High School Teacher Thank You Cards using Custom Papers

Today is Trevor's last day of ninth grade. His teachers, principal, and counselor have gone above and beyond to make this difficult school year productive and memorable. I wanted to make cards to thank them for everything they did for Trevor and the rest of the students. There was only one place to get the PERFECT papers for those cards: Scrapbook Customs. Did you know that Scrapbook Customs sells individual sheets of school-themed papers that you can customize with your school colors, name, mascot, and logo?! 

I always assumed that in order to get custom papers, you'd have to order at least 25 of the same design. Nope! At Scrapbook Customs, you can order single sheets of custom papers. They are surprisingly affordable. And high quality. There is nothing not to love about these papers. 

To get your custom paper, simply select the paper you want, then choose the colors, school name, initials, mascot, etc. There's even a line for special instructions. Here's what my order for the ADORABLE mask paper looked like.  

The folks at Scrapbook Customs sent me 10 awesome custom papers featuring Trevor's high school's name, colors, and mascot. I saved a few of the papers to use for layouts and other projects and cut the remaining papers apart to make these cards. 

Here's a closer look at each card I made. Everything you see (except for the white card bases) is cut from one of the ten sheets of paper from Scrapbook Customs:

Unfortunately (for me), I don't have an affiliate link for you to get your own custom papers. Fortunately (for you), I do have a coupon code for you to use! Enter Cindy10 at checkout to get 10% off the (already amazingly low) price for custom papers, or anything else you find on their site. 

I hope the rest of you are as excited about the possibilities of custom papers as I am! 

Teacher Appreciation Day Gift Box

Teacher Appreciation Day is May 4, one week from today. This is a wonderful opportunity to tell those special teachers in your life just how much they mean to you. Teaching can be very challenging; a kind note from a student or a parent may be exactly what a teacher might need to temporarily forget the hard parts and remind themselves what a rewarding job it is. 

When I came across the owl drawing in Quirky Collages to Color, I thought it would be awesome to use it to decorate a gift box for a teacher. So that's exactly what I did.  

Did you notice the pull tab? It's attached to a bookstore gift card. This is my #1 recommendation when people ask me what gifts teachers want. I've never met a teacher who didn't spend their own money on books for the classroom, or who wouldn't love to buy some books for themselves to enjoy. Affiliate links below. 

Teacher Appreciation Day Gift Box

Materials:

• Quirky Collages to Color
• Prismacolor Art Markers
• microtip scissors
• empty gift box
• gift card
• Doodlebug Chit Chat - School Days
• tape runner

Steps:

Color in the owl image using markers. With microtip scissors, carefully cut out the image. Place it on top of a gift box. Arrange the Chit Chat die cuts to the side of the owl and adhere them in place. Turn the owl upside down and apply adhesive along all the edges EXCEPT for the top edge between the two "ear" books. Carefully adhere the owl to the box. 

Cut a scrap of white paper and write PULL on it, layer it on a Chit Chat banner, then tape it to the end of the gift card. Slide it into place. 

So what should you put inside the box? Here are some ideas, based on what my fellow teachers and I frequently bought for our classrooms, using our own money:

• individually wrapped candies
• granola bars or other snacks (for food-insecure students)
• kleenex
• hand sanitizer
• fun art supplies (Model Magic, pastels, or anything beyond the school-supplied construction paper)
• Magic Erasers
• dice (great for math games and/or a unit on probability)
• card games (for rainy day recess)
• fun colors of chalk or dry erase markers

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day to all of my former colleagues and all of the other hardworking teachers out there!

Apple-Shaped Teacher Appreciation Card

Here's another card I made on National Scrapbook Day.  It's for Trevor's kindergarten teacher for Teacher Appreciation Week:

I was inspired by this card by Fiskateer #8546, Amy:

Of course, Trevor made one too.  Materials: red, brown and green cardstock, scissors, pencil, pen, and glue.

 

Begin by folding the red paper in half to form a card.  Lightly sketch the shape of an apple on the card, making sure there is a slightly 'flattened' part on the left side of the apple.  This will hold the card together.  Cut along the sketch line.

Cut a stem from brown cardstock and a leaf from green cardstock.  Attach using the glue.  Add a message to the card.  Couldn't be easier!  

 

Here's Trevor's finished card. 

I like to photograph the inside of the cards Trevor makes.  It's fun to see how his spelling and handwriting are improving over time.  Quite a dramatic difference from this time last year!  Which, of course, is just further proof that Mrs. Monachello is a grat techer.  :)

To all the teachers out there, Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!