Year End Teacher Gifts

I have been a busy girl these past few weeks!  I just finished a scrapbook for a customer and then it was on to year end teacher gifts.  My son's music teacher is retiring this year so some of the 3rd & 4th graders are singing the song "You Are The Music In Me" from High School Musical for her tomorrow.  I was asked to put something together with the chorus of the song and a space for the students to sign.  This is what I came up with.  

After the frame for Mrs. Quist was done, I moved onto teacher gifts.  I decided that I wanted to try tackling the challenging task of creating a wreath with the rolled flowers from the Art Philosophy cricut cartridge from Close To My Heart.  It ended up being 70 rolled flowers and was my first real big project with the flowers but I LOVE how it turned out.  This wreath was made for Mrs. Whitley.  She is such a kind hearted, loving person.  She is the educational assistant in my son's 2nd grade class.  Mrs. Whitley's primary job is to work with the special needs students who are integrated into his class.  Grant LOVES to help out and has friended one of the students that Mrs. Whitley works with.  Through this fabulous experience for Grant, he too has become close to Mrs. Whitley.  She always has a smile for the children and Grant thinks the world of her.  She has gone above and beyond this year to help Grant fit in at his new school.  She probably doesn't think anything of it, but it meant a whole lot to me as well as to Grant.  I hope she likes her wreath! 

Mrs. Melish, Grant's 2nd grade teacher, has been a Godsend!  When we switched schools this year I was VERY nervous about the switch from private to public school.  We couldn't have been blessed with a better teacher for Grant.  Some people are teachers just to have paid summers off but that's not the case with his teacher.  She has been a HUGE source of support for Grant and our family throughout the school year.  She was firm yet loving, consistent yet spontaneous and was just all around a perfect fit for our family.  We will definitely miss her next year and can't thank her enough for everything that she has done for Grant this year.  I made her a scrapbook frame to put pictures of her children, she has a soon to be 4th grader and triplets who are going into pre-k.  I also made her a personalized clipboard.

Both Mrs. Melish and Mrs. Whitley are both getting pens as well.  Tommy (my husband) is quite crafty with wood.  He made these pens (from a block of wood ) for each of the teachers.  

I hope that the teachers like their presents and know how much we appreciate them!  

Frames for some adorable dancers!

After making the frames for the teachers at MV, I had a customer order frames for her son's dance class for him to hand out after his recital.  The frames were a HIT and it was such a fun little gift! 

Frames for the girls

Frames for the girls

Frames for the girls

Frames for the boys

Remainder of teacher appreciation gifts

I just noticed that I forgot to post the Thursday and Friday gifts for Grant's teachers.  On Thursday we made water bottles.

On Friday we sent in a picture frame for Grant's teacher, classroom aide and his specials teachers.

A "Typeset" frame for G's male gym teacher

The super funky "Stella" for his art teacher

A close up of the flower on the Stella frame

A "Lucy" frame for the super sweet classroom aide

The flower was made using the Art Philosophy cricut cartridge exclusively from CTMH

Another "Typeset" frame, this one was for the music teacher

Inked flowers and borders

My FAVORITE frame!  This "Pemberley" frame went to the librarian

This flower was made using the AP cartridge as well

Side view so that you can see the differing angles of the flower petals

Post It Note Folder Instructions

I modified the project shown in this tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-AAaGQwDB0&feature=related  Instead of folding it in quarters, I folded it in thirds.  I glued the front and back flaps down to create just one double sided pocket inside.  I took pictures (and I apologize ahead of time for the poor lighting) but I hope that the pictures help you to see how I modified the project.

Full sheet of 12 X 12 paper

Fold paper in half (from top to bottom)

Open paper back up so the crease in running horizontally

Fold one end in making a 4" fold

Fold the other end in making a second 4" fold

Open paper up, you should see 6 sections

Fold the top down 2" and the bottom up 2"

Take scissors and cut along the middle seam the length of 2 squares

I then folded it in half (along the seam that I cut, leaving only 1 square attached) so that the pink sides of the paper were touching

Fold the end square towards the middle

Turn the project over and fold the other end square towards the middle

This is the view of the project showing what it will look like after having done the previous step

Fold the project in half, with the pocket flaps on the inside

 I then used liquid glass to glue the front flap down

Open to the back page and glue the back flap down as well

Once the front & back flaps are glued, this is what the folder will look like (the front and back cover are touching the table)

Put a small line of liquid glass along the small flap to attach the edge of the pocket to the back

Do the same on the other side of the pocket, attaching the end of the pocket

Here is what the finished project looks like (I already had the green folder made when I was asked for the directions to I made a second one in pink & black to show the steps).

This is the final product.  I glued a piece of hemp string around it to keep it together and made a flower using the technique outlined in the following video made by another talented CTMH consultant Gloria Rogers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Ut1Soshms&feature=youtu.be  The middle of the flower is just a piece of matching paper that I tore, crumpled and glued in the middle :)  

I would recommend using a half stack of post it notes so it's not so bulky

Back of the flap where I put some of my business cards.

I just had an order tonight for one of these to help organize coupons for grocery shopping trips.  The possibilities are endless and they're SO easy to make!  These would make terrific make & takes for a crop!  

I hope that the pictures and links help out.  If you have any questions or need anything clarified, please leave me a message to let me know!  ENJOY!!!  Thanks again Gloria Rogers for sharing the secret of creating beautifully inked flowers!  

Free Facebook Give Away

To increase the number of followers that I have on Facebook, I enticed people with a freebie give away!  I offered a set of 8 stamped cards for 1 person that "liked" my page.  Once I received 50 likes, I'd draw a winner.  I put a bit of a challenge on it and if we reached 50 likes by last night at midnight, I'd draw a 2nd winner and make a second set of cards.  Well low and behold, my faithful followers and Facebook friends didn't disappoint and we reached the 50  followers early Sunday evening.  I put everyone's name in a jar and the winners were Lori Hicks and Amy Cantu.  Cards were mailed out to both ladies.  Here are the cards that they won.  

I had a blast making these cards and will be doing another give away in the next few months.