How about yesterday...
I was invited by the principal at Kevin's school to come and be present at the special assembly they were doing to say goodbye to him. Kevin is leaving his current job as Vice Principal and moving on to be principal at another school. It's a great opportunity for him as the new school will be much closer to home. However, he's been at the current school for almost 4 years so he's had time to experience a lot.
Obviously I know that my husband is a great guy and is very wonderful in his role as husband and father and I kind of suspected that he might be okay at his job too but it was so touching to see how the whole school showered him with praise and love at this assembly.
When I arrived at the school (it was myself and the boys) we were ushered into a conference room and stayed there until someone finally came to get us. We were led into the gym where we were greeted with huge applause and told to sit at the front in the special chairs.
Then the drama teacher led different classes of kids in several skits. They were so funny, cute and touching at the same time. The skits spoke of Kevin's talents to resolve conflicts, fix technology problems, deal with unforeseen issues, his easygoing and smiley personality, his tendency to wear ties, and how he will be sorely missed.
There was a slide show and a whole row of students, (almost the entire width of the gym representing each class in the school, ) sharing how he has impacted them. They then presented him with a scrapbook with photographs and drawings and letters from the kids in the school. (whew, good thing about the scrapbook because during the whole presentation I was worrying about how I was going to preserve this moment and the special-ness of it).
A teacher came up and spoke a few words, the principal (very tearful) also shared and then Kevin stood up to say his thanks. By this time I was very close to bawling but managed to keep it together.
The assembly ended with everyone cheering and clapping for Kevin and there was a whole gym full of people chanting: "Mis-ter Ko! Mis-ter Ko!..."
I teared up. I was so proud of him and so touched that the school went through so much trouble to do something special for him.
Here is the principal and Kevin together. She texted me later and apologized for being so emotional (why would someone have to apologize for being real? I love authenticity) but that she was glad I was there to see how much Kevin means to everyone at the school and that she feels he has made contributions that will be a legacy for the school. Wow!
The kids were very proud of their dad and went home chanting: Mis-ter Ko! Mis-ter Ko!
Now after something like that, didn't I feel the necessity that something handmade had to be in each of the hands of the staff? Kevin had already told me to make 3 cards as he was planning to insert a note about a donation he was making on behalf of the school to an organization called Kiva. That was a great idea but after that touching assembly we agreed that we had to make something small for each staff person at the school. Kevin and I were up until midnight stamping. We bought kit kat bars and dressed them up a bit. (Kevin, always the joker, teased me and asked if this was a fulfillment of my deepest dream and desire to craft the night away with him.)
Sorry about the blurry picture. This is the Baked Brown Sugar dsp and the stamp is Label Love (130619 W, 130622 C) and A Round Array (129087 W, 129090 C)
Then for the principal and office staff we dressed up the Bailey's he had bought for them. Did you know that the new Tag a bag gift boxes (130927) are perfect for holding little Bailey's bottles?
The tag a bag accessory kit (130153) made it fast and easy. It comes with the twine, clothes pins, tags and dimensionals. So easy. I used the chalk talk stamp set for the sentiment. (130631 W, 130634 C)
After all those gifts were done, I got working and finishing up the gifts for my kids teachers. I learned a super easy gift card holder design.
First make a regular card base then use your word window punch with the paper pushed as far in as possible, and punch 1 1/2 word window.
Then fold the front so that the half goes inside the card.
Here is a picture of the card front with the word window punched out but not yet folded in.
The gift card will go into that word window slot.
Decorate the front as desired to hide the gift card.
Here I am using the colours pool party and island indigo. I am using the new flower shop stamp set (130939 W and 130942 C)
I hope you will take some time to craft some special things for the people you are thankful for in your life. If you need supplies, make sure to go to my Online Store and if you need inspiration, come out to my upcoming classes. July 8th will be technique class and we will be making cards using household objects.
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