Countdown to Valentine's Day! 2 & 1...

Whew, what a busy week over here...orders are racking up, parties are being planned, a very busy Spring is in the air!  I am just popping in really quickly to share two more things with you....my sweet boy's teachers gifts for preschool and the Valentines we made for him to give his class!

As most of you may have heard me mention a time or two, my little (very high energy!) guy is CRAZY for cars & trucks, so as with most everything I do with him, it helps to incorporate anything with wheels if you want to keep him interested for longer than 30 seconds . . .

For the teachers . . .

Stickers inside for his little 'green door' classmates:)

And the printable coupons I included in my husband's Valentine's Day card (more of a joke, but I sort of want to steal them:)

And lastly, a couple of pics of the littles today...

My tired little sweetie all tuckered out from his first school Valentine's Day party . . .

Hope you all had a lovely day!!  I had so much fun counting down with you!

DIY Holiday Gift Card Holders .

For the last few years I have seen quite of my few friends head to their favorite social media site and ask their teacher friends what their favorite gift to receive was from their students.  While some mentioned liking handmade gifts, a few others said that they honestly just preferred the gift cards, for as much as they loved their darling little pupils, they got to experience the joy brought from their homemade art all the year through.

So wouldn't it be just great if you could come up with a way to combine all of the heartfelt thoughtfulness of a handmade gift with a tried and true favorite as well?  Now you can, with these simple DIY gift card holders.  Go ahead and make them out of plain paper or kraft paper if you'd like, and give the little a crayon to color to their heart's delight!  You could always print up paper with a picture of your sweetheart and make your holder out of that too!  The options are endless, you just have to start with these basics...

DIY HANDMADE GIFT HARD HOLDERS
(via Smashed Peas and Carrots)

Supplies You Will Need:
~ paper (card stock, kraft paper, printed picture, or whatever you prefer)
~ scissors or exacto knife

Directions:

1.) First cut yourself a 6 x 10" piece of paper.

2.) Cut your paper to the dimensions above.  You'll be left with some crazy looking origami thing but rest assured that this will actually turn into a simple envelope-style gift card holder!!

3.) Now just fold around the center rectangle like in the picture above.  

4.) Then on the bottom rectangle you will cut a slit horizontally that is about an inch long for the pointed flap to go in.  Your gift card will be nice and secure then!!

5.)  Place your gift card inside

6.) Then, just fold the 'arms' in to hug your gift card and bring the bottom flap up towards the top flap..

7.) Tuck the point into your slit and your gift card is ready for giving!

A little more inspiration . . .

(via Noble Earth) 

You know, these little guys would work great as a way to store a business card in to, just in case you were making something special as a way of promoting your small business this holiday season!  Now all you need is that thoughtful little gift card and your favorite teachers, instructors, neighbors, & mailmen will be happy as can be with the best of BOTH worlds!