Lisa Storms

zoo and easter lunches

This spring has been crazy busy in the Storms household, but I have managed to photograph a couple of particularly cute lunches to share. =)

This was for my son's zoo field trip.  I based the monkey quesadilla on the monkey valentines I made this year.  I like working with tortillas because they are so easy to cut.  He is made up of both wheat and flour tortillas cut from a bunch of different cookie cutters I had in my stash ... circles for the face and ears, an upside down pumpkin for the second layer, part of a rocket ship trimmed for the oval, and the eyes are the bottom of a mini candy cane cutter I had.  Being resourceful! I trimmed the eyes and mouth from bread crust for a dark color.  The layers are all "glued" together with shredded cheese baked in the oven. 

To finish off the theme I added animal cookies (I asked my husband to get them and I didn't mean frosted because it takes away all of the animal features!) and a little giraffe fork for the melons.  Why is the giraffe so sad???

Around Easter I made these bunny sandwiches with cookie cutters.  We had some large bread slices leftover from a camping trip so I got two bunnies from each sandwich.  I smooshed mini marshmallows for the tails.  To make sure they stayed on I added a drop of melting chocolates I keep on hand for stuff like cake pops.  The kids really liked these.

To round out the theme I added carrots, of course, and a little bit of Annie's Fruity Bunnies mixed in with almonds =).

clay jewelry dishes

This is one of those projects I started just to have fun, never expecting to create something I truly loved!  They are little dishes to hold jewelry, coins, keys, etc.  Just in time for Mother's Day?

I've never really worked with clay.  Here I just used the Sculpey oven-bake clay my kids make stuff with.  But by adding texture and paint, you can apparently transform something very simple into something beautiful.  Who knew?

I played with texture plates,

and background stamps,

and individual stamps...

I challenge you to try working with a new crafting material or technique.  You just might surprise yourself =).

You can find the full directions and photos (including the trick to getting the curved form) in my project here at Fiskars.

teacher appreciation week (part 3)

This is one of those projects that didn't turn out how I envisioned.  You know those lollipop Valentines that were popular this year with the photo of a child with a fist?  And you cut slits above and below the fist to insert the lollipop?  I tried that concept with these straws.  But the straws are so much bigger than a lollipop stick that it just didn't look right.  But, I figure you can't go wrong with cute flag toppers!

And if you want some flags for yourself, here is a printable download in pdf form: Download Straw flags.  One is for a teacher and one for a teaching aide.

I liked the cup idea for many reasons.  Not only are they practical, but also a good way to present a thank you note from your child.  My son drew sheets for his teacher and aide, and we rolled them up to place inside.  I added the lemonade packets so I could do an "ade" flag =).

More of my teacher gifts can be found here.

My end-of-school party ideas can be found here.

mother's day queen bee brunch

Taking a break from Teacher Appreciation Week to honor our very first teacher, our mom!  Themes are a fun way to get inspired with decorations, so I came up with a "Queen Bee" theme for a Mother's Day brunch.

Lots of DIY, from paper flowers hanging to a royal cupcake wrap (for muffins of course) to beehive photo or label holders ...

... down to the smallest details like bees made from a punch (you'd never guess which punch ~ it's becoming my very favorite punch, but I've never used it for its intended purpose) ...

... and how to make a honeycomb pattern from diamonds.

For lots more photos and all of the directions, head on over to my article at Fiskars.

teacher appreciation treat with printable tags

Teacher Appreciation Week is finally here!  Today we sent in a little treat to start off the week.  We made "candy apples" by covering Ferrero Rochers with red tissue paper.

I stuck a couple into a little treat bag and simply topped with a paper doily and tag.  I figured someone else might be able to make use of the tags, so I am going to try to attach them here as a pdf for download.  Let's see if I can figure this out lol!

pdf download: Download Class_act_tag

I punched the tags out with my 2" Fiskars circle punch.  They can be used on any teacher gift you give this week.

So here's how to make the apples:

1. Cut out a 6" circle of red tissue paper (I traced a Fiskars Super Sized Circles template).  Since tissue is so thin, you can cut a bunch out at once if you are making multiple.
2. Place a mini glue dot at the bottom of a Ferroro Rocher and stick down in the center of one circle.
3. Wrap the sides up around candy and twist at top.
4. Twist a small piece of masking tape colored brown with a Sharpie marker around the twisted top to secure and serve as a stem.  Trim off excess.  You may want to color in top of stem with your Sharpie if the red shows through after trimming.
5. Punch a small circle of green cardstock and feed back into punch partially to create leaf; attach with mini glue dot.

I'm busy planning the next "thank you" and will post when I'm done!  In the meantime, don't miss the teacher cards I posted last week here.

teacher appreciation week

The past few weeks have been insane around here, but I wanted to pop by to share a few card ideas for Teacher Appreciation Week since it's coming up next week.  I should have some gift ideas to share Monday, too, as I plan on having time this weekend to do a few more things I have rattling around in my head.

You can find all of the directions with full photos here at the Fiskars site.  From adding a super simple leaf to an apple for creative presentation ...

... to crafting up an award ribbon that doubles as a card ...

... or getting extra creative with an apple core card.

fun with corner punches

It's been a while since I shared a scrapbook layout.  Here is one I created for Fiskars using their brand new 3-in-1 corner squeeze punches.  They have the same handles as the regular squeeze punches, but there is a knob on the back to turn between three different corner designs.  Thus, 3-in-1 =).

Decorative corners are always pretty, but I wanted to come up with some other creative uses for these punches.  You can create trendy paper banners ...

and intricate lace edges for your circle embellishments ...

Full directions and step-by-step photos are here at Fiskars.

diy dimensional flowers

While I'm excited to see my tulips beginning to peek through the ground, I can't wait for it to stop raining here in Oregon so I can get out there and start planting my spring annuals!  So in the meantime, I'm busy doing the second best thing ... making my own flowers from paper! 

I bet you won't be able to guess what punch I used to make this flower before looking at the directions ...

I love using tools in unexpected ways!  Step-by-step directions with full photos and demos are here at Fiskars.

I recently posted some more paper flowers here.

spring cards

Spring has sprung!!  I'm ignoring the fact that I had to scrape a thick layer of ice from my windshield this morning and instead focusing on the beginnings of tulip leaves popping up in my yard...

Spring is a great time to pop a little cheer in the mail!  Cards with surprises inside...

And dimensional spring daffodils made from paper ...

And shiny rain boots with tulips creatively cropped from hearts...

Step-by-step directions with full photos and demos can be found here at Fiskars.

st. patrick's day continued

I needed to use up the rest of the leftover garden spinach herb wraps and decided to bake some tortilla chips to make nachos for lunch.  I was pleasantly surprised to find a shamrock cookie cutter in my ridiculous stash (I never know what I actually have in there!) and knew I had to make shaped chips.  This ... is my new obsession.  =)

I cut out the rest of the tortillas I had with the shamrock cutter, brushed them with a little oil, and baked in the oven.  I layered them with leftover chicken I warmed up from the night before, shredded cheese, avocado for a little more green, and sour cream.  Yum!

The kids had friends in and out all day but I had time to squeeze in one St. Patrick's Day craft I came up with.  With all that is going on in Japan and around the world, I wanted them to stop and think about how lucky they are.  This Lucky Clover Patch is the same concept as a Thankful Tree at Thanksgiving.

We took a block of styrofoam and covered with green tissue paper.  We fringe-cut two strips of green cardstock to adhere around the edges.  The kids wrote down reasons they were lucky on cardstock shamrocks (I cut using an electronic cutter, but the kids can always trace a template and cut out themselves).  We glued green toothpicks to the back and once dry inserted into the foam.

The rainbow was an afterthought because by this point in the day I was sick of all green and thought we needed a pop of color. =)  I cut out circles in rainbow colors in descending sizes using Fiskars' Ultra ShapeXpress and circle template.  I layered and adhered them altogether centered and cut in half.  I used my cloud punch from the baby shower at the end of the rainbow. 

I had to put the Wii clover in front because it cracks me up. =)