Back To School

Today is the first day of school and I was in charge of the staff lounge decorations for the teachers at our elementary school.  I decided to make mini backpacks using my Fancy Favor Die Cut.  I just had to trim off the top edge, add straps to the back, pockets and a top flap, and viola- cute mini backpack.  I made the backpack using Marina Mist card stock, Just Add Cake Designer Series Paper, Vintage Trinkets, and So Saffron Taffeta Ribbon.  

I used my Crop A Dile to punch holes in the back of the fancy favor box so that I could insert the ribbon.   To make the pockets, I Petal Card Double Punch.  I also used my corner rounder on the flaps.

As you can see, I also added some pencils.  I embellished the pencils by adding stamping the A+ label from It's A Wrap onto Whisper White card stock.  Again I used the Crop A Dile to punch holes allowing me to put them on the pencil, kind of like the sail on a boat.

For the centerpiece, I used some more Just Add Cake Designer Series Paper to create a welcome back sign that I stuck to a small Styrofoam container that I filled with apples.  I made the apple by layering Real Red Card Stock, Real Red Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack, Whisper White Card Stock, Basic Black Card Stock and Lucky Limeade.  I used Empire Alphabet Upper and Basic Black for the words.

A few more pictures of the backpacks and the huge spread of food!  Our teachers are well fed!

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!
Charity

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

May has been a busy month!  I have a bit of a backlog of projects to share with all of you and I thought I'd start with the teacher appreciation gifts our PTA did for our school.  We had a whole week of goodies planned for the teachers and staff of the school.  This year, I was in charge of making tags for the personalized cookies that each teacher would get on day 1.

To create this cute little tag, you will need the following supplies:

• Daffodil Delight Card Stock
• Real Red Card Stock
• Whisper White Card Stock
• Full of Life Stamp Set
• Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set
• Celebrate Designer Series Paper (Last Chance Item!)
• 3/16" Corner Punch
• Round Tab Punch
• Spiral Border Punch (Last Chance Item!)
• Basic Black Ink
• Beary Bright Sizzlit Die
• Crop-A-Dile

The design is pretty simple, cutting paper to size, adhering the layers and rounding the corners.  Nothing too special but they are very cute and made the perfect tags for the wonderful cookies that another mom made.

This was a great way to start off Teacher Appreciation Week and I heard that the staff oohed and ahed over the cookies and the tags.  The cookies alone would have been great, but the tags were a fun addition and I was so glad to be part of it.

The Celebrate DSP and Spiral Border Punch are both on the Last Chance List, so if you like either one of these items now is the time to purchase them.  I've really been enjoying the Celebrate DSP in recent weeks.  I used it for these great tags and I also used them for Liam's preschool invitations which I'll be sharing in a future post.

There's still time to get these items or even host a show.  Contact me today for more information!

Teacher Gifts

Our family has a tradition of making a meal for the children's teachers at the end of the school year.  We started this when Isabel was in first grade.  This year, we have three girls in elementary school so we have three meals to prepare.  We make a menu for the teachers and ask them to select an appetizer, entree, and dessert as well as the day they would like their meal to be served.  I also like to come up with a fun and creative way to present the menu.

This year, I found this fun Date Night Kit on SplitCoast Stampers that I thought would be fun to make.  I opted to change it up a bit, replacing the tickets and gift cards with notes from the kids and the CD was replaced with the menu.

Supplies for these, all items noted with an (*) are on the Last Chance List:

• Designer Series Papers:  Bella Bleu*, Cottage Wall*, and Travel Journal
• Card Stock:  Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Bordering Blue*, Orchid Opulence*, Kraft, Bashful Blue and Night of Navy
• Stamp Sets:  Viola* and Viola to Go*
• Inks:  Stazon, Versamark
• Accessories: Basic Black Satin Ribbon, Baja Breeze Ribbon*, and Old Olive Satin Ribbon
• Tools:  Snail, Sticky Strip, 1 3/8 circle punch, My Digital Studio (to create the menu)

Since the SplitCoast Directions are so detailed, I will not repeat them here; I'll just share photos!  Also, I will add that the teachers LOVE this idea and other teachers are totally envious.  We do this instead of other gifts because we love to give the gift of time.  At the end of the year, teachers have so much to do and a meal gives them the gift of time because it is one last thing for them to do.  You should definitely consider doing this for your child's teacher.

God Bless and Happy Stampin!

Charity