Paper bag scrapbook album - 3rd Grade

The end of the school year...

time to thank another great teacher...

and another paper bag photo scrapbook album has been delivered.

 

 

 

You can see last years album HERE.

I had some school themed scrapbook paper in my supply, and I also had some new ones. Whenever I see new patterns at Michaels I can't resist grabbing a few when they are on sale for .12c each! I really like the owl pattern, but my favorite is the cursive writing one. Since the class learned cursive writing this year, I thought it was perfect!

 

I also have a small collection of school themed stickers/embellishments.

Now that I have been making these for teacher gifts for a few years now, I always bring my camera to school functions/parties/trips. I also remind the other parents to send me any good pictures they take throughout the year. I wish I had more pictures of classroom parties, but there is so much going on I usually just don't have enough time to get pictures. But there are plenty of other things throughout the year to capture, like Mini-art, Family Night, Spring Program, and the baby chicks that hatched in the classroom this spring! This year I also made sure to snap some pictures of their projects displayed in the hallway...the graphing project, the Beverly Cleary book project, and the solar system models.

On the front cover, I used my cricut to cut out the teacher's name and school year. On the back cover, I left it blank so that all the students could sign their names. I also had a page in the middle that I left for "special messages" if anyone wanted to write her a special thank you note.

 

 

 

I used school colors of orange and blue ribbon for the edge of the album.

I know the kids love to look through the pictures on the last day of school, and what kid doesn't look for themselves on every page? Ha!

Have a great summer!

The gift of baked goods

Baked goods, (or "gifts in a jar") are an inexpensive easy gift to give to those special people in your life for Christmas; teachers, bus drivers, neighbors...

Laila's teacher has mentioned that she loves banana bread, so I decided to make Cinnamon Swirl Banana Muffins for her and her assistant (the recipe is for bread, but I used the same method to make muffins).
And Emma came home from school one day and told us that her teacher had all her students try egg nog. So I am hoping that she likes our gift because I found a delicious recipe for Crumb Topped Cranberry Eggnog Muffins. {Click on the recipe names for links to the recipes.}

 

To package them, I bought cheap but festive $1 snowman paper plates, muffin liners, and picks at Dollar Tree. I hole punched around the edge of the plates, and laced ribbon through and tied at the top.

Then I used Press N Seal to cover and tied yarn/twine over the top.
I tied 3 paper tags to each plate; a Merry Christmas stamp, the name of the muffin, and each girl wrote her name on one.

Emma's note for her bus driver: she even drew a little bus! :)

 

So proud of Laila for being able to write her own name (see it there on the circle punch?)
Which is just one reason why her teachers deserve a treat!

 

Be sure to thank your teachers!!!

Paper bag mini scrapbook

The end of a great school year calls for a great end of year teacher gift. I couldn't choose between 2 of my favorite ideas, so I made them both.

Last year I made a paper bag mini scrapbook, and the teacher and whole class loved it. So I made another one this year.

Last years scrapbook:

I asked the parents to send me pictures that they had taken of all sorts of school events such as classroom parties, Christmas program, field trips, class presentations, spring play, birthdays, etc. Then I have them printed and I arrange them into the scrapbook.

I learned how to make these at a mom's group last year (thanks Cristalle!) but found a video tutorial here. If you want to keep it simple, all you need is paper bags, scrapbook paper, ribbon/twine, and adhesive (I ran out of scrapbook adhesive so I resorted to a  glue stick!) Or, if you are a serious scrapper, you can go all out with your embellishments. I am somewhat of a scrapper but just keep a very basic supply stash, so my album is fairly simple.

4 paper bags will give you 14 pages, plus a front and back cover. I used 4 bags and 4 sheets of scrapbook paper.

Steps:

1. Lay your paper bags in alternating directions with the flaps facing up. Watch the video tutorial here if you need a "visual".

2. Use a hole puncher to make 2 holes along the center line to put your ribbon through. This helps to hold your "album" together.





3. Tie lots of fun ribbon strands onto the main ribbon for added flair. I had a ribbon with apples on it and the rest were just school colors.

4. Cut your scrapbook paper into 6" x 6" squares.

*Tip: if you buy the 6" x 12" bags, and fold them in half, it creates 6" x 6" pages, which makes it really easy for you to cut your paper. Scrapbook paper comes in 12 x 12. If you cut it in half lengthwise and widthwise, you get 4 pieces of paper that are 6 x 6 each. Cool!

[caption id="attachment_803" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 12" x 12" sheet of scrapbook paper[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_804" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 6" x 6" sqares of scrapbook paper[/caption]

5. Apply your scrapbook paper to the bag "pages" and then apply your photos.

6. Embellish, Embellish, Embellish!!!

[caption id="attachment_807" align="aligncenter" width="300"] School-themed, teacher-themed, field trip-themed stickers[/caption]

My favorite part about these albums is that by layering the bags in alternating directions, The openings of the bags create these cute little pockets that can hold additional photos or notes or keepsakes.

I also believe teachers could always use a refreshing drink so I picked up an insulated cup and some crystal light single packets to create this gift found here. There is even a printable download for the straw flag which says "Thank you for quenching my thirst for knowledge."  There is even a version for a teacher's aide! You can see my finished product in the top picture above.

Welcome summer!