Friday, May 21, 2010

Quick End-of-Year Teacher Gifts

Single-panel notecard sets are my favorite gifts for teachers. Not only are they practical, useful, always needed, and appreciated, they are inexpensive. For those who are new to Simplicity, you might not know that my children both have special needs and have whole teams of teachers and therapists and aides in school. Just through school, there are 12 people who are actively involved in their education, and that's not counting the gym, music, and art teachers, or Jack's therapists at Children's Hospital. Even inexpensive gifts add up when you have so many people to acknowledge.

Soooo, I make notecard sets and package them in clear boxes from Papertrey. Completed, each set of ten cards costs less than $3 each.

Some sets are super-simple, like this one using border stamps from Hero Arts.



Other sets get a little fancy, with outlined edges (using a marker and ruler) and a bit of coloring.


Others use simple black-and-white stamped images with just a spot of color. Isn't that little Hero Arts doggie adorable?


Papertrey stamps work, too. In fact, these little notecards are amazingly adaptable to all sorts of images. And you can draw boxes if you want; read how on this post.


Only one of the education team is a dude, so no cute doggies or bumblebees or flowers for him. This backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms makes a perfect school-themed, gender-neutral notecard.


All the cards are made from PTI stampers select cardstock, which is nice and heavy and simply screams quality. I buy my envelopes at our local Marco's Paper store. I don't like mass production, but coming up with a variety of sets makes crankling out lots of sets much more interesting.

Hmmm. Maybe we should have a One-Layer Wednesday challenge to make single-panel notecards. Put on your thinking caps for that, but not next week because I've already got that one planned. Maybe before Christmas, when we're all scrambling to make quick yet nice gifts. There's a thought!

Have a wonderful weekend, and may you be blessed to find time to do something creative.

36 comments:

  1. great sets of notecards--especially the masculine one!

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  2. love em....always nice to have a quick but thoughtful gift ready in little time. It is our long weekend here in Canada...looking forward to doing some stampin...I can hear the rubbah calling my name.

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  3. These are so fun. I think it's a brilliant idea for gifts, and I'm jealous that you live by Marco's. Back when I made my wedding invitations (which is when I started stamping), I mail-ordered all my supplies and envelopes from them. Maybe a field trip is in order!

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  4. These are so awesome! Your such and inspiration!

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  5. thanks for another great idea. My sister is a teacher and she loves note cards. Now I can make her twicer as many!!!
    Did not know about Papertrey's clear boxes. Thanks for the tip
    blessings
    patti moffett

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  6. What brilliant cards and gifts, lucky teachers:-D

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  7. These are all super cute sets! I love the idea of how simple and quick they must have come together. Excellent idea.

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  8. Wonderful gifts! I had forgotten about the box so thanks for the reminder.

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  9. I was just wondering what kind of card sets to make for my own kid's teachers this year when I logged on today. Great ideas! I love giving hand made gifts to teachers - they truly seem to appreciate the effort. I try to vary what I do for the holidays and end of the year. I'm an OT in a special ed preschool and love to be on the receiving end too!

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  10. you are so sweet to recognize those that work with your sons. My bet is that the PT is the guy on the team - all our PTs are men!!! :-)

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  11. These are wonderful!! I just finished up my "mass production" of teacher/aide/therapist notecards too - but I'll need a new idea for next year and these will fill the bill perfectly!

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  12. I'm loving all of your notecards! I don't know how I missed your tutorial on the outlines, but that is brilliant! I've struggled with the same things, and that makes it seem so easy and perfect!

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  13. Being a retired school employee, I know that the recipients of these wonderful sets will be flattered, and also touched by the time and love that you put into each set. How nice of you to do this. Teacher gifts are not as common as they once were. That being said, YOU ROCK!!! These are so much fun! Thanks for the inspiration :)

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  14. Great sets, perfect examples for teacher's gifts. I hope to make some this weekend as I only have 5 more days of school left to get them done.

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  15. My Aunt/ God-Mother is a teacher and someone who is very hard to buy for. I have been making her card sets as gifts for ages!! It's in expensive and it shows a lot of thought!!
    I generally make a matching gift box though, there are tones of different ones to choose from on Split Coast!

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  16. Love all those notecards....what wonderful gifts!!

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  17. What a wonderful idea. We, like you, have a whole team of therapists, teachers, teacher's aides, etc. I'm always looking for ideas just like this, thanks for posting.

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  18. Love all of these sets! Have a great weekend!

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  19. What fabulous teacher gifts... very classy and much better than anything you could have purchased. What thoughtful gifts!!

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  20. these are lovely.
    i especially like the little birdies with the matching outline.
    you're amazing!!!!!!!!!
    marty

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  21. What a great idea! Love all your designs!

    Do you have a trick to getting the CHF notepaper stamp exactly where you want it so you don't have to trim the paper afterwards? Stamp-a-ma-jig?

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  22. Are these cards a half sheet of paper folded or just a single quarter sheet?
    I love your ideas!

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  23. I guess this is a silly question, but a one panel card...is that just a single piece of cardstock that is not folded?

    I love the idea of the clear box. I'll need to check that out!

    I don't have kids in school anymore, but it's a great gift idea for a small thank you gift for anyone!

    Thanks so much for sharing all your fab ideas!!

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  24. Cindy and Susan, these are just 1/4 sheet cards...no fold at all. So you get four from a single sheet, making them ever so economical!

    Jennifer, I ink the backgrounder and place the stamp rubber-side up, then very carefully lay the cut card onto the stamp. The stamp is actually ever so slightly larger and has an outline around it. The card fits just inside the outline, so it's easier than it sounds to eyeball it, LOL!

    Donelda, the guy is an aide in autsim classroom. All the school and children's rehab PTs I've known have been women. How interesting that it's different where you are!

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  25. Great cards and what a thoughtful gesture - I'm sure the teachers more than appreciate it. I love that one with the doggie - so cute.

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  26. Love them all, especially like the workbook page stamp. Will have to suss out PTI in this part of the world - sometimes I make my own clear boxes from old binding cover sheets from work!

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  27. Awesome array of teacher/bus driver gifts/cards, Laurie! They will all be very appreciated, I know!

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  28. I know it's the thought that counts, but as a former teacher, man, do these eclipse dollar store gifts! I think the puppy cards could have passed as masculine cards, but the three-hole paper stamp certainly works well!

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  29. Thanks for the great inspiration!

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  30. These sets are just wonderful - the recipients will be thrilled with them! Have a lovely weekend! Kate x

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  31. Really neat sets and a great idea-anyone would love them and the notepaper design is great for a guy or I would even like it. tfs

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  32. Love these cards. So great for quick gifts. I'm always looking for ideas like this. Never know when you'll need an unexpected gift. TFS!

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  33. Mind blowing awesome...simply adorable..I'd love to get one of these!!!!

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  34. Awesome, awesome! I'm inspired to create some cards for all the people I appreciate. THANKS!

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  35. These are all fabulous! I love that hero arts border. It's gorgeous!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!