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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Simple Stitched Cards

When the school year ended a few weeks ago here in my part of Ontario, Canada  the kids and I put together thank-you gifts for their teachers.

Here is a quick tutorial I shared on Tanya's blog,  Twelve O Eight, a few weeks ago.  


A teacher myself, I ADORE receiving handmade cards from kids (and moms!) So, my daughter and I set out to make some Simple Stitched Cards for each of the kids' teachers.

We started with some cardstock cards - these measured 4"x6".
I let my daughter pick a few pages of pretty scrapbook paper.  Construction or wrapping paper would work for this, too.




After cutting a template out of thicker cardboard, my daughter traced and cut out a heart-shape from the patterned paper.

To make the stitching easier, I used a thick needle to pop holes around the edge of the hearts.  Remember to do this on top of a piece of foam, or even a folded towel, so that you don't poke holes into your table!


My daughter used a slightly dull embroidery needle to stitch in and out of the holes with 6 strands of embroidery floss.  Thin yarn would work for this as well.  

It took her less than 5 minutes to do each heart.
"Look Mommy! I am sewing!!"


After sticking the thread ends to the back of the heart with some tape, we glued each heart to a card, slightly left of centre. 
This gave us room to stamp the sentiment.  If you have pretty hand-writing, you could print your own text.  


My daughter and I were so pleased with how the cards turned out. The teachers who received them were full of compliments, too.  

Now what did we give the teachers as their actual gifts?


I'll admit, I did not come up with this by myself.  Unfortuneately, the Pinterest link I have seems to be broken so I cannot send you to the originator of this idea.  

But here is the general idea:
We packaged up matching paper plates, paper cups, napkins and plastic cutlery for each teacher.

I then created this label on PicMonkey:


I am pleased to say that the teachers ADORED their gifts.  Who can blame them?
They can have guests for a BBQ and then toss the dishes into the compost bin when they are done!

That's my kind of gift, too!


Thanks for the visit 
and thank-you so much for leaving a comment!

Hugs,

Bronwyn




6 comments:

  1. It's wonderful to receive something that has such thought behind it - there are only so many boxes of chocolates a teacher can eat! Well done the pair of you on such lovely gifts x Jane

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  2. How much nicer to have a creative gift for teacher than one of those cheesy mass produced things from gift shops.

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  3. That's a great idea - at least something that will get used!! We always do handmade but it's good to get more ideas!! This year we did Hama bead coasters of the teacher's names and a thank you!! Lovely gifts and an afternoon activity all in one!! J9 x

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  4. Two brilliant ideas Bronwyn! I love the idea of the BBQ plates etc as we all know what a chore that can be to clear up afterwards. Have a great summer xx

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  5. Those cards are lovely, what a great idea. And I love the gifts with the disposable dishes, that's brilliant. x

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  6. These cards are so sweet! Thanks for sharing at Silver Pennies Sundays. x

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