Teacher Gifts

I don't know about you, but I am always scrambling at the end of the school year for teacher gifts. Yes, a gift card will suffice, but I like to give something else with it. Usually I end up spending $10 or more on the little gift - and I'm not even that impressed with it. Well, that changed today!

I kept a promise to myself, that I will use Pinterest for good, not evil! Okay, not evil - just a positive influence and not just a major time suck. (You may have seen my previous post on my Pinterest addiction.)

So I am challenging myself to create some of the things I pin. With such amazing ideas posted every day, surely something would be a great DIY teacher gift to accompany a gift card to Starbucks, right? But it needed to be something I could accomplish with supplies on-hand at 10 o'clock the night before the last day of school. Yup, that's how I roll.

Enter the current project - super simple, inexpensive (most items everyone has on hand) and downright adorable. I followed the links from my pin to a tutorial for a 3-dimensional apple made from an old book. I did modify my supplies, only because I can be a bit lazy and impatient when completing a project. Don't judge! It's still really stinkin' cute.

No worries about deconstructing a good book. This was a children's math logic book that is seriously out of date! (I chose a paperback - I think that is less work than a hardcover.) My book was even tall enough to cut 2 apples from it. One for the teacher and one for the teacher's assistant. 

It was a fairly simple project. I promise!

I used the following supplies:

~ an old book 

~ a pen or pencil

~ sharp exacto knife

~ hot glue gun

~ twigs or even a real apple stem

~ ink or paint 

~ extra embellishments

Now, here's where I get lazy. The original tutorial I found used a template. And you may want to cut a template for yourself, but I like to wing it sometimes. I'm just crazy like that.

First, I tore off the cover. Then I drew a half of a heart shape - but left about 3/4 inch at the bottom for a base. (Very technical, I tell you.) Hopefully, the image below will help. This shows the two heart shapes I cut out of the book. The spine is to the left.

I started by cutting through a couple pages at a time and then increased as I went along. Again, a template could be useful for someone who prefers a less "wing-it" approach.

Once I had my shapes cut out, I took my handy-dandy damp paper towel and and dabbed red ink long the egdes of the curved shape. I found it easier to do this before you open it. You can put on as much or as little as you want. I ended up with two different looks. You could also do yellow or green on the apple if you prefer.

Next, I opened them up (approximately in half) so I could see the spine. Then I used hot glue to adhere my "stems". If you haven't noticed yet, I am a very impromptu kind of gal, so when I realized I needed something to resemble a stem, I ran into my family room and broke off a few tiny branches from my birch twigs in a vase. Hey, they worked perfectly!

Once the hot glue was cool and dry, I fanned open my book shapes and again used hot glue to adhere the front page to the last page. {I didn't feel like waiting for craft glue to dry.} Be careful not to burn your fingers. My hot glue gun must be a low heat type, as it wasn't too hot to burn.

Again, once dry and cool - I continued to fan and fluff the pages until they looked full and even.

Next, I cut a free-hand leaf from green cardstock. I wrote the teacher's name on one side and "Love, Bella" on the other. Then I hot glued the appropriate end in between two book pages at the top. (I left a long stem on the green leaf to make sure it would have something to adhere it.)

Now my apples were finished! Yeah! A homemade gift to include with the gift cards. So cute, and pretty unique if you ask me. And free to boot - I had all items on hand.

I even took a few pages from the cut book to make personalized gift bags.

I used glue dots to adhere the open apple pages to a kraft gift bag. Then I hot glued another "stem" and leaf with the teacher's name. I drew on seeds with an embossing pen. I wrapped the apples in tissue paper and put them in the gift bag. The tissue paper left a good fluffy spot to set a gift card.

These are for preschool teachers. And my 3 year old is very curious, so I decided to tie the bags shut with some red and white twine.

I was so happy with my finished product! And proud of myself for making a craft instead of buying something at the store. I also fulfilled a promise to myself to create some of the fun things I pin on Pinterest.

I'm giving this project an A+. Sorry - I couldn't resist!

~ All images on this post are my own and can be found, where else, on my Pinterest boards. ~

Linking up to the following great parties ...