Coffee Lover Appreciation Gifts

I am blessed to work with an amazing group of people who serve with me every Sunday teaching 3rd and 4th graders at our church.  This coming Sunday we will have our 'end-of-year' celebration before breaking for the summer and I wanted to give them all a little something to show my appreciation for their faithfulness.  We are all a bunch of coffee addicts lovers so I thought that was a good theme.

 I picked up these cute, little metal buckets from Target to put it all in and lined them with tissue paper.

 I started with bottles of Starbucks coffee drinks.

 I also slipped in a package of these instant coffee mixes as well as a few pieces of chocolate . . . DUH.

 As a final addition I made these refrigerator magnets using my scrap wood.  I've seen this cute saying on the internet so I thought it would be a fun gift.  Interestingly we have MORE men than women on our team so it was a challenge to think  of something that the guys would enjoy.  I'm not sure they'll be all that excited about a refrigerator magnet but maybe their wives will be!

 I love everything 'retro' so I added the clipart.  One for the guys. . . 

 And one for the gals . . .

 What kinds of gifts are you/have you given to those you serve with?

Daich Countertop Refinishing Kit

If there was an award for the ugliest kitchen -- I'm pretty sure I'd have a really good chance of winning!  We have lived in this house for nearly 20 years and I have hated the kitchen since day one.  The house was the church parsonage for 15 of those years but 5 years ago they agreed to sell it to us and thus began the slow, steady process of fixing things up.  Renovations as you know are expensive and most things don't fit into our budget so creative renovation has been my "mantra".  Recently our twin daughters were home for a few weeks and they spear-headed the kitchen makeover.  I'd had a vision for years but not the ambition to tackle it -- but THEY did.

They dove right in and in their cute, little outfits (sorry dad!) began the project by removing the wallpaper border, priming and painting the walls.

 I removed all of the cupboards and drawers and they put the first few coats of white paint on the cupboard frames (more about THAT whole process to come later!)  Just a small hint -- I LOVE chalk paint -- but NOT for painting laminate kitchen cupboards WHITE.  But I digress.  I've now finished the cupboards (pics to follow soon); replaced all of the hardware; brought in my vintage kitchen set (the inspiration piece for the entire project!) and am now ready to tackle the hideous counter tops.

 Aren't they pretty?  I don't think they were EVER attractive!

 And what the heck??  Who considers this an acceptable way to finish the counter top edge??  Well, I'm hoping to kiss all of this sadness good bye with the help of a Daich Spreadstone Countertop Kit.  I did a lot of research and read a lot of reviews of various kits and decided this was the one I wanted to use.  It's actually crushed stone and I think it will offer me the best way to make over the counter tops I have.  The kit comes with everything you need (so it says -- we'll see!) as well as with an instructional DVD.  SO, I'm off to begin and I'll let you know how it goes and if indeed it is as easy as they say it is!  There have been lots of little projects that I'll be sharing with you as well . . .