Crafty Shower

Okay so I blogged last week about my friend, Rayna's baby shower...

and how, per Rayna's request, we play zero games!
I was okay with that
     (even though I love a good game)

together we talked about what to do instead of games
you do have to do SOMETHING
this would not be good...
Hello, welcome to the baby shower...
put your presents there...
okay now were're opening presents
okay, thanks, that was nice, good bye!
well, maybe you could, I think it's a little rude...um...odd...

So for the shower activity we decided to make oneies for the coming baby...

some onesies created by guests at the shower...
(btw 3 of these were created by kids the dino top middle made by  my boy child,
animals top right, my girl child, whale bottom left by a friends 11 yr old drama queen)

This is what you'll need...

time for a shower

a sweet baby shower!

I had the pleasure of throwing a pintrest inspired baby shower for my friend Rayna....
she's pregnant with baby boy #2!

yesterday I shared about my cake pops or lack thereof for this shower....

I started pinning shower ideas to my 'party on' board
& was watching Rayna's 'Baby Rush #2' board

the teacher gifts

okay, so I'm WAY behind on this post...
and it's because
well....
I'm a flake and just finished their gifts today...
and by finished I mean...
stood in the shower and finally forced myself to brainstorm and figure out what in the world I was going to give them!

I have a few 'issues' with the teacher gift...
I want to give something that they will use...
I want to give something that is special
I don't have lots of $$$ to do this with
I also know from having friends and family members 'in the business' the last thing teachers want are another tree ornament or coffee mug or kitschy, clutter up my desk object...

also the 2 teachers (for boy child and girl child) are so totally different that I can't get them the same thing, unless I want it to scream, "I didn't think about this for a second, Merry Christmas!"

and well, okay, so I didn't think about it for the months leading up to Christmas, but I have been thinking about it hit and miss for about 2 weeks now...
and I didn't want to do baked goodies because one teacher is trying to lose weight and the other doesn't seem that interested in food...

so here are my gifts...
teacher 1...
the boy child's kindergarten teacher...and she was the girl child's k teacher also...we LOVE her
*she's sentimental (she still has the girl child's gift up in her class room that she gave her 5 years ago!)
*she likes jewelery
*she's a grandma...
okay random stuff but I wrote her a nice little note about how much she has meant to our family and thanking her for 
blog warning, this is sappy and may make some like my husband gag!
 'giving our children roots so they can soar'
and then made her a necklace with a branch and birds
(get it...roots and soaring...)....

don't ya just love the stain on my shirt while modeling the necklace...classy!

and then I also gave her a sugar cookie kit from Trader Joe's (on sale TODAY for $0.99) so she can do it with her grandkids over Christmas break!

teacher 2...girl child's teacher
she was the hard one...she wears NO jewelery (not even a wedding ring and she's married)...
*she's pretty 'earthy/granola/crunchy' if you know what I mean...she's always taking to the kids about the environment and being healthy ...
*the class just finishing up a unit on the ocean (the just finished reading Island of the Blue Dolphins)
*she's a coffee drinker
so I went to good ol' Trader Joe's and bought her some 'organic free trade' coffee, a box of sea cookies (in the shape of fish and star fish and stuff) and some dried seaweed (she's quirky and will totally love that)...and 'wrapped' it all in a reusable Trader Joe's bag...

so, both totally unique gifts that I know they will both enjoy and it didn't cost me $$$ both gifts were under $10....and they had no idea that I threw the gifts together this morning!

Merry Christmas...Here's a Fruit Cake!

That's how I start to feel during the Christmas season trying to think of meaningful gifts or thank you's to hand out to teachers, co-workers, employees, etc...

I want to do something...
I can't spend much money at all...
so what am I stuck with...

Well, making them something, but I know they probably don't need another plate of Christmas cookies to sit on the counter for a week only to get stale and throw away...
and I don't want to go through all the baking for it to get thrown away...
so anyways...

this year the ChambersMade solution was
...Jars of Scone Mix and a few tea bags...

that they can choose to make them whenever the mood arises...

Dried Cherry Scones Mix
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbl baking powder
1 tea zest of orange
2 tea sugar

Layer into jar, placing the 1 tea orange zest and 2 tea sugar into a small baggie and placing at the top of all the layers.

Close up the jar and add a pretty piece of cloth and attach the directions on a tag. 
Directions:
8 Tbl butter (1 stick)-chilled
1 egg
2 tea vanilla
3/4 cup chilled milk
1 Tbl milk

1.  Remove baggie with sugar and orange peel, set aside & Preheat oven 400°.
2.  Dump contents of jar into bowl and mix.  Cut chilled butter into mix until resembles fine crumbs.  Combine egg, vanilla, & 3/4 cup milk; add to dry mixture, Stir until just moistened.
3.  Turn onto floured surface and knead 12 times.  Pat to a circle (1/2-inch thickness) ; cut into wedges.
4.  Place scones onto ungreased baking sheet.  Brush tops with milk and  sprinkle sugar and orange peel from baggie on top. Bake for 12 minutes.

 ...now send your kid off to school with a glass jar layered all pretty and hope that the teacher gets something closely resembling what you made!

Oh, and a little extra for you this morning...

today was "Elf Day" at my daughters school...so here is her Elf outfit...I wore one too (I help out in class on Friday mornings) but didn't get a picture...maybe later...

 

 don't you just love that Elf Attitude?!?