Back to School.

If you're anything like me, the start of school always seems to sneak up out of nowhere. Between enjoying those last few free days of summer and slowing gathering the necessary supplies somehow the first day is here before you know it.

This week I attended the school open house event for my kids, met all their teachers, and was immediately in a panic about what we should make each of them for a back to school gift.

But in the time frame of a few hours yesterday we came up with some really fun ideas for teacher gifts - and of course I wanted to share them with all of you as well.

Now my only problem is deciding which one to make for their teachers this weekend!

Teaching Touches Lives glass block: Simply adhere a piece of pattern paper to the back of a glass block, add vinyl to the front, tie a ribbon around, and fill with some glass beads. I think this would look great on any teacher's desk!

Back to School Mason Jars: Simple mason jars embellished with chalkboard paint, crayons, and some ribbon.

Pencil Tubes: Fill plastic tubes with treats or cover with paper to create the look of pencil. More information on this project can be found here.


Colored Pencil Vase: For this project we just surrounded a glass vase with colored pencils and tied a ruler ribbon around the outside. We placed artificial flowers in the vase but it would work with a bouquet of fresh flowers as well.

Decorated Notepad/Pencil Holder: We offer these pencil holders and a variety of styles of notebooks plain - for theses samples we just decorated them up a bit with pattern paper and a few embellishments.

"Grind" Gift Card Holder: Again using the plastic tubes, we filled one up with coffee beans (you could also use chocolate covered espresso beans) and added a gift tag and a coffee shop gift card with ribbon. Really simple but so cute!

#1 Teacher Pencil Block: For this project we drilled nine small holes in the top of a wood block, painted the block white, and then added some pattern paper, ribbon, and a cute message using alphabet stickers. Again, a project that I think would be a fun addition to any teacher's desk!


Hope you all have a great holiday weekend...and that if you are a caregiver, student, or teacher that you have a wonderful first day back at school!!