I am so excited for the end of the school year!  I have lots of fun things planned for me and the kiddies this summer. But, first!  I gotta show my kids teachers some serious love.  My kids have fantastic teachers, I am so grateful for all their hard work.  This year my kids wanted to be included in the gift giving.  They wanted to make special gifts- do some painting and choose the colors.  I’m all for that. We headed into The Wood Connection to pick out the goods.

We got some cute apples, a letter for each teacher, paint, paper, wire, ribbon…they had everything we needed.

Let the painting begin!  Each of my kids took this very seriously. Ha! I love their “concentration faces.”

They painted each of the letters white.  After letting them dry, we put tape about 1/3 the way up from the bottom, and the kids got to paint on the color they wanted for their teacher.  After the letters were dry I sanded the edges a little.

First part of the gift – DONE!

We then started on the apples- the painting started to get a little crazy at this point, but they did pretty good for being 5 and 7 years old.

After they had them all ready and dry- I let the oldest trace out the apples. We attached the paper by applying a thin coat of Mod Podge to the back of the paper and onto the wood.  I rubbed it with a wood dowel to make sure it was nice and smooth.  It set for 15 minutes before applying a top coat.

I need to tell you that I normally have a really hard time not getting Mod Podge to not bubble up on me.  I watched a You Tube video that helped me out.   You can find it by clicking HERE.  I think in the past I was applying it too thick.  If you struggle with Mod Podge like I do you might want to watch that video clip.

The Wood Connection also has a fabulous wood glue they prefer to use in place of Mod Podge.  I haven’t tried it yet, but I plan to soon!

While that was drying I created the wire gift card holder.  I used my i-pad charger to get a square shape.  I wrapped it around the charger 2 times.

 

Using my favorite little drill, I made a hole in the top of the apple.  Make sure your drill bit is the same width as your wire, so you don’t make the hole too big.  I used E6000 glue to secure my wire holder in place.  This glue does take a while to dry, so plan to leave it over night.

I sanded the edges of the apples a little bit and added some green ribbon to finish it up.  CUTE!

Now all you need is the gift card!  I love gift cards, so I am assuming the teachers will too. But, you could easily place a cute picture of your child in the holder OR a simple thank-you note from your child.  This is a cute gift they can leave on their desk and keep using for a long time.

Here ya go teacher!

 

The Wood Connection was kind enough to hook me up with a $25 gift card to their store!  I am giving it away to one of my readers!!  To enter you need to follow me @pocketfulofpaint and @thewoodconnection on Instagram and comment on one of my blog posts.  Winner will be announced Monday the 11th at 10am  Good luck!!

Love -Lynn

 

UPDATE!  The giveaway winner is Michelle Graber!  e-mail me your address at pocketfulofpaint @ gmail.com and I will send you the gift card!