Inexpensive Monogrammed Apple Teacher Gift Idea

Hey, y'all!  Today I have a quick, easy, inexpensive teacher gift idea that would be perfect for Teacher Appreciation Day/Week.  Last week I shared 10 Teacher Gift Ideas from Teachers Themselves, and this gift actually covers two of those ideas.  I'm calling it my Monogrammed Apple Teacher Gift, and it's both a personalized AND useful gift.

  To begin the project, you need hand sanitizer.

 I bought the hand sanitizer I used from the dollar store.  You can get a large bottle for a dollar or three small bottles for a dollar if you want to really stretch your money.

I peeled off the labels from the bottle and used Goo Gone to remove any residue left over.

Then I designed the monogrammed apple using my Silhouette program.  If you need an apple to use, you can download a free file I created {HERE}.  To create my monogram, I used a free monogram app on my phone and then emailed the monogram to myself.  I traced the monogram using my Silhouette program and centered it in the middle of the apple.  (In the screen shot above, I have filled all the pieces of the monogrammed apple with color.  I often do that when I'm going to cut a design with vinyl so that I can quickly decide what colors go well together.)  Group all the pieces together and then size the monogrammed apple to fit the hand sanitizer bottle you're using.

Then ungroup all the shapes.  You can cut each shape one at a time from vinyl, but I like to spread all the pieces out on the carrier sheet so I can cut once.  You can see what I mean below.

After the pieces of the design are cut, it's time to weed the vinyl.

Tip: I don't have a weeding tool, so I often use a straight pin or the end of a craft knife to weed my designs.  Once the pieces are weeded, cut a piece of transfer tape or contact paper the size of the apple.  I used contact paper so that I can see my vinyl as I'm layering it.

Center the apple on the bottle and use contact paper to adhere it to the bottle.

Center the monogram on the apple and adhere it to the bottle.  Then add the stem and leaf.  Note: I used the same piece of contact paper to transfer all the pieces of my design.  Also, I hinged the contact paper when applying the monogram to make sure that I had the vinyl centered before adhering it to the apple.

And that's all there is to creating a cute, inexpensive, personalized teacher gift.  I'm not sure how much the small amount of vinyl I used cost because I didn't do the math, but I would guesstimate this gift costs less than $2 to make.  It's the perfect gift to show a teacher that you care without spending a lot of money.

Related Posts:

 Glittered Dollar Store Stapler

 String Art Apple Chalkboard Frame

Monogram a T-Shirt with Your Silhouette

{Personalized Frozen-Inspired Halloween Treat Bags}

Hey, y'all!  My adorable nieces had birthdays recently.  They, like most other little girls their ages, are Frozen obsessed, so this weekend they had a joint Frozen-themed party.  They dressed up as Anna and Elsa, and their mom created themed games and snacks.  Knowing in advance that they were going to be having a Frozen party, I bought them lots of Frozen goodies.  I realized this weekend that I needed some type of gift bag to hold the goodies.  I had some small canvas tote bags already, so I decided to whip up some Frozen-inspired gift bags that could double as their Halloween treat bags since they're going to be Anna and Elsa for Halloween too.  I used my Silhouette to personalize the bags, and I love how they turned out!

I started the project with two canvas bags that I bought in a pack of four from Hobby Lobby.

Each bag cost about $2, which is definitely a great price.

I used my Silhouette to cut two stencils from vinyl.  I used the font Maratre.  I typed each of my nieces' names, welded the letters together, and offset them to make the font thicker.  For Londyn's Elsa bag, I used the cut tool to remove the "o" from the name.  I inserted a snowflake in its place and welded it to the name.  For Laney's Anna bag, I used Flourish 1018, a moroccan flower, and circles to  create a design mimicking the front of Anna's dress.  (The design may look like it has more components than those three shapes, but I cut the flourish and used pieces of it in parts of the design.)  Once I cut the design from the vinyl, I weeded it to prepare for stenciling.

I covered the vinyl design with lined transfer paper and removed the backing to ready it for the front of the bag.

I then transferred the design to the bag.

Once the vinyl stencil was on the bag, I put blue painters tape around any places where I thought I wouldn't have enough room to apply paint to the design without getting any on the bag.  This may seem a little crazy, but I would much rather use inexpensive painters tape than extra vinyl for this purpose.  (Also, you may want to put a piece of cardboard inside the bag.  I didn't because I knew from experience that I wouldn't use enough paint to seep through the front of the bag onto the back.)

Since the bag won't be washed like clothing, I used regular paint to stencil.  I specifically used Martha Stewart brand pearlescent paint and glitter paint on Londyn's bag.  I used regular acrylic paint on Laney's bag, with the Martha Stewart glitter paint over a couple of small portions of the design.  I used a round stencil brush to apply the paint.  If you use this type of brush, carefully unload your paintbrush of excess paint, and then apply your paint in a pouncing motion, you will get a really nice stenciled image.  I let the paint dry, and my gift bags/treat bags were finished.

I packaged Londyn and Laney's gifts in the bags, and they loved them.  I had the girls pose with the bags in front of the Frozen backdrop that I used as a photo booth for the party guests.  Let's just say that their personalities REALLY shined through.

Londyn looked so much like Elsa!  She posed perfectly for me.

Laney?  She was as cute as a button as Anna, but her silliness was on full display when I was trying to take her picture.  (This pic is a perfect example of why my husband and I call her Laney-Monster.)

I tried to get a pic of the two princesses together.  Since Laney was in full Laney-Monster mode, this is the best I could do.  I actually really like the picture though because it shows both of the girls' personalities.  I'm really glad that I was able to add a personalized, crafty element to their gifts with these treat bags, and I hope that they enjoy using them when they go trick-or-treating.  They definitely won't have to worry about getting their treat bags mixed up with someone else's!

{DIY Personalized Wedding Gift Using PicMonkey}

Hey, y'all!  Wedding season is quickly approaching.  I'm sure we all like to give nice, personalized wedding gifts, but sometimes those gifts are a little hard on the ol' pocketbook.  Today I'm going to show you how to make a chic, personalized wedding gift using PicMonkey--an online photo-editing site--and digital scrapbook paper.  Print out your design and pop it in an inexpensive frame, and your gift will be something the happy couple will cherish for years.

First, you need to go to PicMonkey.com.

Click on the design option at the top of the home page.  Then choose the "canvas" size that you'd like your finished print to be.  When you do that, a white page will open.  There will be an option for you to change the color of the page.  Just click apply and the page will stay white.

On the left side of the screen, click on the T's; this is the font option.  Choose a font you like and click "Add Text."  Type the initial of the last name of the couple and resize and reposition your letter.  You want to position it in the top two thirds of your white page.

Next, click the butterfly on the left side of the screen; this is the overlay section.  Click on the geometric shape overlay option at the top. Chose a rectangle.

Change the color of your rectangle to white and then stretch it all the way across the print.  Try to center it in the middle of the letter.

Click on the geometric overlay option again and choose a rectangle again.  Leave this one black.  Make it really thin and then stretch it across the print.  As you can see in the photo, this creates a thin black line that you will use as a border.  Right-click the line and duplicate it.  Position the lines like those in the photo above.

Choose the text option again on the left of the screen.  Chose a pretty font, click "Add Text," and type the couple's last name.  Center it in the white rectangle you just created. 

Click "Add Text" again and type the name of the bride and groom, along with the year they are getting married.  (Sorry that my screen shot doesn't show the text section on the left!)  Now you're done with the hard part.  Make sure that everything is positioned like you want it.  (My trick to center everything is opening a rectangle and using it almost like a ruler on each side to make sure the text is even.)

Click on the butterfly again for the overlays.  This time, you're going to click "Your Own" at the top.  This gives you the option to add any files on your computer as an overlay.  You can add a photo or do like I did and add a piece of pretty digital paper.  (You can find free digital paper downloads online.  There are tons of online sites that sell digital scrapbook paper.  Etsy is a great source as well.)

Enlarge the paper enough to cover the entire print.  Then right-click on the paper and choose "Send to Back."  This will put the paper in the background and move your letters to the top.  You may decide that you're finished after this step, but I had to do a little more tweaking because I'm a tweaker when it comes to digital creations.

I changed my white rectangle to a pretty salmon/coral color.  I recolored all my text gray and put a white shadow behind all of it except the large L.  I also added two more border lines around the rectangle.  Then I saved the print.  To do this, simply click save at the top of the screen.  (I would choose the largest file size so that it will look great printed.)

After you save your print, all that's left to do is to actually print it out.  You can print it on photo paper with your home printer if you have a good printer, or you can save the file to a jump drive and print it at any photo center.  Buy an inexpensive frame, pop the print inside of it, and you have created a very special gift for mere dollars.

The couple will LOVE the gift and will have no idea that you created it yourself inexpensively.  That, my friends, is the beauty of DIY.  :)

{DIY Initial Ornament}

Hey, y'all!  I have yet another decorated paper mache ornament to share with you today.  I know I've already posted two, but I love how you can take something so plain and make it beautiful numerous ways.  Both of the ones I've posted already used traditional colors, but today's ornament tutorial is definitely not traditional.  I'm calling it my Initial Ornament, and I originally posted it {HERE}.

Last month, I participated in an ornament swap, and my partner informed me that she was planning on having an orange, blue, and zebra tree this Christmas.  It sounded like such a fun decor scheme for a tree!  I came up with this easy-to-make ornament to fit her decor.  I began by painting a paper mache ornament that I bought from the craft store.

I only painted the edges of the ornament because I planned to cover the top with scrapbook paper, which is what I did next.

I traced the ornament on a piece of scrapbook paper twice.  I cut the two circles out and used Mod Podge to attach them to the ornament.  I also covered the ornament in a coat of Mod Podge to seal it.

While the last coat of Mod Podge was drying, I painted a chipboard letter with the same paint I used for the edges of the ornament and then covered it with a coat of sparkle Mod Podge.  I hot glued it and a bow to the top of the ornament, and it was complete.

I know the ornament uses non-traditional Christmas colors, but there's something fun about that.  My ornament swap partner loved it.

The great thing about this tutorial is that your initial ornament is only limited by your imagination!  You could use any number of color combinations and even chipboard shapes instead of an initial to create your own unique ornament.  Make one for yourself or for a friend.  Check out my other decorated paper mache ornaments before you go.

 Paper Mache Stocking Ornament

Book Page & Washi Tape Paper Mache Ornament

Merry Christmas, y'all!