Mother's Day Gifts: Gettin' Scrappy!

It's always such a good feeling to have a big project done and sent home! Today we put the finishing touches on our Mother's Day crafts! The kiddos absolutely loved making their lunch bag scrapbooks and I have to say it all went VERY well! Every class in our second grade did this project but each teacher picked out different papers and scrappy doodads. All of them are ADORABLE! Come take a peek and see how they turned out!

 It's not likely that you can whip this up in a day, but if you are on the lookout for a NEW Mother's Day gift idea for next year, you may want to save this post or Pin some images to your boards! This post may also be helpful to my friends who have purchased this item as you start your scrappin' too!

The first step was to get the bags folded ahead of time. This year, I took a shortcut and stapled the books instead of tying the spine with ribbon. Then, I photocopied the patterns onto the12 x 12 paper (trimmed to letter size). I saved the extra scraps for inside recess projects!

I let the students select all of their papers. We did this one at a time while the rest of the class was working on writing. I set the papers up in piles according to color scheme so they would not be completely mismatched and clashy. 

I did not cut out a single pattern this year. The kiddos did it all themselves. They did a great job staying on the lines.

We did this project in baby steps throughout the week so I could keep teaching. It was a nice pace and did not disrupt our day much at all.

As each piece was cut, we just slipped it into a baggie. The baggies stayed on the students' desks all week until assembly day. 

Once everything was cut out, we started with designing the cover. I really like the way some students used rainbow lettering. It balanced out any creatively crazy color choices they made along the way!

Then we had a mini-lesson! 

Just a dot, not a lot! 

We started gluing down our background frames and all of the white papers from the baggie onto the frames. It worked out great to do this whole class with step by step directions.

I had put together an example of my own at the same time so I could show the students what each piece should look like. 

The next day, we worked on the four pull out pocket pages. The kiddos wrote the sweetest things about their mom and drew some really cute pictures of special times together. She is going to LOVE these pages. I'm so glad I added them this year! 

My sweet retired friend offered to help in the classroom! She helped supervise the students' selection of decorating items so they didn't get carried away and add too much. I kept teaching and the students kept working until it was their turn. We picked sticks to be fair!

I am just thrilled with how stinkin' cute they turned out! The kids were just beaming with pride!

In keeping with the lunch bag theme, we added flower cut-outs to the front of a larger brown bag to use as a gift bag.

There is a poem and directions sheet for mom so she knows how to finish the scrapbook at home. That went in the bag too. 

I just folded over the top and stapled it. 

Piece of cake!

 Whenever I do a project like this I always try to make a note to self to make it even better...The one thing I might have changed was my choice in papers. They were a little BUSY for my taste. Next year, I will try solid brights or chevron. Fewer choices might make paper selection faster and simpler too.

If you like, you can find the scrapbook project and all of the patterns to make one {here}.

 I hope you enjoyed this little photo tutorial of our project in the making!

 It was a big hit in the classroom.

 I think it will be on Mother's Day too!

:)

Mother's Day Project! The Best Gift EVER!

Hey friends! What are you all doing for Mother's Day gifts this year? For the past two years, I took a break from my favorite project to try out a few new ideas. They turned out SUPER cute but somehow, they just did not have that sweet *I made this special project for you by myself and Mom, you're going to CRY when you see it * feeling. You know what I mean? So this year, I'm going back to the one I love best! 

Here's a little history behind my all-time favorite Mother's Day gift:

When my son was in second grade, he took ME to work at HIS school. I was also in second grade! My child's amazing teacher, my scrapbookin' friend, Kathy, suggested we make a lunch bag book for our Mother's Day craft. She had seen them in a magazine and fallen in love. I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about... but I went with it!

We had no patterns, NO CLUE, no materials and so the creativity began! Together, we came up with some sweet sentiments about moms, rounded up cardstock papers, scrounged around for ribbon scraps and tried making an example. After some trial and error, we had created an adorable project and the students LOVED it! 

Because I knew what I would be getting from my child as a gift, I worried that I might have to practice my excitement over it for Mother's Day. They managed to keep it a secret from me though, so I never saw the finshed project until that special day. He was so proud to give me that little book that fit perfectly in his tiny hands. It was so sweet!

Of all of the gifts my child ever brought home from school, my very own, made with love, lunchbag scrapbook is my most cherished. Why? Because we finished it together at home and made another happy memory. 

In it are all of my favorite reminders of him at age 7. 

AWWW!

I have to confess that I'm not into scrapbooking at all. I never had the time or patience for that sort of thing. I never made even one for my child. It sure was easy enough for me to add my favorite photos of the two of us like this one from our amazing trip to Mexico.

The bag book has a few journaling cards inside the pockets. I jotted down some cute things that we used to say to each other like I love you more than you love me! Somehow, I thought I'd always remember those little things, but time makes you forget. There are all sorts of other things in there too like zoo passes, movie tickets, and more reminders of our fun times together. 

I still love to look back at my darling little scrapbook every once in a while. I had it displayed on a small easel for many years, but recently packed it away for fear that something might happen to it in one of my wild cleaning frenzies.

Kathy is now happily retired, but I have continued our lunch bag scrapbook tradition with lots of classes over the last 10 years. I even made one for my OWN mom! 

Thanks to technology, I was able to redesign the patterns, and add instructions so other teachers can enjoy making it with their kiddos too.

 It is now new and improved and cuter than ever in 2015!

 I hope you like it too!

It breaks my heart knowing that some kiddos we teach do not have a mom to celebrate with on Mother's Day. The file also includes alternate pages so those children are able to participate and make a book for their Grandma or an aunt.

This  Mother's Day Lunch Bag Scrapbook was one of my first items available at Teachers Pay Teachers! Many sweet teachers have written to share how much their students and parents loved it! That makes my heart SO happy!

 If you have already purchased this craft, be sure to go back to download the *new version* under your purchases. It now includes pull out tabs with adorable fill in the blank pages and cards for the kiddos to illustrate! There are new tracer patterns that can be photocopied too to make prep even easier than ever! 

I can't wait to get started on this project with my class next week! I plan to share some photos of our beautiful masterpieces as we complete them!

 This year, I am collecting 2 dollars from each student. I bought some really pretty things to decorate them with that the Moms will adore. The kiddos have to do some chores to help out and earn the money. Yes, there is a note for that in the file as well!

A Little Giveaway

If you are still on the fence about a project for  Mother's Day, you might like to try this scrapbook keepsake out. You may even like to have it for your own children to make for Grandma! Just leave me a comment with your email and next week, I'll choose THREE to try it FREE! 

Have a great finish to your week! Set a reminder and be sure to check back here on Saturday and Sunday! There will be some super duper posts from the Weekend Warriors bloggers and a few other surprises you won't want to miss!

Disclosure:
The winners for this little giveaway were chosen very scientifically by the king of randomness:

Congratulations to Suzy, Lori and Hannah! You won the Mother' Day craft! Check your emails ladies! 

:)

Mother's Day Project Idea

I am excited to share this cute project idea for Mother's Day! I am sure your mom's will fall in love with it and there will be tears! It's a lunch bag scrapbook the mother and child will finish together by adding special photos and keepsakes!

Click on the image to see it at TPT.

Mother's Day Project Ideas and Freebies for May

Mother's Day is right around the corner! It always sneaks up on me. Every year, I say that I'm going to get an early start on the projects. This year I mean it! I am heading out to the craft stores with coupons in hand to get everything I need for upcoming Mother's Day projects! 

My class will be making a project similar to this one using a 2 inch binder clip, some fuzzy rainbow craft yarn and flower scrapbook embellishments. (I found colored binder clips at Staples!) You can use it as a recipe holder or photo stand! 


source~ My Lovely Inspirations


My Mother's Day Lunch Bag Scrapbook is officially my number one selling craftivity to date and I am just thrilled! I've gotten such positive feedback letting me know how adorable the projects turned out! I made one for my mom too and she loved it! :)

If you're looking for a sweet, unique gift idea, you may want to check it out at my shops!

Last year, our team decided to work our project in with our unit on plant life cycles so my first grade kiddos painted 4 inch terra cotta pots with their choice of a variety of beautiful, spring-colored acrylic paints. I have decorated pots with my students in every way, shape and form over the years and think I have finally come up with the simplest, nicest design of all~ white polka dots on a colored pot! 

I found the perfect supplies for painting at Joanne's. They make disposable rollers with handles! These are great for little hands and cheap too! I also purchased some dot painting sticks. They have a felt tip rather than a sponge. They are the perfect size and won't splat paint when used.

Rather than planting the traditional flower in the pot, I send home the gift as a planting kit. This is the best idea ever! The soil goes home in the pot inside a baggie. I purchased large seeds and put them in one of those plastic ziplock earring bags also at Joanne's. I made colored copies of the seed pack and reduced the size of the image to place one in each tiny bag with the seeds. I found these cute colorful shovels and kids garden tools in the dollar spot at Target. The seed bag is attached to the shovel with a ribbon and little cardstock card that reads:

Mom, my love for you grows and grows! 

The kit was adorable and I did not have to worry about the plant getting crushed or broken on the way home or dirt spilling inside the bag and making a mess of our pretty pots! Depending on your budget, you could add a pair of garden gloves to your kit. That would be super-cute!

Speaking of planting and flowers, here is a May flowers-themed attendance for the SMARTBoard freebie for you!

 Are you having a Mother's Day Tea or Muffins with Mom celebration? This is not a poem for your students, but one for busy moms based on the pattern in Laura Numeroff's books! Your moms should get a kick out of it! It's also a freebie at my TPT shop. Click on the picture to download a copy.

I'll leave you with a fun video you can pass along to anyone who needs a good laugh!This is hilarious!

It's The Mom Song!

I can relate, can you?