What can I get my child's teacher for teacher appreciation?

Ever find yourself wondering that very question about teacher appreciation gifts? Many different mothers have decided to go the handmade route this year as the end of the year is approaching. I have had many different orders just for teachers. They have been everything from the normal key fob to key fobs with the teacher's name embroidered on it. It seems that teacher appreciation gifts can become quite expensive, well this is a relatively cheap teacher appreciation gift that is still unique and can be personalized with their name on it. I was impressed by how many orders I have had for teacher gifts. What a cute idea. Now, I just hope the various teachers out there will love the key fobs the receive!!

Sloppy Joes....No longer out of a can!

Never in my long long life...21 years haha...guess not so long...did I even think to make sloppy joes that were not made from a can! I am always reading different recipes and stories on The Pioneer Woman's Blog and saw a recipe for Sloppy Joes made from scratch and decided to give it a try the other night. I must say, it was pretty tasty! I actually used ground turkey to make it a little healthier for us. And according to the Boyfriend, it was much better compared to the sloppy joe sauce from a can! Anyway, here is my adventure in making the sloppy joes...I suggest giving it a try.

Ground Turkey cooking away...tastes just as good as beef to me! Added a little bit of onion to give it good flavor!

A few of the spices I used from the recipe. Added all of the ingredients....ready to season it up!

Looks tasty right? That is what I thought...then I had to wait 15 minutes while it simmered until I was able to try it! While I was waiting...just had to stop to show you how cute my Eco friendly napkins are :) ... Thanks mom!

I was excited to toast my hamburger buns using my panini press....if only you knew how obsessed I was with this thing. I got it for Christmas...but had wanted one since...well I cannot remember when I didn't want one! I was surprised when I opened this gift from my parents, I had no idea my mom picked this out for me!!

Toasting the Buns.

Al Finished.

Final product with a few salt and vinegar kettle cooked chips! My not be a fancy meal...but definitely is a tasty one!! I highly recommend it.

Busy Sewing Away!

I have to brag slightly about my business. I am so happy at the progress that I have made from the time I started my business a little over a year and a half ago. I started by selling one Key Fob a week. Although it may not seem like much, every time I sold one I would call my mom (KeetaCollection) to share my excitement!! I am in college and was working a part time job 20-30 hours a week making near minimum wage. I found it hard to keep up with my grades while spending a good amount of time outside of the apartment. So when I started my Key Fob business, I quit my part time job. I am happy to say that I have progressed from selling one Key Fob every week to selling enough on etsy and through other wholesale orders so that I am consistently making more than I was working at the grocery store. :)

On another note, this week has been great. I have sold quite a few key fobs through etsy as well as a few wholesale key fob orders and then I have one order of 80 key fobs. This order happens to be for a school. Someone for their PTA ordered 80 of them for their Teacher Appreciation week. They wanted something somewhat cheap and useful to give to the Teachers. I think this is a great idea for teacher appreciation. This order was so exciting for me to receive. As I said before, I would always call my mom to tell her about my first few sales when I got started. I got this order late at night....darn I had to wait until morning to call!!

Wii + Wii Fit

So for one of my Christmas gifts my parents bought me a Wii and a Wii Fit. I have never been much of a video game person but I really wanted to try this system and game out. I live in Orlando, FL which is not the best area for a girl to go jogging by herself. So this Wii Fit sounded like a good idea. Well almost two months into using it, I am positive that it was the perfect gift! Not only does it have fun games that you can play, but it really does give you a good workout. It also keeps count of how many calories you burn during the activities you chose. I just thought I would share this! And a bonus...it is raining outside now, so I couldn't exercise if I wanted to outside. So I got to burn about 150 calories while staying nice and dry inside our apartment! Also, I have back problems and have since I was younger, so the yoga category of this game is a great way for me relax and help my back to feel ok for the day! :)

Long Time!

Hi everyone!

I haven't been on here for quite some time. Shame on me! :)

I hope that everyone had a great holiday season and is having a great and happy new year!

I will be back on here soon with more posts more frequently. Just wanted to be in touch and let anyone reading that I am still here.

Here are a few pictures from last week at Ponce Inlet, FL. If you look closely you can see my Key Fob hanging from my pocket. :D

What a great idea!

The other day I received an order for embroidered Key Fobs. Little did I know that my customer came up with a brilliant idea!! She was helping to decorate the table that she would be sitting at along with 7 other people for a particular event. Instead of using plain white name cards to inform everyone else of where they would be seated, she used embroidered Key Fobs! I thought this was a great idea. This would be something that the other people would be able to bring home with them and every time they looked at the new Key Fob they received, they would think of that special event.

The pictures I have are ones that I set up at my home to try to picture what they would look like as name cards. :)

Holiday Key Fobs

So today I was out at one of the craft stores and ran across a few Christmas Ribbons. I could not help but buy them and race home to make a few Key Fobs out of them!! One of the ribbons is a sweet green snowflake and the other is an adorable Gingerbread design.

I sent my mom the pictures of the new Key Fobs that I made and she said she might just have to have a basket of them by the front door to give to anyone who stops by around the Holidays!