Mason Jar Terrarium

This Friday was the last day of school, and we decided to thank the teachers at my son's school with these Mason Jar Terrariums. Both my kids had fun assembling these.

Except for the succulents, we had all the material from the Dinosaur Terrarium that we made 3 years back. We followed the basic directions of the terrarium as mentioned here. Kids enjoyed hunting for the moss in the yard for the project, which we added in addition to the Hens and Chicks succulent. 

I added a garden twine to hang the mason jars. Followed the directions here for hanging with twine.  To make the twine secure around the jar, I used E6000 glue.

For our own home, we made 2 planters out of it along with the terrarium, for the kitchen window.

 Thanks to all the wonderful teachers out there!

Teachers Appreciation Week Idea: Crayon Monogram

I saw these crayon monograms all over the internet, and decided to make one for my son's teacher for Teacher's Appreciation Week. It appeared pretty easy to make, but was I mistaken.. oh yes.. especially for letter 'M', where the crayons needed to be cut so tiny. And I had to make 2 of these, as both my son's teachers had their name with M.

The steps are straight forward:

1) Print out the alphabet, and cut it.
2) Cut the crayons to fit the alphabets. I would really advice to stick the crayon with hot glue, prior to cutting. If you are thinking of removing the crayon wrapper, then you'll have to use something other than hot glue, as it'll make crayon melt.
3) Take a thick cardstock paper, cut to the size that would fit in a frame, and glue the alphabet on it.
4) You can either choose to use a shadow picture frame, or a regular photo frame with the glass removed.

Have fun with crayons and be prepared to clean up all the mess left after all the cutting :-)

Teachers Appreciation Week Idea: Pencil Holder

With still two more days remaining in the 'Teacher's Appreciation Week' , I wanted to share this pencil holder that I made for my son's preschool teachers. With no energy to shop these days, I wanted to make something with stuff I already had at home. So, decided on making this personalized pencil holder from milk bottles. It can also be used as a vase. 

These are actually starbucks coffee bottles, washed and dried. You can also use mason jars instead.

For personalizing it, I used chalk board contact paper, as I did not have vinyl handy. I used Cricut to cut the alphabets out of chalk paper. It comes with an adhesive, so its easy to position and reposition it on the bottle.

For longer words,  I cut out an oval on cricut, and used chalk Ink Markers to write on it.

Added chickpeas/garbanzo beans to stick in the pencils. Embellished with a ribbon, and pencil holder is ready.

Thanks to all the teachers who are making a big difference in our little ones life.

Teacher's Appreciation Week

As all know, I just need an opportunity to go gaga over the teacher's at Kabir's daycare/preschool HCM. Just love them. And with Teacher's Appreciation week in May, I wanted to do something special. We missed the actual week as our family was out in Florida vacationing. But I made it up for it last week.

I made a handmade gift for Kabir's 4 teachers, for each day of the week.

Monday: Flower Pot

I got 2 types of plants and mixed it together in 4 different pots, one for each teacher. And the sign with 'Thanks for helping Kabir bloom' was my favourite. I got this idea from skiptomylou. She also has an editable pdf to download the printable.

Tuesday: Cupcakes in a Mason Jar

Isint this cute! I could'nt find any box big and cute enough that I could use to pack atleast 3 cupcakes. Then I saw a mason jar on my window sil and deicded to use that instead. Layered 3 cupcakes with a generous dollop of icing in between each layer. Used a burlap cloth in between the lid which gave it an earthy touch. Green spoon(to match the icing) and a 'Thank You' tag, and that was it. Loved the outcome.

Wednesday: Magnet Clothespin

I got a pack of simple clothespin from dollarstore and made these 4 sets of 5 embelished magnets from it. Teacher's can use these to hold class drawings, notes, pictures..Each clothes pin has a thick magnetic strip on the back. I made few for myself with a mounting tape on the back, as we have a stainless steel refrigerator. I followed the turorial here to make these adorable magnets. 

Also added along was a 'Thank You' card, colored by Kabir and put together by his Mommy.

Thursday : Rye Berry Grass

This is a project in which Kabir was actively involved(in watering). We all were quite fascinated by the fast growth of berry(seeds bought from local Organic Store). I got this super neat idea from here. There are instructions to grow wheat grass here. I used rye berry seeds instead of wheat, but followed the same instructions.

For decorating the cups, I used chalkboard contact paper which I ordered from amazon. I can already think of 1000 more ways of using this paper. 

Along with the cup, I packed some more seeds of berry which teachers can grow on their own, with the list of instructions on how to grow, and a note below. I got this wording from here, which has another amazing idea for gifting.

Friday: Personalized Thank You Pic 

I printed off a 'ThankYou' off internet, and had Kabir color it(with lots of help from Mommy). Then, clicked a pic of him with the drawing. That was a hard one as he is all in 'NO' phase, and everytime I asked him to say cheese, he would frown and say 'No cheese'.lol.

Last year, this week was just before I had started blogging,but I would still like to post one of the gifts I made for the teachers then. I had printed the letters of 'Thank You' on a plain paper, and cut and pasted them on white paper plates. I took a picture of each kid holding a different letter. As kids were really small to stand all together, I took pics of them individually and then later merged them all together. Got it printed on a photo paper and the card was ready from the class.

I wish I could do something like this, this year as well, but some kids from the class were transitioning to the next class. So, I settled with just Kabir's pic.

There are not enough words or gifts with which I can thank the teachers who put in their heart and soul for this job. Its because of great teachers and caregivers like these, that I can afford to leave my kid without any worry and go to work each morning.

Heart felt thanks to all the Teacher's out there...