thanks teacher

 this past week has been teacher appreciation week at our school. i made several simple sets to give to the teachers. the card below was a free printable from here. i just added my own punched out apple. fast & easy. i have a teacher who has made a permanent impression on me....her name is mrs. fujiwara. she was my 3rd-4th grade teacher. what i learned in her class are still the best memories i have of elementary school. do you all have a teacher that has made an impact in your life? please share---i'd love to hear!

 here is an idea for using up leftover paper: cut them in to strips in varying lengths, fish-tail the ends and stamp a fun sentiment and you have a quick card. i made a couple of these to send to moms i think that are fabulous, for mother's day.

 here is bryan dancing to "elvis" at the farmer's market last weekend.

 i dragged the boys to the antique market before the farmer's market. these were the "me wants" but were too much moolah. one day....

 the boys didn't leave empty handed. i'll show you their treasures & mine on another post. nothing too exciting that i bought but fun finds. thanks for stopping by! have a great weekend and to all the moms out there---happy mother's day!

santa

took the boys to go visit santa on tuesday. wasn't too crazy. i used my own camera...3 shots for $8. luckily, the boys cooperated and i got nice pictures on those 3 shots! i actually got 6 shots but more on that another day ;)

the boys are getting excited about christmas!

been busy making card sets still for brandon's teachers. i stuck with the same layout as the previous set. it works for fast & easy, clean & simple cards. this one is an orange and green combo.

this set is yellow & green

just changed out the sentiments
TFL!

card sets

this time of year is when i start thinking of gifts for brandon's teachers and school staff. i always resort to something hand made. card sets are always useful, right?
i like how these holiday card set came out that i might just keep these for myself!

i love how this set below came out and the color combo. i have so many other combos in my head that i want to make....now if i can only find the time.

been dealing with the sickies in our house, holiday decorating and gift buying. eddie put up lights this weekend and we also bought our christmas tree. the lights are on the tree and now, i have the fun task of decorating with the boys.

2nd grade homework takes up a lot of time too! 3 digit math (the subtraction is killing me! i really don't remember as a 7 year old doing the kind of math brandon is doing!). the spelling words are tough too! 20 words a week they have to learn in 4 days!

bryan has been keeping my patience at bay too! he has become a very stubborn 4 year old (wasn't the terrible 3's supposed to gone by now?). i cannot wait til bryan turns 5!! on my days off while brandon is in school, we "play" school at home. we have a schedule---we come home after walking big bro to school, we have breakfast and then we do our writing ABC's and 123's. we've recently started doing our own spelling tests too with basic everyday words. he has a book log that he writes in his own notebook of the books he reads daily. he'll have his quiet playtime (building legos, action figures). and then i'll let him watch 30 minutes of tv. he's a pretty good boy for the most part but there are those days..................

ok, onto the cards. :)

thanks for looking!

teacher appreciation card sets

teacher appreciation week was....2 weeks ago? here are some card sets i made for brandon's teacher, principal, and front office staff. kept it very simple and just colored with colored pencils.

another set i made just for brandon's teacher. hopefully, she'll find these handy for quick notes. i made 3 of each for a set of 12.

thanks for looking. it's raining here off and on today. just lightly. how are things in your neck of the woods?

happy mother's day

here is a card i made for brandon's 1st grade teacher. it is teacher appreciation week here and we picked her up a gift card at target. such a pretty gift card! i decided to include it in the front of the card.
teachers are wonderful! i mean, i can hardly stand my own 2 on days.....imagine a roomful of 30+ 6-7 year olds that AREN'T hers! and she comes back day after day to teach! bless all the teachers out there.
i also made some card sets to share on a later post. too tired and i'm on day 3 of a killer sore throat. i know i need to drink more water but makes it hard when you can't even swallow! any tried and true remedies for soothing a sore throat out there that you can share? i got this most likely from brandon. he was out 2 days from school this week, and skipped his swim lesson.....sharing cooties in our house!happy mother's day to everybody! i'm behind in making mother's day cards as the one above is my 1st one! my intentions are good but my body is tired :)

hustle & bustle

we did A LOT of shopping the past couple days. little boys do not like shopping..... feel bad that we have to drag them with us but what can you do? plus it's been raining NON STOP!!!! not great shopping weather. i hope it stops real soon......i have a brand new niece i am dying to meet! we are driving to SF and this rain needs to stop---- NOW!

we sat down for a moment at macy's for the boys to write a quick letter to santa. brandon wanted to make sure santa knew he will be in SF and to deliver his present there!

bryan just copied the 'dear santa' part and wrote his name. he also added a picture of him and santa holding hands.sets of cards & calendar before i bagged them for brandon's teacher gifts.

added a tag & tied them around with crochet string. then i put them in clear cellophane bags and sealed them with colorful packing tape.

the covered pocket calendars for the front office staff.

i made these for brandon to pass out to his classmates on the last day of class before winter break. wait---- let me rephrase that...... i bought these gingerbread cookies and packed them. thank goodness for running labels through the computer to put on the bags! time saver! plus i found a free candy cane font online.

last night, i packed 20+ of these puppies for hubby's staff. at least i had a bit of his help this year! but i was up until 3am-ish still packing & wrapping stuff while listening to hubby's [loud] snore!

santa pics to come soon! i got great ones again this year :) me, happy. this was last year's.

party squared

i've been working feverishly on card sets and gifts for brandon's teachers, principal and front office staff this past week. here's a peek at them all bundled ready to be packaged. i had brandon deliver them on wednesday-friday. even his kinder teacher told me she uses the covered calendar all the time SO, naturally, i had to make her one again this year. i've gotten lots of compliments already! :) so happy when i see that the recipiant really likes something handmade!a couple weeks ago, we had 2 birthday parties to go to in 1 day. whew.....what a day! i made some quick cards using a digi image from here. so cute! love the monster! most of them were just scraps i had out.

party #1: bowling party. all i have to say is thank goodness for the gutters!school friendsso nice when they are at this age where they don't say 'ick' to girls!

a group pic

party #2: bounce house

bryan after coming down a loooong slide!

weeeeeeeeeeee

group photo

we have 2 birthday parties this weekend. brandon is off school til the the 3rd!! 2011!! wow, this year just flew by!

TFL!