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?

American Girl Camp

Posted by TheRoomMom

The school where I teach runs American Girl camps in the summer. The history teacher in charge of AG camp is pregnant and had to go on bedrest at the end of the school year, so the school needed last minute subs to run the two camp sessions. Clearly, I am totally qualified to run this camp, but I was hesitant to accept the job. I immediately had visions of American Girl crafts run amok since I tend to think big and have difficulty prioritizing and gauging what is realistically possible for little hands. 20+ campers and overly complicated mini craft projects are not always a good combination. Nevertheless, I took on the challenge, and we just finished the last day of American Girl camp today.

I recycled many of my American Girl craft projects, but I also designed some new ones too. This past Monday was Kaya Day. With the help of my nieces who are still staying with me, we engineered tepees out of brown butcher paper, strung Nez Perce-like beaded necklaces, and wove mats for the tepee.

The Tepee

Materials

brown butcher paper (I used painter’s floor covering paper from Lowe’s)
wooden dowels– 1/4″ diameter, 24″ length (4-5 per tepee)
duct tape or masking tape
mini hair bands or Rainbow Loom bands

Directions

My oldest niece has the original Kaya tent. She traced the outline of the cloth tepee cover for me to use as a template. The tepee shape is basically a half circle. The diameter is 48″ with a small circle cut out at the center of the straight edge.

Using the template, we traced the shape onto the brown butcher paper and then cut out the shape.

I added Native American looking patterns and symbols. I cut geometric shapes out of poster board for the campers to use as templates for designs on the paper.

I also shared a handout with some Native American symbols.

After decorating, turn the tepee paper over and tape 4-5 dowels to the paper. Space the dowels evenly around the tepee shape, and the bottom of the dowel needs to be even with the bottom edge of the tepee.

Fold the paper in half and stand up. Pinch the first and third dowel together and wrap a rubber band around the top of the dowels. Pull the rest of the dowels together to make them look like the poles at the top of the tepee. Add another rubber band around all of the dowels. (We also wrapped some twine around the top to make it look more authentic).
Spread the part of the dowels that touch the floor out and fiddle with the paper to get the desired tepee shape.

Beaded Necklace

Materials

waxed cotton thread
plastic beads– various shapes (perler beads work well too)
lanyard clips (2 per necklace)

Directions

Cut 3 pieces of cotton thread in 3 different sizes– 14″, 13″, and 12″.
Line up the 3 pieces of thread so the ends are even. Keeping the ends even with each other on one side, tie a “granny knot” around the lanyard clip.

Thread beads onto all 3 pieces of string. You can create any bead order and partially fill the string or fill the string full with beads. Leave space at the end to make it easy to tie the threads into a knot.
After adding beads, gather the loose ends of the strings and even them up. Tie them in a knot to a second clip making sure the ends are even with each other.

When the necklace is on the doll, the strings will hang at 3 different lengths in a similar way to the quill necklaces worn by the Nez Perce Indians.

Woven Mats

Materials

scrapbook paper
glue dots
scissors
rulers

Directions

Cut scrapbook paper into the mat size you would like. Our mats were 5″ x 5″.
Fold the mats in half with the design facing in.
On one side of the folded paper, draw guidelines for cutting. The lines begin at the folded end of the paper and stop about 1/2″ from the opposite edge (the open side of the folded paper). My lines are 1/2″ apart. You can adjust based on the mat size you use.

The campers made cuts along the lines being careful to stop when the line stopped. Then, kids opened up the paper flat and weaved strips of scrap paper over and under securing each end with a glue dot. My strips are about 1/2″ wide, and I used a paper cutter to make all of the strips.

The mats fit neatly inside the tepee, and if our American Girl doll had been living with Kaya in the mid 1700s, the mat would have helped keep rain out of the tepee.

For more DIY American Girl ideas, visit my other AG posts or check out my Crafts link in the menu bar to the right!

American Girl Food

American Girl Sweet Shop

American Girl School

American Girl Campout **includes directions for the campfire

American Girl Dress Shop

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

crafts

Blasting Back to School Giveaway Winner

Like this:

Teacher Emergency Kit 2014

Like this:

Coaches’ Gift

Like this: