Teacher Appreciation Gift

It is that time of the year again. Teacher appreciation. As a teacher myself I think teacher appreciation should be every day of the year, however the end of the year seems to be the time to give a gift to show that appreciation. But what to get your favorite teacher?

I am a firm believer in the student deciding on the gift for the teacher. It makes the gift personal and gives the student a sense of responsibility. With that in mind my son is only 5 years old so finding a gift that he picks and makes himself is a tricky task. We searched the internet for inspiration and came up with a combination of fun and personal ideas.

We created a vase from a basic glass vase and colored pencils. My son helped me organize the pattern of colors and I used hot glue to attach the pencils to the vase.

Then we made paper flowers from cardstock and pipe cleaners. I drew the flower shapes and he cut them out. You will need two of each shape (one for the front and one for the back). I asked him what he would like to say to Miss Janelle and wrote down his responses on the flowers (ie: you are wonderful, I love you, thank  you, and you are pretty). I made the stems from pipe cleaners by creating an infinity shape and twisting it around the stem portion. Then glue the stem in between the two flower shapes.

For an added touch he picked out the real flowers himself just to fill the vase.

I love how it turned out. It is beautiful, creative, personal, and Jackson was very proud to hand it to his teacher. I love to see joy in giving.

Mod Podge Covered Composition Notebook

I attended so many great workshops and heard so many awesome speakers at SNAP last week.  I knew I would be taking a lot of notes so I made a pretty notepad with our logo.  I remember last year at Creative Estates wondering who people were.  I wanted to make sure if you happened to bump into me or were sitting across from me at a table during a session, our logo would be one of the first things people noticed.

Supplies:
-composition notebook
-Mod Podge and brush
-scrapbook paper
-washi tape (not pictured)

Start by coating the cover of your notebook in Mod Podge.  Do your best to get a nice even layer so you don't have bubbles when you add the paper.  

Trim your paper to roughly the same dimensions of your notebook.  I say roughly because getting it perfect really isn't worth the stress.  Trimming the paper later is easy.  You can see in my picture I have a little gap between the edge of my paper and the black tape down the middle of the notebook.  Not to worry, the washi tape will cover any mistakes.

Apply a smooth layer of Mod Podge over your paper. 

If you want to add an image to the book, do this next step.  It would be fun to add a picture to make a great gift.  This project might show back up for teacher appreciation week or Grandparent's Day!  Use Mod Podge to completely cover your image on the notebook.  Most of the air bubbles will go away when the Mod Podge dries but try to avoid too many bumps.

I used washi tape to cover the little slice of notebook peeking out from under the paper.  If you trimmed your paper perfectly, you can probably skip this step.  I think the tape made the notebook prettier.  I love the contrast of the two patterns together.

For the matching portfolio, I simply printed our logo onto a full shipping label sheet and then trimmed it to fit.  Super easy!

I made a notebook and portfolio set for myself and my SNAP roommate, Rebecca from Freckles Crafts.

My notebook had an extra conference tool hiding inside; I used Mod Podge to have the conference schedule on the inside cover.  This was incredibly helpful and a great tool for everyone sitting around me wondering where we were supposed to be going next.  I will definitely do this for any conference I attend in the future!

 

Hot Air Balloon Ride dimensional art - kids craft

Today is my dad's birthday.  We didn't get to see him but my three year old daughter woke up excited to make him a birthday gift.  She told me she wanted to paint him a picture.  When I asked what she wanted to paint, I was surprised by her response.  She said she wanted a picture of "me and Papa riding in a hot air balloon."  She was excited with the finished project and couldn't wait to email a picture of my dad's gift to him this evening.

We started with a piece of wood and glitter paint.  I used a pencil to outline grass and a tree. 

I used the glitter paint to remind my daughter of the colors she should be using.

She stayed in the lines and only added a few of her own colors.  This was her gift so I let her do what she wanted.

The glitter paint dried and then I used puffy paint to outline the tree and grass. 

My daughter picked flowers and leaves from her stickers to add to the painting.

I found a perfect hot air balloon image online and printed it on cardstock.  Then my daughter glued it onto her painting.

I printed a couple of pictures and cut out my dad and my daughter.  They look like they are having fun in their hot air balloon!

This project was perfect for my crafty three year old!  Sometimes her imagination creates the impossible but sometimes we are able to use her silly little ideas and turn them into something real.

 

Sharing my Magnetic Frame at Sweet Rose Studio today

Yesterday I told you about Katie from Sweet Rose Studio and her awesome photography skills.  Today I'll let you in on another little thing I know about Katie - she's super crafty and has a great blog with so many fun projects.  She has put together some darling parties and offers free printables in addition to kids crafts, home decor ideas, recipes, and tons of DIY tutorials!  Imagine my excitement when she asked if I would participate in her "Holiday Handmade" series. 

I had a lot of fun putting together a handmade gift for women.  The only tricky part about making my magnetic frame was finding the right metal to purchase at the hardware store.  Don't worry, my post gives detailed instructions on what to buy and how to make this darling gift!  Go here for the full tutorial.

The series includes gifts for everyone including boys!  Go see Sweet Rose Studio and get some help with your holiday gift list ideas!

 

Easy Gift Bag and Matching Card

I really enjoy making gifts for people but often feel frustrated when it comes to wrapping.  I recently purchased a few plain white gift bags to stock in my wrapping box to avoid that frustration.  I embellished one and made a matching card for my daughter's little friend a couple of weeks ago.  The bag and card took less than 15 minutes to put together and turned out adorable!

Supplies:
-Plain gift bag
-ribbon
-matching thread
-plain card (folded cardstock) and envelope

Optional:
-embellishments

I adjusted the tension on my sewing machine to ruffle the ribbon.  Then I sewed it directly onto the paper bag.   

I only sewed the ribbon to the front panel of the bag but you could easily continue all the way around.

Trim your edges of the ribbon and your bag is done!

I sewed the ruffles to the front of the card too.

You will be able to see the stitching on the inside cover of your card.

I cut adhesive cardstock to cover the entire inside of the card.  No more yucky stitches on the inside!

You now have a pretty card to match your bag.

I took this one step further and added some cupcakes and a number for the birthday girl!

Instead of using a plain gift bag, you can get even more creative and try using a shopping bag.  Extra ruffles would easily cover the store logos.  I'm never purchasing a cute gift bag again!

I'm linking this post here.

 

The Ticket Journal

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon a box of ticket stubs.  My husband had kept every single sporting event ticket stub he ever attended.  He is a major sports fan so his box was full of ticket stubs.  Full.  I wanted to make something for him to save all his ticket stubs in one place.  I came up a very simple idea that he absolutely loved.  His ticket journal was so much fun to make and I smile each time I see my husband add another ticket to his book.   

I started with a basic journal I picked up from Michael's.  You could easily make your own with a three ring notebook and card stock instead if you don't want to purchase something.  I embellished each page of the journal with sports related paper and stickers.  I made sure each page had a variety of sports so each page would be versatile.  I didn't want any one page to appear designated for a particular type of sporting event.

Once I had the entire book filled with fun pages, I started adding each ticket with sticky photo corners.  The tickets remained undamaged and removable.

I had fun looking at all the old tickets knowing they were from some of my husband's favorite memories.

I used clear sheet protectors for each page because I didn't want any tickets to end up damaged or lost. 

We currently have a small box holding the ticket stubs to events my daughter has attended with us.  I'm looking forward to adding her first ticket journal to my handmade Christmas gift list!

My husband's book was designed specifically for sports related events but there are so many options to make the book appropriate for other ticket stubs.  A theatre or music related book would make a fun gift!

I'm posting this link here.