughter uses in school. i hope Mrs. R doesn't mind it. i also added a flower made out of yo-yos. the fabric has a print that looks like they could be houses or old-style school houses of years past.

i made this bag reversible so that she could use it on whichever side she liked more. on this side i used another vintage fabric with a more delicate and prettier print. C drew princess hearts with smiley faces and crowns on this other pocket. this is what she has been drawing a lot lately. i think they're really cute and i hope to include these drawings in other future projects.

well, i'm glad to say that Mrs. R really liked her present! she was surprised and i think she was so touched that she wanted to cry! she gave me a hug and i reiterated what i said in the note attached to her present. i truly am lucky to have her as my daughter's teacher because she is so gentle and patient and it's exactly what my sensitive daughter needed on her first year of school.