Valentine’s Treat Bags

A few years ago, I kept my kids’ classroom Valentines pretty simple. A bunch of bags, a few small goodies, and sticker labels were all the supplies needed.

Here are the 2009 Valentines:

• Labels: Avery 2-1/2″ diameter round white high visibility labels (#5294) (The labels are supposed to be for laser printers, but I ran them through my Canon inkjet just fine.)
• Panda graphics: Pandemonium Kit by Mindy Terasawa

In 2010, we used small glassine envelopes:

Here are the supplies:

• Animal graphics on the girls’ Valentines: The Love Bandit – Stickers by Mindy Terasawa

Christmas Snowman

I love snowmen and I love polkadot paper. This year’s holiday card for my kids’ teachers featured both. All supplies are from Stampin’ Up, except for the sparkly snowflake embellishment (on clearance for 35¢ for 12 of them at Michaels…score!) and the Spellbinders scalloped circle die.

My card is a combination of the following two cards I saw on the splitcoast stampers website for the “A Cute Christmas” stamp set.

Turkey Nuggets

These little turkey nuggets are easy and inexpensive to make for little Thanksgiving favors. All punches and paper are by Stampin’ Up. Glue dots and glue pens were used to attach the various pieces. Here is the “recipe”:

Head = 1-1/4″ round punch
Small pouf on top of head = tiny flower punch
Eyes = 1/4″ self-adhesive wiggle eyes
Beak = diamond shape cut by hand
Red wattle = heart punch cut in half and shaped with scissors
Body = Hershey Nugget covered with 1″ x 3″ strip of patterned paper
Tail = 3 scallop punches glued together then cut to be flush with the bottom of the Nugget

Felt Costume: Bag of m&m’s

Of the three costumes I made for Halloween, the m&m costume for my older daughter took me the longest to make. There were many pieces to trace, cut, and glue. Almost all of the pieces, including the m&m’s logo, were first designed in Illustrator then printed out onto card stock. The cardstock was then cut, the pieces traced onto felt, then the felt was cut and glued onto the costume. It was like paper piecing, except with felt rather than paper. A permanent marker was used to add shading and detail to the red m&m guy on the front.

The nutrition label and the bar code on the back of the costume was first designed in Illustrator then printed onto inkjet transfer paper. They were then ironed on and transferred to white cotton fabric.

To add a little color to the costume, I made five m&m pillows of various colors, sewed them together, and added a ribbon handle for easy carrying.

iPhone Halloween Costume

Following are some notes on how I made my son’s iPhone costume:
• Apple logo and “iPhone” text on back cut on Silhouette machine using Stampin’ Up silver card stock.
• Icon squares cut out of white cardstock and corner rounder used. My son drew the icons with colored pencils. The icons were attached to the foam core by using a large Xyron machine to apply adhesive to the backs.
• Used Illustrator to design and print out all text and graphic elements (bars, time, battery, etc.) on a black background. All pieces were then cut and glued onto the black foam core board with a glue stick.
• All circular elements (camera on back, circles on bottom front, red number circles on front) cut out with circle punches of various sizes.
• Covered front and back of costume with clear cellophane wrap to imitate the shiny surface of the phone. Attached cellophane with lots of black duct tape. (This also gives the added bonus of making the costume waterproof.)
• Shoulder straps made of 1-1⁄2″ thick grosgrain ribbon secured to costume with more black duct tape.

Happy Halloween 2012!

This year was the first time I made Halloween costumes for my three kids. Going from making one costume to three was a big leap. It was a lot of work and a bunch of late nights this past week, but the smiles on the kids’ faces made it worthwhile (note to self: next year, start working on costumes in September!).

My son is enamored with the iPhone and all the millions of apps at your fingertips, so, naturally, he wanted to be an iPhone for Halloween. I used a black foam core board for the base and covered it with cellophane to give it the glossy, shiny look of the phones. My son drew the icons (he picked his favorite apps, of course). The Apple logo and text on the back side and the power button on the front side were cut on my Silhouette Cameo.

The m&m bag costume is constructed similar to the Hershey’s bar costume I made last year. For the red guy on the front, I scanned in and magnified the red m&m, traced the pieces in Illustrator, printed and cut them out, and traced the pieces onto felt.

I used a McCall’s pattern to make my daughter’s witch costume (note to self: if a pattern is labeled as an “EASY! 2-hour costume,” it will actually take me 6 hours to make). I love the fabrics my daughter and I chose…the black tunic is covered with a flocked spiderweb pattern, while the silky purple material on the inside of the cape is covered with subtle sparkles and small stars.

Teacher Anya Card

At the end of each school year, I enjoy making cards to thank my children’s teachers. Teacher Anya is one of my favorite images from The Greeting Farm. When I bought it, I knew instantly that she was going to be the focal point of my teacher cards for the end of the school year. I incorporated a pocket on the inside of the card to hold a gift card. To hold the bulky card closed, I used an ultra-thin 5/8″ transparent velcro circle.

Patterned paper: Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper by Stampin’ Up
Cardstock: Real Red and Old Olive by Stampin’ Up
Rubber stamp (outside): Teacher Anya by The Greeting Farm
Rubber stamps (inside): Apple Blossoms by Stampin’ Up, “thank you” by Inkadinkadoo