Teacher Appreciation and Year End Gift Ideas...(part 1)

Once upon a time, I was a full time preschool teacher.

 One of my favorite times of the year was graduation. Okay, it was also one of the saddest, but I loved being able to look back and see the growth that my little buddies had made over the year.

I'm really big on making keepsakes with my little people, they are only little once! And graduation was no exception. I wanted something special that they could keep forever to remember the year that we had spent growing and learning and came up with these... School House Diploma/Fold Out Album

...and Crayon Diploma/Accordion Album

I'm going to walk you through the crayons first...keep in mind that for a teacher gift, you might only want a few pages with a class picture, maybe some fun pics from throughout the year and maybe a special note...

My covers are cut from 1/4 inch MDF but you could easily substitute chipboard or thin cardboard.
Trace out the pattern and cut your pieces, you'll need two.
If you use wood, give the edges a quick sanding.

 COVER PATTERN
DETAIL PIECES PATTERN
*click the link. click on the "file" tab on the far left. select print.*

Finish the covers...

Trace the covers onto colored card stock.

Cut out the images and adhere them to the cover bases, ink the edges.

Trace the detail pieces onto desired color card stock, cut out, ink edges, and adhere onto crayon cover.

Add name to center oval-I used stickers!

Repeat the same process for the back cover. You can add the detail pieces if you'd like.

Assemble the pages next...

Determine the number of pages you want in your book, mine has 8.

Cut your page card stock to 6 long x 7 inch wide.

 Make a one inch fold on each page so that your page measures 6 inches square + 1 inch fold...

Lay the pages out so that the fold is on your right hand side. Glue the left edge of the second page onto the fold of the first page, being sure to line up all the edges and that the fold is UNDER the second page.

Front side up

Looking at the back side

 Repeat this same step until all pages are glued together.

 Cut off the "fold" on the last page.

Fold the remaining pages in a fan-like pattern, forward, back, forward, back, etc. until you get to your last page.

Center the first page onto the back of the front cover and glue into place.

Glue the last page to the inside of the back cover-be sure to center it.

Decorate your pages!

My first page is an info page that I had them fill out in the fall.

The second was their hand print made in the spring:

Hello! My name is ____________

I write it like this:

I am ____ yrs old. My favorite color is _______.

I like to play __________.

This is a picture of me:

*they drew a self-portrait here

(date info was taken)

The third page is a spring picture, the 4th was the same info page re-done in the spring:

The 5th page is a class picture, and the 6th was their diploma:

And the 7th page was a letter written from me to them, and last a place for auto-graphs!

There you go! You did it!

One very cute, very sweet little crayon album.

Wouldn't you just LOVE getting one of these?

Or better yet, seeing the look on your teachers face when you give them one!

PLEASE!!! Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!

Happy Crafting...