Back to School Teacher Gifts

August is soon to be here and while we are busy scheduling doctor appointments and buying school supplies, we don't want to forget about our back to school teacher gifts!  This post is full of cute ideas that combine classroom supplies, treats and small gifts with fun little gift tags, 

check them out:

It's a treat to be in your class!

Wrap up candies, cookies or even cupcakes in the container of your choice and add a tag to create a quick and easy back to school welcome gift for your child's new teacher.

If teachers were flowers, I'd pick you!

Flowers more your thing?  Pick a few blooms or purchase a 

potted flowering plat to create this inspiring gift.

Cc Is for caffeine

We know our teachers need fuel and lots of it.  An adorable phonics inspired gift tag attached to a mug, bottle of coffee or box of tea is sure to give a boost of energy!

Hands down, You're the best! 

& 

I couldn't have hand-picked a better teacher!

I love these little 'hand' gift tags.  I used bottles of sanitizer for my gifts, but these could be attached to lotions, nail polishes, even a nice pair of gloves if you give to your teacher during the holiday season 😉

Keep calm & teach on!

This little tag is probably the most versatile of all.  I added mine to a couple of small jar candles but think of the possibilities:  Cookies, candy, classroom supplies, gift cards, bubble bath, etc!

You are just the 'write' teacher! 

& 

Take note, I think YOU are the best!

Pictured here are a couple of brand new notepads, but I think either of these tags would also work for pens, pencils, post-its, note cards........

You're a mark above the rest!

I've prepared a nice desktop jar filled with an assortment of sharpened pencils and a couple different styles of ink pens, but you could use this tag for all sorts of writing utensils.

Back to School Teacher Gift Printables

You can make your very own gift tag printables like I did
(check out this post for a microsoft word printable tutorial)
or you can buy the set pictured here from my Etsy shop.

Want to make it even simpler?
Feel free to snag any of the phrases used here and hand write them on to your own tags,
I promise I won't mind 😉

Either way you go, you are sure to end up with much appreciated back to school teacher gifts!

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I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams 2019

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This post was added to the Best of the Weekend weekly link party.

Make Your Own Invitations Using Microsoft Word - Doughnut Birthday

With my daughter's 10th birthday quickly approaching it's time for me to start planning.  This year she chose to go with a bakery theme and after finding some adorable doughnut backgrounds, I decided to whip up her party invitations digitally this year.  Some of them I printed out and then others I was able to electronically send via social media - the convenience  was awesome!  I also love how I already have the image in my computer which made transferring it to Shutterfly (for digital scrapbooking) so much easier.

(You can click here and here to read about my venture into digital scrapbooking)

In real life the invitations that I made are personalized - completely different than the fill-in-the-blank style that you see here.  But I wanted these to be 'blank' so that you guys can snag them for FREE if you want them for yourselves!  I'm going to be making a digital download printable party set for my Etsy shop that includes these invitations, cupcake toppers, gift tags and fold-over treat bag printables but.....if you want just the invites and you want them for FREE, go ahead and right-click the images, save to your pc and then print as you wish 😁

Note:  You may need to print them on the smaller side as the images here are screen grabs and not the actual files.  Printing them larger may result in blurred images.

But what if you don't want these invitations at all?  What if you want to make your own?  No problem, my friends!  Just sit back and read on to see exactly how I did it for myself:

Step 1 - Insert Photo

Using Microsoft word I opened a new word document, clicked 'insert' (at the top of the page) and chose a picture from my personal files.  You can use any picture or background that you want.  Even scrapbook paper can be scanned into a digital file and then used as a photo background.

Once my picture had been inserted, I adjusted the size to my liking.  Just click the little squares/ circles around the edge of the picture and drag until you have the size that you want.  You can also right-click, choose 'properties' and enter dimensional values, but I like to adjust my images visually.

Step 2 - Format the Border

After adjusting my picture to the size that I want, I like to spruce up the border.  By clicking 'format' at the top of the page and choosing 'border' I am able to alter thickness and color.  Choose 'weight' to increase the size of your border (I took mine up to 6) and then switch from standard black to a color of your liking.

Step 3 - Insert Text Box.

Once the picture background was customized with my choice of size and border specifications, I then went back to the top of the page and clicked 'insert text box'.  Once the text box tool is opened you can then click and drag your mouse to draw a text box directly on top of your photo background.  After creating my text box I used the formatting options to adjust the border in the same way that I did for the photo.

Note:  By formatting the text box you can also choose to make the text box itself (as well as the border) transparent.  This means your text will appear directly on top of your photo background and can look great depending on the background chosen and size of text font that you use!

Step 4 - Fill in the Text

Once I have the background and text box formatted to my liking, it's time to fill in the text.  It can be a lot of fun to experiment with different font selections and colors.  For the invitations pictured here I elected to add a bit of rainbow coloring to some of the text.

Annnnnd.....I made up a few variations in background styles as well:

And there it is, an easy and fun way to make your very own digital party invitations!

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I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams 2019

Bakers Rack Repair With Paint & Contact Paper

Last week I mentioned that I used adhesive backed paper to fix up my outdoor bakers rack.  The rack has been outside for a couple of years now and held up really well, until a crack formed in the veneer of the surface late last fall.  The wind began to chip away at the wood-like covering until most of the surface was damaged.  Since the weather was pretty much unfriendly by that point, I used some packing tape as a temporary fix until the weather warmed for spring.

After completing my dining room shelf project I had some of the adhesive paper left over and decided to see how it would work to fix up my bakers rack too.  It was pretty easy to do and looks great, check it out:

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Disclosure - This post contains affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commision.  Affiliate links are noted below.

Worn Table Top

Here you can see how damaged the top had become,
with rain being forced into the cracks loosening the veneer.

I removed the tape and chipped off the rest of the veneer and let the underlying wood completely dry out.  There were a few points of rust here and there on the metal frame that I wanted to fix as well, and decided to repaint the frame.  While at it, I went ahead and painted the wood surface too.  This created a protective seal for the wood that would keep it from getting wet should the contact paper not hold up to the elements.

Dollar Tree Adhesive Shelf Liners

Remember those adhesive backed shelf liners from my dining room post?
They came to the rescue again!

You can click this Dollar Tree (affiliate) link to purchase your own.

You can click here if you want to read more about those dining room shelves.

Fixed -Up Bakers Rack

Once the paint was dry I whipped out the adhesive paper and applied it to the table surface.  Not only was it easy to do, but the process completely transformed the piece.  It looks so much better now!

You may have noticed that the drawer front was originally covered in the wood veneer as well.  I ended up leaving it white and I'm happy with the clean look. It was also easier than trying to get that adhesive paper to wrap around the rounded edges 😉😉😉

Note:  It was early spring when I completed this project and now mid July, so the contact paper has experienced quite a bit of wind, sun and rain.  I'm happy to report that though there is a little fading, the paper has otherwise held up perfectly and the rack still looks great!

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I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams 2019

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This post was featured at Best of the Weekend weekly link party.

Customize Your Shelving With Contact Paper

Back around Easter time I decided to upgrade my dining room shelves using adhesive backed paper.  Not knowing how it would work out (or if I would even like the look) I decided to use shelf paper from Dollar Tree that I could get for only $1 a roll.  That way if the project was a total failure, I could rest knowing that I hadn't wasted a lot of money.  Luckily, the experiment was a success!  Check it out:

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Disclosure - This post contains affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commision.  Affiliate links are noted below.

Shelves Before

Here are my dining room shelves before the project.  They weren't too bad, but if you look closely you can see.....

.....cracks and scratches.  I also didn't like the way that some of the shelf backing looked as if there were gaps.  So contact paper to the rescue!

Dollar Tree Adhesive Paper

Here are a couple of my Dollar Tree rolls of shelf paper.  Not knowing how well the cut sections of paper would blend together, I originally purchased 16 rolls.  

You can click this Dollar Tree (affiliate) link to browse their selection of shelf liners and other household items.

Grid on Back

One of the things I really liked about this Dollar Tree shelf paper is that it has a grid on the back.  This makes cutting straight lines so much easier!

Note:  Can you see the ruffled edge next to the scissors?  Each brand new roll has this starteer edge which I trimmed off to create a clean line.

Step 1

Using small strips, I 'cut in' around the edges of the shelves.  It is much easier to position a large piece of adhesive paper if you don't have to but right up against any edges...trust me 😉  

At first I was trying to get right to the edge and it was a nightmare so I experimented with the smaller strips.  Not only did it make positioning the larger sheets easier, but that's how I discovered that the pattern of this paper blends super easily no matter how you cut it.  That meant that I only ended up using 5 of the rolls.  The other unopened rolls I was able to return (with receipt) to Dollar Tree in exchange for other product.

Step 2

After prepping your edges, start filling in the larger areas.

Step 3

Keep going until complete!

Here are the shelve once I finished with the paper and got everything back in place.  I was so pleased with how the project turned out that I ended up using some more of the paper on my outdoor bakers rack as well - more on that coming soon!

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I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams 2019

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This post was added to the Best of the Weekend weekly link party.