Hey everyone! It’s the beginning of August which means it’s time for a Packaging Ambassador post. I took last month off to spend a little time with my family, but I’m happy to be back! Well, school supplies are on sale everywhere so you know that means that the first day back will be here all too soon. My kiddos go to a year-round school so they started in July and we’ve been back to our weekly routine for about 3 weeks already!
I’m always looking for fun ways to package up treats for the kids and their teachers, since everyone works so hard all year. The Go-To Gift Card Holder: Pencil offers a fun way to deliver the goods! In my post today, I’ll show you how you can thank a teacher AND encourage your student.
We’ll start with the teachers. I asked my son and daughter if they knew their teachers’ favorite colors, which is where I started. Even if the kids are way out of touch and the colors are nowhere near to their favorites, I think they still turned out really pretty! My son told me pink and mint for his teacher so I used Raspberry Fizz and Sweet Blush with a bit of Luxe Gold to create the pencil and pull-out gift card slider.
I used several parts of the It’s A Sign: Beautiful stamp and die collection on these projects today, including the florals and leaves on the teacher gifts. I stamped the leaves in Mint Julep ink and the flowers in Sweet Blush, with RF centers. I turned to the Garden Party alphabet in order to personalize the gifts, and I went with the medium flag from Banner Builder: Basics, on which I stamped each letter. My son’s teacher has a 2-letter last name so that worked out very well!
My daughter’s teacher apparently loves purple so Lilac Grace and Royal Velvet made up the pencil this time. I used the same florals from It’s A Sign: Beautiful, but the leaves are done in Spring Moss and the flowers are Sweet Blush, Hibiscus Burst, and a hint of Winter Wisteria.
Nemy’s teacher has a long name, but she allows her 1st graders to call her Miss H, so that fit nicely within our borders. I didn’t want to do the exact same design, so I changed it up a little and added a glittery gold ‘thanks’ to the outside of the pencil.
On the inside I enclosed gift cards to Target, either for classroom supplies or something fun for themselves. I really wanted to make the gift packaging pretty, but if your student has a male teacher, the pencil is neutral so you can swap out the florals and colors and opt for something more masculine.
I’ve got 2 more pencils to share so I’ll list the supplies for the first 2 now (and separately so you have an idea of exactly what I used for each).
Mrs. Ng Supplies:
STAMPS: It’s A Sign: Beautiful, Garden Party
INK: Mint Julep, Raspberry Fizz, Sweet Blush
PAPER: Sweet Blush, Raspberry Fizz, Smokey Shadow, White, Luxe Gold
DIES: Go-To Gift Card Holder: Pencil, It’s A Sign: Beautiful, Banner Builder: Basics
Miss H. Supplies:
STAMPS: It’s A Sign: Beautiful, Garden Party
INK: Winter Wisteria, Spring Moss, Hibiscus Burst, Sweet Blush
PAPER: Royal Velvet, Lilac Grace, Smokey Shadow, White, Luxe Gold, Gold Glitter
DIES: Go-To Gift Card Holder: Pencil, It’s A Sign: Beautiful, Banner Builder: Basics, To Die For: Cursive Thanks
Onto the kids! I have a 3rd grade boy and a 1st grade girl, and while you can certainly reward their efforts with a gift card if you like, I stuck to pencils for now–at only 3 weeks in, let’s not go too big, too soon! My son definitely needs all the pencils he can get, as I always see him using the tiniest 2-inch writing instrument! And while I’ve tried my best to designate a special box of pencils and erasers that are ONLY for homework in our house, they always end up missing no matter what I do. So if they have cool pencils to use, maybe they’ll take better care of them (but probably not :).
My son likes orange so I made his pencil from Orange Zest and Classic Kraft, using Luxe Silver for the cap. Gus has a tendency to get a little down on himself at times and I wanted to include an encouraging message on his pencil. After making a frame with the Framing Florals set, I used sentiments from It’s A Sign: Beautiful to create it. I masked off the center text from the ‘always remember you are…’ message and only stamped the first and last lines around ‘smarter.’ I stamped ‘smarter’ on an Aqua Mist brush stroke from a Watercolor Textures mini set.
After assembling the pencil, I slid some orange and blue mechanical pencils into the pocket, using their clips to hold them in place. It turned out pretty cool this way, and Gus thought it was fun!
Smarter Supplies:
STAMPS: It’s A Sign: Beautiful, Framing Florals, Watercolor Textures: Brush Strokes
INK: Orange Zest, Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist, True Black
PAPER: Orange Zest, Classic Kraft, Smokey Shadow, White, Luxe Silver
DIES: Go-To Gift Card Holder: Pencil, Framing Florals
OTHER: pencils
I chose a pretty palette for Nemy’s that is similar to the yellow Ticonderoga pencils we buy every year with our supplies. I took some liberties–the silver cap and the pink tip–but otherwise it’s pretty close. She’s off to a great start this year so I’m cheering her on with ‘way to go’ die cuts and a banner with her name on it. The garlands and alphabet are all from Garden Party. I trimmed off one of the end triangles in order to layer it over another bunting. The bottom one is stamped with images from Garden Party as well, and I added a couple of twine bows to the ends.
Her pretty pencils are slid in just like Gus’s were, but I taped them to the enclosed slider to ensure they don’t fall out.
Way To Go Supplies:
STAMPS: Garden Party
INK: Bright Buttercup, Melon Berry, Pale Peony, Orange Zest
PAPER: Melon Berry, Berry Sorbet, Lemon Tart, White, Luxe Silver, Gold Glitter
DIES: Go-To Gift Card Holder: Pencil, To Die For: Cursive For You
OTHER: twine, pencils
If you have school age children or grandchildren, this Pencil gift card holder will come in so handy! You don’t even have to put a gift card in it, if you’d rather not. Consider enclosing a nice note, a little food treat, or a small pad of paper. They’d make great favors for classroom or birthday parties, too! I hope you found some inspiration from today’s post and I’ll meet you back here next month!
Chris Lawlor says
What a sweet post! Thank you for all of these ideas!!
Lisa Schenck says
Such Beautiful inspiration!!!!