Simply Seleta

$1 chic gift container

Over the next couple of posts, I'd like to share a few simple ideas for gift giving, decorating, or entertaining.  I know there isn't much time left before Christmas, so let's get started.

Today's idea is a gift container...one that's way better and far more unique than a box or gift bag.  It takes less than one dollar and five minutes to make!  I had a little help from my partner in crime...we'll show you how we made it.

Supplies you'll need:

small paint can [.89 cents at your hardware store]

wrapping paper or patterned paper [can be practically free if you have some leftover]

scissors

We began with this adorable paper.  I know it's not your average Christmas colors, but it's very whimsical and winter wonderland-like, right? 

 

1.  Start by folding your paper in a straight line at what will be the very top of your gift container.  Then draw a line on the bottom as you roll it.

2.  Measure exactly how much paper will wrap around your can and mark it.

3.  Cut the measured paper.

4.  Wrap the cut portion around your can.  Then tape or glue it together.  We used tape this time.

5.  Voila!  Place your gift in your festive little container.  We used some simple gerber daisies from Jennifer's birthday.  You can't see the paint can's handle, but it's there.

 

These little cans can be used for so much, and not just for Christmas!  My mind is swimming with all of the possibles...

1. Dinner party favors for guests.  Cover can with a chic wallpaper and fill it with a small herb plant that your guests can plant at home.
2. Cover in custom monogrammed paper you printed out and load it up with # 2 pencils - a perfect gift for a teacher's desk.
3. Cover in plaid wrapping paper and fill with candy canes or chocolates.  An adorable holiday touch in your entryway.
4. Cover in vintage paper and fill with your favorite cookies including a handwritten copy of the recipe...give them to a neighbor or friend during the holidays.
5. Cover in oilcloth and fill with popcorn for a fun spend-the-night birthday party treat for your kids.

Obviously I've gotten a little out of control and need to stop...but you get the picture.  I could seriously could go on and on.  This is such an easy and fast project to do...and costs next to nothing!  

details

Where did summer go? 

It seems I blinked my eyes and it's time for school to start again.  So the next few days I'll be scrambling to get our home organized and also running all around town to snag school supplies. 

Pictured above are our colored pencils which I keep in $1 tins that I picked up from Target.  Storing them in small containers like this makes them colorful bouquets in their own right and also gives busy little hands quick access to creating masterpieces.  A favorite spot for our tots to design?  The front porch.  Even children are inspired when surrounded by the sights and sounds of nature.

They get very serious about their artwork.

It's always fun to see what they create.



I may be a delinquent blogger for the next week, as I get everything back in order in our home after a busy summer break.  It's also quite possible I may completely collapse after about 80 days in a row feeding and entertaining offspring around the clock.  I'm guessing some of you may be in the same boat?

Once I do recover, keep your eyes peeled for a couple of creative posts I'm working on which I hope will inspire any upcoming at-home projects you may be starting in your own home this time of year.

Are you starting any new projects at home?  Painting?  Reorganizing?  Renovating?  

Do tell. 

speaking of guilty pleasures...

Okay girls, all of your answers about sinful indulgences made me incredibly hungry!  All day long I've been craving peanut butter and chocolate, wine, chips and salsa, ice cream, honey bbq fritos, more baked lays, popcorn, oreos and milk, you get the picture.

That being said, I wanted to show you what I did for our end of the year teacher gifts.  I know school is long gone for the summer, but I think this is still a fun concept for a simple gift.

Since I love jars and remain obsessed with Darby's label idea, I thought I'd give the whole label thing a second round.  For my daughter's first grade teacher, I thought it would be fun to fill one jar with treats that are "naughty" and another jar with treats that are "nice."  Super cute on a desk!  In an envelope I placed extra labels I made for her so that when she starts her next school year, she's color coordinated and has some fun getting a few things organized.

For my son's third grade teacher, I grabbed packs of stickies and put them in a bigger jar since it was  going to be just one jar on her desk.  I tried to match the color with a clipboard gift and desk accessories I gave her earlier in the year.  Remember those fun clipboards for the kids? 

You can have lots of fun with this idea.  Jars can be loaded with just about anything.  For Father's Day [yes, it's this weekend!], I bet it would be cute to label a jar for Dad and fill it with coupons for him that the kids write.  Or type a long list of all of the things you love about him as a Dad and cut them into strips to fill in the jar. 

Oh, and if you missed Darby's tutorial on how to make your own labels, it's right here.

Earlier I blogged about meeting a celebrity, but I have to say....TEACHERS are totally worthy of celebrity status.  Don't you think?  They dedicate endless hours day to day mentoring and teaching our children.  If you ask me, I believe teachers deserve all the recognition in the world.  I know that Mrs. McCormick [pictured here with our proud first grader on the last day of school] brought so much happiness to our daughter literally everyday.  I don't think I've ever met a sweeter teacher.  And every day when our little one woke up she couldn't wait to go to school and see her teacher.  What a gift!  Thank you, Mrs. McCormick!

On the last day of school, students were told they technically didn't have to go and it would not be counted as an absense if they did not attend.  This child got up extra early that day all excited to go to school because she knew she would be one of only a few kids in class.  I asked if she was sure about that because everyone else was going to be home and going swimming and having fun.  As she put it, "No Mommy, I have to go because I'll get Mrs. McCormick all to myself!"  She couldn't wait.  Needless to say, she cried a little in the car on the way to school at the very thought of having to say goodbye.  But the tears dried up and all was well the second she walked in and saw her beloved "Mrs. Mac."

label of love...

I love pretty labels.  But I've always been embarrassingly handicapped when it comes to doing any kind of project on my computer.  Until now.

THE CHALLENGE...

One of my tasks this week was to knock out snacks and treat bags for students plus teachers in our oldest child's class since they were having some standardized testing.  Usually this kind of thing is not my forte.  I was kind of dreading it. 

But there is one fab blogger who inspires me weekly.  She's a warrior mom and quite the creative diva.  I respect how she's rearing her children.  I love her ideas.  She always makes me laugh.  And most of all I'm grateful of how generous she is to those of us who read her blog.  [I'll give you her name in a minute.  You must first suffer through my rambling.]

IT ALL STARTED WITH THIS...

Just one simple post by this blogger inspired me to turn a potentially mundane task into a fun opportunity to create.  I'm going to show you everything I made throughout the course of this week and then share with you who this fab blogger is and how you can get instructions on making deliciously fab self-adhesive labels without spending more than $3.  

MY BEGINNING...

The first day this week I was in charge of providing snacks for 58 students and teachers.  I'll give it to you straight up, my immediate thought was, "oh crap."  I barely have time to feed my own four offspring. 

I didn't want to spend a fortune or serve junk, so I tried to keep it simple and healthy.  I was thinking fresh fruit and sliced cheese would be yummy. 

And there it was, the perfect title to Round One of snacks.  "Yum!"

 

To save $$$ I just bought all the ingredients for the snacks in big packs.  Then sliced, diced and peeled at home.  Strangely, I enjoyed peeling 20 oranges. 

Next day my snack idea was easy.  Since I love the look of brown paper bags, I knew they would be a great disposable container for another simple snack.  In each bag I put in an apple with an individually wrapped piece of sesame crunch as a super-sweet treat.  I thought the label would look best as simple, fun and literal. 

Voilà.

Again, it was inexpensive but stylish.  And healthy!  Isn't that a great combo?

And finally came [drum roll please] the "treat bag" day for the kids.  I was instructed to provide each student a treat bag as a reward for a week of taking tests.  Funny, I don't ever remember getting treats after tests in our school.  Maybe my grades would have been better if we had been rewarded with something like little cuttings of LuLu DK fabric?     

When I went shopping to find the treat bag inventory, I realized it's really challenging getting 3rd graders goodies without spending a lot.  And as far as bags went, all I saw were ones that were cheesy and over-priced.  Remember, there aren't that many fab shopping options out here.  So I thought to myself, "does their treat really have to be in a bag?" 

I had an idea.  Clipboards!  Yes, all those fabulous MacBeth mini clipboards left me a little obsessed.

So I gathered all the goodies and came back home to assess.

On the day of making the treats I had a sick child helper home from school.  After dropping the other three off to their schools that morning, my newly appointed assistant and I ate scrambled eggs then got busy on our project.

Well, I had a helper for about twelve seconds until Pom Pom lured her to join him in playing with ribbon.

Here is how their treats turned out.  Cute, huh?

All of my supplies came from the Dollar Tree, Office Max, Michaels and Target.  I snagged notepads and mini picture frames from the Dollar Tree.  The mini clipboards [$1.69 each] from Office Max.  The ribbon [.99 cent spools] and decorative paperclips from Michaels.  Tech Deck skateboards are from Target. 

For extra fun, I labeled each clipboard with the students' names.

Are you seeing some kind of obsessive label theme in this post?  Oh, you noticed.  Which brings me to my point [thanks for hanging in there].

WHO'S THE FAB BLOGGER WHO TAUGHT YOU HOW TO MAKE LABELS?

Darby , of course.  Have you seen her blog?  I love it.  She's kind of like a mini-Martha who lives in Alabama while raising three precious tots.  She sews, embroiders, smocks, bakes, really does all things domestic.  I'd list more, but it would be a mile long.  

WHERE CAN I GO FOR HER EXCELLENT TUTORIAL ON  MAKING PRETTY LABELS?

Right here.

I have to thank Darby for teaching me something new and inspiring me to find joy in something as simple as serving others.

Finally, I let my little assistant enjoy a big fat powdered donut while the other three were at school.  Being my number three child, I feel perpetual mom-guilt about not giving her the attention I think she so deserves.  So I took this chance to spoil her a little.  Shhhhh, don't tell the others.

And she ate every bite. 

{copycat} calendar...

I spotted a fun and practical homemade calendar from this talented blogger and mom of five.  Being a perpetually frustrated planner, this idea was quite appealing to me.   For some reason I can't seem to stick with my mac or iphone in keeping our daily events straight.  The end result is forgetting important meetings or showing up late to things.  Not pretty with a family of six.  I think I must need to visualize a calendar in a large scale. 

So I thought I'd give this calendar a whirl with my crew.

The supplies needed are simple.  You may even be able to use pretty papers you already have from around the house.  I know I have some paper addicts out there who could so do that. 

I spent a total of $4 on supplies.  All you need:

1. paper squares for each day  [I used post-its for convenience]
2. tacks or staples
3. bulletin board  
4. eager kids or creative adult/s

You could easily pick out gorgeous papers and make this one stylish cal.  And change up the look and color scheme each month.  I bet this girl as well as this one could design a fiercely chic calendar.  For me, high design was not on the radar, so we kept it simple and went for a Valentine-ish look. 

I laid out the post-its and let my youngest daughter go to town with the colorful tacks.  She loved picking the colors and took her job very seriously.  We used our bulletin board that I bought from Ballard years ago.  It's discontinued but I still love it.

 

Oldest daughter loved the task of numbering each day. [her rhinestone headband is from JCrack and I love that it's her fav]

 

Here's our end result.  We cut out some hearts with our craft paper and added them along the top.  The girls are all excited about doing this again next month and changing the whole look.  The boys couldn't care less. 

OTHER USES
You could also use this project for an office calendar, a teenager's room, monthly dinners [if you're mega organized/borderline insane] or a sports schedule with multiple kiddos. 

FINAL IDEA
Kid date night!  Since there are 4 offspring in our house, I thought it would be fun give each one a "date night" alone with us [me and husband] this Valentine's month.  The way it works is they each get their own Friday night and get to pick wherever they want to go for dinner.  Our oldest requested his dinner to be in Las Vegas.  I had to explain that the date needs to stay within a 25 mile radius.  They're all pumped and very specific about where they want to go.  Our three year old wants to take along his girlfriend on his date night.  Tomorrow we're drawing numbers to see what order each child gets their special night.  Just thought I'd throw this idea out there for other moms and dads who have multiple offspring like us. 

[calendar tags in first photo available from here]

i like this...

Oh Martha, your overworked staff you always come up with the coolest ideas.  So I'm sharing this one just in case some haven't seen it yet. 

Can't afford to use your favorite wallpaper for an entire room?  Make a faux headboard for some swanky style!

Head over here for how-to details and headboard template.

eggsquisite lights...

What's better than recyling?  Creating pure loveliness out of something that was headed straight for the trash.  I spotted these and thought they were pretty cool.  I really love the color, texture and shape.

With a little time and creativity, you can light up a dreery spot with these little twinkles.  Directions here.

simple bouquet...

FACT:  I have this thing for glass jars and bottles and have serious trouble throwing them away.

Here's a lovely and inexpensive way to display your favorite flowers.  Personally, I have trouble arranging fresh flowers.  They usually end up looking like an asymmetrical cone of blooms when I finish putting them in a container.  So I tried using my leftover bottles and jelly jars to display these white Gerber daisies.  Granted, this glassware is not antique, but it still has some character. 

I love the different shapes and sizes of the bottles with the continuity of displaying the same type of flower. 

 

By the way, this is also an arranging session that can easily be done with tots.  My younger two helped me fill the jars with water and place all of the flowers in their containers.  It was fun.  And they were so proud of the end result!

Danny Seo does a great job with his own vintage bottle collection...

weekend project...

I like this simple tote embellished with sea shells.  Very fitting for warm weather and flip flops.  Try it out.  Click here for how to.  I bet Darby could whip one up in no time.  Maybe she'll surpise us all and make one.

 

spill the beans...

Whew, it's getting hot down here at the beach.  I love hot weather, so I'm not complaining.

As summer heats up, I think it's good to have a few indoor activities to do with your tots to save them from melting [or burning] in the hottest part of the day.  Plus, I'm a huge advocate of "imaginative play" for young minds.  Research shows it really builds their brains and helps them develop far better than sitting in front of a TV.  Read this from one of my favorite child experts.

So yesterday I found a good 30 minute - one hour activity that works well with a two year old and three year old while big brother and big sister are at school...

It doesn't stain.

It builds their brain.

It helped me stay sane.


WHAT IS THIS?
It's a Montessori sorting and pouring activity with beans. 

HOW DOES IT WORK? 
Buy a few different types of dried beans at the grocery store [$3 investment] and gather a few small containers.  The more the merrier.  Grab some scoopers, spoons and other manipulatives. 

DO TODDLERS LIKE IT? 
Trust me they love it and they will go to town pouring, sorting, and pretending.  It's amazing.  Plus, it builds their fine motor skills.  Older children would enjoy it as well.

IS IT MESSY?
Well, only a little.  But I can totally handle it because all you have are little beans on the floor.  Nothing smashed, sticky or stained.  Personally, I can't handle activities like finger paints in my house.  I'm too OCD. 



I brought my three year old's doll and high chair downstairs for the activity and she spent the longest time "cooking" for her baby.  Very cute.  And the youngest kept making everyone "coffee".  Hmm.

After they finished playing with the beans, I had them help me clean up.  It was a little challenging and took five times as long, but I think good for them to feel a sense of responsibility.



SO TRY THIS WITH YOUR LITTLE ONES...LET ME KNOW HOW IT WORKS OUT

And here's another SIMPLE and ECONOMICAL craft for your kids...

PAPER BAG PUPPETS



These are pretty darn cute.  Your child can get creative and make whatever kind of creature they can dream up...

Click here for how to