Kids End of School Gift - FREE Printable

Whew! It is finally Friday!!! For us, this also means the first day of summer vacation!!! Yipee!!!

I always like to do a little gift for Matthew to give out to his classmates on the last day of school. 

{Remember our owl treat bags from last year?}

The last couple of weeks have been so crazy however, that I didn't even get a chance to think about what I wanted to do until after dinner the night before the last day.  Thank goodness for Pinterest and this cute idea from It Is What It Is.   After a few hours of working, I had 22 of these fun shovels and candy treats all packaged up and ready to go.

Just grab some shovels, celophane, and curling ribbon from the dollar store, pick up some candy treats {Matthew really stuck to a consistent theme and chose gummy tarantulas, whales, and dinosaurs}, and you are all ready to go!

You can download the tags here.  Just print as "fill to page" and you can just punch them out with a 3 inch circle punch. 

To assemble the shovels, punch a hole in the tags, cut two pieces of curling ribbon {approximately 2 feet each} and thread them through the hole.  Cut out a large square of celophane and add your treats to the middle.  Fold up the corners and wrap the ribbon around the celophane as well as the handle of the shovel.  Tie it up and curl the ribbon.

http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/

These would make cute party favors for a summer party too and would also work well attached to a sandpail. 

I hope you guys are all digging your summers too!  We are heading out for a family camping trip this weekend for the Canada Day long weekend.  Happy Canada Day to all of my fellow Canadians!! 

Have a fabulous weekend!

I linked up with The 36th Avenue, Tip Junkie, Not Just a Housewife, Craft-O-Maniac, Under the Table and Dreaming, Home Stories A to Z, Today's Creative Blog, Lolly Jane, 30 Handmade Days, The Shabby Nest, Whipperberry, Delightful Order, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Lil Luna, Today's Creative Blog, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Under the Table and Dreaming, I Heart Naptime, Positively Splendid, Funky Junk Interiors, Be Different Act Normal and Tatertots and Jello.

The Creative Spark {No. 46}

Hey guys!! I hope your week has been going well. Are you ready for a little partying?

This week I participated in Kristin and Maggie's Ready for Summer Blog party and shared our summer porch and backyard patio.

It was also Connor's last day of preschool so I whipped up these last minute teacher gifts with the help of a printable from Eighteen 25.

And finally I shared a super easy way to transfer images using wax paper.

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Okay, now it is time to see what all of YOU have been up to! I love checking out all of your fabulous ideas! Feel free to link up anything that you have created - crafts, DIY, scrapbook projects, organization ideas, decorating, recipes - anything goes!

Want to link up?

• Link directly to your specific post {not the homepage}.
• Please add The Creative Spark button to your post or blog {the code is in my sidebar} OR place a text link at the end of your post. I would love for you to help me spread the word!
• Check out some of the other fabulous links. A few nice comments always inspires us to create more!
• Follow along with Facebook to see if you have been featured throughout the week. I will also be back to showcase some of my favorite ideas for my Sunday Sparks.

Easy Wax Paper Transfer

I can't believe it is Monday!!!  This weekend just flew by and there is another crazy week ahead! We are now officially into our last week of school though so I just need to make it to Friday.  Summer vacation, here we come!

I just have a quick post for you today - one of those happy little crafting discoveries.  Remember my master bathroom that I have been working on? 

Well, even though I don't have a ton left to do on it, progress has kind of been at a stand still.  For some reason, those last little projects are always so hard to finish up!

See that corner in the mirror by the towel?  It was kind of empty looking so I decided to put a stool there.  I found a couple of small ones at Home Sense that I liked so I snatched them up.  One of them is in the corner of the master bedroom:

The other one that I bought was much more beat up and had some big white chips in it {I am assuming it is not solid wood!}  I did one quick coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White but it was still looking a little plain.  I really wanted to add a graphic to it but I am terrible at painting and do not even have a steady enough hand for tracing.  Then I came across this wax paper tutorial  and thought that I would give it a whirl! 

This is seriously one of the easiest projects that you could ever do {and trust me, if you could run into problems it would have happened to me!} 

• Pick a graphic.  I chose mine from Graphic Fairy.  Make sure you use a reverse image. Many of the images over at Graphic Fairy come in reverse but you can always just flip your image in a photo editing program as well.  Now don't ask me what the graphic actually says but Saint Denis was my favorite street to stroll down when I lived in Montreal so I decided on that one!

• To help the image transfer better, you want the wood slightly wet. I used a spray bottle, directed the spray up into the air and just let the mist fall on to the stool.
• Cut some wax paper to 8 1/2 x 11.  Print out the image onto the wax paper.  I just loaded the wax paper directly into the printer and it worked out fine.  Depending on your printer, you may have to lay it over a piece of regular paper to feed it through.  Gently guide the paper out as the image prints.
• Place the wax paper over the stool and use a credit card or other flat edge to burnish the image on.  You do not need to press too hard.  Make sure the paper does not move!  I found that with the wood slightly wet, the paper actually stuck quite nicely. Carefully remove the wax paper and you are done!!

I'm sorry that I was not able to get any pictures of the process but it literally takes 30 seconds to do and I did not want to risk moving the paper.  I have a metal tin that I want to try this technique with as well.  Not sure if it will work but I will let you know!

If you look in the mirror, you can also see that I added a new picture of my favorite two little guys.

And did a little redecorating of the counter top. 

I still have a few more boring {and tedious} projects to go but I am happy now with my little corner stool. 

So if you have 5 minutes today, find some wood and wax paper and give it a spin! 

Before I head off, I also wanted to mention that I have been having email problems for the past week and a bit.  New messages have been turning up randomly in my old messages {which I had deleted}.  Since I am unable to sort through 4000 emails to find the new ones, if you had sent me a question and I have not replied, please shoot me off another email.  I love your emails - I really do!!!

Have a fabulous week!

I linked up to Savvy Southern Style, Chic on a Shoestring, The 36th Avenue, Craft-O-Maniac, Lolly Jane, 30 Handmade Days, The Shabby Nest, The Shabby Art Boutique, Stone Gable, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Today's Creative Blog, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Under the Table and Dreaming, I Heart Naptime, Positively Splendid, Funky Junk Interiors, Be Different Act Normal, Tatertots and Jello, Tidy Mom, Whipperberry, Delightful Order, Uncommon, Lil Luna, Not Just a Housewife, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z, A Bowl Full of Lemons and Polly Want a Crafter.

My Sunday Sparks {No. 45}

Hello!  I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!  Sorry I am a little late getting this posted - we had a CRAZY rainstorm yesterday afternoon and lost our power for about 6 hours so I had to finish things up this morning.  It was a good excuse for an early bedtime last night though!!

Thank-you to everyone who came out to to party with me at The Creative Spark last Tuesday night.  There were tons of fabulous projects and ideas and I had a great time looking through your links!  I really wish I could highlight all of you but here are just a few of my favs.

Jacolyn Murphy always has the cutest party projects.  Even though I am Canadian, I love these 4th of July party invitations!

I am always on the lookout for fun scrapbook paper for boys, so this little banner from Sandy's Space totally caught my eye! {the paper is by Ruby Rock-It}

Southern Flair Crafts created this fabulous towel storage bin from a recycled Kleenex box.

Check out these party containers from The Decorating Files. Who would have thought that paper plates could be so cute?

Turtles and Tails created this amazing outdoor bar.  

And, lastly, Alderberry Hill made this lovely bench from an old headboard.  This makes me want to get going on some woodworking skills!!

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the party!  If you were featured here or on my Facebook page, feel free to grab a featured button from the sidebar.

Enjoy your Sunday!

End of the Year Teacher Gift

Wow! The end of the school year kind of crept up on me! It is Connor's last day of preschool today and they are celebrating at the water park {given the forecast we do not really need the water park to get wet!}   There really has not been any time to come up with an end of the year teacher gift and Connor has three teachers at his preschool to give to.  Luckily, the girls at Eighteen 25 always have amazing teacher gift ideas!

I just picked up some of my favorite products from Bath and Body Works {I am so happy they are now up in Canada!}, added them to the berry containers, wrapped them up and added the tag and some baker's twine. 

Now two more to go for Matthew's teachers next week!  If you are looking for more teacher gift ideas, you can check out some of our other ideas here, here, and here. 

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!  I will be bust getting ready for Connor's preschool graduation party tomorrow.  25cm of rain is forecasted so it looks like it will be an indoor party - not exactly what I was hoping for with 10 little preschoolers running around!

Happy Weekend!!!

I linked up to The Shabby Nest, Today's Creative Blog, I Heart Naptime,  Tatertots and Jello, Tidy Mom, Whipperberry, Delightful Order, Lil Luna, Not Just a Housewife and A Bowl Full of Lemons.

Summer Patio

Happy Thursday everyone!!   Today I am thrilled to be participating in the Get Ready for Summer Blog Party hosted by Kristin at Simply Klassic Home and Maggie from Midwestern Girl DIY.  There are so many fabulous bloggers joining in on the party and tons of summer inspiration for you all! 

The party has been running all week long and there have been so many amazing summer ideas shared already.  Head on over to Simply Klassic Home or Midwestern Girl DIY for links to all of the guest bloggers' posts and to participate in their daily link parties!  For those of you that are new around here, I am SO glad you could drop by for a visit! 

Today I will be showing you some of our outdoor decorating.  Being from British Columbia, we tend to get a lot of rain.  I am always thrilled when the warmer, sunnier summer weather rolls around and we can spend more time outside.

It doesn't really take much to make your front entry warm and inviting.  Last year, we painted our front porch black and I love the look against the lighter walls of the house.   If you are thinking of going black, just remember that dirt does show up a lot easier so you do have to get used to those inevitable little footprints showing up! 

One of the nice things about living in a cooler climate is that flowers tend to do quite well around here.  During the hotter months of July and August, they do need to be watered daily,  but they have generally established a pretty good root system by then and are still forgiving if you miss a day or two!

In the back, we have a patio leading off of our kitchen eating area.  It could do with a new staining but we have not had enough dry weather around here this year to get it done.

Instead of using expensive patio furniture, I dressed things up a bit by adding lots of color through pillows {that were purchased last year at Superstore}, little accessories, and more flowers!  I painted the little No. 1 flower box last year and it has distressed nicely over the winter.  Using unexpected containers for planters adds a unique touch to your patio - just get creative! 

The patio is East facing so it is great for catching some mid day sun but is nice and cool for those summer dinners.

If only I could figure out how to extend our summers, things would be perfect! {oh and it would be nice if thesun decided to show up soon!}

Thank-you so much for dropping by!  I hope you have enjoyed the outdoor tour.   Don't forget to head over to Simply Klassic Home or Midwestern Girl DIY to check out the other amazing bloggers and to link up your own summer decorating ideas!!!  See you there!

I linked up to Under the Table and Dreaming, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, The Shabby Nest, Stone Gable, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Today's Creative Blog, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Positively Splendid, Delightful Order, Uncommon, Lil Luna, Not Just a Housewife, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Polly Want a Crafter, Craft-O-Maniac, CRAFT, The DIY Showoff, Funky Junk Interiors, Too Much Time on My Hands, Tatertots and Jello, 30 Handmade Days, Tidy Mom, Whipperberry and Uncommon.

The Creative Spark {No. 45}

Happy Party Day!!  How has your week been going? It will be another busy couple of weeks around here but the countdown is now on until summer vacation.  Less than two weeks to go and we can't wait!

Since I know you guys are all busy as well, I thought I would recap each Tuesday what has been going on around the blog for the past week.  That way we can all get caught up when you are here for the party!  So here we go...   

I started off last Monday sharing my To Do List and how I try to keep my schedule organized.  I also featured some other great To Do lists from around blogland so you can find the perfect one for you!

Although I am trying to focus more on organization ideas this month, June is a busy month for the kids' activities!  I am getting ready for Connor's Preschool Graduation party this weekend and created a tutorial for these cute graduation cap invitations.

It is also the end of baseball season around here and I made up these baseball cupcakes for the team.  Unfortunately, the game got rained out and post-poned until tonight....  Not sure if those cupcakes are going to make it.

And finally, I am still trying to get caught up with the posts from Connor's Star Wars Party last month.  This week was all about the party decor!

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Okay, now it is time to see what all of YOU have been up to!  I love checking out all of your fabulous ideas!  Feel free to link up anything that you have created - crafts, DIY, scrapbook projects, organization ideas, decorating, recipes - anything goes!

Want to link up?

• Link directly to your specific post {not the homepage}.
• Please add The Creative Spark button to your post or blog {the code is in my sidebar} OR place a text link at the end of your post. I would love for you to help me spread the word!
• Check out some of the other fabulous links. A few nice comments always inspires us to create more!
• Follow along with Facebook to see if you have been featured throughout the week. I will also be back to showcase some of my favorite ideas for my Sunday Sparks.

Star Wars Party Decor

Another Monday is here again! I hope you all had a great weekend and had a chance to celebrate all of the wonderful Dads in your life! Dave and I spent the weekend out in Vancouver for our 11th wedding anniversary and the kids {and my parents} joined us out there on Sunday for Father's Day.  It was a great weekend but much too fast!!

Since I was away all weekend, I didn't get a chance to take pictures of any of the organization projects that I have been working on {don't worry - I still have more to come!}  Instead, I thought I would get to posting the rest of Connor's Star Wars party.  If you missed the other posts, you can find them here, here, and here!

Today is all about one of my favorite parts of the party - the decorations!!   

Considering that I am not really a huge Star Wars fan, I actually had a lot of fun decorating for this party.  I used a black, silver, blue and green color scheme. 

I used black wrapping paper on the wall behind the food table and added stars to it with a silver pen.  I also wrapped old boxes with the black and houndstooth wrapping paper to elevate some of the food displays.

For the napkins, I found this super cute light saber napkin and cutlery holder idea over at Catch My Party {along with the free printable}.  I used double sided tape to secure the handle together first and then folded up the napkin {pinching the end that I inserted into the handle}.  Once it was all together, the cutlery just slipped right in.

I also used the R2-D2 cup idea from Catch My Party. I used an adhesive inkjet photo transfer paper that I purchased at Staples.  It kind of has a cloth feel to it and it stuck on really well.  I have even placed the cup in the dishwasher a few times and it still stayed on {although the color did fade a bit}

I always love making tissue poms and did some up in silver and black to hang above the table and to place on the hutch. 

For the water bottles, I just cut some strips of blue glitter paper that were left over from the invitations, wrapped them around the water bottle and attached the storm trooper tags to the front {click here for the free download}. 

If your child is anything like mine, you will have lots of little Star Wars men and that you can add to your table for a little extra decor!

And just in case you need a little reminder to stay calm during the party, I printed this out and placed it in a frame in front of the food table.  How perfect can you get?

My Pinterest link to We Heart It {where I printed it out from} has been disabled.  Apparently there is some "inappropriate" content on that site.  Anyways, I can't find the link to it there but did find this one.

Hopefully that gives you a few ideas if you are planning a Star Wars Party of your own!

If you haven't had a chance to enter my List PlanIt giveaway, today is the last day!!!  List PlanIt offers hundreds of lists and planners to help you get {and stay!} organized.  Entry numbers are low so you have a great chance at winning!!! 

I hope you all have a great week! 

I linked up with Craft-O-Maniac, CRAFT, Too Much Time on My Hands, Tatertots and Jello, 30 Handmade Days, Tidy Mom, Whipperberry, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Delightful Order, Lil Luna, Not Just a Housewife, Tip Junkie, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Home Stories A to Z and Skip To My Lou.