A New love (and appreciation) for Placemats

I saw this idea on another blog, and if I was a good blogger I could provide you a link to it. But no such luck. This pillow was a placemat. (My computer thinks place mat is 2 words...is it really?) I could have just unstitched one end and filled it with fluff, but I decided to add this fun graphic. Do you shop Duluth Trading? I love it! And when your shopping comes, it's in this cool fabric bag. I had the bag stuffed and pretended like it was a pillow before I made this one. Since I don't play well with sewing machines, I used fabric glue to attach it. Then stuffed the placemat with fluff and hand stitched up the end.

And speaking of babies....

We have a new little 'buckaroo' at the Ranch! (The school where I teach.) So I put together this little welcome gift. I started with a child's cowboy hat (Party City). Then I found this adorable work shirt, leggings and socks (Target). I added a bandana...because he wouldn't be a real Rancher without one. And made a card with these fun western brads and stickers(Oriental Trading). It turned out really cute..but not a cute as he is! OH MY!! What a sweetie!

from candy bars to pickle jars

I figured if I could make a new wrapper for a candy bar, there was no reason that I couldn't make a new label for a pickle jar for a friend who is expecting at school. It was more fun and not a lot more work than making a card. The hardest part was finding baby paper that wasn't 'boy' or 'girl'. Sorry that the picture of the lid didn't turn out. The camera kept focusing on my hand. If I had to do it all over again, I would have made the pendants smaller so that you could read baby without moving the jar. Just my hang up!

SWeeeeeet Graduation Gift

Here's a sweet and easy idea when you need a little something to tell someone that they've done a great job. I made this one for my brother-in-law who was honored as middle school teacher of the year. How cool is that?I bought a big candy bar, then used the wrapper as a pattern and made a new wrapper from scrap booking paper. I happened to have some Dr. Seuss paper from Oh! The Places You'll Go. I added a strip of black paper and some sticker letters. These would be easy to personalize and perfect for those graduations when a card isn't quite enough.