Monday, May 2, 2011

Teacher Appreciation Day!

My daughter, Piper, LOVES her teacher.  She is kind and patient and accessible to the parents, even answering emails on weekends, including Easter!  She truely loves the kids... and they love her.  She has worn her heart on her sleeve this year, as she shared with her 1st grade class and their families that she and her husband were expecting their second child.  Then she shared her pain when she miscarried.  Many of the families have felt very close to her.

She has been so understanding and kind to my daughter.  She has been a positive and encouraging force in all subjects, nurturing Piper's love of learning.  When I read that I had an opportunity to win an Expression for my daughter's school by showing my appreciation for her teacher, I jumped at the chance!  This is my entry in the Circle Magazine Challenge.

I started this project at Walmart looking for the base items for a teacher set.  I have loved the sets I have been seeing on the Circle blog.  I knew that I wanted some sort of collection or set of gifts.  I had in my mind using black for a blackboard and some 'ready made' Imagine images so I could avoid piecing layers.  I decided on the Best Friends cartridge.  There is a character with blonde hair and a tutu.  My daughter and I agreed that she looked like that character.  She picked out others that looked like her friends and I printed out and cut LOTS of these in various sizes. 

I started with a pencil holder.  I found a solid black one to use.  I cut three images at 4" and glued them on with E6000 plastic adhesive.  Using a white pen, I wrote between the characters to mimick chalkboard writing.

The giant paperclips I purchased for part of the gift set served perfectly to keep the paper images in place while the glue dried.

Rolled up strips of paper create 'chalk' for the characters to hold.
I had purchased a box of solid-colored pencils and cut lots of characters at 2" (flipping half of them to glue onto the backs).  I placed some of the paper dolls at the top of the pencil, just under the eraser and some in the middle of the pencil, covering up the brand.





Piper and I worked on making brownies.  Piper insists that brownies are her teacher's favorite treat.  I hope she is right. 


While the brownies baked and cooled, I finished up the projects, starting with a card.  I had been thinking of a card I had seen a while back from Sonia Kertznus on the Cricut message board that used a car decal girl and placed her in front of  a blackboard with 'my teacher is great' written over and over like punishment sentences.  I thought that was so funny and clever.  I used this design with my Best Friends Piper doll, cutting her at 4", popping her up and giving her a piece of rolled paper chalk.

I printed the sentiment inside on my computer.

I gathered those jumbo paperclips that helped with the pencil cup and decorated them to match the set.  This idea originally came from Scrapalette.  She once posted her bug head paperclips and then sent me one to see firsthand.  Over the weekend, I did my first one with Doxie's metal challenge.  I loved the way it finished so I decided it would be fun to include a few with this set.  Like the pencils, I printed two of each character, flipping one, for each clip.  These were each cut at 3".  I used the E6000 again to ensure that they would stay together.


I had purchased some baby roses and wanted to make a pick that would carry on the theme.  These were also cut at 3". 




Once the brownies were cooled, they were individually wrapped in wax paper and them packaged in plastic.  I made a little tag using a 2" character.



I put it all together, ready to go out the door, letting all those faces peak over the top of the bag.  I clipped the card to the bag with one of my jumbo paperclips. 

 I hope she likes it.  Hopefully it will make her smile. 

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I have had such a fun evening putting together this gift for such a wonderful teacher and kind person.

19 comments:

Nadia Cannizzo said...

Oh gosh these are fantastic! WOW! Take it from a teacher..THESE will be loved and appreciated! Take care, Nadia.

Unknown said...

that looks great. YOu did a wonderful job.

Tanya~Studio 5380 said...

What a wonderful, clever, orginal gift! Piper's teacher is sure to love every single piece of this set. This is a gift from the heart and those are the very best kind, I love it!

Therese said...

Nadia,What a treasure these are. I think someone is loving her Cricut Imagine :)
What an awesome gift to receive.

Connie said...

Wow! What an amazing gift for her teacher, you girls did an awesome job!

Therese said...

Nadia, I found a pattern for the baby booties at http://celebratingordinarymoments.blogspot.com/
Can't wait to see what you come up with. Be Blessed Friend

Mandy said...

As always, another great project. I love it! I am using the Best friends cartridge for our gifts too!

Mrs. Green said...

This is all great! As a teacher, I would love many of these gifts. The pencils are SOO cute! Nice job mom and Piper!

Anonymous said...

I'm sure Piper's teacher will feel very much appreciated by her gift. I am certain that Piper is absolutely correct with her brownie assertion.

Another great project to learn from!!

Cassandra said...

Just wanted to let you know that I always love your work! You are sooo creative in so many different way. Thank you for all you do.

BTW-I have a surprise for you over on my blog :)

www.ctimz3.blogspot.com

~Cassandra

Sandi Clarkson said...

Nadia, these are just adorable and are the perfect teacher gift. I've been playing with those BF characters for birthday cards for the famly and just love them to pieces! Of course, the brownies and roses are a nice touch as well! LOL

Scrapper69 said...

OMGOSH! Amazing Nadia! The entire set looks wonderful and I'm sure your daughters teacher is gonna lOVE them to no end! Soooo super thoughtful of you! :o) I may even have to scraplift your idea! LOL
Theresa

L.B. said...

wonderful gifts for what sounds like a wonderful teacher.

Hrvatica said...

You did an incredible job with these teacher gifts!

flowerdisco said...

oh my, this is better than the ones on the circle. i mean it too. :)
it is just prefect. i also noticed you giving credit to sonia...wow! kuddos to you on this one. not everyone takes the time or they might forget, who knows but it was certainly nice of you.

i might have to scraplift this one day. i am truly in love with it. but since i have no I i will have to make it my own but nonetheless, tfs!

Tammy E. said...

What a great gift. I know the teacher had to appreciate the time, effort and beauty of everything! Glad I found your blog. Lots of Cricut inspiration here. I don't have an Imagine, but still lots of inspiration.

Anonymous said...

FANTASTIC projects, I definitely want to scraplift some of them!

Crafting Katie said...

Wow! What a fantastic gift! I'm a teacher, and I would love to receive these. You put a lot of work into this!

scrapaholicjen said...

WOW!! INcredible work! Great ideas - LOVE it!

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