Free Father’s Day Printables

Feel free to use the following printables to print and give as inexpensive gifts for the Fathers in your life! Simply right-click and save as to print from your favorite editing program, or simply copy and paste into a WORD document and center in the middle of the page! Enjoy.

What Makes a Dad- Mint

 

What Makes a Dad- Blue

 

What Makes a Dad Printable-Gray

 

Teachers Appreciation Week Gift Ideas

It’s Teacher’s Appreciation Week, so I’m sure your children’s schools are doing something to show their support of teachers in your school district. If you follow Mommy Does on Facebook, you know that I have been an intern/resident at a local elementary school for my student teaching courses. I graduated Friday, May 10, 2013 from Texas A&M University- Commerce as a teacher and received my very first Teacher’s Appreciation Week gift from our school district.

It is really inexpensive, and easy to create using craft items you most probably have on hand! As you can see below, just by using a pretty piece of cardstock, you can cover a single candy bar and apply a sticker (or a written) inspirational message. Then, simply  tape the cover to hold in place, and deliver to your child’s teacher! Use any leftover cardstock to create a handmade card!

Cheap Teachers Appreciation GiftOur school’s PTO (which I’m Treasurer of) chose to use:

“The mediocre teacher tells.
The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher inspires.”

- William Arthur Ward

Then, our PTO President chose to write a memento thanking teachers from our PTO members.

If you would like to send a thank you note for your child’s teacher, or even their own teacher’s certificate for being “Great!” check out LeapFrog’s printable versions. They are completely free and don’t require a log-in. You can’t beat free, right?

What are some Teachers Appreciation Week Gift ideas that you would like to share with me? If you are a teacher, what type of products do you like to receive from your students or school district/PTO?

 PS- I can’t wait to share the all new title in the ISeeMe! book collection titled The Very Important Preschooler which will make a fantastic end-of-year or graduation gift for the special preschooler in your life!

How to Customize Cupcake Liners and Toppers

Have you ever wanted to find the perfect cupcake liner and toppers? Now you can do that when you purchase My Memories Suite software. Use code : STMMMS80041  to receive $10 off the software purchase and a $10 gift certificate to the online store.

Using MyMemories Software to Customize your Cupcake Liners:
(like what you see below…)

1. Download template file and install it into your software
2. Using MyMemories Suite, choose Create Album From Designer Template and find your project
3. Now you can print and enjoy the provided template, or customize it with your own papers and embellishments.

TIP:
You can right-click on the white guide and lock it in place to keep it from moving while you are working. Make sure this is the top layer of your project before printing.

Instead of adding the paper as a background paper, you can add it as an embellishment so that you can move the paper around. This is especially useful when using papers with stripes or circles, so you can decide which part of the paper you want to use.

Once it is added as an embellishment, you can now select the paper and move it into the position you want it.

Just SAVE and PRINT on cardstock!

Cupcake Liner Tutorial

1.  Purchase or Bake and Cool Cupcakes.  If cupcakes are frosted, place in refrigerator and chill cupcakes before putting liners on.  It is easier to put liners on if the frosting is cold.
2.  Print your Cupcake liner templates on cardstock and gather supplies.  Each printed page will have enough supplies for 2 cupcakes. (Recommended supplies: small craft scissors, tape, foam squares, 1.25″ circle punch, toothpicks and ribbon)

3.  Using the scissors cut along outside line.
TIP: Use a 1.25″ circle punch to cut out the toppers.  If printed at full size, the circles should be exactly the same size.

 4.  Wrap liner around cupcake and tape at seam.
TIP: If using a smaller cupcake, just wrap around at the desired height. You can place a smaller cupcake at the bottom of the liner or make it tighter and wrap it around at the top.


5.  Using foam squares or tape, attach the front and back circles together to form the topper.
Insert toothpick between the circles.

 6. Add ribbon onto the toothpick or at the bottom of the front circle, if desired.

 7.  Insert toothpick into cupcake.  Enjoy the finished cupcakes and share.  Don’t forget to use your imagination.  The possibilities are endless!

Have fun creating your cupcake toppers and liners with My Memories Suite!

Free 4th of July Cupcake Toppers and Liners

If you have been looking for the perfect 4th of July cupcake liners and toppers, you have come to the right place! I have included some really amazing 4th of July cupcake toppers and liners for you to create in a printable format. The best part about these printables is that they are completely free! You can also take advantage of many other freebies My Memory Suite offers by purchasing the software! Use code : STMMMS80041  to receive $10 off the software purchase and a $10 gift certificate to the online store. That’s just one more way to save!

It’s simple to create images, invitations, scrapbook pages, and even buttons for your blog! I have used My Memories Suite 3 to create an image to use on a topper from Amusing Treats.

Now, to get to the free part! Each set of images below features a FREE download that is available for a limited time. Don’t wait to take advantage of this offer, you can save these freebies to use in the future!

StoryRock 4th of July Digital Kit Includes:
-2 Digital Papers
- 6 Page Elements
- 2 Quick Pages

StoryRock Watermelon and Teal Themed Kit Includes:
-7 Digital Papers
- 2 Page Elements
- 2 Quick Pages


StoryRock Elegant Damask Kit Includes:
-7 Digital Papers
- 2 Page Elements
- 2 Quick Pages

All of MMS Friday Freebies will now be MyMemories Suite Compatible.  That means that you can now load the freebies directly into your MyMemories Suite Software, and then completely customize them with any paper and embellishments that you have!

Be sure to read my post on how to customize cupcake liners and toppers. Have fun getting creative!

College Courses, Dean’s List & Mommy Does…

Hi! Thanks to April, from Marine Parents- The Blog for hosting this fun blog hop! I have participated many times in the past, but have not been able to commit lately due to college courses. No one said they would be easy, but I have had a very trying time this semester. Overall, I did rather well completing my junior year with a 3.75 GPA making an overall 3.66 GPA (which warrants another certificate/award for making the Dean’s List, again! YOOHOO!) Raising two children, taking 12+ hours in college courses, blogging with what (very) little time I could spare, and still keeping up with housework has been exhausting.
marine parents
From making “about me” collages to days, months, years, and weather charts. I’ve been so crafty in many ways I haven’t really wanted to be. Don’t get me wrong; I managed perfect grades on all the projects I completed, but they weren’t what creativity I really wanted to showcase. You know, the kind where you take something old and make it new. The kind of crafts were you could spend a little money, and make it look like a million bucks. Crafts that took minutes to complete, but look like they took hours to create? Yes, those are the crafts I miss. Gone were the hours I could spend browsing Pinterest, and I often found myself straying from coursework to Facebook. I even took to Twitter a few times over. I couldn’t help myself, really. It was more of an addiction. Apparently, procrastination is in my blood.
{PS- FEEL FREE TO FOLLOW ME VIA ALL THREE LINKS PROVIDED ABOVE, I’LL CHECK YOU OUT AND FOLLOW BACK!}
Overall, I would say I did rather well. I managed to present my Student Council Elections project to a panel of 4 “judges” so-to-speak. This panel of four was comprised of my three Integrated Arts instructors, Mrs. Abel, Mr. Worley, and Mrs. Herod. Mrs. Groce, our partnership director also sat in during 3 of the 5 weeks of presentations. I chose to teach a lesson about Student Council elections, and how to integrate an art lesson, music lesson, and a theatre lesson along with a 6th grade social studies lesson using Texas’ TEKS. They did note how they have never seen a project about voting, so that made me feel pretty great in which lesson I taught.
I ended up making an 88 on my final integrated lesson. I thought it was worth an A, but you can’t win them all. We were only given 10 minutes to present a two day lesson, so I worked with what I had. I did create the board myself, but feel like many of the boards I created this semester will go unused unless I have an open area within my classroom to secure them to the wall.
     Now, you have learned a bit about me, Brooke Anna! I would love to know more about what has been going on in your life, so leave a link below to you blog. If you don’t blog, be sure to leave a comment so I know that you have been here to visit!

 

Little Girl’s 4th Birthday- a Lady Bug Party!

     For the last couple of months, I have been planning a 4th birthday party for our daughter. I had big plans for this celebration as it is our little girl’s last birthday party before she begins Pre-K in the Fall. For a while now, she has been really interested in lady bugs. I wasn’t really sure if I would do just a polka-dot party, or even a Minnie Mouse party. I finally gave in and began work on her lady bug party. Since Picnik.com is closing down soon, I chose to take full advantage of creating her lady bug birthday party invitations.

     After I finished the invitation, I set out to deliver them. I finally started receiving R.S.V.P.s and then began to plan what type of cake, and what type of food and refreshments to have set out for our guests. In the past I have made a Kai Lan birthday cake and a dinosaur birthday cake, both of which were a big hit.
     I planned on making a 1/4 sheet cake, and using a Pyrex bowl to make the lady bug. I had everything bought, planning on having a pin-the-tail on the donkey game since Little Girl bought that with her own money. Our birthday party was planned for the 11th of February with plans for around 15-20 people attending. I also won some great custom brownies from Amusing Treats, and chose to make a custom image using My Memories Suite v3. 
     Last Wednesday there were a few people who contacted me telling me they wouldn’t be able to make it. Then, I got called that people wouldn’t be coming till after the part ends. Though it really got to me since people canceled in the same fashion last year, we had to make a decision.
     We chose to completely cancel the party, and I called our sister-in-law about bringing the little ones over to their home to have a small party with their girls. There really wasn’t any use to make a huge cake that I planned. I decided to bake an easy pineapple angel food cake.
Ingredients:
1 box angel food cake mix
1 20 ounce container crushed pineapple in 100% juice
Pam
2 loaf pans
Combine cake mix and crushed pineapple in large mixing bowl.
Mix thoroughly.
Spray pans with a light coating of non-stick spray.
Pour half of the batter into the first pan, and the other half of the batter into the second.
Bake in a 325 degree pre-heated oven according to the directions on your cake mix.
Cakes are cooked when the top is browned, and begins to crack.
 It should bounce back when tap on top, and can be tuned on it’s side until cooled. 
To remove cake from loaf pan, run a butter knife around the edges
 and wait for it to pop out to invert onto a serving platter. 
    When I thought about how I wanted to fancy the cake up for our lady bug “get-together” as it turned out to be, I knew just the thing! I price matched strawberries using an Aldi’s ad, and bought Redi-Whip and mini chocolate chips. The end result was this…
     Little Girl helped me make stamped party bags. I was tired of the little cellophane bags, and decided to use 97 cent stamps to make plain bags fun! I found the paper crowns at Dollar Tree and couldn’t pass them up!

      The little ones really seemed to have lots of fun!

      They sure liked the whipped cream and strawberries!

      Here they are after they requested to watch Tangled, or as their cousin calls it “Apunzle.”

     PS- doesn’t little girl’s hair look like Minnie Mouse ears? I love it!

Holiday Exchanges- Ornaments, Handmade Gifts and More!

I was so happy to participate in a couple of ornament exchanges this holiday season. 
One of the exchanges was hosted by a dear bloggy friend Ashley from Eisy Morgan!
This exchange was a handmade ornament exchange, and my partner was Rachel.
I learned from her that she liked pink, and glittery objects… so I did my best to incorporate the two.
I made a pinched flower, and hot glued rhinestones to the middle. 
The print fabric is also on the back to show through to the front. I used ribbon and hot glued it to make a “hook.” It is really girly, flirty and I hope she enjoys it!
In exchange, I told Rachel about myself. I love yellow and blues, along with reds, and the color green.
I also made sure to tell her I love pigs. I have since I was a little girl, and hope to raise them in a few years.
I received my package and this is what I found for our family’s Christmas tree…
She sent me a red glitter pig with a handmade Santa hat!
She used white satin ribbon to create a harness-type “hook” to hand on the tree.
I really like it! I love pigs and think one day I might do a pig-tree :D
Thank you Rachel!
The other was an ornament exchange from some ladies who will
 be participating in A Blogtastic Extravaganza.
There was a $10 limit placed on this exchange.
For my Secret “Elf” Elfster.com chose Shell from Not Quite Susie Homemaker. 
We were able to ask questions anonymously so the our “draw” didn’t know who we were.
It’s like Secret Santa, but on-line.
I finally settled on an idea, and asked hr if she liked Santas.
She said yes, so I ended up sending her this ornament…
I loved that it was rustic, simple, but still had some embellishments and 
creativity to it. This ornament is no ordinary ornament.
It was a mantle piece my mom and I found at a thrift store.
It’s top star was pulled off, so I needed to hot glue it down. 
There was no hook, so we found a hook and put a twine string through it to make one!
It only cost about $4 to make.
I hope she likes that thought was put into the gift, to make something ordinary into an ornament! 
Nancy from Arizona Mama set the event up and happened to draw me as her ornament recipient. 
She sent me my ornament, and I absolutely love it!
The sunflower is so beautiful! It is a glass ornament so it has to be at the top of our tree.
One the back it has a message with the Tradition of the Sunflower…
She learned through my Wishlist on Elfster that I love sunflowers!
Thank you Nancy!
Not only did I participate in ornament exchanges, but I also participated in 
a handmade gift exchange at Craftaholics Anonymous.
Beverly was chosen as my partner for this exchange and we really hit it off when e-mailing!
She let me know the color of her home’s decor, and I exchanged some of my likes and colors I love.
She really listened! I told her that I was attending college so she sent me this portfolio!
She learned that I like blue and yellow, so she painted yellow sunflowers on it with blue polkadots.
She also made me the ornament to hand on my tree!
The inside of the portfolio has a legal pad, with a personal message to me.
It also included her business cards. 
The back of the portfolio had blue polka dots on it and was sealed with a topcoat.
In return, Beverly received the following from myself.
She liked to read, but uses an e-reader so a book mark was out of the question.
I wasn’t sure if there was somewhere to put a charm on a hanging ribbon, so I went another route.
A lady we met at a yard sale and her daughter are crafters.
They always went to craft shows but unfortunately haven’t been able to make it
in the last year. I bought a good pit of domino necklaces from her when they were trying to de-stash. 
As soon as Beverly told me she liked to read, I knew I wanted to send her a particular one I planned on keeping for myself.  The necklace says…
“I cannot live without books. -Thomas Jefferson”
I made a little felt slip-bag for the necklace so it wouldn’t break while shipping.
I hot glued a piece of felt, cut a black heart, and applied a silver rhinestone. 
For the second part of my handmade gift, I used her homes color scheme.
Creme, and Black.
I used a wooden board and applied chalkboard paint. I applied three coats then
“seasoned” the board with regular chalk. I made black and creme rolled rosettes and hot glued pearl-type accent beads in the middle of each rosette. Then, I hot glued more to the middle of the cluster of flowers.
I used a bit of string to make a hanging loop, and covered the
 ends of the string with black felt circles or squares.
I really hope you have enjoyed these few crafts I have been able to create, and
I hope you will participate in an ornament exchange if you have the chance!

More Halloween Treats- The Costumes!

Last year we went to our local VOICE, Inc. Fall Festival.
Little Girl was really hung-up on being Princess Tiana for EVERYTHING last year.
Her Birthday Party, Christmas gifts, and even for her Halloween costume!
What better to go along with Princess, than a Frog Prince!
For Little Boy, I used Orange foam, and made frog feet!
I used bow wire to tie it to his feet and hands.
I used sticky felt to cut out frog spots and applied them to a little green outfit.
That way, he was able to use the outfit for the entire year.
They gave out FREE Balloons, Hot Dogs, Chips, Drinks, and so many
 other things at the VOICE, Inc. Festival! 
They provided a jump house, which Little Girl made good use of… 
Little Girl wanted to keep taking pictures with me, it was so very sweet of her.  
Brother & Sister!
I love how well their costumes worked together!
Mommy’s Little Princess… 
She wore a long sleeved shirt, leggings, her Princess Tiana tennis shoes,
a shirt personalized for her 2nd Birthday…
Dancing in the Street! No, really…. she was! 
The Crane Game! 
Mommy, Little Boy (falling out in all his glory) and Little Girl. 
Local Calico’s Dance Team dancing to Thriller! 
Group Shot… 
 The Girl in the middle of the photo below was GREAT! 
She’s got on black booties, black skirt and a white shirt.
This year, I really didn’t have time to figure out a DIY route. I’m in class now, on campus so it really takes a lot of my time to do that and run
 the roads to find all the items for DIY costume.
This year, Little Boy is a Triceratops
And Little Girl is Little Miss Witch!
B waiting patiently for Little Girl to be finished with her face painting… 
He really is a Triceratops now!
Little Miss Witch with her “Barney Butterfly” she requested.
The girl in the background is my best friend, Kat!
I used a color sheet as my pattern for this bag.
I sketched the picture, and outlined it with Slick black paint. 
I did the same with this, except I google Triceratops and found an easy looking image to 
sketch onto the  bag. Then I traced over it with the slick black paint.
So, to top things off… (literally…)
Little Girl wore this cute spider clip on her witch’s hat!
Did you DIY or did you buy your costumes for your little ones? 

Halloween’s Past… The Decor!

I know, I know… Mommy Does… is on Halloween kick today!
Last week I observed at my local elementary school so I missed out on blogging about all my 
decor, ideas, and so many other ghoulish treats!
So…
I didn’t blog around this time last year, so I have SO much to share!

Today is B’s Mother’s Birthday and my dear friend Crystal’s as well.
I have always enjoyed Halloween, even choosing to
 complete projects over the traditions and culture of 
Halloween. Today, I plan on taking the little ones to our local VOICE Fall Festival. 
There are FREE Jump Houses, Hot Dogs, Drinks, Chips, Games, Costume Contest, and many other family friendly events! I have my Science Inquiry tonight (how-to teach Science to children.) So, Unfortunately, I am going to miss trick or treating 
with them for the first time in three years. Boo! on that…
Last Halloween I made DIY costumes, and trick-or-treat bags, err… boxes!
Using a Family Fun magazine article I used cereal boxes to create treat holders!
The Little Ones were Princess & The Frog.
I cut the top off the boxes, and painted both with black acrylic paint.
Two coats each.
Then, I found images on google and printed them out. 
The one below is my favorite, then again I’m a Louisiana gal ;D
I used an old purple party hat and painted it black.
I found the “Laissez les bon temps rouler!”
(Let the good times roll!”)
  printout through google as well.
Glue + Glitter= A Girl’s Best Friend! 
Little Boy was Prince Naveen! 
I Love You… 
Since Nuderma was here, we used paint and black felt to decorate our
 pumpkin so we could keep it inside.  
We also used Dollar Tree stickers and stuck them on the pumpkin. 
I used red felt, and old dress-up wand, glue and red glitter to make the lips.
I used a pipe cleaner and cut the hole in the lips for the tongue to come through. 
It was bendable, and is STILL used to this day for dress up time.
I wrapped the wand with lavender crepe paper gluing every so often.
Then I glittered that bad boy up!
Then I used some wooden decor hangers to make these cuties…
The Little Ones love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so I cut card stock as my template,
and traced it onto the wooden hanger that I painted orange.
Then I added the words and Minnie’s bow. 
This one I used for my front door hanger. 
I made the template on card stock and traced it onto the wooden hanger.  
I added the eyebrows cause Little Girl said it was missing them!
Do you like what I came up with?

Corsicana Main Street Project- Pumpkin Palooza 2011 and a Mini-Pumpkin Spider How-To!

Well, today is a popular day in the Mommy Does… household!
It’s Halloween!
Two weekends ago, we took the little ones to our local Visitor’s Center.
They were hosting a Pumpkin Palooza to raise fund to purchase new benches for
 Downtown Corsicana. There was a pumpkin pancake 
breakfast available before the events started. 
We missed this, so I don’t have photos to share.
I was able to take quite a few photos myself though.
You can see Little Boy yelling “NLOOK” when he noticed the Fire Engine.
Little Boy is still learning verbal communication, so it sounds like nlook rather than look. 
 There was a bounce house provided by VOICE, Inc.
 Little Girl did really well in the bounce house. I was a little skeptical since she just had
surgery back in August, but she really impressed me!
 The Fire Fighters allowed the Little Ones to ride in style, so to speak. 
Well, they got to sit in the truck, that is.
 This is just one angle of all the pumpkins for purchase!
There were pumpkins, and gourds to pick from in this “patch.”
 The little pumpkins were $2 each and called “Spookies.”
I loved that they had these displayed in a wheel-barrow. 
 The Little Ones got to check out the pumpkins in the wheel-barrow and they loved them!
Little Girl told me she like this one’s stem.
It sure has character!
 There was a story-time reading set up, and it began with the “Monster Mash” song.
Little Boy wasn’t too interested in dancing.
On the other hand, Little Girl was “tearing up the dance floor carpet .” 
 The Pumpkin Patch opened on the 15th and will end today!
 B manned the street, bacause low-and-behold… Little Boy tried to run away!
(Whoda thunk?)
 This is the story-telling pumpkin, have you ever seen a story-telling pumpkin?
 Little Girl and I enjoyed the stories…
 Little Boy loved telling B to “NLOOK” at everything, including a big train!
The Union Pacific train tracks are directly to the side of our visitors center.
 We even watched Lisa make mini-pumpkin spiders!
What you need:
1- mini pumpkin
1- length brown yard
1- permanent marker
1- ball point pen
4- black pipe cleaners
Scissors
Directions: 
Using the ball point pen, puncture 8 holes side-by-side.
 Using the scissors cut the eight pipe cleaners in half.
Bend the pipe cleaners to look like the legs in the photo above.
Push the pipe cleaner legs into the mini-pumpkin.
Using a black permanent marker, make eyes a nose,
 and a mouth for your mini-pumpkin spider.
Lastly, tie the brown yarn to the stem of the pumpkin if you want it to hang.
If your mini-pumpkin does not have a stem it can sit on a counter,
 table or wherever your heart desires!
This is a GREAT alternative to carving pumpkins.
Little Girl watching how to make the mini-pumpkin spider. 
All the while, Little Boy is trying to run to the back of the
 building to watch the trains pass through. 
While we were here for nearly 2 hours, we saw 3 trains pass through! 
Needless to say, we had  a really busy day!

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