Teachers and Co-workers

I wanted to make the Firefly's teachers something really special. They have really taken to our little lady. They made me feel extremely comfortable about leaving my teeny baby and they always tell us how much they adore her. I know she's been sick a lot since starting school but I don't blame them and whenever I get the rare opportunity to pick her up from school they are either holding her, talking to her, or playing with her. They genuinely feel bad if she isn't feeling well and when I told them that I would have these next few weeks off from work so she wouldn't be in school they all hugged her goodbye since it would be a while before they saw her again.

I went to Old Time Pottery and purchased four cups and saucers for $1.49/each. I said I wanted to give them something special not something expensive. I hand painted each one. The saucers I just covered in some sort of decoration but each of the cups had their names on them. For example, I wrote "J is for Ms. Julia" and in fun fonts. Then Bub came to help me as I can be quite disastrous with hot materials. He melted wax, added color, added cinnamon fragrance, and dumped them into my cups. Wallah! Hand-painted, home-made, personalized, cinnamon candles for each of her teachers. I think they came out far better than I had imagined and I really hope they liked them. We haven't been back to see but I'm sure they did. Oh, and throughout the entire process my little Firefly sat in her bumbo or her high chair to assist me in our project. She even played with the paint brushes while I decorated the saucers.

For my co-workers and boss I wanted something cute and fun that I could get/make for all of them. Just the women in the office exchanged gifts and even though there's only five of us we are all vastly different. Here's what I came up with after a huge help from Pinterest!

On the top is a small gift bag with a tag that reads, "For Your Mistle'toes'!" inside was foot lotion, an emery board, and glittery nail polish. On the bottom left with the "Silent 'knit'" tag is a hand-knit scarf in different patterns and yarn for each of them to suite their individual tastes. On the right was a travel coffee mug labeled, "Drink and Be Merry" because we go through a lot of coffee at work together. Sprinkled in the rest of the box were the "Jingle Bells" (chocolate). They were fun to make, fun to personalize and even more fun to give. I think each box cost me a total of $10 which was our spending limit and I know I would have loved a gift like that.