Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Teacher Gifts and other Gift Ideas

Before I get too involved in this post, I want to remind you all about my 150k hit blog candy!  Read all about it (and post a comment) at yesterday's entry.  :)  The drawing is only two days away!

This post is probably coming a bit late, as most kids are out of school, but it might be one to tuck away in the ol' noggin for next year.  In the two years that Sammie has been "school age" (preschool that is), I have found it pretty difficult to find meaningful and thoughtful gifts for her teachers.  I like to give practical gifts, but those don't always convey the depth of our feelings for the teacher.  I think we hit the bullseye this year, however.  :)  I got the idea from my friend and fellow knitter, Deb!

Market Bags!

And wouldn't you know, my monthly knit-along group (not the one I teach, but THIS ONE that I participate in through my favorite knitting store Twisted) had a market bag pattern this month!  SCORE!

I knit these two bags up pretty quick - they only took about 2 hours each.  Then we filled them with fresh apples.  I asked Dave for a good apple recipe, and he reminded me of our favorite breakfast dish - Apple Pancake Sam (and YES, that's the actual name of the recipe from the Tassajara Bread Book!).  It was perfect. Not only a delicious dish, but the name of it would remind her teachers of our precious little Sammie Girl.  



Here is a close-up of the 4x6 Recipe Card I included with the gift.  I used the Summer Cottage digi kit from The Shabby Shoppe.  After printing the cards, I tucked them in a CTMH Flip Flap.  It worked perfectly!



Now if market bags aren't your thing, you might want to consider the My Creations Memory Keeper Box.  They are made from sturdy white chipboard, and have a magnetic closure.  They are perfect for keeping treasures, cards, 9x9 Accordion Albums, and more!

Here is my latest one.  (I have a customer who purchases these as birthday gifts for all her friends.  She orders one for each friend having a birthday every  month.  Isn't that thoughtful?).  I used some left over Stampin' Up papers, and the stamp is from The Greeting Farm.  The embellishments are all CTMH.  I always include a matching gift card holder with my boxes.  At Christmas, we gave Sammie's teachers personalized boxes filled with baked treats, and a gift card to an office supply store. 


I used my cell phone for these images, so they aren't super crisp.  Sorry!  :)



Hopefully this has helped sparked some creative ideas in the gift giving department!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I love these! I got some great ideas for things to make. Thanks for sharing, Nona!

Sheri said...

Great ideas! I'm like you and like to give useful gifts for teachers -- my mom was a teacher and got soooo many mugs, candles, bath salts, etc. Even more challenging this year since my older son's teacher was a man!! Anyhoo, thanks for these ideas.

Sheila Bennett said...

Great market bag! I've been thinking of making something like that, but haven't found a pattern yet that I feel comfortable with. And that is great that they only took a couple of hours to make. What a great gift.