Classroom Helper/Teacher Gifts

We have just two weeks of school left, so I'm starting to panic thinking about all the things I have to get done before it's time to send the kiddos off for the summer. Over the weekend I tackled two things on my list with my classroom helper and teacher gifts. Both were actually relatively easy to put together too.

I found the small popcorn containers in the Target Dollar Spot, two for a dollar. I filled them with some candy and a little tag that I made last year, a tag that for some reason never made it onto the blog. I'm a little annoyed with myself, because I went looking for pictures of what I did last year, and I could not find them. Some blogger I am.

Anyway, last year I think I glued this tag onto the front of a card, but who knows? Maybe I just dreamt that.  I used the Kate Hadfield Movie Night digital kit for the tag.

I put two eyelets in my tag and then tied it to a chop stick so it would stand up in the popcorn container.

I also folded the tag over and stapled it to make a little pocket for a movie gift card. I love this so much, I want to give it to myself.

That would be greedy though.

These are my classroom helper gifts. One of them is actually for a Methods Student that is in my class several days a week. I found the insulated cups at Wal Mart.

I put the tags together in Photoshop Elements using the Creative Memories Cheerful Power Palette. I love the bright colors.

I also folded this tag over and tucked a gift card inside.

Then I filled the cups with M&Ms because they're bright, and who doesn't love M&Ms?

Freaks, that's who.

Band-Aid Boxes for Teachers

During the Great Decrapification of the Summer of 2011, I found these nifty little boxes. Oh yeah, I was going to make Band-Aid boxes for the girlies' teachers two years ago! Oopsie.

Sometimes I procrastinate. I might have told you that. It doesn't matter, now I have a newly organized craft space and I can make things. Yippee!

I found some super cute paper in my drawer labeled "School" so I plastered it all over the boxes.

I just used photo tape and tape runner, a lot of it, to adhere the paper. As a final step, I gave it one coat of Mod Podge to protect it from blood.

Whaaaaat? It is a Band-Aid box. Bleeding students will be opening it, otherwise why get in it, right? I have one in my own classroom, and I tell my students to help themselves, just be careful to not get blood on my cute box.

They think I'm crazy.

Did you know you can get Band-Aids at the Dollar Store? They're just a dollar.

I like these because they are pretty school looking colors. And they go well with blood.

I think I'll buy some Bactine to put in the boxes, and the girlies can give them to their teachers on the first day of school.

I need to attach a ginormous candy bar for Stinkerbell's teacher with a note that says "For the Pain and Suffering My Child Might Cause You This Year. So Sorry. Band-Aid?"

You Asked for It . . . Thoughts in Vinyl

So, remember when I did the magnetic menu planning giveway, and then I picked a couple of winners? Well, I decided that since so many people were interested in the vinyl menu planner, I was going to find someone who could cut the vinyl professionally, as in not my make-it-up-as-I go self, and then they could sell it to everyone who is interested.

Well, have I got a deal for you. Janae of  Thoughts in Vinyl  made these beauties for my winners, and you're not going to believe this, but she is selling them for only $9.50 each--and the transfer paper is already on them. What a steal! Trust me on this. Forget buying a $40 Cricut cartridge and wrestling with the transfer paper. This is the way to go.

These are the vinyl menu grids Janae made for my winners, and I have to say, I'm a little jealous because they are way cuter than mine. I love this font and the days of the week are so perfect.

I recently received a desperate e-mail from Mary Ann asking me to please, please, please sell her some Germ-Be-Gone labels, like these, so she could make some ginormous hand sanitizers for Teacher Appreciation Week. In spite of all my whining about my jobsy and my lack of time, people still ask me these things all the time. Instead of replying with a snotty "Did I stutter?" I told Mary Ann that I would work on finding someone whose jobsy it is to cut vinyl professionally.

Enter Janae. She made these super cute labels, which are waaaaaaaay cuter than mine I might add, and she is selling them for  only $4.50 each. How cool is that, Mary Ann? I'm sorry I was so mean. I'll try to be nicer.

These labels are for my classroom, because I never did get around to making them for myself. Before I applied these labels, I cut them into thirds because I find it's just a lot easier to apply a little bit at a time. I don't have the steadiest of hands, and I have that attention deficit thing going on, so this works best for me. I start at the top and work my way down. You might be fine doing it all in one go though. Don't take my word for it.

Before I forget, I want to give you Janae's contact information. She is a pleasure to work with, and she will custom design vinyl to your specifications. I highly recommend her.

Janae Anderson

Thoughts in Vinyl

E-mail: janae@thoughtsinvinyl.com

Website: http://www.thoughtsinvinyl.com/

Phone 208.524.7066

I hope that lots of you will contact Janae and buy so many menu planning grids and hand sanitizer labels, that she will call me and beg me to take the link down. To which I will reply "Nevah! Bwah, ha, ha, ha."

Speaking of hand sanitizer, here's a true funny confession. I was leaning up against the wall at my gym, nonchalantly waiting to get my kids out of the clink, and I leaned right underneath an automatic hand sanitizer dispenser. I got slimed. It was so icky, I can't even tell you. And I did not look cool.

Changing the subject yet again, people e-mail me all the time about this little magnetic pocket that I keep on the side of my fridge (sans ugly sticker, of course). I use this to hold my recipes for the week because it fits my recipe cards perfectly. Well, you'll be happy to know that I was at Staple's the other day, and they had a bazeellion of these babies. I haven't seen them for ages. Anyway, I only bought one so there would be some left for you. Staples is selling them for $7.29. I couldn't find them on the Staple's website, but you can find lots of them by Googling "Oxford DecoPouch."  I even found one on Amazon for $5.99.

And lastly, people have even e-mailed me asking for the 4x6 images that have my menu choices on them. I realize that the vast majority of you have no use for these, but for those that want them, here they are. Personally, if I were you and I wanted to make menu magnets of my own, I would just print my menu choices on some pretty scrapbook paper, cut them into squares mounted on card stock, laminate, and finally, apply magnets. You could even just laminate blank menu squares and write on them with a water-based pen, or with a Sharpie if you want them to be permanent.

If you want to use these, don't forget to click on them first to get the best resolution. Enjoy!

Germ-Be-Gone

So, you know how you see those cute little personalized hand sanitizers around the blogosphere, and people give them as teacher's gifts? Well, I think they are super cute, but in a real-life classroom that little bitty jobber might last two weeks. I go through two of the big Sam's Club gigondo hand sanitizers in one school year. 

These 67.6 ounce babies. 

And they are worth every penny, trust me. I got sick one time last year. Count it. ONE TIME.

Before I used hand sanitizer, it was every other month, at least. And I'm not the only one getting sick less. I keep one of these monsters by the computers, since most of the students touch the keyboards every day. I have another one back by the sink, and one at my desk too. 

Tomorrow the girls are each taking a ginormous personalized hand sanitizer to their teachers, just to kick off the holiday season. Here's how I did ours.

First, I soaked the bottles, label side down, in a sink full of water. After ten minutes or so, the labels peeled right off. That was the easy part. Next I had to scrub them with Goo-Gone to get the sticker residue off. Finally, I cleaned them with Windex, and then they were ready to be personalized.

I used my Cricut to cut the things I wanted out of brown vinyl. I used the Plantin School Book cartridge on Shadow, at half an inch for the lettering. The scrolly thing is from my Creative Memories Reminisce Accents cartridge. It's the Scroll1 shape with the Frame setting, and I cut that at four inches.

I used the same font cartridge for the teacher's monogram, but I didn't use the Shadow setting, and I cut them at 2-1/4 inches.

It was a quick project, and so worth the effort.

I love them so much, I might even make one for my classroom.

Since this has posted, I have found someone who will make an even cuter version of this label for just $3.50. It makes a great Teacher Appreciation gift. For details, go to this post.

Treats for Teachers

So, I walked into my friend Janet's classroom last week and snatched another idea. I just love walking into her classroom because it's so tidy. So cheery. So uncluttered. So CEEEEE-UTE. I walk in and just inhale the cuteness. 

Yeah. That and because I'm a cheater and a lifter of all ideas cute, I start scanning the landscape-that-is-her-classroom for something cute to copy. And she never disappoints.

Sitting on her desk, a gift from one of her fabulous parents, was one of these little faux paint cans, decorated super cute and filled with Peanut M&Ms. Now you know you could just take any old container and fill it with Peanut M&Ms, and it would be awesome, but seriously, how cute!

So, I immediately rationalized another trip to the craft store. You know how I dread that place.

Since I have two kidlets there are two teachers to appreciate, hence the two cans.

Now, please excuse my ignorance for a moment. Okay, again. I'll never live down that whole Modge Podge thing, will I?

Anyway, what the ding dang heck is this dingity dang washer for?!!!

All the paint cans had them and I can't for the life of me figure out what I was supposed to do with them. I even asked Girl Genius and she hadn't a clue. In retrospect, I'm thinking I should have at least tied the washers to the cans with a cutesy ribbon. It's that junk drawer mentality. I can't throw it away until I know what it is . . . I might need it someday.

No lie. I have scads of unidentified hoo-hahs that I might need someday. Doesn't everyone?

The not-knowing makes me crazy. I'm seriously worried that my cutified cans are sitting on my favorite teachers' desks, poised to to implode or something, spewing Almond Joy and Kit Kat bits about the classroom, ruining the cute, all because I didn't include the ding dang washer thing-a-ling.

I have such crafty problems, don't I?

Now, I'm not going to show you every little thing I did to these cans, but I do want to show you that the circumference of these particular cans was a tinsy bit more than a twelve inch long piece of paper. You can check that ahead of time by measuring the diameter and multiplying it by pi. You know, if you care.

I know you don't, but this is why it matters--since I didn't choose to use a forgiving pattern that I could just do a patch job with, I was forced to make my label cover the gap. Oh the horror.

It's actually not that big of a deal.

Once you glue buttons and flowers and ribbon to the can, then fill it with chocolatey goodness, who's going to even notice, right?

Teacher Appreciation Bookmarks

Did you know that this week is Teacher Appreciation Week? It is. Malibu Barbie inspired me to make these bookmarks for the teachers at my girlies' school, and I thought you might like to get in on it too.

There are eight different teacher quotes--two per 4x6 print.

These pictures show the front of the bookmarks on the ends, and in the middle is the back of each design.

My favorite is this colorful one.

If you've never made my bookmarks, go here for the step-by-step.

If you plan to attach them to gift cards for your favorite bookstore, be sure that you keep the magnets away from the magnetic stripe on the gift card. That would be bad.

Here they are. Remember to click on each picture to get the best resolution before you save them to your desktop.

Enjoy!

Altered Clipboards

Boy oh boy, have I been busy. Look at all these clipboards that I've altered. I have so many lists, that I need more clipboards to put them on.

Nah, not really. But I improved upon the clipboards that I've altered in the past, and I want to show you the new and improved way to do them. Well, new to me anyway.

The biggest improvement was that I kicked the spray adhesive to the curb and used Modge Podge for the adhesive part and the protection part and it worked great. I've found that the spray adhesive doesn't hold up very well long-term. Plus, Modge Podge is very forgiving. I ran out half way through this set of clipboards, so I went out and bought my biggest jar of Modge Podge yet.

See. It's like a Big Gulp. And there's even one bigger than this. I'm getting that one next time.

To alter my clipboards, the first thing I did was to paint around the edges on both sides, so that I could cut my paper a little smaller and avoid the whole sanding the edges step. Plus the paint gives the clipboard a more finished look. I got this great idea from Bizzy Bee Creations, after I finished my last batch of clipboards, and I had to smack myself upside the head for being such a bonehead.

After painting the edges of the clipboards, I chose two coordinating papers to cover each clipboard. I've found that the heavier weight printed paper works best and will hold up to the Modge Podge much better and without wrinkling.

I keep my clipboards pretty simple most of the time. I start by cutting the two papers the width of my clipboards. Then I shorten one and mark off the area to cut out where the clipboard hardware is.

Then I get out my Straight Trimmer and cut out that area. 

I tend to start a littler shorter and then keep slicing off strips until it fits perfectly. Sure, I could measure it, but then my topology handicap would rear its ugly head and make me sorry in the end. So I like to not measure and cut many times, which would probably make Bob Vila's head pop off and fly around the room.

Sorry Bob, I can't help myself.

See, it fits perfectly. And no sock pockets.

This is the back of the piece I'm going to adhere to the bottom front of my clipboard. I brushed a generous coat of Modge Podge over the back.

Then I slapped it down, smooshed it into position where I wanted it, then smoothed it out with my hands, being careful to flatten and expel any air bubbles. This was so much easier than using the spray adhesive, and not stinky at all. Modge Podge is very much like white glue in consistency, it looks like white glue, and it even smells like white glue. 

Here's the front of my clipboard with two patterned papers on it. I did the back of the clipboard as well, with the same two papers.

I didn't take pictures of the next steps (B-O-R-I-N-G), so I'll just tell you quickly what I did. I put two coats of Modge Podge on each side of the clipboard, making sure to allow enough time to completely dry between coats. This helps to protect the paper as well as give the clipboard a finish that can be easily cleaned.

Lastly, I tied bits of pretty ribbon willy nilly around the clipboard clip. You can use more or less. This project is an excellent way to rationalize buying more ribbon. Not that I needed to do that or anything. I'm just saying.

FLOWER POWER

TA-DA! Now, I made most of these clipboards for thank you gifts, but two of them are for my bloggy friends. One of them is going to one of my five winners from this post, Beth N. from Oregon. Another one is going to one of my lucky readers in the next 26-1/2 hours. If you want to win one of these clipboards, leave a comment telling me which clipboard is your first choice and which one is your second choice. 

Here are the rest of the clipboards.

PAISLEY

MOD FLOWER

STRIPES 'N DOTS

LITTLE BIRDIES

NUMBERS

RED/TEAL FLOWERS

SCHOOL

JUNGLE

I'll randomly choose someone and announce the winner on Wednesday. You have until Tuesday evening, Midnight Pacific time to enter. Please make sure your e-mail address is attached to your Blogger profile, or leave me an e-mail address in your comment. Beth N. from Oregon, I need you to leave me a comment with your choices as well.

Good luck my Bloggy Friends!

For examples of masculine clipboards, go here.