Back to School for Teachers Too!

 So I love back to school time! I love seeing my kids (my students) after the summer break. I love hearing their stories. Since I am a Special Ed. Teacher that works with intellectual disabilities, in a Life Skills based program, I keep my students year after year, until they age out (22), or graduate. Sometimes up to 7 years! So I truly do miss them over the summer!  But I also miss my coworkers, as we are all often too busy with our own families to do much visiting. So I made everyone some cute back to school presents. First, I made these cute backpacks with matching pens! I love the RSVP pens because you can slide slips of rolled Designer Series Paper (DSP) into them and it changes there whole look. I created my own template for the backpacks, then used the top note die for the lid,  and the mini envelope die for the front pocket. I used velcro to keep the top shut.  The pen even fits inside.  See my previous post on rosettes to learn how to make the rosette!  I used one sheet of 8 1/2 by 11" Pool Party card stock for each backpack. Its all about the measurements! I will post a tutorial if anyone is interested! I need to take some pictures though, as a few things can be tricky to explain without pics! But it really is easy. I just figured out how deep I wanted it and made folds to accommodate them! Then I put a back of mini sticky notes in the front!



The next thing I made everyone was 2 bookmarks. Here is a picture of all of them, and everyone got random picks. I simply used the AtoZ stamp on some Pool Party CS, then used the smaller scallop punch. Then I used a variety of back to school stamps, mostly from the new set, From Your Teacher, but also from a retired set, and stamped them on Whisper White, then using the 1 3/8 circle, I punched them out. I used Calypso Coral, Real Red, Peach Parfait, Daffodil Delight, and Always Artichoke for my inks. I used the thick glue dots to adhere the circle to the scalloped circle with the paperclip in between. This keeps them nice and snug together, while still leaving some pliability to the bookmark.

 I also made a Welcome Back sign using the Perfect Pennants die and the Big Shot. I used the large triangle as well as both the doily shapes. I used a variety of current and retired Stampin' Up! blue colors. Unfortunately I did not have any blue DSP, so I used some leftovers from another set of paper to make my rosettes. Then used Very Vanilla letters overtop!! I used our twine to string them together (after punching 1/8" holes in each corner).

I sure hope you enjoyed checking out my projects!

Craft On!!
Jean