Teacher Appreciation Week

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week.
Each day of the week had a special theme.

Monday was flower day.
Addy picked Mrs. Jalifi some roses & gardenias from our bushes at home.

Tuesday was handmade card day.

Wednesday was the day to bring something for other members of the staff.

 Addy brought chocolate to some of her resource teachers & aides.

Thursday was bring a special treat to your teacher day. 

Addy brought a jar of peanut m&ms to Mrs. Jalifi. (Just like the one above.)

Friday was special gift day.

 Addy gave Mrs. Jalifi this flip flop door hanger that I made.

End of year teacher gifts

A lot of you guys are already out of school for the summer, so I probably should have wrote this post last week. (But I'm a planner & a procrastinator at the same time, so I had all my ideas & materials together, but didn't get these projects finished until the morning of awards day!) But for those of you that still need an idea for this year (or maybe next), here's a cute & simple idea for an end of the year teacher gift.

Here's what we made for Addy's teachers...

I needed a summer door hanger & so here's what I came up with. Didn't it turn out cute!

I also made one for each of Addy's teachers for part of their end of the year gift.

And here's their main gift. Are you wondering what's inside? I know you are, lol! So let me tell you...

It's a summer gift card book!

Wondering what that is?? Well, keep reading & you'll find out!

I got the idea from here while searching on Google for end of the year gift ideas. This lady used premade chipboard books. I looked at Hobby Lobby, JoAnns, Micheals & even Amazon & I couldn't find any. So I bought the only pack of chipboard that I could find ($3.99 at Hobby Lobby & I used a 40% off coupon) & cut the pages of the books myself.

I have plenty of scrapbook paper so I just picked a couple of summerish looking sheets & cut them a little smaller than the chipboard pieces.

Then I glued the scrapbook paper to the chipboard.

Next I cut white copy paper a little smaller than the scrapbook paper. (I'm just saying a little smaller because I didn't actually measure any of this. I just cut one & then used it for a pattern to make the rest.) On each piece of copy paper, I had Addy write a specific phrase. Then I glued the copy paper to the scrapbook paper.

The hardest part (really, the only hard part) was holepunching the chipboard. The chipboard was too thick to fit in the 3 hole punch that I could just push down on, so instead I had to use the hand holepunch & squeeze. Man did my hands hurt after that! I used small binder rings to hold the books together.

And here's how they turned out...

What will Mrs. Cochran do this summer?

Eat ice cream cone ($5 gift card to Dairy Queen)

Read a book ($10 gift card to Amazon)

Drink a slushie ($5 gift card to Sonic)

Watch a movie ($10 gift card to Star Cineama Grill)

Each book was the exact same except for the teacher's name on the cover. They cost me $30 each to make. Not too expensive & they turned out super cute! And her teachers LOVED them! Mrs. Cardenas said that it was the cutest present she's ever received & Mrs. Berry said she could just see Addy sitting there writing everything out. And they both said they cried when they read them. Mrs. Cochran sent me the sweetest thank you note & said that she doesn't want to take the gift cards out of the book because it's just so cute! 

I know I've said it before, but I'm going to say it again... Addy's teachers are ABSOLUTELY THE BEST! They all love her so much & it really really shows!

And I even got an end of the year gift from Mrs. Cochran, Addy's regular ed teacher. As a thank you for helping her throughout the year with projects. I got a cute little reversible bag, a cup with an 'R' on it, candy (there was more but Alex ate it) and a gift card to Hobby Lobby (which will be spent in no time I'm sure!)

Gift Card Flower Pot

Addy has 2 more days of school left so it's time I finally finish the end of year teacher gifts. She has been with her PPCD teacher & aides for the past 2 years so I want to get them something that shows how much I appreciate all they have done for her. They have been wonderful & have helped her grow so much!
I've decided that I'm going to make a gift card flower bouquet for each one of these special ladies.
This project turns out really cute & is very easy to make!

Here's what you'll need:

Cute tin pail or flower pot

floral foam (i already had)

fake grass or moss (i already had this too)

floral wire

cardstock or posterboard (had this too)

floral card holders (bought these in the heb floral section for 3 cents each)

glue gun & glue sticks

Start with your tin pail.

 I got these on clearance at Hobby Lobby.

Cut your floral foam to fit in the pail.

Cover the foam with fake moss or grass.

Cut 1 stick of the floral wire into 5 equal size pieces.

Bend those pieces to make small picks & use to secure the moss.

Next take a stick of floral wire & wrap it around a floral card holder.

This will be used to hold the flowers & gift cards. 

I am putting 5 gc in each bucket so I will make 15 of these.

For the flowers, I printed a picture from the internet on cardstock & then cut it out.

Hot glue the flowers to one side of the card holder.

Next, insert the gift card behind the flower into the card holder.

Stick the card holders in the floral foam & arrange to look like a flower bouquet.

Then you can add a paper tag that says whatever you would like.

These will say "Thank you for helping me grow." And Addy signed them!

Finished product

I got gift cards to Starbucks, Sonic, Chilis, Subway & AMC theaters.
This would be great to do with the whole class participating too. Imagine if you were a teacher & each kid contributed a $20 gc to somewhere!