Teacher Gifts

I really wanted to make something as an end of year gift for Zack's teachers but wasn't feeling very kitchen-y.  I have a hard time with gifts like this.  There is a lot of pressure to give gift cards.  I feel like this gift-card-society is something I can't quite get my head around.  Like if you are going to give a gift, of course you want the person to be able to have something they actually want.  But then on the other hand, you want to give a part of yourself, a connection, as well.   I've decided on handmade gifts, choosing items that I think I can do a good job with, but I can't help being self-conscious about it too.  I don't want to give something that isn't of value... but any item, even a gift card can turn out that way, right?  I've had too many gift cards expire or be lost (shh, don't tell anyone, I feel bad about that too!).

Anyway, back to what I actually did.

A few weeks ago I went to a stamping class in which we made a handmade box to use for gifting handmade cards. That inspired me to create two gift sets with four handmade notecards, four matching gift tags in a matching box. They all used some felt cut-out ribbon I found in a rainbow of colors. I originally wanted to put the whole rainbow on each card, but it turned out to be a little much and I had to settle for some pretty color pairs.

I liked how the cards turned out. I used my new Crop-A-Dile Big Bite to quickly and quietly set the eyelets for the tags, which I also liked. Both have a lot of texture with that felt ribbon. I didn't love the box, though. Cheryl's design was perfect - easy to make and sized exactly right, but I just thought the color turned out too pale for the cards and tags. Also, when we made it at class we used masks so the stamps could overlap for a much more elegant effect, but it was after midnight and making masks wasn't in the cards (so to speak, heh).

I was surprised at how long this took me. I usually make cards for the fun of using random paper scraps or to get the creative juices flowing. I guess I thought that creating one design then duplicating it eight times (sixteen if you count the tags, and I do) would go pretty quickly. Not so. This was time-consuming! I keep thinking I should make some for myself but I'm all out of that flower-circle paper... and I got tired. Not tired of making them, just tired!