Sweet Snowman Treat

It's that time of year to give gifts to the boys teachers. This year, we stole our idea from a friend of a friend. As usual, I am not the originator of this idea. It's so cute, I couldn't resist.

I bought several large dark chocolate bars from Trader Joe's and bought the matching quantity of Panera Gift cards. I taped the gift cards to the chocolate bars and wrapped them in printer paper. Then I let the boys add the hat, nose, mouth, buttons and last they stamped their fingerprints for eyes. I added the ribbon for the scarf. It didn't take much time and the boys were able to participate in the gift - which I love!

Now let's just hope that I don't lose any black buttons off MY clothes, because all my black buttons are being used by chocolate snowmen.

Growing

It's that time of year to scramble and come up with end of year gifts for teachers. No... not teacher gifts for me :) but we have seven Community Bible Study teachers to thank and celebrate. They have loved on the boys all year long and I'm thankful for the encouragement they have provided. I'm so sad that it is over for the year!

I happen to have many creative friends and found this awesome idea HERE. (Thanks Ali!) I changed it a bit to suit our budget, but the idea is certainly not mine. We chose basil and a basil recipe on the back. I used a glue gun to attach the ribbon and silk flower on the clay pot.  The boys were SO pleased to hand deliver their pots to their teachers.

Nostalgic

Okay... so I know it is now January but I have one more Christmas post to share with you!

My husband is nostalgic. He enjoys the feelings and memories that are associated with Christmas. He is certain to watch the classic Christmas specials (Charlie Brown, Grinch, etc.) and every Christmas, we watch Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. Although he prefers to watch it with his brother-in-law, Michael, who shares a similar sense of humor and really laughs out loud. :) My husband starts playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving and enjoys looking at Christmas lights just as much or more then the kids. He is all about decorating and one year soon I'm going to have to give in and allow some more colored lights to grace our decorations.

As a kid, his parents had a table top ceramic tree that lit up. Last year, he decided we needed one and did some hunting. When he couldn't find one in stores or online, he asked if he could have his parents, but it was missing. So, I decided that this year it would be my mission to find one for him as a Christmas gift. I found one at Color Me Mine (a paint your own pottery store in the area). It turns out that his gift was a gift for me too. I arranged to go one evening after dinner and secretly work on my project. (I knew this would be too difficult of a task for the boys and it would drive me crazy trying to work on it with them!) A kind friend met me there while I painted, and she even helped me paint too. It was a delightful evening painting and chatting!

Here is the finished product and he loved it! 

Hard to tell from this photo, but I did 3 base coats of lighter green
and then added accents in a darker green in the shadows.