Coming Up for Air/Holiday Goodies

So much for keeping up my blog! This past semester really kicked my "you know what!" In addition to teaching three math classes at a nearby high school, I was taking classes of my own, and trying to study for the "math test from hell," which would label me as "highly qualified" to teach secondary math in the state of AZ. Oh, and throw in the normal, everyday household and child-rearing stuff. And since I wasn't quite busy enough....I was training for a 1/2 marathon.

Sanity? Saaaaanityyyyyyyyyyyyy! Where aaaaaaaaaaarrrrreeee yoooooouuuuu?!?

Oh! There you are....buried in my crap storage sewing room!

Now here we are, on a two week winter break. The 1/2 marathon is run (2 hrs and 18 mins!), the monster test is taken (and passed....woo hoo!), and I'm not taking any classes at the moment. Time to catch up on some projects!

And the first one to tackle was teacher gifts. I pulled out two of my most fave tutorials.

First, the lanyard tutorial from my dear friend Tracey over at sew.simply.creative. I've used this one many times now, and it's always a crowd pleaser!

I let my kids go through my "stash" and choose the fabrics that they thought their teachers would like. This is what we ended up with:

Next, I pulled up my other favorite tute, the tea wallet from Is It Naptime Yet? I used the fabrics my kids chose, paired with coordinating fabrics. Then I filled them with a variety of teas.

And of course you need something to drink the tea out of! I just love these reusable mugs that have that coffee shop "paper cup" look with the convenience of a dishwasher-safe plastic!

And we all know one of the best (and most important!) parts of gift giving is the presentation. I found these adorable apple ornaments at JoAnn fabrics, so I added the teacher's names on the front and a message from my kids on the back and used them as the gift tag. The gift bags are just basic drawstring bags made from some cute Christmas fabrics.

I think they turned out quite nice and the teachers loved them!

Happy Holidays!