DIY Teacher Gift Basket

My cousin recently graduated college with her early childhood education degree.  I wanted to do something really special for her that would excite her to have a classroom and students of her own.  I did a little research on teacher gifts and came up with the idea of putting a basket together for her.  These baskets would be great gifts for new teachers, teacher appreciation, Christmas, and the end of the school year!

Included in the basket I made:

·         Bulletin board boarders

·         Highlighters

·         Colored grading pens

·         “Hello my name is” neon nametags

·         “Creative Solution” pad of awards

·         Post it note holder

·         Extra post it notes

·         Starbucks gift card

·         Framed quote

·         Stickers

·         Hand Sanitizer

·         Hot Dots & Pen

·         Changing Faces Clock

·         DIY Clipboard

·         DIY Initial tumbler

Don’t forget to buy shreds for the bottom and some type of ribbon to weave through the holes!  You could also use a tote bag or a lunchbox instead of a basket.

This basket was stuffed full, but other/more ideas are:

·         Supplies such as tape, glue, scissors, stapler, paperclips, etc.

·         Student prizes like pencils and erasers

·         Sheet protectors

·         Sentence strips

·         Permanent markers

·         Dry erase markers

·         Books

·         Book marks

·         Gift cards to teaching supply stores or book stores

·         Notebook

·         Planner

·         Wipes

I hope sharing my ideas help with gift ideas for that special teacher in your life!

DIY Monogram Clipboard

I made this pretty teacher’s DIY monogrammed clipboard for my cousin to include in this basket I put together for her as a graduation gift.

Clipboard Supplies:

·         Clipboard – the metal part must be the kind you pinch with the hole in the middle

·         2 different colored sheets of scrapbook paper

·         Matching ribbon

·         Contact paper

·         Monogram cut into a circular shape

·         Double sided tape

·         Scissors for cutting the circular monogram, ribbon, and corners

·         Exacto knife & cutting mat for cutting everything else

·         Flower with a clip on the back

·         Optional class attendance sheet

NOTES:

*Most of these supplies can be found at Hobby Lobby.  The clipboard is from Office Max and the class attendance sheet was made by yours truly using Microsoft Publisher.  You’ll be DIYing the monogram.

*DO NOT use Mod Podge.  I tried using it at first and ended up having to buy more scrapbook paper and 
start all over! It warped the paper and you could see brushstrokes.  Not pretty!  Contact paper is the way to go for this project.

* You don’t have to use the same colors as me, but it will be easier for you to understand if I explain by saying the “purple color” for the top & bottom color and the “cream color” for the middle color scrapbook paper.

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Make your monogram following these directions and using this website. 

I did an extra step here and used Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Publisher to move the monogram side by side with a picture I took of the purple scrapbook paper to make the monogram’s purple background match the purple scrapbook paper exactly.

Step 2: Print out your monogram. If you need to resize it, you can use an 8.5x11 template in Microsoft Publisher.

Step 3:  Use something circular to trace around your monogram & cut it out.

Step 4: Measure out where you want your two scrapbook colors to go & cut them.  Make sure the cream color is big enough to fit the monogram.

Step 5: Use double sided tape to stick the monogram to the cream color scrapbook paper, then the cream to the top purple color, & last that to the bottom purple color.

Step 6:  Before peeling your contact paper apart from the backing, place the taped monogram & scrapbook paper on your contact paper backing.  Measure about an inch or half inch around the paper so it looks like it will have a contact paper boarder & draw a line – this just gives it a little “mess up room” while placing the scrapbook paper onto the contact paper.

Step 7: Peel the backing off the contact paper & place your scrapbook paper on it.

Step 8: Cut the rest of the contact paper off from that inch/half inch boarder.

Step 9: Place double sided tape as close as possible to all 4 edges on the bottom side of the scrapbook paper avoiding the corners & a few more lines of the tape in the middle of the paper.

Step 10: Line that up to the clipboard & place it down.

Step 11: Trace around the clipboard’s rounded corners & cut along those lines.

Step 12: Measure the ribbon to place over the 2 scrapbook paper seams & use double sided tape along the ribbon to stick it down.

Step 13: Tie a bow out of more ribbon & use double sided tape to stick it down.

Step 14: Clip & center your flower through the metal hole.

Step 15: (Optional) Clip a class attendance sheet to the board.

It seems like a ton of steps, but I was just being thorough explaining!  Trust me; it will be worth it in the end!