Teacher Appreciation Week

This week is Teacher Appreciation week - a time to show teachers (and/or daycare providers, administrators, etc.) just how grateful you are for all that they do for your children.  

There are quite a few websites you can go to in order to get ideas of just how to show your appreciation.  I tend to go the 'handmade' route when giving gifts, so this year I decided to make chocolate covered pretzels and brownies for my daughter's daycare providers.  I hope they like chocolate...but what do they expect from a mom who is 8 months pregnant?  

I used two different 'recipes' to make the chocolate covering on the pretzels.  

(1)  Wilton Candy Melts

I went to Wal-Mart and saw Wilton Candy Melts for $3.25 (usually much more expensive at craft stores such as Joann and Michaels).  I thought I would give them a try since their sole purpose for existence is to melt, mold, and harden.  

Melting:

• 12 ounce bag of Wilton Candy Melts
• Pour the bag of Candy Melts into microwavable bowl
• Microwave for 2 minutes at half power (power 5 on my microwave)
• Mix
• Microwave for another 25 seconds at half power

After melting the chocolate, I used a silicone scraper to coat pretzels rods with chocolate and placed them on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper.  A 10 ounce bag of pretzel rods contains about 27 rods but you have to remember that some of them will be broken.  I bought two bags of rods and found that the 12 ounce bag of Wilton Candy Melts made about 30 rods. I sprinkled pecans on half of the pretzels and then put them in the fridge for about 15 minutes.  

The pretzel rods turned out really well - the chocolate hardened like a charm and didn't get soft after sitting at room temperature.  

(2)  Nestle Morsels

 A recipe I retrieved online was to use semi-sweet morsels and shortening as the chocolate dipping.  The recipe was 12 ounce bag of morsels and 1 tablespoon of shortening.  

Melting:  

•  Combine 12 ounce bag of morsels and 1 tablespoon of shortening in microwavable bowl
• Microwave at half power (power 5 on my microwave) for 1 minute
• Mix
• Microwave at half power for another 30 seconds, or as needed.  

After melting the chocolate, I dipped Snyders Olde Tyme pretzels (regular pretzels) into the chocolate with a pair of tongs.  After being dipped, I tapped the pretzel gently (holding it with tongs) to remove excess chocolate.  I placed them on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper and put them in the fridge for about 30 minutes.  

While the pretzels covered easily with the chocolate, the chocolate seemed to soften after being set out at room temperature...perhaps it was the shortening?  In the future, I will stick to the Wilton Candy Melts. 

I put the pretzels in decorative plastic bags and put them in a basket that I decorated with flowers and ribbon for my daughter's two daycare providers.  My husband said they would think the pretzels and brownies in the basket were store bought, so I made a little tag stating that they were handmade (by my daughter).  I used one of the many fonts I downloaded from Kevin and Amanda. 

  

Shockingly enough, I was unable to find Teacher Appreciation Day greeting cards.  So, I decided to take some blank cards and make my own using this Word Art I created.  I printed it out on colored paper and glued it onto the front of a blank card.  Feel free to download here:

For the administrators and a few other people who work closely with my daughter, I put together bags with some of the chocolate covered pretzels and brownies.  I decorated the bags with a little name tag for each, and a little flower to dress it up. 

 

 Hope these give you some ideas for future gifts! 

Gift for Fellow Crafter

As we get older, it seems to be such a struggle to figure out what to give friends or family members as gifts.  Of course,  handmade gifts are always super special to the recipient.  However, sometimes LEARNING a craft can be a wonderful gift as well!

This year for my mom's birthday I signed us both up for jewelry-making class at Joann Fabric.  I had to check around at several stores, as they all seem to offer slightly different classes and schedules.  If you search for the location of a specific store location, you can download their class schedule online, which is quite convenient.  In my experience, the larger "superstores" offer a wider variety of classes and times than the smaller stores. 

Michaels also offers classes, but at the time I called them, they only were offering a scrapbooking and cake decorating class.  Unlike Joann, they do not offer their class schedule online. 

I made a card for my mom stating what the gift was (obviously I had to check with her before booking the class to ensure she was available).  I definitely could have been more creative with the card, but was pressed for time.  

With the card, I framed a picture of my mom and my daughter, so I could actually give her something tangible (and somewhat sentimental). 

She loved the gift and we both look forward to spending time together learning how to make jewelry! 

Baby's New Room

We are expecting our second baby girl in less than three months, which will make she and her sister only 18 months apart!  While it will be very exciting to have two girls so close in age, it is also a little nerve racking.  We have started to get the baby's room in order, but I feel that I'm falling a little behind.  The crib and dresser are set up and I have picked out the bedding (we are keeping the double bed in the baby's room).  My plan is to coordinate the crib bedding with the quilt set I got for the double bed.  While I haven't taken any pictures of the bedding set up in Baby Girl II's room, I found some pictures of the set online. 

Since I wasn't able to find any wall art to match the set, I decided to make my own!  The picture below will go above the dresser (I sent it away to get it printed in 16"x24"):

I am not yet sure how I am going to hang the photo - whether I will frame it or adhere it to canvas and hang it with ribbon.  I also created and ordered three complementary prints that will match (each measuring 12"x16") that I plan to hang above the double bed.  I will post pics when the prints come in and I finally figure out how I'm going to hang them.  Total price of all prints:  $15 (including shipping)!  I ordered them through Artscow during one of their many promotions.  I have ordered 4"x6" and 5"x7" prints as well as photobooks, coasters, and tote bags through the company and been very satisfied with the products.  However, I have never ordered "poster size" prints so I am anxious to see the quality. 

Coloring and Activity Pages

While on Facebook this evening, I saw a friend had posted how much she loved Color Wonder paint.  Having never heard of it, I decided to Google it to find out what it's all about.  The "paint" is clear, but magically appears on special paper.  Gone are the days of set up and clean up...where we had to wear smocks and worry about staining our clothes.

While on the Crayola website, I browsed around to see what other craft ideas they had to offer.  I happened upon the "Coloring Pages" section, which was actually quite impressive - well organized with not just coloring pages but also activity pages.  From puzzles and games to cut and color, they have quite a variety to choose from.  The beauty of it is that you can print them all at home for free, stick them in a binder, and save them for a rainy day.

Activities for Children

Although I am not a full time stay at home, I am always after ideas of little projects I can do with my daughter when she gets to the age where she has the dexterity and understanding of what we are doing.  I happened upon this wonderful website called No Time For Flashcards.  The woman who authors the web site also writes for other parenting blogs and offers some very creative and fun projects for parents and kids to do in order to enhance learning.  You can subscribe to the website via email or Twitter.  I subscribe via email and receive daily emails that I file away for a rainy day. 

Holiday Gifts

It is always a struggle to figure out what to give teachers and classmates for holiday celebrations (with budget an obvious concern).  There are a total of ten children in my daughter's daycare class (nine plus her) so I felt I could spend a little more on each child without spending too much total.  Since they are ages one to two, I didn't really want to get candy or sweets to put in their Valentine's bag, so I decided to go to the Dollar Store to buy stuffed animals (can be found cheap at Michael's, Target $1 spot, Dollar Store, etc).  I made personalized Valentines and had them printed as a 4x6 photo and put them in an envelope, then wrapped the cards around each of the stuffed animals' neck by punching holes in the envelope and tying ribbon through it.  They turned out very cute - the teachers raved about how much the kids would love them. 

Below is the Valentine I made, and at about 15 cents each, it's not that much more expensive than the generic ones you buy in the stores:

For the teachers, I made truffles and put them in a candy box (purchased a a package of 1/2 pound candy boxes at Michaels), which fit about six truffles.  I then put a personalized label on the front of each and tied it with a bow to jazz it up a bit.  

Below is the label I made:

Triple Truffle Tryout Results

It was a toss up on which recipe I liked the best.

Trial #1

• 1/2 cup evaparoated milk
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 3/4 cups (11.5-oz. pkg.) chocolate morsels
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

COMBINE evaporated milk and sugar in small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

STIR in morsels. Stir until mixture is smooth. Stir in almond extract. Refrigerate for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Shape into 1-inch balls; roll in nuts, coconut, etc. Cover; refrigerate until ready to serve.

***This recipe formed very well but was not as rich tasting as Trial #2.

_______________________________

Trial #2

• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups (12 ounces) chopped semi-sweet chocolate

Heat cream, butter in medium saucepan over low heat until butter is melted. Remove from heat. Add chocolate. Let stand for 2 to 3 minutes; stir until chocolate is melted. Return to heat for a few seconds if necessary to melt chocolate. 

Refrigerate for about 2 hours or until firm enough to roll. 

Roll chocolate mixture into 1-inch balls and roll in nuts, coconut, etc. Store at room temperature in airtight container.

***This recipe did not form as well as Trial #1, but I only allowed it to chill for 1 hour, so I think the longer it could chill, the better.  This recipe was very rich and I thought it was the better tasting of the two.  

Triple Truffle Tryout

Tonight I tried three different truffle recipes to determine the best 'base' for making truffles.

(1)  Heavy cream, butter, and chocolate;
(2)  Heavy cream and chocolate;
(3)  Evaporated milk, sugar, and chocolate.

I will post the best recipe so you can try it.  My guess is that the evaporated milk recipe will be the best as it seemed to have the best consistency before being chilled.  I will also post pictures.  The wonderful thing about truffles is that once you find a 'base' that works well for you, you can make it in mass and separate it into separate bowls before chilling, so you can add different fillers (coconut, chopped almonds, crushed cookies, etc.) 

FREEBIE: Halloween Card

I created this Halloween card to send to relatives with Natalee's photo in the center.  I figured I would share it in case others wanted to do something similar.  I haven't completed the card yet because I still need to take a picture of Natalee in her costume, but will post it when I'm done.  Please post links to your own creations! 

The fonts I used for this document were all downloaded for free and are the following:

•  Jane Austen 
•  Lithos Pro
  
•  Bleeding Cowboys

Enjoy!

Download Link

FREEBIE: Fun Program

One of my coworkers asked me how to morph two faces into one in Photoshop.  While I am still determined to find the answer to this, I found a cool little online program that allows you to upload photos and morph them into one face.  It takes a little time to "prepare" the images, but the outcome is pretty fun(ny). 

The website is: www.morphthing.com

Enjoy!

FREEBIE: Fonts

You are no longer confined to the boring fonts that came with your computer.  There is a plethora of font types that can be downloaded for free. 

Three sites that I frequent for fonts are:

Dafont
1001 Free Fonts
Urban Fonts

When visiting any of these sites, you can browse by font type, such as Handwritten or Western.  Once you find one you may like to download, right click on the download link.  (Dafont's download link is located to the right of the font and says "Download PC/Mac OS X."  1001 Free Fonts' download link is located to the right of the font and allows you to choose whether it is for Windows or Mac.  Urban Fonts' download link is located to the bottom right of the font and says "Win" or "Mac.")

Directions to download and load the font:

1. Right click on the appropriate download link and click SAVE AS. 
2. Select the location on your computer where the file will be located. 
3. Find the file and extract the files.  (Right click on ZIP and click Extract All).
4. Once the files are extracted, go to your Control Panel (Start -> Control Panel).
5. Scroll to the folder entitled FONTS and double click to open.
6. Drag and drop the extracted font files into the FONTS folder. 
7. The next time you open a program (Photoshop, Word, etc.) your font should appear in the font pull down menu.  Note:  If you currently have a program open when loading a new font into the FONTS folder, it may not show up until you close and reopen the program. 

Enjoy!

TUTORIAL: Photoshop Batch Edit

Photoshop has a a convenient tool that allows users to effortlessly compress, resize, and/or perform Actions on a multitude of photos with the click of just a few buttons. This is sometimes known as Batch Editing.

1. Open Photoshop
2. File -> Scripts -> Image Processor
3. The Image Processor window will open up.
4. Select the folder where the images you want to process are located by clicking Select Folder.
5. Select the folder where you would like your processed images to be saved by clicking Select Folder. (This creates a new copy of of your images so your orginals are not altered).
6. Select whether you would like the images saved as a JPEG, PSD, or TIFF file. For each of the file formats, you may select a quality value (0-12, with 12 being the highest quality), as well as height and width of the images. If you want, you may save the images in multiple file types by checking the appropriate boxes.
7. In the Preferences section, if you want to run an Action, you may click the Run Action box and select the appropriate Action. If all you want to do is compress/resize, be sure the Run Action box is unchecked.
8. Click the Run button on the top right side of the Image Processor window.

Photo Recovery

We've all been there...you accidentally press the "delete all" button on your camera rather than just deleting a single photo...or, your photo card gets corrupted! Both have happened to me, and the one FREE program that has done wonders in recovering my data is called PC Inspector Smart Recovery.

If you are interested in downloading the program, you may do so at this reputable site:

PC Inspector Smart Recovery (downloadable from CNET)

For some reason, some Vista operating systems have a runtime error when you attempt to launch the program. The workaround I have found is to right click on the program icon and click "Run as Administrator." Just another one of those Vista glitches.

FREEBIES: Photoshop Actions

In my daily effort to become more knowledgable about Photoshop CS3, I have been researching Photoshop Actions. Actions are a series of tasks that you play back on a single file or batch of files - it is a quick an easy way to "replay" a group of tasks to effortlessly effect the changes on files all at once.

Due to my obsession with freebies, I have been looking for free actions to download. Some of the favorites I have found include Lomo, Out of Bounds, and Polaroid (compliments of Addicted to Design.) and of course, Smooth Skin (compliments of Turning Turnip)!..but my search has just begun. There are so many generous people out there willing to disseminate their Actions for our use! Here is my not so exclusive list, as of this evening:

Action Central
Turning Turnip
PanosFX
Addicted to Design
FinesseFX

If you are unfamiliar with Actions, I found a pretty good tutorial. I typically prefer written tutorials to videos so I can more easily follow it step-by-step. This one written by Ms. Bradley is pretty comprehensive and easy to understand: Complete Guide to Using Actions in Photoshop

Another really great Photoshop resource I found was the Photoshop Exchange. While there doesn't appear to be much on the Exchange main page, you can find pages and pages of items by clicking on the "Browse by Category" section in the right pane of the page. For example, the Photoshop Exchange Actions section has more than 5000 pages. Along with Actions, they also have free Brushes, Filters, Plug-Ins, Scripts, Templates, Tutorials and more!

Where To Begin?

The first post..where do I begin? I am a lost soul in the big world of crafts. I love to try a variety of crafts, from sewing to digital scrapbooking, but haven't really found my niche because I like to try so many things. If I had to choose, I guess digital scrapbooking and photography would be my favorite crafting hobbies. My husband would probably argue that I am addicted to my laptop.

I have been using Microsoft Digital Image Pro, but am finally making the transition to Photoshop CS3! I am taking an 18 hour class from a local photographer, but realize that is not nearly long enough to become proficient with the program. I try to look at tutorials online and search Photoshop Help to become more knowledgable, but it is such a complex program that I feel like I will never know it all. If I didn't have the cutest baby in the world to spend time with at night, I would probably take a more comprehensive Photoshop class.

I posted some pages from my first ever digital scrapbook at Craftee Mama's Pages. I will post more, but for now, I would like to spend my time working on new layouts. Since I am obsessed with digital scrapbook freebies, I would like start creating my own freebies for others to use.