I had a gift bag that had a very prominent corporate logo on the bottom. It was from a promotional deal… I thought, what a waste of a perfectly good gift bag. How am I going to use this again? Break out the ribbon! I had some wide decorative ribbon, plugged in the glue gun and voila! Good as new. Try that the next time you’re running somewhere with a gift.
…and maybe something for you? Read on.
June just went by like a blur, and as the end of the school year approached, I was giving myself headaches thinking of small, thoughtful gifts for Abby to give to her teachers. As my husband so nicely pointed out, “We don’t have to give everyone a gift, you know?” I know, but at the same time, I think Abby really enjoyed every one of her teachers, the classes and everything she learned. And, I felt it was appropriate to give a little (let’s stress little) something.
For the reader, reading teacher, librarian – a handmade book wedgie. Sounds a bit nicer than book THONG. Haha. Abby picked out the beads and the charm at the bottom says, “Inspire”.
For her main homeroom teacher, (along with this) we compiled a cookbook with favorite recipes shared and handwritten by the students. A couple of parents and I did all the scrapbooking layouts, and it took a few hours. Each page is different and the recipes range from “chocolate milk (pour syrup until your mom says stop)” to “Greek lentil soup (you don’t have to be Greek to eat this)”. This page was my daughter’s. She picked shrimp de jonge. Surprised?
Abby would tell me about her art teacher and how he taught her class that a little glue goes a long, long way. “A dot is a lot, that’s what he says, Mom.” So for the art teacher, a custom print that my husband and friend did, and stationery to match (printed at home). I just printed the picture at home on photo paper. It’s intentionally made to look like those motivational business posters or the funny de-motivational posters.
I cannot take the credit for the card layout. My cyber-acquaintance, author and designer, Amy Karol at angrychicken made these great cards with sayings. Please, check it out!
So, this might be fun. Would you like to share your teacher gift ideas or end-of-school-year traditions? If you do, we’d like to share some craftiness with you! We’ll randomly select a someone on Saturday, July 11 to receive an Abby-Julie book wedgie or custom 8-pack of stationery with your own quote. Leave your comment between now and Friday night (7/10, 11:59 CST) with an e-mail or some way so I can contact you. Many thanks, friends!
UPDATE: As of 7/12/09, no comments on this post.
We love going to these places where you can paint your own ceramics. A creative way to spend some time, not too expensive, and you get your creation in a week, or so! It’s fun anytime, but imagine a birthday party with about 20 young ladies ranging from the ages of 5 to 8. They had a blast. From other birthdays and outings, Abby has a nice little collection of ceramic from this location. If you’re looking for a place near your home, try here, too. It’s a link to the nationwide Creative Ceramics Studio Association.
This is one of the cutest birthday cakes I’ve ever seen.
Unfortunately, Ollie missed the whole thing. Poor guy.
The inspiration for this is actually from the “envelope accordion journal” in Decorative Journals by Donna Downey. I made this 12-page journal for Abby’s 1st grade teacher with envelopes decorated by Abby and some of her classmates. The other supplies I had on hand. Each envelope contained a card with a quote from students saying why they liked their teacher (i.e. “I like Mrs. Smith because…”).
So here we are, my first tutorial. It’s not too complicated, I hope.
What you need:
Take your 6″ x 18″ cardstock and fold back and forth like an accordion every 5/8″. It was easy using a scoring edge on my paper cutter, and marking every 5/8″ first. Make enough valleys for 12 pages, cutting off extra paper if you need to. Set aside. Cover your cardboard pieces with the 8-1/2″ x 11″ decorative sheets, folding at corners first and then edges.
Before you attach the accordion spine and covers, place your label holder on the front cover… punching holes and using the appropriate fasteners.
Lay the covers backside up. Make sure you have them in the right position if your paper has a definite “direction”. Attach each end of the accordion to the covers… one at the front, one at the back, and then adhere your black cardstock to cover all edges and seams. Set aside.
Prepare your envelopes by sealing the flap, and them trim 1/4″ off the right hand edge. My envelopes were already decorated, so at this point, you can draw, paint, rubber stamp all over your envelopes. Attach the envelopes into each valley with a little glue to keep in place. I tried to glue towards one side of the fold.
Now for some fun…Drill two holes through the front cover, accordion and back cover. You might have a crafting hand drill… clearly, I do not. I’m using my power drill on low, and a block of wood underneath the book. (I love my Makita!) Use a drill bit that’s slightly larger in diameter than your twine.
After drilling the holes, feed your twine through and tie into a knot in the front. It’s a little tricky, but twisting the twine while threading it through, will help.
Take the plain cardstock and decorate or embellish how you wish, or leave blank for you to fill in as you journal. The children’s quote were printed in one font and in similar styles. (Quote shown is for example only.) Punch holes in the cardstock on one side, middle-ish, and attach decorative ribbon or string. I fold ribbon in half, feed the folded side through the hole, which makes a loop, and then pull the “tail” end through the loop that was just made.
You can see one decorated envelope a little better here. Slide the finished cards into the envelopes, and your journal is done.
The envelopes were actually recycled. I had the students submit their favorite recipes which turned into the cutest scrapbook-cookbook for their teacher (other part of the class gift)! They sent their recipes back in the envelope which I provided for them. Basically half the class participated in this one and almost everyone participated in the cookbook. Such nice projects!
(My 50th post… should I celebrate?)
The kids really enjoy when we’re all together and the mahjong tiles come out. The little one is getting into it. I’m sure generations of my husband’s family have played and handed down the rules, etc. I never quite understood the game as played by Filipinos, but when I watched and learned from my husband, it became much simpler. The Chinese (family) rules are much more complex than the Filipino version. Don’t ask about Hong Kong style. I hear it’s a whole other level.
Personally, I haven’t played in a while, and I still can’t score my own points. I’m usually the one at the table saying, “Just tell me how many points I have… I trust you.” Basically, I’m intimidated to play with my in-laws and I was never really up on strategy games either. I get stressed out especially when someone’s standing behind you saying, “Oh, why did you pick that tile?” or “Oh, don’t give up that tile…” Worse than backseat drivers.
They play on a homemade, custom table top that goes over a regular card table: Plywood, 1x material, felt and window screening. Tiles move around like butter. My family borrowed it and really liked it. So, Husband got material from a friend, who in turn pre-cut and routed all the material for us. Husband took friend out for breakfast.
Here’s the new table top for my aunt and uncle. I think the red felt behind the screen material is great!
The backside of the table top is much neater than ours, of course, this is the 3rd one my husband has made with our soon-to-be brother-in-law. Lightweight staple gun with staples less than 1/2″ does the trick.
Close up of fine “Chinese craftsmanship”… tiles don’t fall off the table because of the frame.
Could this be a “cottage industry” sort of product? How much would mahjong players be willing to pay for this?
I’ve been trying to be good about not buying so much fabric “just because”. It’s SO hard when you see something cute and visualize a finished product! These are recent purchases… For a baby boy: I had the sea creatures, and was trying to find something to coordinate with it. Not sure if the stripes are too turquoise-y.
This one was the “it’s too cute to pass up, but not sure what to do yet” purchase. Although, I’m sad that I bought a small amount and when I went back to the store a few days later, the bolt was gone.
For a relative: I thought she might like a purse organizer out of this one.
Something for a little girl: I haven’t ventured into making clothes, but I thought a little half apron, like the ones I made at Christmas, might be nice.
I also bought some red, white and blue fabric that isn’t pictured because it’s in the wash… more next time.
