Teacher Birthdays with Coffee Cake

Posted by TheRoomMom

Teacher birthdays are better with coffee cake. My school has a teacher birthday buddy system. It is basically a birthday version of Secret Santa. People who want to participate secretly draw a name from a hat. On the birthday buddy’s big day, the assigned person anonymously brings a small gift (not to exceed $10) and usually a food treat too that can be shared with the faculty.

In honor of my buddy’s birthday this week, I got her a small personal gift and baked a nutty coffee cake with a cinnamon sugar center that I left in the staff kitchen. The birthday buddy had the first slice honors and then kindly e-mailed everyone to let them know that a treat was available in the kitchen. When I arrived on the scene at 9:47, there were two slices left. Teachers are always hunting around for a little snack mid morning and/or need a bite to tide them over if they have forgotten to pack a lunch. Teachers love having a group snack appear in the staff room or faculty kitchen.

Coffee Cake Ingredients

1 c. butter, softened
2 3/4 c. sugar, divided
2 eggs
2 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
2 c. sour cream
1 T. vanilla
2 c. chopped pecans
1 T. cinnamon

Coffee Cake Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and 2 c. sugar. Add eggs then sour cream and vanilla.
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.
Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients.

In a third bowl, combine remaining 3/4 c. sugar, chopped nuts, and cinnamon.

Spray bundt pan with Pam. Spoon half of the batter into the pan and spread gently with a spatula to level the batter. Sprinkle 3/4 of the nut mixture on the batter.

Pour the remaining batter over the nut mixture and gently smooth the top. Sprinkle the remaining nut mixture on top.

Bake for 1 hour. Let sit for ~20 minutes and then invert the bundt pan onto a plate.

Recipe Notes

Speaking from experience, the baking powder ingredient is important. It is NOT baking soda. There is a difference!
Make sure the bundt pan is greased well or the cake will not come away from the pan cleanly. Pam spray seems to be the most reliable to get the cake out of the pan. I have also tried greasing the pan with Crisco and greasing/flouring the pan and have had the cake break apart when I invert onto the cake plate.

Blasting Back to School Giveaway Winner

Posted by TheRoomMom

Congratulations to Michelle F. and Lisa S. for each winning a 2014 Teacher Emergency Kit. I will be e-mailing you shortly with information about receiving your prize. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Don’t forget, you can always make your own teacher emergency kit using any cute pouch, bag, or box. I had many great ideas for items to include in these handy kits. Some of the great suggestions are things like a Tide stain stick, glasses repair kit, travel size deodorant, mints, hand sanitizer or wipes, nail file, and an extra phone charger.

Teacher Emergency Kit 2014

Posted by TheRoomMom

Every year I create some sort of back to school gift for my children to give to their new teachers on the first day of school. For the past 3 years it has been a variation on an emergency kit for the teacher.

In case you missed my memo from the past few years, teachers are trapped in the school building until every last student is out the door at the end of the day. There are no quick trips to the grocery store or the gas station for an aspirin or a Coke. If teachers do not bring essentials with them and have a secret stash in the classroom, they are out of luck until the end of the day. Giving an emergency kit to a teacher is a thoughtful gift idea.

The Cloth Wallet

This year I found a free pattern for a business card holder with two pockets on Craftsy.com. They weren’t the right size, but I doubled the fabric piece measurements in the pattern to get the size I needed to hold the contents of the teacher emergency kit. I used 11 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ fabric pieces for the outside, lining, and interfacing and 11 1/2″ x 13″ for the pocket. (FYI– You are required to register on the site before downloading the free pattern.)
If you are a normal person and don’t have the obsessive need to sew massive amounts of cute little cloth wallets, use a bead box like I did in 2012. If you do like sewing but want a super fast sewing project, make the potholder clutch like the one I made in 2013.

The Contents

Forehead temperature reader: This is a new addition to the emergency kit. Students love to leave the classroom and take a walk. One way for a student to get out of the classroom is to tell the teacher that he/she does not feel well, so the teacher will send that child to the office for a temperature check. Not anymore. With the forehead temp reader, a teacher can quickly see if a child is in fact a little warm, and the student’s plan to sneak out of the room is foiled. The temp reader is not totally accurate, but it is a good gauge. I found mine at CVS.
Advil (I put 5 or 6 in a mini ziploc bead bag I get from Michael’s Crafts)
Tums (inserted 5 or 6 in a mini bead bag)
Band-aids
Blistex (or any kind of chapstick)
Dental flossers (in a mini bead bag)
Travel size Clorox wipes: Here is another new addition to the kit. I am not a fan of Purell or any of the hand sanitizers. It makes my hands smell and have a funny feel to them. I do like a Clorox wipe. I can quickly clean a surface, desk, spill on a backpack, etc. and then my hands are touching things that are (moderately) clean since I cleaned the item rather than my hands.

Alternate Contents

travel size tissues
quarters for soda money
travel size toothbrush and paste
Tampax
mints
safety pins
Sharpie marker
travel size sewing kit
emery board
hair bands or a hair clip
travel size lotion– no scent is better

Note

If you are a sewer and grab the pattern from Craftsy, the original pattern size is fun to make too and is the perfect wrapper for a gift card. Here is what the two sizes look like.

Do you give a back to school gift to your child’s new teacher? What else is a thoughtful sirsee for the beginning of the school year?

Coaches’ Gift

Posted by TheRoomMom

Because I work at the school my children attend, I am not allowed to volunteer to be the roommom, which would then give me control over any gifts the group might choose to give to the teacher. It is a conflict of interest. I actually think I would be the best person for the job since I have all kinds of insider information on what makes a good teacher gift *sigh*. So, to fill the void, I volunteered to collect the money for our end of season gift to our summer swim coaches. I helped out last year by donating the Swim Emergency Kit that held a cash gift and other items a coach might need in his/her swim bag.

We are giving the coaches cash again, and I needed a vehicle to deliver the money because a plain ol’ envelope is not that much fun. I found This Pattern for a business card holder. I thought it could easily be adapted to hold cash or gift cards, so I made a supply list and headed out to buy fabric in our team colors. I made a whole fleet of little gift card holders. We have four coaches, and I also made extra for teacher gifts this year because I always give a gift card to my kids’ teachers at some point during the year.

Materials (for one gift card holder)

1 piece of fabric measuring 4 1/2″ x 6″
1 piece of fabric measuring 4 1/2″ x 3″
1 piece of fusible web measuring 4 1/2″ x 6″
1 piece of fusible web measuring 4 1/2″ x 3″
pinking shears (very sharp)
iron
sewing machine

Directions

Apply each piece of fusible web to the wrong side of the piece of fabric that is the matching size. Iron the fusible web into place (follow the directions that come with the fusible web).

Fold the larger piece of fabric in half making it 4 1/2″ x 3″ and iron until the folded edge of the fabric is pressed well, and the two pieces lay flat together.

Cut around all 4 sides of the double layer of fabric with the pinking shears. Make sure the the two layers of fabric stay even and do not shift (pin together if needed).
Cut around all 4 sides of the single piece of fabric with the pinking shears. Cut 1″ from the end of a side that is 3″, so the gift card will be able to peak out of the top.

Lay the shorter single piece of fabric on top of the double piece of fabric and even up the edges. Pin into place and sew around the outside edge using a straight stitch and a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Start and end the stitch at the top of the pouch, so the fabric will stay flatter and be less likely to pucker.

Notes

The original directions on the Going Home to Roost website used a double sided fusible webbing, which I could not find. I adjusted my construction to make the single sided webbing work.
I wanted to cut the zig zag edges once the holders were sewn together, but my pinking shears could not get through all of the layers of fabric. It works better to cut the two separate layers before sewing, and you still need really sharp scissors. Amazingly, the zig zags line up pretty easily when it is time to sew the front and back together.
The holders are the perfect size for business cards, store loyalty cards, gift cards, and cash.
I tried a few with coordinating fabrics, but I much prefer the look of all one fabric for the front and back.

What are other good ways to deliver gift cards that are a little more personal than a paper envelope?

Paper Pockets

Posted by TheRoomMom

Awhile ago I found This Pin for paper pouches that could be used for party favors or little sirsees. It was an easy sewing project (only required one straight sewn edge) and even had the option to assemble without sewing. The pockets reminded me of May Day baskets, and I knew they were a crafty RoomMom idea waiting to happen, so I saved the pin for a rainy day.

Today is the rainy day. It turns out the paper pockets are just right for scratch off lottery tickets, which I deemed the 2014 end of year gift idea for all of the teachers and support staff at school who work with my Mr. Star Wars and Miss Priss. I purchased a big stack of $1 scratch off lottery tickets and filled the little envelopes. My kids added Avery 8163 Thank You Gift Labels that I printed and signed their names. We hole punched and tied the end with curly ribbon. The Original Post with the paper pouch directions had a different suggestion for sealing the end closed.

Materials

scrapbook paper pieces (6″ x 7″)
double sided adhesive roller (I used Scotch brand)
hole punch
curly ribbon
Avery white shipping labels (#8163– 2″ x 4″)

Directions

Using a paper cutter (essential), cut scrapbook paper into 6″ x 7″ pieces.
Using the double sided adhesive roller, place a sticky strip down two adjacent sides of the paper. There will be tape down a 6″ side and a 7″ side, and they will meet at the corner.

Roll the paper up to look like a toilet paper roll with the 6″ sticky side on the outside of the roll. Carefully make sure the edges line up straight. Press the 6″ side, so it sticks to the length of the side of paper beneath it forming the roll.

The inside of one end of the roll will have the remaining sticky edge exposed. On a hard surface, press the edge down flat sealing the end closed.

If desired, sew a zig zag stitch along the pressed end leaving a 3/8″ seam allowance. Backstitch at the beginning and end, so the thread does not unravel. The sewn edge adds detail to the pocket but is not necessary.

As an additional decorative edge, you can cut with craft scissors to add a scalloped border. My (~~crappy~~ dull) craft scissors did not cut through two layers of paper well, and I ruined some of my ends.

Gently press the pocket flat and attach a label to the front.
Hole punch the center of the open end.
Fill with treats.
Tie curly ribbon through the hole and use scissors to curl.

Alternate Finish

Do not press flat after sewing the one ending closed.
Fill with treats.
Holding the pocket with the closed end flat on the table, pinch the opening closed the opposite direction (up and down) and press the corners slightly.

Roll a little adhesive in the center of the open top and press firmly.
Sew (or use more adhesive) to finish closing.

I know you are probably thinking, “Her teacher gift label should say ‘I am so lucky to have had you as a teacher this year’ since it would go so well with a lottery ticket and that is what everybody on Pinterest would do.” I just don’t do play-on-word notes.

5 more days of school where I work! Bring on summer…

TheRoomMom

The Parent with the Teacher's Perspective

Teacher Gifts

Teacher Birthdays with Coffee Cake

Coffee Cake Ingredients

Coffee Cake Directions

Recipe Notes

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Blasting Back to School Giveaway Winner

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Teacher Emergency Kit 2014

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Coaches’ Gift

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Paper Pockets

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Coffee Cake Ingredients

Coffee Cake Directions

Recipe Notes

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