I am certainly not above bribing my kids’ teachers to encourage positive vibes in the classroom. Hey, you never know when a $5 Starbucks gift card is the difference between an A-minus and a B-plus!! 
Haha!
Anyway… in years past I have created adorable Back to School first-aid kits for the teachers. This year, I have one child in middle school (and no way in heck am I creating seven mini-lunchboxes for each of his teachers, besides the fact that he won’t actually pass them out and I will discover them in the bottom of his backpack or locker halfway through the school year). So… this year, I pulled together some cutesy-pie little altered notepads for each of my girls’ teachers.Aren’t these cute? And they are so “twee” (I love that word!). Stick with me and I’ll show you how. Seriously, it will take you longer to read these instructions than it will take to make the actual project!
Materials:
- Mini-notepads. I got mine from Staples, and they measure 5.25×3.5″ and came in a pack of three for $.99.
- Patterned paper. Scraps will work just fine.
- Paper trimmer (don’t own one? Scissors will work fine!)
- Border punch (I used a scallop punch from Stampin’ Up!)
- Circle punches (I used a variety of sizes)
- Letter stickers (optional for you non-scrapbookers out there)
- Adhesive
Step One: Unwrap your notepads and measure them (mine conveniently told me how large they were on the front cover. How nice!)
Step Two: Trim patterned paper to 3.5×7″ (yes, you want them longer than the notepad. Trust me!)
Step Three: Use the border punch to punch one short end of each patterned paper piece.
Step Four: Adhere the patterned paper to the cover of the notebook, overlapping slightly at the bottom. (Yes, this means the cover will be slightly longer than the rest of the notepad. Call it artistic license. Go with it!)
Step Five: Using lots of adhesive, wrap the patterned paper over the top of the notepad and down the back. We do it this way because I said so, and I think it looks better. So there.
Step Six: Using the circle punches, punch a variety of circles (duh!) from patterned paper.
Step Seven: cut a few strips of paper to further embellish your covers.
Step Eight: Decorate!
This one has an “M” for Miss Maffei.
And this one? It’s got your name on it, Mrs. Carter! (Or at least your initial!)
Whatcha think? What do you do for back-to-school teacher gifts? Do you give teachers gifts? Do you create them yourself or buy something? (If not, your kids are probably much better-behaved than mine are — haha!)
P.S. I bet you’re wondering about that third notepad. It’s up for grabs! Link back to this post from your blog, or tweet a link to this post, and then leave me a message saying you’ve done so. I’ll enter you in a drawing to win that enchanting third notepad… but only if you promise to give my kids an “A.” Haha! Hurry — I’m headed out of town this weekend and will give you until Sunday, 8/29, to enter!
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