Little potted expressions of gratitude, personalized coasters, {semi} homemade soap & the easiest of all…the Pencil Vase. These gifts are all pretty simple, fun & super affordable (assuming you make a lot of soap and give to everyone you know for a few months}.
Eat your heart out kinda-sorta-artsy, frugal mommas…this is the way to give gifts!
POTTED GRATITUDE
This year I decided to go with the simple, yet catchy, “Thanks for helping me GROW” concept for teacher gifts. I kept seeing them online – I even saw a few already packaged at the store, tag and all – but I decided it would be fun to personalize it and practice cutting vinyl with my Silhouette (with my new favorite font).
While I’m stubborn and have yet to figure out how to use transfer paper {trust me, hand peeling and sticking vinyl are w-a-y down on my list of fun things to do}, this was a relatively easy endeavor.
Keep in mind that adding vinyl to the side is just an extra…this gift works perfectly without it, or with a stenciled/sharpie design on the side instead.
I couldn’t find any cute pots, mugs or watering cans at the local Dollar General – which, when you live in the country – is the only thing that’s not 20+ minutes away – so I scrounged around in my cupboards and found these little pots from IKEA. They were perfect! And hadn’t been used for years (I used to put silverware in them for cookouts). I then snatched a few succulents from the pot on my deck, which I had transplanted from the garden last summer, printed and mounted little ‘thank you’ tags to kebab sticks…and they’re done!
They cost me less than $1 to make, and look pretty sharp to boot!
PERSONALIZED COASTERS
This was a really fun project! All this requires are small, square tiles – we got ours from Home Depot, 100 for $11…that makes them only 11c each, scrapbook paper, mod podge (which you can buy at any arts & crafts store with a 40% off coupon), a paint brush or sponge, little felt dots, and ribbon to tie the bundle.
Start by cutting your paper just smaller than your tile. We used large 12 x 12 sheets and simply sliced them down into 4 inch squares because our tiles were 4 1/2 inches square and this allowed for a 1/4 inch ‘tile border’ around each piece of paper – see above.
Brush the tile with mod podge (or another decoupage glue). Use a generous schmear, since you want your paper to bond properly and permanently. Be sure to work swiftly, as it dries quickly.
Center your paper on the tile, pressing the paper firmly to the tile. Starting in the middle and working your way out, smooth out the air bubbles and make sure the edges seal. Allow it to dry, 10 to 15 minutes, and then apply a second layer of decoupage glue to the top of the paper.
I made little monogrammed discs (designed, printed and punched out) to mod podge on top of the scrapbook paper to further personalize some of the tiles.
You can add a final layer of mod podge if you feel the tile needs it, or you could even seal them with a polycrylic protective finish to insure it’s waterproof seal. We didn’t do this, but it’s a smart idea!
Once your tiles are good to go and no longer tacky at all (we left them overnight), stick little felt pads to the bottoms (1 in each corner), stack them and tie with a ribbon.
*We added a key-ring (made with beads in the teacher’s favorite colors, with an apple and their initial) to the stack of tiles – another simple, personal gift you can create.
THE PENCIL VASE
We picked up two packs of 95c colored pencils per vase {24 pencils per pack}, and then found the glass vases for $1 at our local Dollar Store. Assembling the gift is as easy as it is affordable.
Start by placing a rubber band around the vase, slip the pencils in under the band, in whichever order your heart desires, then wrap with ribbon (you can snip the rubber band once the ribbon is fastened). I’ve seen this done with unsharpened No.2 pencils, where the yellow is really striking, but I loved the cheerful vibrancy of the colored ones.
Big colorful bows would work fabulously here. I made a little personalized ‘monogrammed tag’ to slip the ribbon through.
Fill it with flowers and you’re good to go!
HOMEMADE SOAP
My neighbor and I made bundles of homemade goodies for Christmas last year, but I thought this would make a perfect teacher gift – simply choose a summery fragrance.
We bought our soap bases here at Wholesale Supplies Plus, and used Oatmeal, Goat’s Milk and Mango Butter bases. You can also get great deals on 2 pound blocks of melt & pour soap over here at Nature’s Garden.
Simply select your base, your essential oils {or fragrance oils} – I get a lot of my essential oils through Vitacost – and then throw in whatever else you think would compliment your recipe. For instance, I found some ground orange rind in my spice cupboard, so tossed that in with a little handful of oatmeal and a healthy pinch of finely chopped, fresh rosemary to my “Autumn Oatmeal” bar, which also had clove oil in it. 
You can really have fun with this, just be sure to follow the basic proportion guidelines {just a few drops of oil/fragrance will do}. There’s a boatload of information right here for first time soap makers. Okay, soap melters and pourers.
Once melted, mixed and poured, just allow your bars to cool, pop out of the mold (I bought mine on Amazon) and wrap in wax paper. You can tie with raffia and a little tag. I made little labels for mine {shocker, I know} by printing on shipping labels. Fun, quick & easy!
Of course there are a TON more fantastic ideas out there, like the collection I’ve pinned of my gifts board…I just haven’t had the time, moola or sanity to attempt them yet. Next year.
~
I can’t believe our little miss Bean only has 5 days left of Kindergarten (and two months to go until she turns 6)…she has grown so much since this first nerve-wrecking day on the front step. It has been an absolute delight to watch her emerge from her shell, with confidence, independence, compassion, a love of learning, and yes, the occasional dose of picked-this-up-from-school ‘tude.
It really is true what those horrible little old ladies told us new moms in the grocery store aisles…they do grow up fast! They just forgot to mention that, while the years fly by at warp speed, the toddler days often creep by like molasses headed uphill.
