Back to School Teacher Gift 2013

Posted by TheRoomMom

A year ago, I made a back to school teacher gift that I considered practically perfect (mainly because it is something this teacher mom wants to have). After making the Swim Coach Survival Kit, I decided to blend last year’s teacher gift with this summer’s swim coach gift for an updated Teacher Emergency Kit.

I originally saw the idea on a site called Tidy Mom. If you read last week’s post, the directions below are about the same, but I have new pictures and some additional notes. You do need a sewing machine for the potholder bag. If you do not have a sewing machine, use the plastic bead box from last year’s post. Or, use the bead box if you just like that container better.

Materials

square potholders (The Tidy Mom post suggested potholders from Target. I had a hard time finding single square potholders. I ended up purchasing 2-piece oven mitt sets from Kmart. My square potholders are 7″ x 8″– not a perfect square– with a loop along one short side)

Scotch tape
snack size Ziploc bags (6 1/2″ x 3 1/4″)
sewing machine
~7/8″ button (coordinating color)
thread (coordinating color)

Directions

Set your potholder on a flat surface with the loop on the right side. I have the potholder “hand pocket” facing inside, but I also made the bags with the pocket on the outside too. It is up to you how you want your potholder to face.
Place one snack bag on the right side with the baggie opening facing the right edge. Place a piece of tape on the top and bottom to keep the baggie from moving.
Place another snack bag on top with the baggie opening facing the left edge. The center should overlap with the first baggie. Place a piece of tape at the top and bottom.
Continue alternating baggies right and left. I liked 5 snack bags (=5 pockets). The Tidy Mom post used 10, but the bags fill up fast if you include bulky items and then the clutch won’t close.

Sew a zig zag stitch down the middle of the potholder, which should also be down the center of the Ziploc bags. Cut any loose threads. Carefully remove the tape from the edges without pulling or stretching the plastic bags.
Fold the clutch in half and pull the loop around to the front and eyeball where the button will need to be placed. If you do not have a loop on the potholder, follow the Tidy Mom site’s directions for adding a loop.
Attach the button with coordinating thread.

Gather the items you want in your emergency kit. I dug into my assortment of plastic bead bags and filled mini baggies with Advil, Tums, and mints. The clutches fill pretty quickly and flatter items work better. You won’t be able to fill the kit with as many things if you use travel sized aspirin tubes and whole rolls of Tums. I printed Avery labels and attached the Teacher Emergency Kit Baggie Labels to the little bags. The label size is 2/3″ x 1 3/4″ and is Avery #42895.

I created a Teacher Emergency Kit Gift Tag page and printed it on white cardstock, cut it into squares with my paper cutter, hole punched the corner, and tied with curly ribbon to the loop.

Content Suggestions

Aquaphor and/or chapstick
gum or mints
Bandaids
hair elastics
travel toothbrush and toothpaste
Tampax and pantyliner for female teachers (sorry, gentlemen)
Tylenol or Advil
Tums
change (for the soda machine)
nail file
safety pins and/or travel sewing kit
Sharpie pen
cough drops

Notes

Don’t cheap out on the Ziploc bags. I bought CVS generic brand on sale, and they are a little flimsy. I wish I had used Ziploc or Glad snack bags.
Click the picture to see the directions for last year’s Teacher Emergency Kit in the bead box.

Giveaway

I am giving away Back to School Emergency Kits to TWO lucky winners. Give the kit to your child’s teacher on the first day of school or keep it for yourself.
But wait, there’s more. Not only will each winner receive one filled Back to School Kit, he/she will also receive not ONE but TWO oven mitts because I had to buy oven mitt SETS to get the potholder I wanted, and I now own about 10 mitts!
Giveaway ends Sunday, Aug. 4, 2013.
Click on this Entry -Form link to enter the giveaway!
The entry form links to TheRoomMom on Bloglovin, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest where you complete the regular “like” or “follow” procedures on the social media sites directly then submit the entry form after you complete the like or follow. Just hitting submit does not create a follow or like. You can also leave a comment below and enter the name you used to comment in the entry form. All likes, follows, and comments are “verified” at the end of the contest, and the two winners will be randomly selected. It is more confusing than I would like, but it is my first experience with a giveaway site.

Swim Coach Survival Kit

Posted by TheRoomMom

Swim team season officially ends tonight with a swim and pizza party, swim medal presentation, and gifts for the coaches. We have four swim coaches for our team. Three are college students, and the head coach is a science teacher during the school year. The swim team mom in charge of the coaches’ gift decided cash would be the most useful for the coaches rather than gift cards or something more specific. She needed a way to present this present, so I offered to make these easy potholder clutches.

I originally saw the idea on a site called Tidy Mom. They are really fun (and fast) to make, but you will need a sewing machine. I filled the finished clutch with items a coach might need at the pool. We filled the first pocket with the cash.

Materials

square potholders (The Tidy Mom post suggested potholders from Target. I had a hard time finding single square potholders. I ended up purchasing 2-piece oven mitt sets from Kmart. My square potholders are 7″ x 8″– not a perfect square– with a loop along one short side)
Scotch tape
snack size Ziploc bags (6 1/2″ x 3 1/4″)
sewing machine
~7/8″ button (coordinating color)
thread (coordinating color)

Directions

Set your potholder on a flat surface with the loop on the right side. I kept the potholder pocket on the outside, but it is up to you how you want your potholder to face.
Place one snack bag on the right side with the baggie opening facing the right edge. Place a piece of tape on the top and bottom to keep the baggie from moving.
Place another snack bag on top with the baggie opening facing the left edge. The center should overlap with the first baggie. Place a piece of tape at the top and bottom.
Continue alternating baggies right and left. I liked 5 snack bags (=5 pockets). The Tidy Mom post used 10, but the bags fill up fast if you include bulky items and then the clutch won’t close.

Sew a zig zag stitch down the middle of the potholder, which should also be down the center of the Ziploc bags. Cut any loose threads. Carefully remove the tape from the edges without pulling or stretching the plastic bags.
Fold the clutch in half and pull the loop around to the front and eyeball where the button will need to be placed. If you do not have a loop on the potholder, follow the Tidy Mom site’s directions for adding a loop.
Attach the button with coordinating thread. I used green thread and black/green buttons in honor of our swim team colors.

I printed gift tags on white cardstock and tied with curly ribbon to the loop.

Survival Kit Content Suggestions

plastic comb
chapstick
sunblock stick
gum
Bandaids
hair rubberbands (for the girl coaches)
travel toothbrush and toothpaste
Tylenol or Advil
Tums
travel size lotion
travel size shampoo
some cash or change (for trips to the snack bar or soda machine)

Notes

Flatter items work better. The sunblock stick took up a lot of room. I ended up removing the toothbrush and toothpaste because the combination of the 3 created too much bulk.
When possible, I used items that matched our team colors (black comb, green gum, black and green hair bands). I did not force the color thing, though.
Don’t cheap out on the Ziploc bags. I bought CVS generic brand on sale, and they are a little flimsy. I wish I had used Ziploc or Glad snack bags.
This could easily be adapted to a Teacher Emergency Kit for a great back to school teacher gift. It could also be used for many other sports as an end of season coach gift. It is not very girly if you use solid colored potholders, so it works for males and females.

Man’s Best Friends

Posted by TheRoomMom

TheRoomDad suggested my son read The Black Stallion since it was TheRoomDad’s favorite book when he was a kid. I was skeptical. I saw the movie when I was about nine years old and thought it was the most boring movie I had ever seen. Turns out, as is almost always true, the book is much better than the movie.

There are several things I like about the book, but the best part is the relationship between Alec and Black. Alec assumes complete responsibility for the horse, and while adults support Alec, ultimately, Alec is the one who has to care for Black every day even if it might be inconvenient. Alec and the horse rely on each other and develop a deep friendship. These themes of companionship, trust, responsibility, and independence can be found in many animal books and are reasons I think kids love to read books with animal characters.

Below is a list of other animal-centered chapter books that we like. As you may suspect, more than a handful of animal books also fall in the Sad but Good book category, so if you don’t see your favorite animal book here, check the other list.

Mr. Star Wars likes the more realistic animal books; I prefer the fantasy animal books. Do you enjoy animal books? If so, which style do you prefer?

Animals as Pets (realistic-ish)

Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs
The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley
The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
Julie of the Wolves series by Jean Craighead George
Kavik the Wolf Dog by Walt Morey
A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
The Music of Dolphins by Karen Hesse
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Rascal by Sterling North
Ribsy by Beverly Cleary
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Sounder by William H. Armstrong
The Yearling by Marjorie K. Rawlings

Animals with Human Qualities (fantasy)

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe series by C.S. Lewis
Mistmantle Chronicles by M.I. McAllister
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
Mousenet by Prudence Breitrose
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien
Poppy series by Avi
Stuart Little by E.B. White
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
Watership Down by Richard Adams
What the Dog Said by Randi Reisfeld
Wildwood series by Colin Meloy
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Winnie the Pooh series by A.A. Milne

As a little bonus, here are a few picture books we like too!

Picture Books

Brambly Hedge series by Jill Barklem
Brave Bitsy and the Bear by Angela McAllister
Bread and Jam for Frances and others by Russell Hoban
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
Curious George and others by Margret and H.A. Rey
Olivia and others by Ian Falconer
Peter Rabbit and others by Beatrix Potter
A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg

Swim Team Shirts

Posted by TheRoomMom

In honor of the final swim meet of the season, Mr. Star Wars and his teammates decorated shirts after swim practice this morning. The coach brought acrylic paint and brushes, each swimmer brought an old white t-shirt, and I felt compelled to up the decorative quality of the shirts and brought materials for Sharpie tie dying.

I learned about this so cool but so easy technique 10 years ago when my oldest niece attended a summer camp near my parents’ house. My niece was 5 or 6 at the time and came home with this t-shirt that had multi-colored sunbursts all over it. Lately, I have seen samples floating around on Pinterest. The Pinterest sample I saw looks a little different than my way, but it is roughly the same procedure. The best thing about the Sharpie tie dye is the minimal mess!

The Materials

Sharpie pens, variety of colors (we used shades of green and black for our team colors)
medicine droppers (purchased at CVS)
rubbing alcohol
coins (quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies)
cardboard squares (about 8″x8″)
cup or jar

The Directions

Put the cardboard piece inside the shirt to prevent the Sharpie from leaking through to the other side. Move the cardboard around as needed, so it is always beneath the area where you are working.
Place a coin on the shirt. Draw an outline of dots with a Sharpie marker around the edge of the coin. You want the dots to be fairly close together to make the effect better. You can alternate color dots if you wish.
Remove the coin from the shirt.
Pour rubbing alcohol into a cup, so it is easy to get the alcohol into the dropper. Fill the medicine dropper about 1/3 full and begin dropping rubbing alcohol into the white center of the Sharpie dot circle.
Add drops a little at a time, always directly in the center of the Sharpie dots, until the Sharpie begins to bleed out.

Notes

Our white cotton t-shirts from Cherokee (Target line) and J. Crew worked better than the Hanes men’s cotton undershirt. There is a difference in the weave of the cotton. It was kind of interesting how the material changed the effect of the stain.
If you alternate colors, you can create new colors. For example, alternating blue and red dots creates purple. This is a great learning tool for kids about the color wheel.
The sun burst size changes depending on how close the dots are to each other, so experiment with that too.
You do not have to use the coins. Kids can create any dotted outline (like a heart or a star) and discover different results.
Unfortunately, I have not figured out a way to set the Sharpie marker well when washing. If you run the shirt in the dryer before the first wash, it helps hold the color. When you do wash the shirt, wash in cold water on gentle cycle. You may want to hang dry.
Black Sharpie marker looks like purple when it spreads.

Fairy Gardens

Posted by TheRoomMom

I always return from a visit at Sewing Sister’s with at least one crafty project. I was completely enthralled with the planters on my sister’s back deck set up like fairy gardens. Turns out, she has a local gardening center with an entire (small) room dedicated to fairy garden accessories. Oh, for the love of all things mini! My heart (and Miss Priss’) skipped a beat when we entered the room.

Several months ago, we started a fairy garden in a planter box on our back deck after Miss Priss’ kindergarten teacher shared the book, Fairy House Handbook, and Mr. Star Wars completed a fairy tale unit about the same time. The original plants had been growing wildly for 3 months or so, and the fairy garden was ready for a face lift.

The Location

According to Miss Priss’ kindergarten teacher, fairies like hidden or out of the way locations. Look for a spot that is quiet and away from big people feet.
Nooks and crannies of tree stumps are great. Flower pots or deep flower pot saucers work well tucked in a corner of your yard.
We used one of the empty plant boxes that surround our back deck. One end of the box has a large jasmine vine growing up the corner post, so it provided a nice covered area.

The Plants

Ask your gardening center for succulents. Here is a list of a few we have growing.
- Pachyphytum oviferium
- Sedum adolphii
- Aeonium bella
- Sedum brevifolium
Certain kinds of moss or plants that are good ground cover for paths and borders work well. We just added the two below and are waiting for them to fill in a little.
- Blue Star Creeper (Isotoma fluviatilis)
- Irish Moss (Sagina subulata)
I think herbs like tarragon or thyme would be the right size and would have that wild look in a short amount of time.
If you can have something tall like our jasmine vine mixed with the shorter items, it gives the fairy garden a little variety.
The fairy garden looks much better after several months of growth. Now that our succulent plants have filled out, the garden looks much more secretive and cozy. The pictures above show just planted this past March (far left), 2 months later (middle), and this past week (far right).

The Accessories

Fairies prefer naturally found materials, but we had to sneak some very tiny man-made items in our garden. Fairies also like colorful and shiny items like the sea glass.

We made a table and stool from bottle corks with sand dollars hot glued to the top. I purchased mini sand dollars, and I had regular sized sand dollars (for the table top) from a recent beach trip.
We used shells to line paths and placed pieces of fencing along the paths. We scattered blue sea glass to look like water in a stream.

We found a mini metal garden arch, and we tied twine to a piece of bark to make a swing.
We bought mini rabbits, a fairy, and some mini flower pots at Sewing Sister’s gardening store. My niece recommended using any tiny plastic animals we had in our toy collection if we wanted more wildlife.

The Fairy Note

It is possible that fairies will leave a very tiny note if they are happy with the home you create. Miss Priss is positive fairies are real because they have left behind a note or two. She keeps the tiny notes with a note the tooth fairy left her.
I think the fairies must use a pen with a very fine point to be able to handwrite such tiny letters.

The Sources

Sugar Creek Gardens in St. Louis had the little ceramic fairy and rabbits. We also purchased the ceramic foot bridge, the sea glass, the turquoise bird feeder, and turquoise flower pot there. I picked up the ground cover plants for paths and borders at this gardening store too.
Hobby Lobby had the mini sand dollars, the garden arch, and the fence pieces. I think they also have other fairy garden items.
I found the succulent plants in my local Ace Hardware’s gardening section.

If you have a fairy garden in your backyard, please share photos on my Facebook page!

TheRoomMom

The Parent with the Teacher's Perspective

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Back to School Teacher Gift 2013

Giveaway

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Swim Coach Survival Kit

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Man’s Best Friends

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Swim Team Shirts

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Fairy Gardens

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Giveaway

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