It takes a village!

Once upon a time I was a teacher. I got my degree in Elementary Education and I began my journey into the real world as a 5th grade teacher. (It was a bizarre turn of events that led to my current career as a Software Analyst but I'll save that story for another day.) When I look back at the short time I spent teaching it is the moments that I felt like I had truly made a difference that stand out. Now that I'm a mom I appreciate those experiences and want to make sure my child's teacher knows he or she is appreciated!

So here we are at the end of the school year and I want to give my son's teachers a memento. Time and money are short so I decided that handmade is the way to go. I looked at all kinds of blogs of crafty moms who had some great teacher gift ideas but again....the time thing was working against me! (Here's where I am supposed to admit I'm a procrastinator but I'm not ready to take that step yet!) My mind kept going back to a gift I received when I was student teaching so I took that idea and ran with it and created this inexpensive teacher appreciation gift....

I started with Noreen's idea of painting the terra cotta pots with chalkboard paint.

I printed out the message "Thank you for helping me grow" in a fun font.

And with some scrapbook paper, a small wood plaque, craft paint, modge podge, distress ink and a dowel rod, this is what I created!



My son signed his name with a fine tip Sharpie on the back of each sign. But he's four and is still learning to write so I wrote in a little translation with his name and date! I'm mad at myself that I didn't get a picture of that!

The pots were $1.58 at Old Time Pottery and Home Depot has a large selection of small house plants for only $2.98. Can't beat that!




And so the summer begins....