Meet the Teacher Gifts

Let me just say upfront that I am well aware that I might have gone a teensy bit overboard in my enthusiasm for "Meet the Teacher" gifts.

I procrastinated even thinking about them for weeks, then on Tuesday night around midnight as I was fuming about something or other work related well aware that there was no way I was going to be able to sleep I sat down and started brainstorming ideas. In the span of about 30 minutes I had come up with 4 spectacular ideas, and had drafts already well underway in Photoshop. And I cannot tell you how excited I am about how they turned out!

The first put to good use a couple of extra succulents and pots I picked up at Ikea last weekend. On a side note - I can't say enough good things about these plants. They take my abuse and are really just about the only house plants I haven't managed to kill over the years even as I regularly in turns forget to water them, then overwater them for weeks at a time. Despite all that not only have they survived, they have outright THRIVED.

So I threw together a quick printable, glued it around a skewer, tied on a bow, et VOILA! Done!

And you have to forgive me for my tangent here, but I am *IN LOVE* with the new glue sticks. The boys needed 4 and of course they come in a 3 pack each so I ended up with 2 extras for my craftin' stash. I pulled one out to glue on the flags and just about died when I opened it and discovered it was PURPLE! It actually goes on purple SO YOU CAN SEE WHERE YOU HAVE GLUED!! Then dries clear. OMG. Gluing will never be the same again. The boys can just keep their grubby little mitts off. I am so not sharing. :)

Though I will share a little tip I learned about keeping those ribbons in place on pots or anything else angled and slippery - put a tiny little piece of double sided tape up under the ribbon in the back and you don't have to worry about it slipping down or off.

And, yes, in theory, I should have been done with teacher gifts. But I just couldn't help myself. These little guys had already taken on a life of their own. And I knew I had to finish them.

I found the alligator clips at Dollar Tree the other day. Thought they were super cute so I picked up a set. Luckily when I realized that they would make a cute teacher gift and headed back to the store they still had plenty. So I picked up an extra set, or 3. :) I even turned a couple into magnets for our fridge using some leftover neomydium magnets.

And they really couldn't have been easier to make. Clips + snack bag, cardstock, a topper, and done. Designed and printed my topper. Cut it out, and then used the left over scraps to cut a little piece of cardstock to clip the clips onto(6" x ~1"). Took a scalloped punch and made a "bite" into the cardstock. Then clipped the 3 clips on and slid them into a snack bag. Zipped it up, then stapled my topper on. And done. :)

I showed both of the presents to the boys to let them pick which ones they wanted to take, and of course, they want to take both. As they are already done, why not? I am sure the teacher will love them both. And if I let the boys carry the clips I don't have to worry about them dropping and breaking the pots. :)