Under Construction

Please  don't mind the mess.  I am currently working on uupdating my blog and, quite honestly, I'm clueless.  Nevertheless, I've  never been one to let things stand in my way so I should be up and running soon.  Thanks for your patience.

Keep the Page with a Teacher's Appreciation Gift for Day #3

I racked my brain for yet another useful gift for the girls' teachers.  I know that I enjoy reading and for some reason, I am continually losing my bookmarks.  (Personally, I think my girls keep taking them for their own uses.)  At any rate, I figured a bookmark would be a nice, simple thing I could whip up.

I began by perusing my local Home Depot's paint department.  I grabbed a handful of different paint chips (while running into a former student....man am I old!)  and ran home before I was tempted to purchase something.

I first tried to glue two chips together, but they had issues. They bubbled in the center, despite being pressed under some heavy tiles.  I trimmed the edges with pinking shears and stamped them.  Unfortunately, the first two I made didn't turn out well.  I hadn't expected the stamps to stick, so that when I tried to lift it from the paint chip it stayed and ended up 'double' stamping the paper.  Needless to say, this happened twice.  So, I decided I needed to try this again, with a modification.



 

Outside Stitching



This time, I put two chips together, back sides facing each other and stitched around in a long rectangle.  I tried to get as little of the paint colors inside the stitching as possible.  Then, I cut around the outside of the stitching using pinking shears. 



Hole Punch with Ribbon



 Using a hole punch I put a hole near the top (leaving enough room between the hole and the edge so that the ribbon I added wouldn't rip through the paper.  I cut  a piece of ribbon and stuffed both ends through the hole and slid the cut ends through the center of the uncut side of the ribbon--forming a sort of tail.

Then, to joosh it up, I used my "Brilliance" ink pades and a nice stamp and inked it up well.  I carefully put the stamp to the chip, pushing down firmly, then with one hand I held down the paper and gripping the stamp tightly, lifted it.  This time, no "double stamping."  On the back, I put some 3-D stickers just so it wouldn't be bare, but also so my daughters could write their names after one of the heart stickers--like a card--so the teacher would always be able to remember from whom this sentiment came.

I paired a bookmark with a cheap, but adorable mini box of tissues. 

Cost Breakdown: $1.00 per gift

2 Paint Chips.......free from Home Depot (or any hardware store)
Ink Pad...............free, already had this
Stamp.................free, already had this
3-D Stickers.......free, already had this
Thread/Sewing Machine.....free, already had this
Ribbon...............free, recycled from a gift
Mini-Tissues.......$1.00 from Target's dollar section