The Blessed Star Tradition

This Blessed Star is a delightful tradition to introduce to your house during the holidays. You will find that it moves the focus back to where it should be during the season even though we are constantly bombarded with the material aspect of the holiday. Ever year I make at least twenty of these to give away as gifts. They are always very well received. I had to hunt down where and how I was introduced to this. This was such a difficult task due to the overwhelming collection of books I have on Christmas ornaments and traditions. Diligence does pay off though. I discovered it in my Making Memories book "A Season of Giving". They also have another book "A Season of Joy", both are loaded with ideas to stir your creativity.

The book suggest you make a  paper mache star ornament to attach with the poem but I have used stars made from all types of materials- wooden, tin, paper, and wire.  The main thing is to embellish the star with a tag that says "Blessed".  After you decide what star ornament you are making just attach the following poem to it. Voila! You have an instant gift that is sure to be treasured for years to come.

The Blessed Star

Here’s a magical Christmas star

with a tradition old and true

may it bring you warmth and love

from our home to you.

Now everyday ‘til Christmas

find someone in your home

and secretly do a deed of love

so your identity won’t be known.

And when the secret act is done
place the star upon their bed.

They in turn do a secret deed

for another, it is said.

And like the star so long ago

lit the sky for all to see

may this star bring light and joy

to your sweet family.

Author unknown

Here are a couple of links to inspire you to create a special star:

Beaded star

wooden star ornament

tin stars
paper stars
wire star,
another beaded star

The Instant Candy Dispenser

Candy is such a wonderful treat  and even sweeter when given as a gift. I was so lucky to receive this unique candy dispenser for Teacher Appreciation from one of my students. They knew I love Duke so my little K student painted it himself (with the help of his wonderful mom) and was very proud to give it to me. My husband seem to claim it as soon as I walked in the door with it by stating he had the perfect spot...... right on his desk. The boys and I still eat the candy so I just let him think he found the perfect spot.  I figured as long as I had access to it and I could see it...... I would let it be.

The boys fell in love with it too. They were intrigued that it was made from a glass bowl, wooden knob, flower pot and saucer (yes - that is it besides the paint and some glue). Thinking that everyone should have their own candy dispenser, we decided to spend a day making some. The old fashion gumball machine was the choice for the boys. Each one of them painted it red, then added the details before putting on the clear coat to make it really shine.  They were equally fascinated that I actually had purchased candy from the 5 cent gumball machine when I was a kid.
"Wow mom, I bet you bought lots of candy!" . Unfortunately I had to break the news to them that I usually only had a nickel when I went to the store.

Everyone agreed that chocolate m&m's should go in them. They are so lucky because their MeMe and Pa had gave them each a bag recently. It filled their dispensers right up. Now we just have the constant accusation of "someone has been in my candy jar mom!!!!". Believe me, if that is the worst I have to deal with, we are doing good. Speaking of Pa, we made one for him too.

He is a Tennessee fan so it called for a coat of white and orange. Pa was diagnosed with diabetes a couple of years ago.  We chose to fill his with sugar free hard candy. He use to eat fireballs all the time. I searched everywhere (in a store, guess I should look on the internet too) for them in sugar free form but it was a no go. Overall he was happy with it. Of course you know how grandparents are, they think everything their grandchildren do for them is special. That is why grandparents are the best! I know mine were. I had the most wonderful grandparents and lots of warm loving memories of how special they made me feel!

:-)

Finders Keypers!

I received so many request for directions on how to make these doo-dads so I made a couple last night. This time I managed to take a few photos so maybe this will give you a better idea. As I stated in a previous post, my mom gave me one as a stocking stuffer this past year. I found out that they are actually called "Keypers". I just call mine key clippers. I made these key clippers to wrap around  purse handles for the teachers as end of the year gifts. They are very handy to have, the catch is to actually utilize it though. Honestly I kick myself when I do not. Oh how regretful I am that I did not just clip those keys so they would be hanging right on the inside. Digging in the bottom of my purse is like a landmine.  Fortunately I think I have finally made it a habit to use it.

I used the stamped washer as the decor piece but you could actually use anything: the scrabble tiles, charms, old jewelry pieces, watches, lockets, glass tiles, dog tags.....I think you get the idea. You will need some satin cord or ribbon, jump rings, crimper beads with ring to attach, stamped washer and a clipper.

The first thing you will do is to cut your cord to the desired length, fold it in half and  crimp the ends with the crimper bead so they are enclosed. You will attach a jump ring to the crimper bead. Once that is done, you may attach the stamped washer to another jump ring as well as any little beads or charms you like. I added a little pink bead to this one. Now you just attach the two jump rings together so your end result will look like this.

Attaching the clipper is really easy because you are looping the cord through the ring at the bottom of the clipper.  I wish I could tell you what this knot is called, maybe a slipknot, I don't know but hopefully you understand what  I am saying.

Pull the cord through till the knot is tight and firmly secure. I usually tie another knot to keep it from slipping.

You are done. All that is left is to use the same looping knot to attach the clipper to whatever bag you are using that day. It should look like this when after you have attached it to your tote. I always arrange it so the decor piece is hanging on the outside and the clipper is on the inside. 

Absolutely no reason to ever misplace your keys again!

 Happy crafting everyone!

I am linking this purse key clipper to 

Whew, school is over!

I really meant to post several times this week but the time just kept slipping away with the last week of school activities running full force. I had such mixed emotions this week, one moment I was excited but then I would have an overwhelming feeling of anxiety and sadness. I had decided before spring break that the school environment was not working for the twins anymore so we are venturing into the land of homeschooling. I am excited about it because I do think our home life will greatly improve but sad that we are leaving behind some wonderful teachers and friends.

As you can tell it was just a rollercoaster of a week but I did manage to put together some great gifts for their teachers and my grade level.

I found these totes and immediately knew I wanted to monogram them with my new embroidery machine but I needed a smaller hoop. UGH! I had to order it and it would not be here in time.  Ok back up plan.....I freezer paper stenciled them instead. Even though it was not the original idea, I do love how they turned out.

I was lucky enough to find an eyeglass case in the turquoise shade to match the stenciling. I also made key clips to tie onto the straps. My mother had given me a key clip for xmas and I love it. I am sure some of you have seen the stamped washers floating around craft blogland.  If not, Helping Little Hands has a nice tutorial of how to do the stamped washers. Be sure to check it out if you want to make some, http://helpinglittlehands.blogspot.com/2010/05/stamped-washer-projects.html . I love the stamped washers and started out making  keychains but then I decided  I would make it a key clip for their totes.

 I hope they find it as useful as I have.

 The last thing I made for them is a game. This is my version of the LCR game. The boys and I have recently discovered LCR and we love it. It is usually a quick game and portable so I always have it in my purse for instant entertainment.

Well I am sure you will hear from me on a regular basis now. The boys and I have  alot of wonderful projects we want to do this summer. As a matter of fact I have a whole project notebook going on and we plan on setting our goals and timelines tonight over dinner. What do you have planned for your summer?

Teacher Appreciation kept me busy!!!

I have been super busy with teacher appreciation gifts last week. These are just a few things we managed to put together for the boys teachers. I try to do something for every teacher including their resource(art, library, computer, music and PE) so that means between 3 boys we have 27 gifts to give out. In addition to the personal gifts we give out, I also did a great deal of work with the PTA to make sure we had a little gift in every teachers box on a daily basis of the week , a breakfast and a luncheon.

These are some glasses that I picked up at the Dollar Tree, added their initials in vinyl lettering that I cut with the Cricut. The boys filled them with pencils. The teachers were happy with these since they just sent out  a request for more pencils. Supplies tend to get so low in the springtime.

These are my favorite but I tend to be a sucker for flowers anyhow. I arranged the flowers in the purses for a unique gift. I have been doing this for years now and it is always the one that receives lots of compliments. This also makes a lovely arrangement to take to someone in the hospital. It is really like receiving two gifts, one for now and one for later!

These are little note pads and hi-liters we bagged up for all of the teachers. I tied them up with binder clips that I had enhanced to help the teachers with their papers.

All of the teachers thought these were just the greatest little things to organize everything on their desk. Very simply done with mod podge.

We also managed to send out some cookie cups and candy grams. They work hard and do so much for my children. I just wish I could do more to show them. The boys and I have now started on their end of the year gifts. As soon as I can I will show you what we are putting together for them.

I am linking up to all of these creative parties. Please check them out. They are loaded with lots of wonderful ideas for you to use.