Good morning! I'm back today and am excited to share some projects that are near and dear to my mind and heart right now, end of the year gifts to teachers and students (it's been a crazy year and I think it's time to celebrate that we've made it and everyone's hard work and dedication). We've officially reached the one month mark before the end of school and testing has already begun so I thought I would share some quick and easy gifts to close out the school year. I have to admit our schedules are crazy in the spring with work, school, baseball, Tae Kwon Do, Scouts, softball, etc. so in order to get things done I like projects that are not really fussy and I can prep all the supplies (including stamping, cutting, etc.) so I can work on them on the field, while traveling, etc.
The first project I have is one of the cute mini coffee cups that have been floating around the internet, they are so cute and are perfect for all those coffee loving teachers. I simply cut some designer series paper (in this case I used
Gingham Garden) and wrapped it around the cup with Sticky Strip and then filled the cup with candy. Of course I had to find a cute way to present the coffee cup so I made this cute little box using a 10" square piece of cardstock and the
Envelope Punch Board (punch and score on each side at 2 1/4" inches and then flip the paper over and repeat on all four sides). I used the
Label Bracket Punch to cut out a window and used a window sheet to cover the opening. Some DSP is on three sides of the box and then I wrapped a piece of
Wild Wasabi 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon around and tied a bow (this ribbon is actually on sale between now and May 26 so stock up before it sells out!)
Here's a close up of the tag. I used the Starbust Sayings stamp set, stamped in Melon Mambo ink and then cut it out with the coordinating Starburst Framelits. I used the Label Bracket Punch to make a background piece of the greeting and then tied the tag to the bow with Island Indigo Baker's Twine. One down only 11 more to go.
You can find these little coffee cups
HERE.
My second project is for Aidan's class gift and the are super simple. At last month's Catalog Premier there was a demonstration to make these cute little pouches and what's great about them is that they use a single piece of DSP from the Paper Stacks (so no cutting and no scraps - AWESOME!!!!) In this case I used the Fresh Prints DSP Stack and I used the Simply Scored Board and scored along the long side at 1", 1 1/2", 2", 4", 4 1/2", and 5" and then flip it and score at 1/2". Then you just fold and cut off the extra tails an your all set. For the tag I used a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock and embossed it with the Big Shot and Chevron Embossing Folder. The greeting is also from the Starburst Sayings stamp set and cut out with the framelits. A little piece of Real Red 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon makes attaching the tag a breeze.
Here's a side view of the pouch -- all I did was add a couple of pieces of candy and I'm going to make bookmarks using
My Digital Studio and the
Book Buddies Designer Template (they're already designed, I just add some text congratulating the kids on a great year). A sample of last year's bookmarks are
HERE.
I have an even easier project that is super fun. I made these cute little candy treats for the kids to encourage them as they start their standardized testing. I just used a 1x8 Cello bag and added a couple of Smartie Candies. The ribbon I got off the clearance rack (but any ribbon will do. The tag was created in My Digital Studio. I just added a punch to a blank page and as long as you don't adjust the size of the punch when you print it your punch will work perfectly. I just designed one tag and then copied it to fill a full page so I used less than two sheets of paper and only had to design once.
Here's a close up of the tag and ribbon attachment.
I wanted to share one last project you can make with supplies you have on hand. I made these cute little gifts that are simply standard candy bars wrapped in paper, ribbon, and a cute tag. On the Basic Gray cardstock I stamped with the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and then added some DSP from the Polka Dot Parade Designer Series Paper package. The ribbons are retired (sorry, I was in a rush and needed something quick and would work with all the different colors but any color ribbon would work based on the colors you choose). For the tag I used Crumb Cake cardstock and stamped with the Chalk Talk stamp set and cut it out with the Chalk Talk Framelits. I used the 1 3/4" circle punch to cut out the greeting and used some Silver Glimmer Paper and the Scallop Circle Punch to help dress it up.
I hope you enjoyed these projects and they've given you some ideas that you can still whip out before school ends. I have to admit I love making cute little gifts and I'll miss when Aidan decides he's "too big" to do these so I'm enjoying it while I can. If you're local to me and you need help (or want me to design gifts for you) please contact me and we can work something out.
