Crayon Wreath {Teacher Gift}

For Christmas I wanted to make my sons teacher something to show appreciation for all she has done so far! He's in Kindergarten and before Christmas break knew how to write all letters in cursive, could count to 100, reading 2-5 letter blends & words and already starting addition..I'm impressed to say the least! I have seen a few crayon wreaths online and really liked them..but wanted something different!

Off to Michael's we go!

Here's what we used -
Unfinished wood frame (has a 5x7 opening) - $5.00
Crayons (2 boxes) @ $1.00 each - $2.00 total
Small unfinished wood rectangle "sign" - $0.50
Painted School themed wood cutouts @ $0.25 each - $1.25
Black Matte Finish Paint (on hand) - FREE
White Matte Finish Paint (on hand) - FREE
Glue sticks & Glue Gun (on hand) - FREE
Ribbon (on hand) - FREE
Project Total - $8.75

Ok let's get started! You obviously can put the crayons on however you wanted but this is how I did it! Put all like colors together. I had the boy help me sort them out. Browns, Blacks (which included grays, silver, etc), & White went off to the side as the "extra" colors. I was going to try complete OCD and do all like colors and sort them lightest to darkest but decided to skip that with the help of a 5 year old!



I had the boy hand me whichever crayons he wanted in each group (and tried to not have the same color together). We worked in rainbow order and started with the reds and worked our way around. I found that trying to put glue on the frame first and sticking the crayon on next worked best. Gluing onto the crayon then to the frame made the crayon fall right off! I used a straight edge to line the crayons to the opening of the frame and started at the complete outside edge. I made sure the crayons were even with the floor on the sides of the frame. I worked around the frame clockwise and just repeated until I got back to the starting point.





For some reason the crayons didn't fit on the left side of the frame evenly like they did on the left side! I put one black crayon and two white (the two end crayons), rubbed the second black crayon on the glue gun a bit to melt it some and glued it and wedged into place between the first black and first white crayon. It sticks out some but not a biggie!



Next I put the ribbon on the back. Just made it even on both sides and used the cutout to make the length even. Lots and Lots of hot glue! The "wreath" wasn't heavy just wanted to be safe!

Painted the glass from the frame with a White letter M for his teachers name, let dry and painted over it in the matte black to look like a chalkboard.

The black "Welcome" sign I also painted like a chalkboard. Black with white letters and glued the school themed cutouts around the "chalkboard" and glued on to the wreath!



My biggest worry was breaking it before it got to the school! I was happy to see that after Christmas break it was hanging up in the classroom!

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Stress Free {Clean} Holidays

This time of year can be super stressful, Thanksgiving, Christmas, kids out of school, New Years, traveling, guests...you name it, it happens..all in a just a little less than a month & a half! How do you keep the house tidy and clean {and your sanity} when everything else is going crazy?

First I like to plan ahead..traveling, cooking for a group, mailing things out, decorating; whatever it is I try to plan what needs to be done and when! For example, this Thanksgiving we hosted dinner at our house. We had a total of 8 adults, 4 kids & a new born over! One family even drove over 350 miles to come for the weekend! I made a list of everything I was making, what needed to go in when, at what temp & how long. In between prepping I would clean out bowls, wipe down counters & the stove, clean up drips, spills & splatters as I went. The kids all had to stay downstairs & play. And they actually did! I went to the dollar store a couple weeks before and bought plenty of plates, napkins, cups, forks & metal trays & casserole dishes to have enough (and a couple extras) for everything I was making. The day went pretty smooth...even when it was time to get everything out of the oven & ready to eat! Clean up was pretty easy...aluminum foil on the trays and into the fridge! The guys were all really good about taking the trash out thru the day so we didn't have overflowing trash!

Having guests? Clean a room each day! Focus on one room at a time and move to the next the next day. Doing one at a time makes you feel like you have less to do and is a lot less overwhelming than thinking today I have to clean the bathrooms, kitchen, living rooms, guest room, kids rooms, organize the closet, straighten the garage, do laundry, decorate the tree, hang lights. That makes me anxious just looking at the list! Break it up!!! Give yourself a break and you won't have the temptation to just give up or put it off longer (then you'll have more to do in less time)!

Same with shopping! Don't try to shop, wrap & mail all in one day (or weekend even)! We get all of our "mailed" gifts done and ready to go. I take them to the post office during the week when most people are at work (benefit of getting off at 3!). Lets me avoid weekend and lunch or after work waits at the post office..which is always a good thing! If I have boxes to mail...print and pay online and have the mailman pick them up with the rest of the mail..trip to the post office saved!!

Just try to relax and take things slowly. Start ahead of time and get big things out of the way first and save the little stuff til the end. And if all else fails..there is always the option of a nice warm blanket, the tv and a big glass of your favorite beverage of choice ;)




Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!!

"I am sharing my holiday home decor and cleaning tips for the chance to win prizes from The SITS Girls and Great Cleaners."