Custom Keychain Gift Idea for Students

 Hello! Tonight I'd also like to share a gift idea I did for my students last Christmas as both an end of the semester and Christmas gift in one (also because I literally did not have any time to celebrate those two occasions with separate gifts). I have no regrets about this and liked the result, but disclaimer: these take an insane amount of time. Like they took me at least fifteen minutes each to put together, decide on the designs, tie, and hot glue. I multiplied that by thirty-eight students which I should have done before starting this project since I have almost zero time management skills and no sense of time passing. The number I came up with is approximately a minimum of nine and a half hours. I am pretty certain it took hours over that. 

That said, it is very time consuming. That is just for the keychain part, too, not counting the packaging part. I think I made the labels on Canva but could not find the printable to add in below. I bought the ribbon in a bulk roll from Amazon and still have plenty to spare months later. The beads came from a variety of kits I bought off of Amazon and then stole from my brother because the kits I bought ran out, so for thirty-eight students I should have bought three or four kits instead of two. Each keychain featured the student's name, and two large beads I thought they would like (such as a smiley face, bow, star, and so on) or three or four smaller ones (I tried very hard to make them all equal). 

The pros are that these are both pretty and practical, and they are very personalized. These could really be given to any age and any group of people, too. 

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you find this idea helpful! 

Blessings,

Lauryn

DIY Teacher Valentine Gift Idea + Art Class Valentines for Students

 This is a bit late, but here are some Valentine's Day gift and card ideas I created this year for my teacher colleagues and students. Some of the student cards are themed around artworks/artists, such as the middle school ones, which had a Howard Finster pun since we've been studying GA folk art. I found an artwork of Mark from the Bible to go with my markers and marker pun for my second graders. I used sweet treat artwork by Wayne Thiebaud for some of my lower school student gifts. Some of the gift tags just had a pun and I handwrote them. For the teachers, I bought containers of Valentine's Day donuts, put two in each bag, and separately packaged soap roses I fond at a local store in bulk. The poem I wrote for them is below on the free printable, but if you needed to change the wording like the word "colleague" or do different gifts, I made my tags in the Paint program most computers come with. I shopped all over and the stores all kept running out of supplies, so I had to do different things for each class. I gave glitter pens to my first grade class (since they all love glitter) and ice cream pens, chalk markers and chalk tags to my second grade class who expressed interest in using chalk markers, Sharpies or special pens with glitter glue sticks or rainbow pens for my third-to-seventh grade students, note sets with cats or dogs for my high school small group members, and stacked highlighters for my art appreciation class. I decorated my classroom with a balloon arch you may recognize from the party I recently posted (it was still put together, too, which saved a lot of time), and gave the option of spending the Monday before Valentine's Day creating Valentine's cards or drawing animals holding hearts in art class. I unfortunately did not really photograph the beautiful works before I sent them home. 

Free Printable Cards:

I hope you enjoyed these free printable cards and find the Valentine's Day ideas handy for next year! 

-Lauryn 

Cast Gift idea: Wood-Burned Keychains

 Hey everyone! Here is a quick cast gift idea for theater folks and directors who may want to give their cast a personal, custom but affordable gift. I bought these keychains at Hobby Lobby or Michaels on sale and wanted to do a wood-burned keychain for everyone but I ran out and could not get to Gainesville that week. So the first cast gift idea is to use a wood burner and carve out the characters along with the actors' and actresses' names on such keychains. I like to give each cast member a personal gift, as well. The second gift used Dollar Tree chalkboard tags, chalk taped onto to each so they could be drawn on, and I painted with white acrylic paint a show symbol (for Addams Family I did a snapping hand) and the actor's or actress's name on each. These types of gifts could really apply to any group of people, though. 

Thank you for visiting, I hope you enjoyed! 

-Lauryn 

"Reach for the Stars" End of the Year Class Party + Student Gift Ideas

 Hello! Today I would like to share an end of the year class party I had (actually, three with the same decorations) with a "Reach for the Stars" theme in gold and neutral colors. As end of the year gifts, I wrote a special note to each student pointing out their gifts and what I appreciated about teaching them attached to favor bags. In the elementary bags, I included Lego figures (although they were not the Lego brand to be honest) or animal toys, bouncy balls, and multi-colored heart crayons made by a friend who sells them locally as a fundraiser to allow children to get involved in theater/theater camps and are not able to financially. In my middle school bags, I included cars, bouncy balls, and flashlight pencil keychains. In my high school bags, I included flashlight pencil keychains, bouncy balls, and gel ink pens (I think), which I don't have pictures of. The favors with the race cars had tags that read "This year raced by! I hope you have a great summer!" My drama student gifts had tags related to the pens that read "You are truly ink-credible and noteworthy. I hope you have a great summer!" Here are the free pintables:

For the elementary art class parties, we not only played fun improv games, but also a few art history-themed games I made up, listed below:

How Fast Can You Gogh?

This is just a team race where teams of two split up and line up on opposite sides of the gym (making two lines). In the middle were two large Van Gogh prints. Partner #1 would start when the race began, touch a Van Gogh work, then tag their partner. Partner #2 would run as soon as they were tagged, touch a Van Gogh print, and race to the line that the first partner started on. The first team to finish wins.

Art Analysis or Dare

This game was actually played in class, not for a party, but it seemed successful at making art analysis and discussion more fun. How this Truth or Dare variation works is I printed and cut into strips art critique prompts, such as "How is the element of shape being used?" "Does this picture have a good color harmony? Why or why not?" I would throw a bouncy ball to a student, ask "Analysis or Dare?" If they chose analysis, they would draw one of those strips from a paper bag and discuss the picture I put at the front of the room or handed them in response to the prompt. If they chose dare, I would give them a dare such as "Make up a dance that expresses this picture." Or "Sing a song about this picture." or "Create a poem on the spot about this work." Either way they are analyzing the work. 

Art Apples to Apples

This game was also not used for the parties but in class to analyze art and gain some art history appreciation. I used my Disney Apples to Apples winning/adjective cards and my classroom art cards (each card had a large work from an art movement). I handed out all of the adjective cards that read things like 'frightening' or 'beautiful', giving each student around four. I would have them pass an artwork around. Then they would all choose what they thought their most fitting card was, place them at the judge's desk (we chose a student to be the judge each time), and the judge would choose a card. Whoever's card got chosen would get the art print card. The one with the most art cards won a prize at the end. 

I made up several other games I'm quite sure, but I do not remember them at the moment, so I might add to this list at a later time. 

I hope this comes in handy this upcoming school year for teachers looking for affordable student gifts, end of the year party ideas, or art teachers searching for more activities!

-Lauryn

What to Include in a Mother's Day Gift Basket/Box

Hey guys! Here's the second post I promised you. Today I'd like to present a list of ideas for what to include in a Mother's Day gift basket or gift box, followed by a few suggestions for putting together that gift basket or gift box.

Here are 26+ ideas on what you might include:
-Lotion
-Sanatizer
-Lip Balm
-Soap
-Fruit
-Coffee or Tea
-Books (activity, story, scrapbooks, nonfiction, magazines, journals, notebooks, etc.)
-Plants (succulents, flowers, trees, food plants, etc.)
-Candles
-Decor
-Stylish Dishcloths (or are they dishtowels?)
-Oven Mitts
-Cooking Utensils/Gadgets
-Cleaning Supplies (natural, delicious-smelling cleaning spray, sponges, etc.)
-Socks
-Blanket
-Bag (in place of a basket or box; this could be a shopping bag, beach bag, purse, etc.)
-Writing or Drawing Tools (markers, pens, pencils, etc.)
-An Art Kit or Art Supplies
-Photos (these could be a little something extra thrown in, or they could be framed or in an album)
-Nail Polish
-A DVD/CD (such as a movie, soundtrack, compiled family videos, etc.)
-A Gift Card
-Accessories
-Keychain/Magnet/Some Other Useful, Tiny Item
-Other Body Care Items (such as shampoo, conditioner, perfume, shower gel, etc.)

Some Other Suggestions:

-Go with a theme. Every gift basket or box should have a theme, and not just 'Mother's Day' but something more specific, such as cooking, florals, music, a character, a movie or book, the beach, etc.

-Stick to a color palette. To create a gift that looks professional and elegant, you need to stick to a limited color palette. There is no set amount that I can give, but I would suggest approximately 2-4 colors. For example, four pastels, or for a colorful gift, black and white with pops of rainbow, or maybe black, white, and gold or brown, white, and gold for a simple but fancy look.

-Go off of what you know they like. Buy or make gifts that you know they would love and use for sure. Create a theme based on something you know the recipient definitely loves. For example, I love Alice in Wonderland (the books, the character, the classic movie, and all), so a friend once made an amazing, special gift box with that theme full of gifts with beautiful handmade tags that said "Eat Me", "Drink Me", "Open Me", "Read Me", and such where appropriate and included other special, handmade items that went with the theme.

-Make the gift unique. Try to use a theme that the specific recipient would love and that nobody has done before. If you use a more traditional theme, try to present the gift in a unique way and with unique colors that are not usually associated with that theme. The more unique, the better!

Well, that's all of my suggestions for you today. I hope those ideas and tips are helpful!

-Lauryn

Christmas Nutcracker Wrapping Party

Merry (belated) Christmas! I did this wrapping party three days ago. It wasn't exactly a wrapping party, though, because the gifts were wrapped. We just decorated the gifts. I did a red, gold, dark blue, yellow and green nutcracker theme. My brother did the adorable nutcracker banner. It was fun!

This week I'll be posting a few more late Christmas posts before I begin the new year!

-Lauryn