Elf on the Shelf Linky & Volunteer Gift Ideas!

Hello bloggy friends! I've been meaning to link up with Michelle from Apples and ABC's and Mel from Seusstastic to share what our little elf has been up to! Here are a few (I forgot to take pictures last Friday AND today....WAHH!) snapshots of Olivia our classroom elf!

Straight from the North Pole!

Santa's letter to our class! On legit paper too!

Keeping a watchful eye on our scholars!

Filling up our sparkler jar!

She really has been so much fun for all my kids. :) They look forward to coming in every day and seeing what mischief she's gotten herself into!

And for the second part of my post tonight...volunteer gifts! If you're like me and waited until the very last possible second to create some thank you gifts, you are in luck my friends! I decided I didn't want to do gift cards or anything of that sort for my parent volunteers. Cause let's face it...I already spend so much of my own $$$. Wait...you too?!? So, thinking I could save a buck or two AND make something meaningful, I made these fashionably cute notepads! 

They all have a thank you message on the back too! Win-win, my friends! Now, I can't take credit for these bad boys. I learned how to make these from my bloggy friends Christy and Tammy from Fluttering Through First Grade! They made these for us at our last blogger meet up and they were such a hit! Click here for a step-by-step tutorial on their site to learn how to make yours! All you need is:

• mini legal notepads
• various scrapbook paper
• hot glue gun
• cute embellishment (I used scrapbooking flowers for the center part) 

Easy-peasy, I tell you! :) And since it's the giving season, I'll give away 2 notepads to a follower! Just leave me a comment with your email addy and I'll pick a winner tomorrow night! Happy Monday!