Easy end-of-year teacher thank you gifts: Decoupaged clipboards

With the school year wrapping up, it was time to make more thank you gifts for Elise's preschool teachers. I truly believe that gift cards are sometimes the most appreciated, but it doesn't hurt to pair them with a little something handmade.

Decoupaged clipboards are easy to make, and they're the perfect companion to a gift card. I found plain mini clipboards at my favorite well stocked Dollar Tree, but I've gotten similar half-size clipboards at office supply stores in the past.

This is a quick craft you can whip out in under half an hour. A coat of Mod Podge to stick down the card stock and another to seal it. Super easy.

It's also cheap! A dollar for the clipboard and even less for the card stock -- you're all in for under $2 each!

• See more decoupaged clipboards >>
• Also check out my coin purse gift card packaging >>

Quick and easy 'Happy Birthday' banner + printable

I did not do a lot of decorating for Elise's birthday party. I did, however, make a super quick and easy 'Happy Birthday' banner that made us both happy. And today I'm going to show you just how quick and easy it was.

First, I started off with a pre-cut pad of paper (called a mat stack or a mat pad in the scrapbooking world). I picked this one up at Michael's. It's basically just a bunch of sheets pre-cut to a certain size, which eliminates cutting up larger sheets.

I designed my banner, then fed the paper through the printer. After the ink was dry, I trimmed off those white margins.

I used some mini clothespins to hang them up onto a length of string and done! Fastest party decoration ever.

No gluing, no sewing, no tape. I'd be shocked if it took more than ten minutes to put together. A bonus: the whole thing can be disassembled and saved to use again at another birthday party.

Want to make one for your party? You're in luck! I've made a printable!

Download instantly from my Etsy shop >>

Pssst! Get $1 off with coupon code BANNER3 at checkout.

Three different versions available!

• 8.5" x 11" version, containing four letters to a page. Finished size of each letter = 4.25" x 5.5". (This version requires some cutting, but doesn't require special size paper.)


• 8.5" x 11" version in a more modern font.


• Quick 4.5" x 6.5" "Happy Birthday" banner, printable on 4.5" x 6.5" paper

All versions print in black ink on your choice of paper. Bright colors or subtly patterned paper look best!

But it looks great on kraft paper too, if you're going for a more subdued, adult color scheme.

Please e-mail with comments or questions: erin (at) lansdownelife (dot) com. I'd love to hear from you!

Recycled gift wrappings

This year is finally the year when I eschewed traditional wrapping paper in favor of using up all the odds and ends I've been hoarding. The random pieces of packing and kraft paper, leftover ribbons and other assorted bits. What's the point in saving things if I never use them?

The flowers were all made from those plastic mesh produce bags. For tags, I punched large circles out of card stock I already had. None of it was "Christmas," but I just used patterns and colors that coordinated.

I didn't have enough materials to cover our entire gift list, so I used remnants of normal wrapping paper from years past for the others. And that can be marked as an accomplishment too. Usually, I crack open new rolls each year because I don't like to repeat the prints. It's my weird wrapping quirk.

Also in the eco-friendly category are these reusable drawstring gift bags I made. It can be considered a small extra gift, or the recipient can wrap something else up and pass it along. I had grand plans to make a bunch of them in all sizes, but time got the best of me this year and I only made a couple small ones. Put it on the to-do list for 2013!

Folded paper Christmas tree garland (from adding machine tape!)

This is our first year with a full-size Christmas tree (we used to decorate a mini tree), and I thought I'd have a difficult time filling it up. Turns out that was a pretty silly thought, as I probably have enough ornaments for at least two trees. But I was missing one thing: garland.

I ran across a roll of adding machine tape from years ago and knew I could turn it into something. A little bit of playing around with different folding techniques and I came up with this easy geometric garland.

I'm no origami teacher, so this is a little hard to explain in still photos. I'll admit, it looks complex. But play around with it, and you'll find it's pretty simple. You're just alternating between straight and 45-degree angle folds. Get into a groove, and you won't even be thinking about which direction you're supposed to fold.

Repeat, repeat and repeat some more. I did a whole tree's worth of folding while watching a movie. It's a mindless sort of activity.

You can unfold it to see how it's coming, but I preferred to keep everything folded up until the end. Easier to manage.

I like how geometric and modern it looks. And the way the light shines through and casts interesting shadows. But what's even better? No guilt about sending it to the recycling bin after the holidays.

If you don't have adding machine tape at home (and really, I don't know why you would), it's available at office supply stores for a couple of bucks. I only used about half a roll on my tree, so a single roll should be plenty even for giant trees.

If angles aren't your thing, try folding it another way. Or make fringe! Adding machine tape is such a good base material for so many different ideas.

In photos: Sunprint silhouette

Summer craft: Experimenting with sunprints

This was a guest post I did over at my friend Ann Marie's blog, White House, Black Shutters in June. Since then, Elise and I have made more of these sunprints and I'll be sharing those soon. But first, I wanted to show you our introduction in case you missed it.

There's still a little bit of summer left before the kids are in school, so pick up some sunprint paper and get to experimenting! Sunprints (or cyanotypes) are a great activity for children: no mess, quick results, and a dose of sciencey magic!

I love projects that are simple enough for kids to do, but have sophisticated, frame-worthy results. This is one of those projects! Are you ready? Let's put some of that summer sun to work!

What you need:

• Sunprint light sensitive paper
• Flat objects with interesting shapes
• Two cookie sheets or trays
• Water
• Sunlight!

I bought my sunprint paper at a local art supply store (20 - 11"x17" sheets for $14), but it's also available online in various sizes. It might seem pricey, but I cut my sheets in half to 8.5"x11", so really I paid something like 35 cents a sheet.

First, collect up interesting flat objects from around the house. Coins, keys, bottle caps, buttons, letter magnets, toys -- anything is fair game! Be creative, but don't choose anything too tall that would cast a shadow across the print. You can certainly do the traditional nature-based botanical prints with leaves or flowers too.

Put the sunprint paper blue side up on a cookie sheet. Then arrange the objects on the paper. The paper is very sensitive to light, so make sure to do this step inside and out of direct sunlight.

Now comes the fun part! Carefully transport the cookie sheet outside and place in direct midday sunlight. I left mine in the sun for two minutes, but follow the instructions on your package of paper. Don't overexpose the print; make sure you take it inside after the recommended time. Be careful, though. A metal cookie sheet might get hot even after just a couple of minutes in the sun.

In the sun, the paper will fade from bright blue to nearly white.

But everything that was protected underneath the objects will still be blue.

And now the magic begins! Fill a second cookie sheet with water and submerge the print to develop it. Watch as the white turns blue and the blue turns white! I left mine in the water for one minute, but again, follow the instructions on your package of sunprint paper.

The print will continue to darken as it dries, ending up a vivid cobalt blue.

The truly opaque objects leave a bright white shadow, while the more translucent plastic lids and such produce a cloudy lighter blue. Experiment! Try layering things and see what kind of effects you can create.

But the kids shouldn't be the only ones to get in on the fun. After my daughter was done, I made a few prints myself.

FREE printable: Disney World postcard party invitation

Remember Elise's birthday party invitations? I've gotten a couple of requests for the design I used on the back of the postcard, so I thought I'd offer it up as a free printable. Pair with a 4"x6" photo print on the front for quick handmade invitations.

I made up two versions of this 4"x6" invitation. If you are handy with design programs, download the JPG file. But if you're not, I also designed an interactive PDF form. Just type in your info and print on a 4"x6" card! Easy!

To save the file to your computer: click on the link below, and select File > Download.

Disney World postcard party invitation (JPG)

Disney World postcard party invitation (interactive PDF form)



This printable is for personal, non-commercial use only. Feel free to link to this blog post, but redistributing or selling the file or a printed version is not OK.

p.s. If you're looking for a Disney-ish font to use... The Walt Disney World retro logo font is called Florida Project and is free for non-commercial use. There are also so many Disney fonts at The Disney Experience.

Guest posting at White House, Black Shutters today!

I'm guest posting over at White House, Black Shutters today as part of the Summer Block Party series. 

Pop on over to read all about making sunprints >>