Mother’s Day is almost here so I’ve curated my own selection of gift ideas to share with you — based on my personal favorites! My selection includes some freebie ideas, because at the end of the day it’s about showing appreciation for our moms — and you don’t need money to do that. *wink*
Category Archives: DIY
DIY unicorn giftwrap
Back in the day (meaning: before children) I used to make the gift packaging for our nieces and nephews birthdays. I really enjoyed it, but over the years it became “easier” to purchase the wrapping paper that will ultimately be ripped apart in seconds and thrown away moments later. Let’s be honest, I was doing it more for me than for them because I really enjoyed doing it. I like being crafty.
That said, I think the unicorns have inspired me because I really felt like making a unicorn gift bag to go along with our present for our nieces birthday this weekend (remember how I mentioned last week that I went way overboard on the whole unicorn theme?) So that’s what I set out to do.
Fast forward to present day. I had this vision in my head of a white gift bag for the unicorn but I needed one large enough to fit the gift — in other words the small favor bags wouldn’t work. Do you know how difficult it is to find one single large-size white gift bag? Not a pack of 5, not one with polka dots or stripes. Just a single, plain, LARGE, white gift bag. Heck I would have settled for medium. I went to 5 stores and could not find a single one.
Had to switch up my game plan.
I rummaged through my craft desk and closets and found a roll of this pretty Tiffany blue wrapping paper, which I was iffy about because I really had my vision of this white unicorn. I think it turned out pretty spectacular if I do say so myself, what do you think?
a season of Thanks
Happy November! The leaves have officially changed and started to fall in great big fluffy piles in my backyard. They’re so pretty to look at why bother raking them, lol.
This month I’m feeling great. I’m 3 pounds away from meeting my first goal weight (I have multiple goal weights to get down to my “happy” weight.) I’ve told myself I want to hit this first goal weight by Thanksgiving and yesterday morning I woke up thinking it was truly achievable – I even put on some old grey jeans that I haven’t worn since before I got pregnant with Rae! Unfortunately, I still can’t wear my rings. That’s a little depressing but trying to not get discouraged by it, and if I can hit this small goal weight then I’ll be thankful for that.
It’s also my birthday this week, Friday to be exact. I will be the big 3-8. Holy crap that’s almost 40! Wow, when did that happen? I don’t feel 38. Then again, I don’t feel 37. You know what they say, age is just a number. I just wish my number was 25 *wink*
This year I wanted do something special with the girls for Thanksgiving, a new tradition (hopefully) that we could carry on for years. Something to help teach them what it means to be grateful. So we made a “Thankful Tree.” Each Sunday night, after dinner, we’ll sit at the table and talk about what we’re thankful for and write it down on paper leaves to hang on our tree. We did our first one this past weekend and you know what Grace said she was thankful for? Her family. Melt my heart.
There’s still time for you to make your own Thankful Tree – I made this one in about 30 minutes.
DIY preschool calendar
Grace started preschool three weeks ago! It wasn’t much of a change for her since she’s been going to “school” there since she was 3 months old. (Technically she moved up to preschool just before the summer so she’s been with the same teacher and kids for a few months now, but the curriculum has officially started now that it’s September. ) The only change for her is that she won’t be going 5-full days now that I’ve joined the Stay-At-Home-Mom-World, she will be going 3-half days.
On the days that Grace is home with me I still want to keep momentum with school and her overall development so I decided to make a “preschool calendar.” At first I searched for one that I could buy, but they cost upwards of $40 and the one’s for like $20 were either too small or felt too busy/overwhelming. Plus I thought I could make something WAY cuter 😉 So I scoured Pinterest for ideas, my main inspiration came from this version from Shoeper-Mom and this one from A Day in the Life of a Classroom Teacher. With ideas in mind I got right to work.
Once I figured out exactly what I was doing (ha ha,) it was fairly easy and inexpensive to put together. Here’s what I ended up with:
teacher appreciation week
**Originally published in 2017, but updated 05.07.18 for Teacher Appreciation Week 2018**
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. Our school always puts on a lunch for the teachers and asks parents to bring in something or make a donation, if they like. I usually bring a food dish with a tag of my favorite saying “It takes a big heart to help shape little minds.” Then I do something small for each of the girls teachers.
This year I wanted to do something different so I reached out to some mamas in a Facebook Mom group and asked the teacher-moms: What do you REALLY want/need? I even ended up reaching out to Grace and Rae’s teachers directly to get their input. At the end of the day I received a lot of great ideas and feedback — though most agreed, “coffee and alcohol are best.” *shrug*
Before I show you what I decided to give the teachers this year, here are some of the ideas I received from the teacher-moms: