Teacher Thank You Gift

Here's a little thank you card and gift that I put together for a teacher at our school who really handled a rough situation expertly.  I wanted to show her my appreciation, so I came up with these small, inexpensive things to express my thanks.

First, the card:

This is a custom note card that I made for myself (yes, I am Lori Martin).  I didn't decorate the front of them, because I wanted to be able to customize them depending on the occasion.  For this one I stamped the border and sentiment from My Creative Time's "Small Talk" stamp set.  I then cut that Kraft square out and tied the twine around.  If you haven't visited Annie's Paper Boutique, the home of Trendy Twine then you should check it out.  I have to admit, I am in love with twine!  It's popping up on all my projects lately.  I think if I won the lottery, one of my first purchases would be EVERY color they have!  And, if you haven't checked out the amazing products that Miss Emma has over at My Creative Time, hustle on over there.  Don't blame me if you become addicted!  I love her products (and I'm not paid to say that!)!!!  I added the apple from the Cricut Preserves cartridge.  I had cut a bunch of these for another project and figured it was a good image for a card for a teacher!  Voila...done!

Then, on to the "gift"...

This is an empty Steel Cut Oats can.  I covered it with the gingham check paper, hot glued the ribbon to the top rim, and added the twine.  I thought it needed a little something more so I found the "ribbon" stamp in a Peachy Keen stamp kit of the month that I had, stamped it, colored it in, and then added the #1 Teacher stamp from another My Creative Time set that I had.  (I think those two stamps are from "My Teacher Rocks" but I'm not 100% sure).  I filled the can with pencils and some red ink pens and called it done.

I hope you enjoyed these projects.  The main message here is that you don't have to spend a ton of money to show appreciation to someone.  I took these to the school this evening and put them in the teacher's mailbox.  I hope she realized that people do appreciate her and what she does for the kids that she teaches.

Go forth and craft!

Want more inspiration?  Check out Craft-O-Maniac!  Great Stuff!

Lori

Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Muffins

I have decided to add an occasional recipe posting to my normal crafty updates.  I'm working to lose weight, so right now one thing that is key for me is finding ways to cook the foods I really enjoy but in a healthier way.

Once again...Pinterest to the rescue!  I have found many great recipes while browsing so today I'd like to share one.  It's fall time and I LOVE pumpkin recipes...pumpkin soup, pumpkin bars, pumpkin coffees, pumpkin cookies....you name it, if there's pumpkin in there I'm bound to love it.  Great, except for someone who is watching her caloric intake, things like pumpkin cookies can get me into trouble quickly!  So, seeing as how I'm newly back on the diet train I thought I should just avoid all things pumpkin to keep myself safe.

Untillllll I saw THIS post!  This my friends is a low fat pumpkin muffin.  The recipe seems so easy I had to give it a try.  Here's all you need:

1 spice cake mix (you can also use yellow or vanilla, but I used spice)
3/4 can canned pure pumpkin (15 oz. can size)
1 large egg white
1 cup water
nutmeg and cinnamon (I just shook a little in...probably about 1/2 tsp each)

Mix all of the ingredients together.  You can add more water if the batter is too thick, but I thought it was fine using 1 cup.  Spray your muffin tin with Baker's Joy (if you don't know what that is, GET SOME!  It's awesome!)  Add the batter to the muffin tin and bake at 375 for approximately 15 minutes.  Ovens vary, so test one before you shut the oven off!

After I took mine out of the oven I sprayed the tops with a little "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" spray (you know you just said that with a Fabio accent....) and then sprinkled the tops with a cinnamon sugar mix.  There's probably less than 1/2 tsp. on each one, but it adds a little something!

Now, I know someone's wondering (that is, if anyone reads this blog) what the nutrition is like on these babies.  Well, I plugged all of the ingredients into my BodyBugg program and here's what it told me!

1 muffin
182 calories
2.9 grams protein
36.3 grams carbohydrates
3 grams fat

The original post indicated it was a fat free recipe, but there's a little fat in the pumpkin, and I figure 3 grams of fat in a muffin is pretty good, compared to a standard blueberry muffin, which packs in (on average) 27 grams of fat and over 500 calories.

As any decent cook would, I tested one to make sure the recipe was blog-worthy and it totally passed the test!  I thought these were great, and am really looking forward to enjoying one tomorrow morning with my coffee!

Long time no post...BOO!

Here's a Pinterest inspired project.  I saw the original idea HERE.

When I peruse Pinterest I must admit that I usually scan the instructions quickly to see if it's something I'd actually take the time to DO in the future.  If so, I pin it for future reference.

I thought this one was one I'd definitely do, so I pinned it.  The other day at Hobby Lobby I saw a couple of cute frames on clearance and thought they'd be ideal for this project.

Here are my tips!  One...do NOT use a high temp hot glue gun.  Ouch.  Two...have PLENTY of google eyes.  Great google eyes, this frame uses a LOT of google eyes!  Yowza.  Three...glue the big ones down first and then start filling in with the other sizes.

Here's my variation on the google eye frame:

I used a My Creative Time stamp for the "Boo" and the sentiment under the ghosts.  The ghosts are Peachy Keen stamps.  I LOVE the faces, and these ghosts are seriously cute!

I figured that I can put a photo in there if I get a good one from last year or this year, and if not, then at least it's super cute until I can get a photo of the kids in there!

Go buy some google eyes and grab your hot glue gun.  Wicked cute!