12 Days of Christmas - Day 8 Teacher Gifts

It's always a challenge to come up with something new and exciting for the teachers each year.

But let's face it, they are inspirational, hard working, incredibly dedicated and already have a cupboard full of soap, mugs & chocolate!  

I hope this inspires you to make something memorable for that cherished person who has so much influence in the lives and futures of our children.

The "apple" may look familiar.  I first made it after Convention this year when Brian Pilling from the SU home office in Utah showed us how.  However, my first attempt was rather more like a pear!  I did this to prove I can make it the right way up!  I do hope you like it.

My second gift is a tin gift card holder. I have used some items from my craft stash that are not Stampin' Up! so I can't name them here. A little embarrassed to admit I bought them when we lived in America so I've had them a while. Always knew they'd be useful!

This is the inside of the tin - before the gift card is added! The letters were done with the Calendar Alphabet & Numbers Set, (R)

Lastly, a very personal gift.  This is instead of a card.  I had all the children in my daughters class write a special message for their teacher on a Top Note that I die cut and stamped an apple on to.  I hope it will be a lovely memory for her in year's to come.  The front & back cover were made using heavy duty cardboard that often comes in our packs of paper and the like.  I used Sticky Sheets to adhere a vanilla cover and stamped it with apples from the Tart & Tangy set (R).   The framelits are great for the quotes, and all the text was done on the computer. I punched a hole in the top left corner of each page with the Cropadile and an "O" ring holds it all together.     Ribbon in various colours and styles finished it off (all SU, I might add!)

Craft your heart out!
Karen

12 Days of Christmas - Day 4 Rosette Tree Ornament

I have really enjoyed making ornaments this year and with the one on the cover of the current holiday catty, I've had plenty of inspiration.   However, we don't always have time to make something that detailed, so with that in mind, here's a simpler ornament.

I've used the rosette die (125594) to cut a piece of dsp.   You will have a piece that has two different decorative edges.  You need to cut one of these edges off.  

Because the piece is 12cm wide, if you cut it in half to 6cm you will have the beginnings of 2 rosettes. 

To make your rosette nice and full you will need to cut 2 pieces out so you have a length of 24cm.  You join the two pieces together using sticky strip so it's nice and strong.  Then you form a circle by joining the outside ends together too.

Using your silicone mat, grab your glue gun and put a generous squirt into the centre of the mat.

 

 

Then gently manipulate the paper circle thingy into a flat rosette and carefully plop it on top of the hot glue.  Hot glue dries very quickly except when it's in a big blob like the one pictured so you have a few seconds to get it on there.   You'll want to fiddle with the folds to make sure it's even.

Hold it in position for 30 seconds or so until the glue has dried enough to hold the rosette in place.

Then you can go ahead and add a snowflake centre, or another smaller rosette like I've done, a little punched circle and a button.  Yep, sometimes I don't know when to stop.

 

The scallop edge on the rosette is perfect for threading bakers twine through to hang on your tree.

 

Handy Tips:   I mentioned the width of the rosette die as 12cm.  That means it would make a rosette thats 24cm in diameter because each piece you cut makes half the size of the circle (or the radius).  OMG maths!   You would also need at least 2 lengths because the wider the strip, the further it has to go to make a circle.  Confused?  Super!!

 

My finished rosette is 12 cm diameter - so how big are my strips?   If you said 6cm your right!  Go to the top of the class.

 

For the little Old Olive one I cut the strips to 2cm wide to make a finished rosette of 4cm diameter.   I still used two lengths so it's nice and full.

 

Thanks for checking in today!  

 

Cheers

Karen