Crafty Saturday: Back to School Teacher gifts

Yes, I am "that mom" who has a back to school gift for teachers. I also have one at Christmas, one for Teacher Appreciation Week and one for the end of the school year. I used to be that person who thought teachers got paid really well for about nine months of work in a year, they had their summers off and it was glorious.

Then I started volunteering at my kids' school and then got a part time job there and let me tell you something: they are not paid near enough. In just a six month span of working at the school I got to interact with every child from Kindergarten through fifth grade. Yes, the majority are sweet children who are eager to learn and make you feel like you are giving them the world.

Then we have the other kids who are challenging. They just are. Maybe they have a terrible home life. Maybe they aren't taught to value education because so many kids in this world don't have the opportunities we have. Maybe they are genuinely dysfunctional and grow up to be dysfunctional and that's just who they are. Whatever the cause, they make it really hard. I've seen kids spit, kick, punch, scream, talk back, etc to teachers and assistants. I've seen parents come and just give zero cares in the world that their child, yes THEIR child, is a disrespectful, ill behaved little punk. Because yes, as a parent it's your job that they don't behave that way. Teachers aren't paid to discipline and parent your children.

*off the soap box*

So every time I make a gift, I inevitably have someone ask me why do I bother, it's not a big deal. Well I think it is. I want my children's teacher to know from the get go that I respect them and I will do everything in my power to make sure my child isn't the one that makes them question their career choice. I let them know that if at any time during the year they have any kind of issue- call me, email me, snag me in the hallway, send a pigeon carrier, whatever they have to do and let me know because I will not tolerate bad behavior from my child, no questions asked.

But also this year, I'm on a bit of a budget because we are broke. So I had to get a little creative. In the past I've gotten gift cards to a coffee shop and maybe a gift card to a place that can deliver lunch. I've done bookstore and craft store gift cards, mani/pedi gift cards, etc. I don't just give the gift card, I usually pair it with one or two smaller things so it's like a real fun package. This year, I went with a kind of "survival kit":

I made personalized blank note cards. 

I found these great wooden boxes in the dollar spot of Target a few months back. This acts at the "wrapping" of the gift. 

Inside I have the notecards, a little pack of sticky notes, hand sanitizer, lotion, a couple of candy bars, a small tube of Advil, and a couple of packets of water enhancer with caffeine. 

It's not a lot, but it's still a fun little box to get on the first day back that they can stick in their desk and dig through as they need it. The nice thing about Bath & Body Works is that they always have the coupons for free travel size items. I always use those and store them in a box in my bathroom closet to add to gift bags as a little extra. Each box only contains $8 of purchased things, the Bath & Body Works freebies, and then the cards I made. It looks like a lot for very little, always a win! 

If you liked this post- share it! Follow me on Bloglovin' to get blog updates, as well. Check back tomorrow, I'll be sharing my cost saving recipe for Pizza Pasta Bake! 

Domestic Bitch-- cake class graduate?

Oh yes. I have TWO weeks of cake decorating class to catch you up on and I hope you have a firm hold on your panties so I don't blow them off with my awesome.

First up was last week. We had to bring six cupcakes to decorate and then we were going to practice a shit ton of flowers, shells and leaves. These star flowers are ridiculously easy and I kind of rocked the twisty thing...whatever that is supposed to be.

 We then moved onto the pom pom flowers. Which I fucking hate and I will never do them in real life. Ever. You know why? Because they are hard and they hate me.

 I was super excited to do a shaggy mum because I was kind of feeling confident in my badassness at that point. Obviously you'll notice that was short lived because this mum is kind of dead.

 I didn't take pictures of my shells (which were HORRIBLE. I can't even speak to the awfulness that was my shell border) or my leaves (which I absolutely rocked and I am confident I can decorate a cake fully in leaves and it would be amazing). But then I decorated my cupcakes. And played with some other tips I had. And dammit if I didn't try another shaggy mum but that looked terrible too.

 Then this week it was our last week of the first session and we were supposed to decorate a full cake. Folks- I stayed up much later than I should have on Wednesday baking my cake and frosting it. But let me tell you- that for a girl who couldn't get her cakes out of the mother fucking pans to save her life four weeks ago? These bitches popped right out and were perfect. So if nothing else, I've spent $140 (course fee and stuff) to learn how to do that. Well worth it. But then my other issue? Frosting a cake so I don't get the crumbs everywhere. I am terrible at this but I was DETERMINED not to show up to class like an idiot holding a crumb covered cake. I was not going to be that girl. So I made myself my buttercream frosting (and I ate all of the extra. Which was probably the equivalent of three meals in fat/calorie content). But then I went onto YouTube and watched 15 videos on how to not kill your cake. Then I found this video:



It's changed my life. I cannot speak highly enough of the offset spatula. My undying love for the offset spatula can't be matched. It just can't. So after doing the "crumb layer" (look! I'm using lingo) and popping it into the fridge for 30 minutes, I frosted that cake. And woke Matt up to take my picture at approximately 11pm at night. He wasn't as impressed as he should have been.

So then this week was our last class. We were going to learn... ribbon roses and writing on cakes. Folks? I was the ribbon rose QUEEN in class. Not only did I have an awesome base for my rose but I owned those ribbon rose thingies. And? I was able to get them off my flower nail onto my cake without disaster. 

 I also can write on a cake like a pro. I had absolutely no problems doing that. So then I started decorating my cake.

 Emily and I graduated! Here is us with our finished cakes AND our certificates. You'll notice my cake caddy on the chair behind me. Um, yeah. We bought a caddy. But now I wish I had the super duper deluxe caddy like the lady behind me had. *sigh* But my caddy is still kind of kick ass, so there.

I am signed up for the next session which is mostly doing different flowers and we start next Thursday. I am totally loving these classes. I love that I have Emily who likes to take things like this just for fun because I would do it on my own, but having someone there I know to joke around with makes it 100 times more fun.

I will post about my other projects I've been doing... another day. I'm kind of tired folks. I took both kids to Boo at the Zoo today (which was a madhouse with hundreds of people and that is not an exaggeration) all by myself. Have you ever taken a six and three year old to a place giving out candy with hundreds of people swarming around all by yourself? No? Well let me just enlighten you- it's really difficult and exhausting. But I got a few cute pictures and I'll share those soon with yall.