Whether it be Teacher Appreciation Week or end-of-school gifts, teachers deserve to know we care! Here’s a great, useful and delicious gift any teacher would love!
My sister is a craft phenom. She makes amazing gifts, holiday decor and her kids birthday parties are off the chain. I wrote the directions, but the rest of the info is straight from her DIY head.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Insulated Straw Cups
- Small Canvas Bags
- Letter Stencils
- Spouncers (round sponge brush – I used ¼ in. spouncers)
- Acrylic Craft Paint
- Colored Paper (thicker card stock paper works best)
- Scissors
- Giftcard (I used Dunkin Donuts but any gift card works!)
Where you can find the materials:
- Insulated Cups – you can find these everywhere; Walmart, 5 Below, Kohl’s, Grocery Stores. If you want specific colors, Amazon has a large selection
- Canvas Bags – Michael’s Craft Stores (in the wedding section)
- Letter Stencils – Craft Store (the ones I used were 2” Stencils purchased at JoAnne Fabrics)
- ¼ in. Spouncers – Michael’s Craft Store
- Acrylic Craft Paint – Local Craft Stores (I used Martha Steward craft paint in wild salmon, pink taffeta, mint chip & jonquil)
- Colored Paper in matching colors to your paint – Michael’s & JoAnne Fabrics sells individual sheets of card stock paper in varying colors
- Scissors – I love these Martha Stewart fringe scissors but regular scissors work as well
Step #1
Gather all of your supplies and spread them out so they look fabulous like this (this step is optional).
Step #2
Lay out your canvas bag and using your letter stencil and paint, hold the stencil firmly onto the bag and dab the paint over the stencil onto the fabric.
Step #3
Admire your work.
Step #4
Using the “spouncer” (apparently this is a real thing) and a different paint color, create circles on the bag. To create half circles that will edge up against your lettering, but not over it, use a piece of paper to mimic the letter’s border. Note: make sure your the paint of the letter is dry first or you’ll smudge it all over the place.
Step #5
Using these fancy scissors, cut confetti-like strips out of colorful card stock paper. If you are fresh out of these fancy scissors, regular scissors will also work.
Step #6
Admire your fancy paper strips. You are really getting good at this craft thing.
Step #7
Fill cup with paper confetti strips.
Step #8
Fill cup with paper confetti strips. To create more volume from the strips, grab handfuls and scrunch into your hand. This fills up the cup faster.
Step #9
So, here’s where the DIY kinda falls apart for me. She’s made these cute tags and printed them from her computer. If you’re that savvy, I probably don’t need to tell you how to make them. Otherwise, you can cut out strips from the card stock, fold them in half, cut triangles off the folded corners and then glue together, leaving enough room to slip over the straw.
Then put the gift card inside the canvas bag and slip string over the straw to hang. Viola! Don’t forget to include a nice homemade card from your kiddos telling the teacher how much they appreciated having them this year– heartfelt words are the best!
