Teacher Appreciation Week Day 1 and 2

This week is National Teacher Appreciation Week. Growing up with a mom who is a teacher, a dad who was a teacher for a while and an aunt and uncle who were teachers I know how little teacher's can sometimes be appreciated. Sure they get summers off(if they don't teach summer school, which many do now days), but what so many people do not understand is how much work teachers put in that they do not get paid for. My mom is a special ed teacher and the amount of time she puts in doing paperwork astounds me. It's not just simple grading of papers, for her she has IEP's(Individual Education Plans) which require more paper work than most CEO's ever touch. And with the No Child Left Behind act it is 10 times worse. She says she still loves her kids, but cannot stand all the red tape they have to deal with anymore.

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week I am making gifts for my kids' teachers and for 2 other teachers that I help with folders and copies. Every year I say I'm going to make them something for everyday and this year I actually planned ahead enough that I can pull it off. In addition to this our teachers at Shepard are being SPOILED this year. Every day there is a full lunch being provided. Each grade is responsible for a day. Yesterday was fried chicken. They also have Mexican, Baked Potatoes and Soup, Italian, and BBQ. Wednesday after school the 5th grade is in charge of an Ice Cream Sundae bar.

Yesterday I gave them cute little post it note holders. I took an acrylic frame, added some scrapbook paper to it and the post it notes. I will most likely be adding these to my Etsy shop next week. If you are interested in one, just let me know. They will be $5.00.

These were for my kids' teachers. When I sell them, they will include the little tag/bookmark and the clothespin. Great for an end of the year gift, new job gift, or a just because gift.

These are for the 2 other teachers I help. I might have to make me one, the more I look at them, the more I think I NEED one too.

For today's gift I decided to spoil them with a little chocolate. I saw this idea on Pinterest and knew right away I wanted to do it for the teachers. Besides, who doesn't love S'Mores!!???

It includes the fixings for s'mores and directions for fixing them in the microwave. I had to test one out to make sure it was edible. Aside from getting chocolate everywhere it was YUMMY! The toppers say "We need S'MORE teachers like you!"

If you have a child with a wonderful teacher send in a little gift or note this week letting them know how much you appreciate them. If you know a teacher thank them for their hard work. If you are a teacher, THANK YOU! I know I do not have the patience to be a teacher, it takes a special person to be a teacher.

34 before 35 update

Hard to believe we are to May already. Time is sure flying although the last week of April seemed to go really slow.

Here is my list of 34 Things I want to do before I turn 35!
4. Have 100 sales in my Etsy shop.-2 sales of 3 items. Total so far is 8 sales of a total of 15 items.
5. Have 75 followers on my blog.-14 actually listed as followers.
6. Maintain 50 items in my Etsy shop. I have so many things I want to make and hopefully it will be hard to have 50 items in my shop all the time because hopefully things will be selling!-29 items right now.
9. Create digital cards. Think the cards you get at Christmas. Great for birth announcements, birthday invitations, Graduation open houses, wedding save the dates and more.-Made 2.
10. Declutter. I am tired of all the junk we have. I have started with my scrapbook stuff and actually look forward to creating because I don't get caught up in the stuff.-Make-up bag has been cleaned out and we used a lot of stuff from the cabinets.
12. Do more reading of creative/business books. I have a massive list of them to read.-Read a lot on branding this month.
13. Learn to design elements in Photoshop Elements. I really want to learn to make digital elements for digital cards and stuff.-Played with some print ideas.
14. Drink 3 bottles of water daily. Mostly to drink less pop each day. I am a huge pop drinker and need to cut back.-Not bad, but could do better and will in May.
15. Do more with photo editing. One thing is I want to go back and do some things with my older pics and also there is so much more fun stuff I can do with pictures.-Have a good workflow down for general editing, I want to do more with some creative editing stuff.
16. Have 10 custom orders. I would love to have more, but I really want to make more custom items for people. Be it banners, cards or scrapbooks, bring it on.-2 banners, up to 9 so I'm almost there.
24. Stay better caught up on pictures, editing and uploading. Upload to Shutterfly, Flickr and other spots. Also be better about backing up.-Did pretty good with the exception of baseball pictures. I take way too many and don't see myself cutting back any.
32. Participate more at Flickr, Etsy groups and Etsyprenuer.-Was doing really good and then baseball started. I will get them caught up though.
34. Do more to encourage Handmade Items!! I don't care if it's jewelry or cards or what, I just really want to do more to encourage buying handmade.-Did a blog post on ideas for Mother's Day and also told several friends about Etsy and a few little local shops. 

I forgot to take a picture of the name banner, but here is the Happy Birthday part of the banner. I LOVE the bright primary colors, especially for a first birthday party.

Sunshine

Today was the first day since well, I honestly don't remember that we saw sun. It was gorgeous outside. Bright blue sky, white whispy clouds and sun glorious sun!!!

We played baseball last night. Not going to lie, I'm ready for a baseball game that doesn't require me wearing gloves. I HATE taking pictures with gloves on, but I'm pretty sure I would have lost a finger last night had I not had my gloves on.

I got a banner done today and am in the process of finishing 80 cards. Yes, 80 cards. They will be for all the volunteers at Dart and Audrey's school. The 9th is our Volunteer Reception and I was asked to make cards for all those that will be invited to the reception. I even put Dart and Audrey to work tonight. Audrey was coloring flowers and Dart was cutting paper for me.

A peek at the banner that will be going in the mail tomorrow. I will show you the finished product tomorrow.

I may just be crazy enough to be up to watch the Royal Wedding. Yes, I am one of those. However, having worked for a wedding planner at one time, how can I pass up watching the wedding. Besides, have you seen Prince William...hello Hotness.

Rain Rain Rain

I wouldn't mind the rain so much if say I were in London for the Royal Wedding. I think my invite must have been lost in the mail! Haha! We have had rain for I don't know how many days now. I'm sick of it, the kids are sick of it, and I'm pretty sure the ground is sick of it as well. Although I am extremely thankful we were not hit with the tornadoes other parts of Missouri, especially the St. Louis area were hit with. Seeing the pictures of the MO-X van dangling over the edge of the garage was a bit scary. Thankfully all the MO-X Supermodels were safe in Columbia. For those who are not Como natives, MO-X is a business here in Columbia that offers rides to St. Louis and Kansas City for the airports. In the commercials they feature Doc and Norm and the MO-X Supermodels!!! Very cheesy but fun commercials.

I spent the weekend at home working on a few projects. I have a huge card order to fill and a banner order. Also worked on my brothers Senior Pictures and baseball pictures. We have had 2 canceled games in the last week so hopefully I can get caught up on them soon.

My baby brother, all growed up and graduating. I'm so not ready for this at all. I can't believe it's time for him to graduate. Such a handsome and good kid.

Mother's Day ideas

For most mom's a handmade card from her child(ren) would be the perfect gift, but we usually want to do more for them than that. There are the usual ideas of a massage, a mani/pedi, breakfast in bed, gift card to their favorite restaurant. If you are looking for something different and would love to as well help out a small handmade shop, Etsy is the best place to look in my opinion. I found a few things that I think most mom's out there would love.

This Chai Spice Kit would be awesome for the tea drinking momma!

For the wine lover in your life one of the simplest gifts could be wine charms from this shop, including custom made ones.

Jewelry is always a good option too, especially when it is a custom made item. Etsy has some very expensive items of course, but there are also lots of reasonably priced items that are amazing!

This charm that would work on a key fob, pendant or alone as a charm would be perfect for the new mom. It takes a copy of the child's foot or hand print and is made into the item.

These next 2 items can be customized with names and/or birthstone colors.

The first would be great for even the grandma's in your life. It is a washer stamped with mom, grandma, or whatever you choose. It includes up to 6 charms in birthstone colors.

The last is a great gift for a mom or grandma that has one 1 or 2 little ones. It is a gorgeous heart that is hand stamped with the name(s) of your choice.

There are so many other amazing items on Etsy. Everything from handmade card sets, to spices, to bath salts and scrubs, and so much more. There really is something for every mom, grandma, aunt, sister, etc in your life.

I would love to hear from you if you get something from your mom, grandma, etc from Etsy or any other handmade place for Mother's Day! I love finding new places to get handmade items!

Banners, Branding and Books

Working on lots of ideas for some different banners. Here is the latest one that I'm excited about. I think this would be so much fun if you want more than 1 flower girl. Instead of dropping flowers that someone then has to go clean up, how about a banner that says "Here comes the Bride". This banner can be made reversible so that when the flower girls walk back down after the ceremony it says "Mr. & Mrs. LastNameHere". Of course you could also have it as a 2nd banner that someone at the front could give the flower girls before they walk back down the aisle. The great thing about this banner is you could then use the personalized side at the reception on the head table and also it could then hang in the newlyweds home. Of course this could be made to match wedding colors.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about branding for Pink Owl. I want it fairly clean and simple, since that's me. I had an aha moment today while driving home from taking the kids to school so hopefully now it will all start to come together. Of course this would happen when I have lots of other new ideas rolling around in my head and a BUSY evening.

Does anyone know of a good place to get custom digital books made? I'd love to design my own photo book for baseball this year and know others who are interested in it, but I need a good place to get them printed. I know Shutterfly and all those places offer photo books, but I want to design all the pages and stuff myself. I'd also love to offer this as an item/service.

I am...

...looking forward to baseball tonight. Hope the bad weather holds off.

...enjoying the smell of fresh cut grass.

...thankful for the makers of allergy drugs so I can enjoy fresh cut grass.

...feeling very inspired and excited about some ideas.

...crossing things off my to do list. This always makes me happy.

...working on a new blog header. Something a little more "me".

...searching for places to get prints made and custom designed digital photo books printed.

...working on baseball pictures and loving every second of it.

...excited about the items that will be going up in the etsy shop this week.

Graduation Cap Cards that went in the Etsy shop today.