Teacher appreciation week is fast approaching, as is the end of the school year. Although there are many wonderful professions out there that may be under appreciated teachers are high on my list of those deserving love since I have 2 school-aged children. You could not pay me enough to deal with 24 children, who are not my own, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Although I was born into a long line of teachers I just wasn’t blessed with that patience gene, some nights it’s a small miracle we even make it through homework. So “Thank You!” to all you wonderful teachers out there.

I want to share with you today a fun and easy DIY teacher appreciation gift that not only is beautiful but something you kids can actually help you make! In my experience the kids are so much more excited to present a gift that they helped make than something their mom is forcing them to hand over. For this project I let my daughter pick out the color flowers we were going to make – pink and green – her teacher’s favorite colors!

Supplies:

• Bloom printable (12×16 or 8×10)
• White canvas
• Spray Adhesive
• Tissue Paper
• Brads
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Glue

1. Print out your Bloom printable sign. I have a large format printer so I printed it at home but if you want the 12×16 size Costco prints 12×16 photo enlargements for $2.99. You can also print out the 8×10 at home, you’ll just want to size your tissue paper flowers accordingly.

2. Spray the spray adhesive on the back of your print out, focusing on the corners and apply it to your canvas. I’ve seen great priced canvas at Walmart lately, as well as weekly sales at the craft stores.

3. Fold your tissue paper, 2 or 3 sheets stacked together, into 2 and 3 inch squares.

4. Punch or poke a hole in the center of your square and insert a brad.

5. Cut your square into a circle.

6. Separate each layer of tissue paper by pulling straight up and crumpling into a cylinder. Repeat until all layers are separated and “crumply.” This is the part your kids will love!

7. Fluff your layers out to behold your beautiful flower creation.

8. Glue flowers to your canvas.

I really love the multi-color flowers, they are so much fun to make.

At the last minute I decided to add some “stems” to our canvas with a metallic marker and before handing it to her teacher I will have my daughter write her name on the bottom.

If you are looking for more great (and fast) Teacher Appreciation craft ideas please make sure you check out all the amazing ideas being shared during this round of Craft Lightning!

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Supplies:

Brown Bags
Free Halloween Brown Bag Topper
White cardstock
Printer
Scissors or paper trimmer
Stapler/tape/glue
Bone folder (optional but I love it)

Download the FREE file and print it out on white cardstock. Use scissors or a paper trimmer to cut apart the bag toppers. Fold in half and then staple, tape, or glue to your folded over brown bag!

The front is fun with the cutest spider ever from Miss Kate Cuttables.

While the back allows for your little one enough space to write their own name!

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Supplies:

Cookie sheet from the dollar store
Printable Magnet Paper – use the code BIRTHDAY to get 40% off until October 1, 2014
Printer
Silhouette Studio & cutting machine (CAMEO or Portrait)
Vinyl (optional, used for the haunted house)
MTF Sweet Halloween Dings font (free for personal use)

I absolutely fell in love with this font when I saw it on Under A Cherry Tree‘s Facebook feed. It takes an intermediate knowledge of Silhouette Studio to figure out how to release the compound paths of the dingbats and color in each piece. If you have interest in learning how to do that please let me know so I can create a step by step tutorial. Once I got the first one done though I was hooked and they got easier to make.

Once I had all of my characters and monsters colored in the way I wanted I arranged them on an 8.5″x11″ page with the registration marks turned on so that I could use the print and cut function. Then you just put the printable magnet paper in the printer just as if it was a sheet of cardstock. I didn’t have to make any adjustments. Once you’re finished printing your magnet paper let the ink dry for a minute and two and then secure it, magnet side down, to your cutting mat. You want to make sure it’s very secure to the mat so there is no shifting. I cut the printable magnet paper with my blade set to 5.

If you’d like more info on print and cut you can always refer back to this post on Print and Cut 101.

And just to add a little more fun to the storyboard I used some black chalkboard vinyl to cut out this haunted house (design from the Silhouette store) and stuck it onto the cookie sheet.

I had a lot of fun playing with the board before I gave it to my daughter to play with.

She made up a very cute story about trick or treating and monsters that drop from the sky – she went on for 10 minutes or so. Non. Stop.

Using the chalkboard vinyl just added another dimension to her creative play.

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Ok, so now that you have your machine and your printable white sticker paper we are ready to go!

First, you can either import your own images to print or you can open the Silhouette Store inside Silhouette Studio and purchase a print and cut image. If you bring your own images in you will have to trace them so they are ready to cut. However, if you buy the print and cut files from the store they are ready to go.

This is how you filter and search for Print and Cut images. They will all have a small blue “P” in the corner of the image.

Second, turn the registration marks on. Turning the registration marks on will show you the workable surface you have left on your sticker paper. Those registration marks help the machine line up your sticker paper and guide it to where to cut. I like to load my workable surface up with as many designs or stickers as I am going to need. There is really no going back to reuse your sticker paper, so make it count!

Third, don’t forget you can zoom in to get a better feel for the sizing and design on your print and cut labels. You are free to use ANY fonts you have uploaded on to your computer!

Fourth, You MUST make sure that any of the text you added is not selected to cut. The best way to do this is to go to the Cut Style Window and make sure that ONLY the edges of your designs are going to cut. If you find any text or other graphics with a red line around them that you don’t want cut, just select the text/image and then click “No Cut.”

Fifth, once you are set with your label designs go ahead and send it to the printer. It will print out the needed registration marks. This photo got a little washed out but you can see the registration marks.

Sixth, line up the corner of your sticker paper with the upper left hand corner of your cutting mat. Make sure that the filled in square is in the upper left hand corner. It will not work if you position it anywhere else. Pick the cut settings for the “Printable Sticker Paper” and let ‘er rip. I mean cut. Once you’ve taken off all the “extra” sticker paper, or weeded the design, you should be left with this – a sheet of personalized labels!!

However, if you don’t pay attention to what your blade is set at this is what you will be left with. They can still be used it’s just a tad bit tougher to get the backing of the labels.

Seventh, and final, step – start labeling anything that will sit still.

Make sure no one takes your books!

Or your composition book!

These labels are great to create an organized art or homework station; just stick them on some mason jars!

We even now have a place to store all of our sight word flashcards.

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Supplies:

I love working with the SweetWorks pearls, they are a little smaller than Sixlets, not chocolate, and they come in every color imaginable! You can pick them up pretty much anywhere they have baking or party supplies.

Bake your sugar cookies per the directions on the package and let cool on a cooling rack. I like to place the pearls in ramekins so they are easy to access.

Once the cookies are cool to the touch you can frost them. The Easy Frost comes with a star tip already on the frosting, no need to transfer it to a pastry bag, or you can just smooth it on the old fashion way. Both make equally pretty cookies.

After you’ve frosted the cookies just start adding Pearls, sprinkles, and Sixlets! It’s really that simple. Just press the candies right into the frosting to create any design you can think of.

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Supplies:

Start with your 2 smaller pieces of fabric laying with the bottom (long) edges facing together. This will be the inside of your bag. Separate your velcro and pin them about 3 inches from the edge of the fabric, making sure they are aligned.

Sew the velcro onto the fabric by sewing the edges and then making an X in the middle. Repeat on the other piece of fabric.

Take both pieces to the ironing board. Fold each piece in half the long way so you now have 4.5″x10.5″ and press. Open the fabric, press a 1/4″ seam, fold and press another 1/4″ seam. Repeat on all the 10.5″ sides (4 times all together).

Open up your 4.5″x10.5″ fabric and lay your mesh or net down with about a 1/2-1 inch overlap, close fabric, and pin into place.

At your sewing machine, sew using a zig zag stitch to sandwich the mesh in the fabric. The 1/2 – 1 inch overlap should insure that all pieces catch.

Repeat on other side. You now have 1 long piece of fabric and mesh.

Fold your fabric in half, velcro sides facing out.

Measure out your bias tape by cutting 2 pieces the exact length of the sides of your fabric mesh combo. Now comes the only slightly tricky part, sewing the bias tape onto the fabric and mesh. Every time I have to sew bias tape I have to refer to this amazing tutorial from Pretty Prudent. Once you’ve sewn on your bias tape, flip the bag right side out (so the bias tape is inside the body of the bag).

Again, because you are dealing with mesh or net it is important to use a zig-zag type stitch to capture everything within the bias tape.

Give yourself a big ole high five because you are almost done! The only thing left to do is attach the webbing (belt material) to the fabric. You can choose to sew the webbing to the inside or the outside of the bag. Here I’ve chose to sew it to the inside. Place the end of the webbing about 2 inches inside the bag and attach it the same way you did the velcro – stitching around the edge and then making an X.

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The supplies:

• A plastic bucket ($1)
• Tissue Paper or newspaper to bulk up the bottom (free or cheap)
• Easter Garland ($1)
• Assorted candies, toys, stickers, containers (around $1 or under)

Ball up several sheets of tissue paper or newspaper to line the bottom of your bucket. This ensures that your goodies are front and center (and it means you need less to fill your basket).

Next use your garland in place of Easter Grass, it makes NO mess! The last thing I want to do Easter morning is pick up the trail of Easter grass.

Now you are ready to fill your basket! It’s best to start with the tall items in the back of the basket first and build it forward. I used a sticker book I picked up at Michael’s for a dollar along with a puzzle from the dollar store as my base of this basket. The special pink chocolate bunny is a Niagara Chocolate from Sweetworks bunny and will run you more than a dollar but it was my showstopper piece for this basket as my daughter is OBSESSED with chocolate. However, many of the pieces in the basket came in multi-packs that I split up between the 2 baskets I made, so it all works itself out.

And of course I couldn’t help but take out my Silhouette CAMEO and whip up a little personalization for the buckets. If you don’t have a cutting machine you can use stickers or, my personal favorite, paint pens!!

When I saw that the dollar store had Lisa Frank puzzles I automatically put down whatever other puzzle I had in my hand and picked it up. Lisa Frank was my hero in elementary school!!

Again, everything in this basket was put together on the cheap, plus a little personalization here and there.

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I am loving all the creativity I’ve seen lately turning clear ornaments into little works of art so I wanted to make several for our tree that’s going up any day now!! After finding these mini snowmen ornaments I just knew that they needed a home at the North pole, so I made them one.

Supplies:

Directions:

 Thank you again to Jen at Tatertots & Jello for having me guest post in her Happy Holidays series! I hope you enjoy making these ornaments as much as I have!!

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