Last Year's Teacher Gifts

Having a great selection of wonderful chipboard embellishments at my fingertips is probably the greatest "perk" to working for Unique Pages. Last year when the end of the year came around and I wanted to make a little something for my teachers I was able to throw these projects together in an evening. I'm still working on finishing this years projects but thought you might enjoy these! For my son's kindergarten teacher we went with some of her favorite colors as inspiration.
I'm certainly not the first to create one of these altered lunchboxes, but I was so happy with how the entire project came together (thanks to my buddy Tina for working with me on this one)!
Combining pink cardstock, chipboard letters, felt flowers, ribbon and cute paper we were able to create a great little "thank you" for our kids' kindergarten teacher. A lot of times I see the paper decoupaged onto the tin, in an effort to keep things a little cleaner, we skipped the decoupage and simply used tape runner adhesive to attach everything. I still pop in to see Ms. Evans now and again and she keeps this on her desk still...so far everything has stayed attached!
We began with the inner lid, covering it in paper, then attaching a layered cardstock piece vertically with "Thank" printed on it embellished with little pink prima flowers and added our Fancy Lower Case 'YOU" covered in patterned paper. Then we filled it with supplies that any teacher could use and made sure they were decorated to match the tin.

Here's a list of what was inside:
Elmer's Glue "You're the Glue that holds our class together"
White Chalk "Chalk one up to an awesome teacher"
Cute Post-it Notes "Thanks for such a noteworthy year"
Ever sharp Pencils "You sharpened my mind"
Stapler and Staples "Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, Thanks for teaching me the staples"
Scissors "You're a cut above the rest"
Thumbtacks "Thanks to you I'm sharp as a tack"
Highlighters "You're the highlight of my year"
Yummy French Mints from Cerrettas Chocolates "You're worth a mint to me!"

On to my daughter's teacher, whose last name is Hopson and she happens to LOVE frogs...which was perfect inspiration for her gift.
I used a different shaped tin for this one, and couldn't be happier with the way it turned out (although I admit I could be happier with the way the picture turned out but...oh well).

Going with the frogs as our theme, I covered the outside in Bazzill bling cardstock. The front has a layered tag that reads "Mrs. Hopson Your class is TOADALLY awesome". I used a bit of ribbon at the bottom combined with a chipboard flower. All I did to finish the flower was to rub it with brown ink...THATS IT and it was perfect!
On the back I added more of the ribbon and a huge green flower. The center of the flower is a chipboard circle, finished with ink like the flower on the front. Only this time I also added a layer of Diamond Glaze to add a glassy shine. I ended up gluing this down, but in hindsight wish I'd have made it a magnet instead...one of the best things about these lunch tins for teachers is they make wonderful magnetic boards for desk notes!
The inside is filled with almost the same things as the first tin...a few difference but each teacher definitely had some of those fantastic French Mints...what more could a girl want?!

Before we were an exclusive chipboard and laser cut company, we were a small scrapbook store in Peoria, AZ. Over the last few years many local stores were forced to close their doors, I'd like to encourage everyone out there to remember how important your purchases are to the small business owner. I'd also like to say thanks to the girls at Scrapbooks to Remember for the darling frog paper and bazzill bling cardstock, it was too perfect!