Teacher Appreciation Gift Idea- Stamp of Approval

I went to the craft store the other day to get supplies for my soccer cupcake tower and I came home with this. I actually came home with a lot more stuff, but this was my inspiration.

I spray painted the letter (First letter of teacher's last name) and the wooden "bag" and then covered the front and back of the bag with scrapbook paper. When the letter was dry I hot glued it to the front. I placed a stamp pad and 2 school related stamps in the tissue paper and tied it with a little ribbon. I made a card with the following message and signed my boys' names:

"As a teacher, you have earned my STAMP of approval. "

I made one for my other son's teacher, knowing that she is really into lady bugs. I love how hers turned out too! I found these wooden lady bugs at A.C. Moore and hot glued them to my finished project.

Once the teachers take the stamps out, these "bags" can be used as pencil holders, a desk caddy, or even a candy dish! They were super easy to make, and even easier on my wallet! :)

ETA: Both teachers loved their gifts! The boys were very proud to be giving them as well, so it was a win-win!

Tuesday Tutorial: Cupcake Tower

I have so many projects that I want to write tutorials for, and I've yet to put a single one on my blog- until now. I'm going to start a new series called Tuesday Tutorials.  Sometimes the tutorials will be my own, and sometimes I will spotlight one of my favorite online tutorials with my feedback from the project. Today's tutorial was inspired by a few I've seen online, but I added a few of my own twists. So here goes...my first online tutorial!

DIY Cupcake Tower

Supplies needed

Supplies:

3 cake rounds ( or 3 different size cardboard circles)
6 spools (I found mine in a pack at JoAnn Fabrics in the wood section, but you could use empty thread spools)

Spray paint

Themed wrapping paper, cardstock or scapbook paper (to cover the circles)

Spray adhesive

Ribbon

Hot glue and glue gun

Gorilla Glue (optional)
Styrofoam ring

Instructions:

1. Spray paint your spools to match your cupcake tower theme.

Cutting the paper

The bottom tier

2.  Spray your biggest cake round (I use 12" rounds for the bottom since most scrapbook paper comes in a 12x12 sheet)  with adhesive and put it face down on the backside of your themed paper. Cut around the circle with a craft knife on a cutting mat.

3. Repeat Step 2 for the next 2 cake rounds. When you're done you'll have something like this. Don't worry if the edges aren't perfect because you'll be hiding them with ribbon. If you want to seal the tops with mod podge, now would be the time to do it.

All 3 Tiers covered

4. Glue your styrofoam circle to the bottom of your biggest tier. This will allow the ribbon to hang from the tier. 

Bottom Tier with styrofoam base

5. Use a hot glue gun to glue the ribbon to the edge of each of your now covered cake rounds, making sure the line up the edge of the ribbon with the top of the cake round.

6. When your spools are dry, glue 3 spools on top of each other to form the supports for the tiers. You'll have 2 stacks of 3. I use gorilla glue for this because it holds so well. You can probably use your glue gun if you don't have any gorilla glue. 


7. When the glue is dry, glue the tiers together with the spools in between. I usually flip the top 2 tiers over and mark the center with a pen. Glue the stack of spools to the center of each tier and then to the top of the tier below it. When you're done you'll have a completed cupcake tower! 

3 Tier Cupcake Tower

Note: This cupcake stand is made for cupcakes that will have piped icing and toppers on them like the picture below. If you won't be using cupcake toppers, you could probably get away with 2 spools between the tiers and one smaller tier on top. The same would be true if you were making this for mini cupcakes. You can find printable cupcake toppers to go with this soccer cupcake tower here.

Mickey Mouse Cupcake Tower

You can see more of the Mickey Mouse Birthday Party here. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know. If you make one, I'd love to see it!

 I've linked this post to Sugar Bee Crafts Take-a-Look Tuesday. Hop on over and see what everyone else has been making too!

Soccer Party Printables

My Oldest Son Playing Around at The Soccer Fields

Last weekend my kids played their last soccer games of the season. They were also the last games they would play with their father as their coach. My oldest is moving on to a challenge league where my husband does not have the skills to coach. My middle son is going to be playing football in the fall, despite his natural talent for the game of soccer. I will miss watching him play. Until next spring I will be seeing a lot of this:

My Middle Son who LOVES football

In a few years, we'll be watching this one play on a team too! 

My Youngest Likes to Play Soccer already!

Tomorrow night is the end of season soccer party for both of my sons' teams, and we are doing what we always do- meeting at a local pizza shop for the all-you-can-eat buffet where we'll hand out trophies and talk about what the boys will be doing next season.  This year I thought I would do something special, since it will be the last season of its kind. I decided to make some cupcakes (because any reason is a good reason to make cupcakes) and a special cupcake tower (tutorial to follow tomorrow). I think the boys will really like it. They love to brag about my baking to their friends, and they really love to eat what I bake, so it's a win-win for everybody!

I made these cupcake toppers for the party and thought I would share them with all of you! You can download and print the soccer cupcake toppers here. If you have never made cupcake toppers, there is a good tutorial here from The Tomkat Studio. For these, you can just cut out the squares and stick them to a lollipop stick.

Before I go, here is a sneak peak at the tutorial I'm going to post tomorrow:

Soccer Cupcake Tower

What do you think?