Holiday Crafting

In my post on crafting in the fall, I mentioned I was working on an extra special craft for the kids' teachers. As it has been a tough year for teachers, we wanted to make them feel extra appreciated. We ordered some tea from the only place in North America that produces tea (it also happens to be in the Charleston, SC area). I discovered Charleston Tea Garden when I chaperoned a field trip there many years ago, but I always grab a few boxes between posts. Their raspberry, peach, mint and cinnamon spice flavors are always popular when hosting EFM tea mornings (sigh...I miss those). So I order a big box of tea boxes, then Richard and I went to Ikea and picked up some good cozy tea mugs, mug coasters, and spoons. Then I got with each kid. We went through the list of each teacher/specialist and talked about what they liked or something special about them. Then I got to work with my Cricut.

On one side I put their name and the other the meaningful image. A PE teacher! A teacher with a cat with only one eye! An art teacher! An IT teacher (that was the toughest one!!).

So once all done, each teacher got a nice little gift pack....

Once they were all made....the kids had delivery duty! Parents are not allowed on campus and the kids are on campus on school every other day. They are getting to school via bus, so I didn't want to send too many at once and have them bang together and break. So they gradually began taking two in a day and finished just in time. Only one hiccup when one teacher had to begin a quarantine due to potential exposure. I encouraged the teen to take it to the school office and see if they could help (as most teachers live on the same compound). The teen got a big thank you the next day.... 

My little painter and I teamed up for a Thanksgiving and made a sign for the door outside....we actually made two because she took one to school and shared it with her teacher.

And she made this one for her BFF who's birthday was in December....(she went a little crazy with the glitter).

Here's some of the festive masks, I made for the holidays (half were in the wash before I remembered to get a photo...isn't that always the case).

We also had a bedsheet rip, so I upcycled it into some gift bags along with some scrap to make them look festive.

Just after the holidays, Richard and I went to fabric shop and found some holiday patterns and I made a few more gift bags for next year (trying to get more and more waste free).

I was running late on getting the grandma/Nana gift made....so I had to wait until they were delivered to publish the blog post....hence the extra delay.

Of course the other grandkids names were legible on the pillows....but it's not my place to yell their names out into the internet.....

While I was mailing those packages, I threw together a little care package for the bestie....(do I really need a reason?). Made her this mug!