Teachers Appreciation Week Idea: Crayon Monogram

I saw these crayon monograms all over the internet, and decided to make one for my son's teacher for Teacher's Appreciation Week. It appeared pretty easy to make, but was I mistaken.. oh yes.. especially for letter 'M', where the crayons needed to be cut so tiny. And I had to make 2 of these, as both my son's teachers had their name with M.

The steps are straight forward:

1) Print out the alphabet, and cut it.
2) Cut the crayons to fit the alphabets. I would really advice to stick the crayon with hot glue, prior to cutting. If you are thinking of removing the crayon wrapper, then you'll have to use something other than hot glue, as it'll make crayon melt.
3) Take a thick cardstock paper, cut to the size that would fit in a frame, and glue the alphabet on it.
4) You can either choose to use a shadow picture frame, or a regular photo frame with the glass removed.

Have fun with crayons and be prepared to clean up all the mess left after all the cutting :-)

Teachers Appreciation Week Idea: Pencil Holder

With still two more days remaining in the 'Teacher's Appreciation Week' , I wanted to share this pencil holder that I made for my son's preschool teachers. With no energy to shop these days, I wanted to make something with stuff I already had at home. So, decided on making this personalized pencil holder from milk bottles. It can also be used as a vase. 

These are actually starbucks coffee bottles, washed and dried. You can also use mason jars instead.

For personalizing it, I used chalk board contact paper, as I did not have vinyl handy. I used Cricut to cut the alphabets out of chalk paper. It comes with an adhesive, so its easy to position and reposition it on the bottle.

For longer words,  I cut out an oval on cricut, and used chalk Ink Markers to write on it.

Added chickpeas/garbanzo beans to stick in the pencils. Embellished with a ribbon, and pencil holder is ready.

Thanks to all the teachers who are making a big difference in our little ones life.

Kids Canvas Banner

I recently volunteered to make few banners for 'Festival of Fun' function at Kabir's school. For the main banner, I wanted to make something that could be reused every year. So, I opted for the canvas banner. Bought rolled canvas from a craft store and got to making it.

You need:

• Rolled Canvas
• Primer(white)
• Acrylic paint
• Printed letters
• Fabric Glue

Directions

If using an unprimed canvas, you would need to prime it. I used a regular primer used for indoor walls, as I did not want to spend on the special canvas primer for one time use. If you want to avoid this step, you can buy white painters canvas. 

Priming the canvas made it little stiff, which worked in my case. It became easier to hang it.

Once primed, you can either draw the alphabets free hand, or trace it. As I am not very confident on my drawing skills, I decided to trace it. I printed the alphabets in the desired size, and using a coloured chalk,  shaded the back of the paper. Then traced the alphabet on the canvas. This left an imprint on the canvas,

Using a red acrylic paint, I filled up the alphabets.

Then came the fun part. On one of my son's play date, Kabir and his friend stamped their handprints in various colours all over the banner.

To trim the sides, I folded the edges with fabric glue.

Some other banners made for the 'Festival of Fun' from foam boards. The foam boards have been painted, and printed alphabets have just been glued on.

                                                                  Happy Painting!