Teacher Gifts

Today was the end of an era and the start of something wonderful!  It was Hunter's last day of school...and our first official "summer!"  It's kinda hard to believe that Hunter is already done with his first year of preschool!  He had a blast the whole year, and he really looked sad today when he had to say goodbye to all his new friends.  Thankfully...I also made some friends in their moms and we are definitely going to be hanging out this summer!

This was my first time having to do teacher gifts as well, and although I know that alot of teachers like gift cards...I really wanted to do something personal.  Is that so wrong?  I don't think so.  I loved his teachers and really wanted to make them something special.  I picked...sunnies cases!  What's more perfect for summer than a home for your staple summer accessory?

I'm pretty proud of them if I do say so myself!  I think I needs to make Heather and myself a pair as well!  And we included a cute little card that said "Thank you for making my year so bright!"  Oh I love me some puns!!

Yup...and he signed his name himself.  It may not look like much...but its a vast improvement from the beginning of the year.  I should have had him cut something too...since he learned how to use scissors this year (it was a big discussion at our parent/teacher conference).  I'm so glad that Hunter loved his teachers, and I did too, and I really can't wait for next year!  Now I have to go plan a whole bunch of summer activities!

PS:  The houndstooth case is available in my Etsy Shop!

Avengers Assemble! – a Tricycle

I had planned to get Will a cycle of some kind for his birthday. It was a long debate about getting him a big wheel, a tricycle, or a two wheeler with training wheels. Decisions, Decisions. It just ended up being what I found for the best deal. Thankfully, I am addicted to Goodwill. Yes, it smells a little funny… but that’s the smell of a deal lurking around the corner!And even more thankfully, it’s right next door to the grocery store. So I push my luck, too often, with Will in tow, run into Goodwill to see what’s there… God forbid the day when I find a killer dresser for $30 that I have to have and try to shove in the back of my Rogue. Hubby will come home to quite the surprise that day… “Honey…can you help me bring in the groceries … and the dresser?”

Well, lucky be this lady that this cute Radio Flyer tricycle was $14.99 at Goodwill. I snapped a pic, texted it to Hubby, and made Will sit on it while I called Hubby to see what he thought. Spoiler Alert – Hubby said to grab it! This little baby retails for around $66. Ouch. $14.99 is much better.

You’re probably looking at the pics above going Oh! Cu- Oh my god! Why did you take it apart?!

Well, we can’t just leave things alone in this house. I asked Hubby what he thought about spray painting it. And since Will is still obsessed with Iron Man, the obvious choice was to make it an Iron Man trike. So Hubby go to work…

After he disassembled the trike, he taped up the black wheels. Those were the only parts not getting sprayed.

The arsenal:

Primed:

The trim was gilded:

Then Hubby taped up the gilded hubcaps:

Time to get our Rustoleum-Glossy-Colonial-Red-On!

Ta-Da!

A quick recap of the before and after:

I think one of these will be added to the lid on the “trunk”:

The added bonus to taping up the wheels was when we took the tape off, they were clean! The trike was in great shape from the get-go, but this made it look even more spiffy.

It turned out to be a great birthday. It wasn’t a surprise. Since we have thismuchroom to do spray painting and DIY stuff, Will saw the whole process. But I think it made the whole thing more fun. He’s walking around asking Hubby when his Iron Man bike will be ready. “Dad! My Iron Man bike?! It’s so cool!”

Cost Analysis:
- Trike – $14.99 Goodwill
- Rust-oleum Primer – $3.87
- Rust-oleum Gloss Colonial Red Spray (2) – $3.87
- Krylon 18k Gold spray paint – had it, but $5.99 at Joann’s, and use a coupon!
________________________
Total – $26.60

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. We definitely put the $39.40 we saved (since buying a brand new trike would’ve been $66) to good use for other fun gifts that were a surprise. Squinkies & Star Wars Fighter Pods are taking over my house…

Have you revamped a Goodwill/Thrift find lately? We love a good deal and a good makeover combined! Please share!

DIY Knife Block

On our never ending quest to live a simpler, more thrifty life, I had this idea for a gift for my uncle. Yes… it was a Christmas gift, and here I’m only getting around to sharing it now. Better late than never! Anyways… My uncle happened to get a sweet new set of knives as a free gift when he bought new kitchen appliances. Lucky Duck. Well, after checking out his knife-block-less situation at Thanksgiving, I thought “Oh! Bingo! New cool, masculine knife block made by your favorite niece, coming up!”. Yeah… I’m his favorite. Sorry, Sis.

I am obsessed with Goodwill. It’s as deadly as Target to me these days, and I manage to get Target stuff for crazy cheap prices because Target didn’t sell it on clearance, so they dumped it at Goodwill. Most of it is still in the Target packaging. Awesomesauce! So while cruising my favorite new place, I found a couple of lonely abandoned knife blocks. I carefully inspected my three options, and this one seemed to be the best. It was pretty clean, and in great condition. $4.99 was a sweet deal since a brand new one is upwards of $25. Bonus for the lazy susan attached to the bottom! What’s cooler than a custom painted manly knife block? A spinning one!

I gave it thorough washing and then sanded him down. I picked up some spray primer and some satin dark walnut spray paint. After agonizing about what color to paint it, I went for the dark walnut. Not dark brown, but not black… it’s juuuuuuuuuust riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

I gave it two light coats of primer and then sprayed it with the dark walnut. I think I ended up with 4 light coats of the dark walnut spray to make sure it was nice and even.
Did you notice my little trick? Priority Flat Rate Boxes as my spray painting cover up! Um… they’re free, so why not?! I also used them when wrapping flimsy Christmas presents, like clothes. Yes, my family made fun of me, until they realized they were FREE! And then they were jealous of my frugal genius.

And now it’s happy in it’s new home. Loaded up with sharp things, and showing off it’s monogram to all of the other appliances. The Kitchen Aid stand mixer is so jealous. I lightly sanded in between primer & spray painting coats to make sure it ended up super smooth. The monogram is white shelf liner that I cut using my Cricut.
The other cool part - The top had 6 magnets countersunk into the block from the get-go! So… when you have too many large knives, and not enough large holes, you can slap them on top, like so (see above, right), and you’ve got extra storage! Great place for the knives you use all the time. I’m kind of jealous…

Let’s break it down:
Rust-oleum Spray Primer – about $5 after 40% off coupon at Joann’s
Rust-oleum Spray in Dark Walnut - about $5 after 40% off coupon at Joann’s
Knife Block from Goodwill – $4.99
White Shelf Liner – had on hand
Sandpaper – had on hand
Total – under $15
and bonus of adding to my spray paint library!

Did you get creative with any homemade gifts? I plan on keeping the trend going throughout the year for birthdays, too! They always seem to creep up and surprise me (and my budget)… Did you gift something homemade that people were particularly over the moon for?