Thank You, Teacher!

Happy NSD Weekend!  This project is linked to Circleville NSD and the Peach of a Teach Challenge! Scroll down to the end of this post to see links to other Circleville NSD bloggers! 

     And... I am giving away a prize here on my blog!  Details for that are below the list of Circleville NSD bloggers near the end of this post!!

And guess what is also coming this week?  It's NEA's National Teacher Day on May 6 and PTA's Teacher Appreciation Week  May 5-9!  This is a great time to thank the person (or persons) to whom you entrust your favorite kiddos all day long!  My daughter's teacher is great this year and has been more accessible than any previous teacher so I have gotten to know a bit about some of her challenges.  There are only eight students in her class, so this year has been all about individual attention!  To tell her 'thank you' for her efforts, care, kindness, and expertise, I wanted to put together a gift set.

And what better time to make a gift than NSD Weekend?!  (Maybe one year, I will actually do a scrapbook page for NSD!)

For my project, I used my Cricut Explore with files from SVGcuts:  School Days and Miss Baker's Classroom.  School Days has an adorable three dimensional schoolhouse gift box and Miss Baker's Classroom has a card that is very similar to the box.  From that file, I  made a matching card and a tag. SVGcuts has easy-to-put-together projects that are a lot of fun to decorate and customize!  

Of course there are other options:  If you were wanting to do this project with Cricut cartridges instead of SVG files, there is a great box on Sweet-tooth Boxes.  To see an adorable schoolhouse made with this cartridge on the Crazy about Cricut blog, click here.  If you wanted to make your own SVG or even hand-cut one, there is a fantastic little free PDF mini schoolhouse gift box by Design Mom -click here.

If you are a Cricut Explore owner and have never downloaded SVG files or have concern about doing that, check out this video by Melody Lane (click here).  She shows you how to navigate the site and how to download files from SVGcuts to Design Space.

I started with the schoolhouse box on School Days.  I followed the SVGcuts construction video, making these changes:

I cut the window 'glass' from recycled clamshell acetate as well as vellum.  I set this up as a new material with pressure of 338 and multi-cut 3.  To set up a new material, I set the dial to 'custom' and clicked the material settings button at the bottom of the panel, after loading the mat and before pressing the cut button.)

This did not cut the material all the way through, but scored it so that I could peel it along the cut lines, making a clean edge.  I wanted a clear window that I could use to frame photos of my daughter and her friends.  After the acetate was adhered in place with Terrifically Tacky two-sided tape, I glued in the photos. I backed the windows and photos with the pieces of vellum.

I embossed the roof and tower roof (as well as the door and building front)...

...And, unlike the construction video, I glued the two roof pieces together before gluing the hinge to make it easier.  

I glued the hinge underneath the roof to hide it.

Next:  The fun part!  Decorating the schoolhouse!

I made a flag from Cricut cartridge Stand and Salute, cut at 2.5".  I cut this on my Expression while my Explore cut flowers!  I flipped the red and blue pieces so that the flag would be completed on both sides.  I used an Xacto knife to cut a small slit over the door.  I inserted the flag pole and split open the layers and glued them to the inside of the schoolhouse box.  I punched a square and adhered it to hide that construction.

I punched a small flower that I slit and glued in place around the flagpole on the front to hide the cut I made with my Xacto knife.  

I downloaded a free flower design from the fabulous Juliana Michaels, of 17 Turtles.  You will remember her from the wonderful Circle Design Team!  You can find her SVG flower file by clicking here to get to her blog post, where you will be able to download it!  I also used a punch for the tiny red flowers.  

I added a bell by grabbing the one off of SVGcuts Miss Baker's Class that I had downloaded in preparation for my matching card and tag.  I grabbed a 1" square from one of my images in Design space.

The next time I make this box, I think I would like to cut out the space in the tower and add the bell inside!   I added an owl that was cut at 2" from the Recess Cricut cartridge.

Next, I worked on the tag and card.  I wanted them to MATCH one another...

...so I sized the card as instructed on the SVGcuts "menu" (a handy guide for knowing what size the pieces were designed to be).  I sized the tag to be 50% of the card.  That just means if a width for a card item was sized at 3", I made the size 1.5" for that same item on my tag.  I did that sizing adjustment for each piece.

This card is perfect for writing inside with the Explore because there is a separate, shaped, inside mat.  I actually cut two and wrote on one, leaving the other one blank because I think I would rather have my kiddo write a personalized message to her teacher.  I wasn't sure what she thought about that so I cut both just in case.  I'll let my daughter decide!

If you have not tried adding a font to your Cricut cuts, check out the OfficialCricut video for attaching text (click here).  This is Writing Font:  Creative Memories Tiny Treasures Sweet Pea.  For a list of pens that work great with the Explore and a photo of all Cricut handwriting fonts, see my Pen Options and Writing Fonts page.  I used a Pilot Precise V5 pen for this project.

The card has two pieces that are glued together to make the base.  For the tag, I only used the front!  That little mat cut is also perfect for a message on the back of the tag I created.

With the card and tag complete, I lined the box with a sheet of tissue paper and filled it with Hershey's Kisses.

A florist's card holder keeps my tag in place in the pot of gerbera daisies. This is the finished gift set:

I hope you have enjoyed NSD Weekend.  If you are a Cricut Circle member and haven't stopped by the Message Board in a while, check it out today to see all of the Circleville NSD challenges and tutorials!

If you are not a Circle Member, no worries!  Many of us are putting our Circleville NSD projects, like I did here, on our blogs and we would love you to join us:

A Day in the Life of Horsebunny - http://www.horsebunny.blogspot.com/

All Scrapped Out - http://allscrappedout.com/

Col's Creative Corner - http://www.scrappycol.blogspot.com/

Creating is Like Breathing - http://creatingislikebreathing.blogspot.ca/

Croation Crafter - http://www.croatiancrafter.blogspot.com/

Forever Inspired - http://cowgirl1hh.wordpress.com/

I Came I Saw I Created - http://icameisawicreated.blogspot.com/

Multi Crafter Amy - http://multicrafter-amy.blogspot.com/

Paper, Craft, and Scissors - http://papercraftscissors.com/

Sara Andrews - http://sarawandrews.com/

Scrapping for More Fun - http://scrappingformorefun.blogspot.com/

The Singing Shell - http://www.singingshell.blogspot.com/

And YES!  I do have a prize to give away!!  Just leave a comment (only one comment per human, please!) in order to go into a drawing for a $25 Michael's Gift Card!  Drawing will be held next Friday, May 9, 2014 and the winner's name will be posted on this blog that day.  Let me know how to contact you in your comment in the event that you win!  You are welcome to follow this blog if it looks like your cup of tea, but it is NOT mandatory to be in the drawing. I don't have a security code on my comments (because those are just annoying!) but I do moderate the comments so yours won't show up right away because I have to approve it first.  (It's just that a male enhancement spammer leaves me nasty notes if I don't moderate... and even though it can be entertaining, it gets old!  LOL!!!  I hope you will understand. And if you are having a temporary freak out and try to comment repeatedly because it doesn't show up, I will just delete your extras so no one will have to know.  It will be our little secret because we all have those days!)

If you are looking for more ideas for teacher gifts, check out my previous years' teacher-related projects or teacher-appropriate gifts (click photo to go to original post on this blog unless otherwise indicated):

This card is not linked to a post.

To see many of my previous projects, check out My Project Gallery (click here).  Thank you for looking at my post today.   Happy Crafting!