Teacher's Pet Ensemble

The theme for this month's My Favorite Things guest designer challenge is "teacher's pet."  I made a fun teacher gift ensemble for the challenge.  It includes a coordinating magnetic memo board, a pencil holder with decorated pencils, an altered DVD tin note pad, and a card. For a cohesive look, I used the same red gingham patterned paper on all the pieces and the same stamped image on three of the four pieces.

Here's a closer look at the magnetic memo board and the card.  The memo board is made from a metal stove burner cover that I covered with a combination of chalkstock and patterned paper.  A strip of red gingham ribbon hides the transition between the two.  I used chipboard letter stickers to spell out "notes" above the ribbon and dressed up the bottom of the board with the pencil-carrying girl from the a la modes Talk Nerdy to Me set.  She's colored with Copic markers, cut out, and attached to the board with foam tape.  I put a pair of magnetic discs on the back of a small clothespin to use to hold a note.

The card uses the same stamped image as the memo board.  This time, she's set on a notebook paper patterned paper panel.  I stamped the word "thank you" from the Teacher's Pet set so it looked like she'd just written the word with her pencil.  The panel is layered on a red mat and set on an angle on a kraft card base.  To balance the design, I added a pair of layered fishtail flag die cuts to the upper right side of the panel.  A trio of red buttons tied with baker's twine adds a fun detail.

And, here's a closer look at the pencil holder and altered DVD tin. The altered DVD tin was made with another piece from my alterables stash.  I covered the tin's cover with kraft cardstock and the gingham patterned paper, again using red grosgrain ribbon to mask the seam between the two papers.  The same pencil-carrying image is attached to the front of the tin with foam tape.  I die cut one a mini tab and stamped the word "notes" on it in red ink.  I nearly lost the "t" when I was putting the stamps away--the stamps are so tiny, it's hard to find them when you drop one.  Fortunately, the stamp turned up during a second look.  Inside the tin, I added a pocket on one side using the same kraft/gingham paper combination and a pad of paper and a pen on the other.

 I made the pencil holder by covering a plain pencil holder from my stash of alterable items with a bunch of unsharpened pencils.  A little bit of hot glue held the pencils in place easily.  I wrapped the pencil holder with a strip of gingham paper and some red grosgrain ribbon, then added a "best teacher" ribbon made with MFT's First Class Ribbon stamp and die set.

The pencil holder's filled with a few altered pencils.  I used the rolled rose die to make some felt roses, then freehand cut leaves from green felt.   They're attached to the eraser end of the pencils using hot glue. As a teacher, I was always loaning pencils to students and having fancy ones like these helps to be sure you get your pencil back at the end of the day!

Materials Used:
a la modes Talk Nerdy to Me, Teacher's Pet, First Class Ribbon, and Mini Alphabet stamp sets, Die-namics rolled rose, First Class Ribbon,  Mini Tabs Foursome, and Fishtail Flag Stax dies (My Favorite Things); Poppy Parade and Crumb Cake cardstock (Stampin' Up!); white cardstock (Taylored Expressions); black chalkstock (Canvas Corp.); Double Dutch-Marmalade designer paper (Lily Bee Design); Take Note 6x6 paper pad (Echo Park); Memento Tuxedo Black and Lady Bug inks (Tsukineko); markers (Copic); red grosgrain ribbon, red button (Michaels); red baker's twine (Divine Twine); white chipboard letters (Basic Grey); red and green felt; foam tape