End of the Year Teacher Gift

Hello blogging world!  Oh, how I've missed you!  

This past week, my little girl graduated from Pre-K (AND had her cast taken off, AND had her first loose tooth...big week for us!). 

I have to admit, tears were shed.  I wasn't quite prepared to experience the flood of emotions that I did as I watched Penelope give her sweet teacher, Ms. Amanda, a hug for the last time and then to see the tears in Ms. Amanda's eyes....very touching!  Penelope had the most amazing teacher and I was so thankful that she was Penelope's first school experience.  

Both Penelope and I have been thinking for along time about what we should do as a thank you for all the hard work Ms. Amanda put in this past year.  We finally came to the following project.  I am all about a heart-felt, homemade project to show someone how much you appreciate them.  We actually went out and bought her a really cute coffee mug (she's an avid tea drinker) but I really felt that there was no heart in it so it is still sitting on my piano instead.

All of the materials needed for this project were in my craft supplies.  For Christmas, I made my hubby a magnetic Scrabble game so everything was left over from that project.  If you don't have these items just laying around, check your local Goodwill of DI game section to see if they have any Scrabble games.  I know you can also buy some letter tiles at craft stores - I just like the real Scrabble tiles.  The rolled magnet strip was purchased at Joann's.  My kids love to make magnets so we ALWAYS have this at my house.

To assemble the magnetic letter tiles, simply cut a piece of magnet to fit the back of the letter tile and glue it on with the hot glue gun.  The magnetic strip will have some adhesive on it but I have learned from previous experience that it needs a little extra glue to stay long term.  

For my "cookie jar", I found a cool old jar in my collection and then found a metal lid that fit the top.  Penelope painted the lid Ms. Amanda's favorite color.  Then we stuck the letters to the lid, filled the jar with cookies and this is what you end up with...

Here is a picture without the magnets on top.

We paired this gift with a homemade card from Penelope to Ms. Amanda.

As for the cookies, this is my new favorite cookie recipe - peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies.  I have NEVER liked peanut butter cookies until I found this recipe from my favorite cookbook, The Grand Central Baking Book.  Now, MY peanut butter cookies are my favorite cookies.  I altered this recipe and added milk chocolate chips and it is even better!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

* 3 cups all-purpose flour

* 2 teaspoons baking soda

* 1 teaspoon salt

* 1 cup butter, at room temperature

* 1 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for rolling the cookies

* 1 cup packed brown sugar, light or dark

* 1 cup peanut butter, at room temperature

* 2 eggs, at room temperature

* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

* 1 bag (or approximately two cups) milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350*.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Put one cup of sugar into a medium bowl for rolling the cookies.

2.  Using a mixer with a paddle, beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium speed for 4 minutes, or until mixture is lighter in color and fluffy.  Add the peanut butter and cream for another minute.  Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl several times during this process.

3.  While the mixer is running, crack the eggs into a cup and add the vanilla.  Do this to ensure you don't get egg shells into your dough.  Reduce the speed to low, then slowly pour in the eggs, letting them fall in one at a time and incorporating the first egg completely before adding the next.  Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl once during the process.

4.  Measure the flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and whisk to combine.  If flour or baking soda is clumpy, sift the dry mixture.

5.  Gradually add the dry ingredients (in two or three additions) with the mixer on low speed.  Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.  With the mixer on low, add the chocolate chips.

6.  I like to use a tablespoon scooper for my cookies so they are all about the same size.  Scoop out your dough, using your hands, roll the dough into a ball then roll the ball in the sugar, coating completely.  Place on the cookie sheet.

7.  When your sheet is full of cookie balls, lightly dust your fork with sugar or flour before pressing  to make a crisscross pattern and then press the cookies into 1/2-inch-thick disks.

8.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are LIGHTLY brown.  I discovered the reason I don't normally like peanut butter cookies is because most people cook them until they are crispy.  I don't like that. I like a soft cookie.  If you want it more crispy, cook longer; otherwise, allow the cookies to rest on the sheet for three or four minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool (although I ALWAYS have to have at least one hot, right-off-the-cookie-sheet, gooey cookie).

Yum!

Stay tuned the next several months for some big projects I will be working on in our new house we move into this week.  They include reclaimed barn wood flooring and a new kitchen!  I can't wait to show you!

Sara Jane

Allison: Banana Bread and More

What a fun week full of Mother's Day ideas!  For this week's theme of "Teacher Appreciation", I'm taking it from a different vantage point.  I taught a fifth-grade class for two years before we started our family.  I've been the teacher being appreciated, and it's so fun!  I'm not going to lie.  Besides motherhood, teaching is one of the hardest things I've ever tackled.  Teachers put so much time, energy and love into every day.  I got completely spoiled by my students and their parents on a regular basis.  Those little (and sometimes big) gestures made my day and often made all the hard work a little easier, knowing someone was aware of my efforts.

That being said, I have a couple of ideas to make your child's teacher feel the appreciation that you feel for them and their daily efforts.  First off, I think it's important to remember that not every gesture of appreciation has to be time-consuming or expensive.  It doesn't even have to be given on a day that every other student will be honoring their teacher.  If your child is having a particularly tough week at school, chances are their teacher is also feeling the strain (times 30).  The times when I felt most special were usually those occasions when I received a little something completely out of the blue, for no reason.  I have multiple memories of a sweet note and little treat left quietly on my desk.  Those always made me smile.

With that in mind, I thought I'd share my favorite banana bread recipe that is sure to add a sweet surprise to any teacher's day.  I originally found the recipe here, on allrecipe.com.  Of course I made changes (which I do to most recipes I find there).  The modified ingredients are in bold print:

• 1/2 cup butter melted
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I don't add walnuts, because they're gross)
• 2 medium bananas, mashed

I found that reducing the sugar didn't change the sweetness too much, and adding sour cream just made them even more moist (my husband HATES that word).  And just as I'm a lazy crafter, I'm also a lazy baker. Who can wait 60 minutes for banana bread to get out of the oven??  I can't.  Instead I make this recipe into muffins, baking them for 23-25 minutes (yielding between 12 and 15 muffins).  I LOVE banana bread, and this recipe makes even me feel like a good baker.  Plus, it's passed the 18-month-old challenge because "I" loves them too.

As a teacher, I loved receiving gifts that could become part of my classroom decor.  I've seen these crayon monograms before, and would have loved to have had one in my classroom.  I found this one here.  I think they're so fun, and don't look too hard to make.

Next, I loved gifts that were not only personal, but useful.  I read everyday to my students and loved when my students would make me bookmarks.  I thought this bookmark from one of my favorite blogs, In Between Laundry, would be fun and easy for your children to make.  Besides, wouldn't we rather that they do the work for THEIR teacher??

This last idea might work better for a birthday, but I still had to include it because it's so stinking cute.  As a teacher, I spent a lot of my own money on things for my classroom.  I love this school supply cake!  It's fun and would be a great way to add to your child's classroom supply.

Well, there you have it.  No crafting from me this week, but I will take a second to show off another project that got finished this weekend.  This blog has really inspired me to finish a few projects that have been sitting in my craft space, collecting dust.  I started this quilt when I was still pregnant with my daughter, and just finished it.  Ridiculous!  It was a lot of work.

I'm really happy with how it turned out, and now just need to figure out what to do with it.  Heaven forbid I keep one of my own quilts.  Hope everyone has a great week and don't forget to make sure those teachers in your life feel appreciated!

Allison

Lisa: Teacher Appreciation Week Book Bags!

Hello, everyone!  Welcome to a new week! I am impressed with the many thoughts, ideas and Mother's Day gifts that you've all posted last week.  Fantastic!  Mom's going to love them!  You know, mom use to call me "Mama Lisa" because I took care of all of you just like I was your mom.  Just saying, you know, in case you'd like to show your appreciation.  Ahem....

Anyway, now that we've shared our thoughts on all the moms in our lives, let's talk about the person that we've all accidently called "mom" at one point or another: our teacher!  As a child, I loved school!  I looked forward to it and thought summer was way too long!  My teachers were a big part of that love of learning!  I can name almost every teacher I've had from preschool (mom!) through high school.  They not only helped me to learn what I needed to prepare me for life, but they also set me on my path by opening new possiblities!  Now that I'm a mom myself, I have a new respect for their hard work and the attention they give to my children!  So, in their honor, this week our theme is "Teacher's Appreciation Week"!

My craft for this week is a little book bag that I can't take any credit for becasue my dear sister-in-law, Heather from Quilt Story, taught me how to do it and even supplied some beautiful fabric for it!!  Thanks, Heather!  Anyways, the bag is really not too difficult.  I wanted something that the kids could help out with (mostly).  I've included lots of pictures to help along the way!

First step is pick the fabric. I went with green because I wasn't sure if my son's teacher would like some of the brighter, louder prints and colors!  You'll need a fabric for the outside (we'll call this fabric A) and another for the inside (fabric B) plus more for the straps.  You can make your bags any size you'd like but here are the dimensions I used, if you'd like them:

Body: 15" width x 34" length (Use this measurement only if your fabric has no up or down directional pattern like my green stripe on the left.  If it is a directional print then just cut 2-17" lengths using the same width as before).  You'll need one cut out of fabric A & fabric B.  A half of a yard of each was plenty for my bag.

Straps: 2-3.5" width x 26" length (I used the fabric A for the straps) 

The next step is to straight stitch up the sides and the botttom of both of the body pieces leaving the top unstitched on both.  I had my son help with this step.  You might be able to see the blue painter's tape I put on my machine to mark the 1/2" hem.  It was an idea I got from my mother-in-law and really seems to help.  My kids, that is.  Oh all right.  It helps me, too!

Now that the body for both fabric A&B are sewn, we are going to make a square bottom for our bags.  Start with one of fabric A's bottom corners.  Take the bottom fold and line it up with the side seam next to it.  Pin it in place.  Measure 1.5" (or whatever width you'd like the bottom of the bag to be) in from the corner and mark with a pencil.  Next sew a straight stitch along the line you just marked and then cut off the corner. 

Now for the straps.  Take the fabric you previously cut and fold it in half length wise so that your fabric is inside out.  Straight stitch a seam along the length of the strap.  Turn the strap right side out.  I used another handy tip from my mother-in-law and attached a safety pin to one end of the fabric.  I then sent the pin through the strap and bunched the fabric up as I went along.  I then pulled the fabric through.  Nice and easy!  To finish off the straps, iron it and run another straight stitch up along the length of the fabric again.

On to the assembly of the bag.  Take fabric A and turn it right side out.  Take fabric B and turn it inside out.  Now take fabric A and put it inside fabric B, making sure that the seams line up with each other.  At this point, the right sides of the fabric should be facing each other and the lining should be on the outside.  Next come those pesky straps!  Take on strap and sandwich it between the two layer making sure the end of the straps are sticking out the top of the bag.  Now measure 2.5" (or whatever you'd like just so long as you are consistent so that the straps of the bag will line up with each other) from the side seam and pin the end of the strap to both the fabrics.  Repeat with the rest of the straps and ends.  It should look like the picture above at this point.  Next, sew a straight stitch around the top of the bag but make sure to leave about a 4" hole so that you can turn the bag right side out.   

With the bag right side out, you are almost done!  Just iron the bag and run another straight stitch around the top to lock the seam in place and to close the hole we left.  And now you're finished!!  See, not so hard, right?!

Finished!  I couldn't resist adding an applique of my son's drawing to the bag.  It was quite easy and ended up very cute, if I do say so myself!

Here is the little book worm book bag my daughter is giving to her teacher, as well!  They are very sweet little projects.  Mmm...I might need to make myself one of these babies!

Well, on to you, Allison!  I can't wait to see all the wonderful things you guys post!  Love you!

Lisa