Teacher Appreciation Lunch

We celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week a few weeks ago at our school. I LOVE being the chairperson for this committee!! I love spoiling our teachers and making them feel extra special. I try to get the point across to everyone on the committee to please pay attention to the little details and please bring only "homemade" food items during the week. Anyone can go to Wal-mart and buy a dozen cookies from the bakery. But to really show we care, bake those cookies (even if it's "slice and bake"!) The girls on the committee were awesome because they all like the special details. I kept telling them, "Martha would be so proud!"

The bags (which were only 6 cents a piece at Wal-Mart after Christmas!) were filled with containers of fruit salad, chicken salad, and pasta salad, as well as a croissant, two cookies, and mini muffins.

We made these labels from scrapbook paper and paper punches. They were so fun!

The teachers enjoyed themselves and really noticed the details. They had as much fun eating the lunches as we had making them. I will tell you this because it's too funny not to share. One of the girls who came to help assemble the lunches ( and who is a huge help and always ready to get to work), asked, "Okay, can we just start scooping?" I explained that we were going to scoop the salads into the containers, label each salad with a darling little label, put the cookies into clear bags and tie them with ribbon, fold the top of the bag down, fold the napkin in half and punch holes through the napkin and bag, thread a ribbon through the holes then tie the fork onto the ribbon. She looked at me like I had two heads. I said, "It's okay...you can laugh." She replied, "Oh thank God." Then she proceeded to die laughing! It was actually hilarious.

Celebrate the Boy Pirate-Style

Since it's Celebrate the Boy month at MADE, I thought I'd show off a few boy rooms over the next few days. Here is my son's room when he was really into pirates.

Unfortunately, he decided he wasn't "into pirates" soon after I finished decorating his room.

(So now it's more of a UGA/sports theme. I'll post it tomorrow).

The lighting in the picture below is terrible. But one of my favorite things in his room was this row of wooden pirates that lined the window sill. They were each one dollar from the Dollar Tree!

I miss this room!! And I miss him being "into pirates"! He had a pirate-themed birthday party three years in a row! I was a pro by the time third pirate party rolled around.

Happy Looking!

Easter Buckets!

Make this little cutie:

From these:



Other ideas:


The sheep dog may be my very favorite!




So easy to make! And relatively inexpensive, as well, if you have most of the items on hand.

You will need:
-metal pails (Home Depot and Lowe's have them in their paint section. You can also try a local hardware store)
-spray paint
-paint pens
-boas (these were from Hobby Lobby and Michaels)
-hot glue gun and glue sticks
-felt (optional)

I simply sprayed the cans with whatever spray paint I had. The slicker, shinier pails were harder to spray paint, as the paint seemed to drip. If you are patient and spray just a light coat and wait until the paint is dry before beginning your next coat, you will have better luck. I probably sprayed 5 or 6 light coats on these pails.

When the pails/buckets were dry, I glued the boas to the upper rim of the pail.

I then added eyes, nose whiskers using paint pens and felt. I am NOT an artist - anyone can do this.

You can have fun with this. Let me know if you come up with something else. I was trying to think of more "boyish" ideas. I tried making a clown with red trim and a red pom-pom for a nose, but it was U-G-L-Y.

Have fun and Happy Easter!

I first posted this post in my family blog. You can find it here.

I'm linking to Between Naps on the Porch (Metamorphosis Monday)

and Make Your Monday at The Twice Remembered Cottage

and It's So Very Cheri

and Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts

and Making the World Cuter.

and Simply Sweet Home.

More Owls!

I walked by this the other day at the thrift store and thought, "How ugly." It's thin brown plastic. It weighs about the same as a paper plate. The price was $3.99. I walked away.

As I was browsing the lamps, I couldn't get those owls out of my mind. I thought, "I bet with a coat of spray paint, they'd be cute."

I think I was right.

I pried off the orange eyeballs. I thought about keeping them, but then I replaced them with mirrored disks and they look a lot cuter in my 9 year old's room. Obviously I need to wipe the smudges off of Daddy owl's eyes. But not bad for $4.00.

Valentine Marshmallow Pops

These aren't that original, but they sure are cute, yummy, quick, easy, and inexpensive! I purchased Wal-Mart brand regular and strawberry marshmallows, pushed them on a lollipop stick, melted some white chocolate, stuck the tip of the the top marshmallow in the melted chocolate, then dipped the tip in a small bowl of sprinkles. Ta Da!!

These are so easy that the kids can do them without you! My 9 year old even melted the chocolate by herself (in the microwave). Easy peasy! The only problem is this - my kids don't like sprinkles. Neither do I. They sure are cute, but they sure are yucky. And crunchy. And the red ones are the worst. They basically just taste like red dye.

But we really hope their friends like them! :)