Here in the South school starts early, usually the first week of August. While the rest of the country is still enjoying the lazy, hazy days of summer, our little belles and beaus are hitting the books and getting their brains filled with knowledge.
We are very blessed and extremely thankful to have had some amazing individuals come into our lives and teach our kids. During the 9 months of the school year our kids will often spend more waking hours of their day with these teachers than with us. It's important for us to let our kids' teachers know from the get-go that we intend to partner with them and work together to teach our children. Because of this, and also because I am a southern lady that likes to show our hospitality and graciousness, I like to start the school year off with a small gift to the teachers. It's never anything big, just a small gesture of "Here's my baby. I hold them dear to my heart. Please keep them safe while they are away from me."
This year I've been so busy and I'm trying to be more frugal with my crafting dollars, so I challenged myself to make Back to School teacher gifts using only materials that I already own. I decided to make some clip-pins from a previous post. Have you ever noticed that thin strip of cork that runs across the top of the chalk/white/smart board? These are perfect for that!
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First up: A half-empty can of chalkboard paint from my advent calendar tutorial and leftover clothespins from my push-pin tutorial.
Spray paint some clothes pins. I used chalkboard paint because that's what I had, but you could also use flat black. The chalkboard aspect of it doesn't make a difference.
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Next, I had a pack of school themed scrapbook paper leftover from teacher appreciation last year. This is a pack of 5x7 paper that I got from Michael's. I used these thumbtacks, which originally came from Walmart.
After the paint is dry, cut paper to fit the front and back of the clips. I used some spray Elmer's adhesive that I had, but ended up having to use hot glue in some spots. I also used some matte spray poly on top of the paper once the glue had dried. Once everything is dry, hot glue the tack to the back at the top.
I didn't want the pins to poke anyone through the bags (Michael's), so I cut a piece of foam core board that would fit inside the bag. Cut the foam core board at least 1/2" smaller than the width of the bag so that everything will fit nicely.
I covered the piece of foam core board in some paper to give it a finished look. I cut a small piece of paper and clipped all of the pins to it at the bottom to keep them from moving around in the bags.
Finally, I used my tag punch, some black card stock, and a white colored pencil to make the tags.
The only thing I would've done differently is to write the teachers' names on the solid black clip with a white paint pen. But since I was restricting myself to materials I already had, I didn't do it.
By the way, middle schoolers are too cool to hand their teachers gifts on the first day of school. So I will be giving these to his teachers at Open House. ;) I have his permission. LOL. He just can't be seen doing the deed himself. My 3rd grader on the other hand was happy to play Back to School Santa.
Enjoy! Please, please "pin" and share.
XOXO,
Abby
Labels: clip pins, DIY, gifts
