School's Out!

Hey guys. Sorry for the radio silence. Working at not one but two tradeshows via my local Farmer's Market made me realize a few things. I realized I need to work in the dead times to have some misc. stock on hand. Birthday cards and babies and the like. That way I am not trying to hussle last minute. Especially when I get custom order requests and when there are special occasions around the same said market and I get inspired last minute. Then I'll be more prepared than not at all.

Not only was I prepping for a couple of spring markets and taking on more shifts at the library, all while taking on custom orders and getting ready for the end of school, but my biggest baby took a huge step this spring. My little girl graduated high school!!!
No I did not cry, and yes it is very surreal. I think it'll hit me more when she's not longer actually in class. But she's staying home with us for a while and is my eldest. I think it'll be harder and harder the more kids that pass through this milestone and they start actually leaving the next.
But for now- she's all graduated and things resume as normal :)

Still. A very, VERY hectic couple of months.
But despite all that I still was able to get some very cute end of the year teacher's gifts done up.
And voila!

I call these Teacher's Survival Kits. The acetate boxes come from Stampin' Up. You could use them for sets of cards as they are A2, but I wanted to think more out of the box (inside the box?) and see what else I could do with them.
They are perfect for small gifts. Mine are filled with a 3x3 sticky note pad, herbal tea and chocolates. Some of them have other things like binder clips that I decorated and paper clips. So a little of this and that.

The tags were quick and easy and a lot of fun to put together. I did them as shakers as, lets face it, I am a bit obsessed with shaker cards right now.
The images are courtesy of the Greeting Farm minis. Absolutely LOVE those sets and collected all the remix ones featured here. They make cute little teachers don't they? And then the phrases are courtesy of Great Teacher and Teacher's Apple stamp sets by Papertrey Ink.
Using the same materials and idea, I expanded them to do a twist on some teacher's appreciation cards. Thinking outside of the box I used My Favorite Things Blueprint die and left the largest panel empty so it appeared to be a classroom door.
The other card is more simple but I love it all the same. The pop of Real Red on the Teacher Die and coordinating stamp in the center of the sentiment are just perfect. Then the shaker insides are a mix of red and green sequins and some gold stars from a Recollection shaker pack from Michaels.
Now with summer on the go and the next show not until Christmas, I will have more time to create new things and play around with new ideas. So stay tuned!!
~Brandie~