How is this my first time linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It? I should have done this so many times over the summer when I was making stuff for the beginning of the year. But I kept on forgetting to take enough pictures to show HOW I made anything I guess. Oh well, better late than never!!
Recently, we celebrated a religious holiday called Eid. We also had the week off. On Tuesday when we go back, we will have a class party. I wanted to get the students a gift, but I had a very small budget to work with. I was also thinking that if it's going to be cheap, it better be meaningful, otherwise it'll be lost in their house in a minute.
So I strolled through Michaels and when I went through the wooden cut out aisle, it dawned on me that I could make a twist on the flower pens we always see! I had a choice of getting the predesigned wooden templates that cost 69 cents each, but then I saw the blank ones and realized I could write a message on them instead. Those were only 29 cents, so I grabbed a class set (20).
I also got some flower tape. It came in a pack of 3 for around 5 dollars. But I had a 50 percent off one item coupon, so it came out to $2.50. Also, I ended up using only HALF of one roll! So now I have flower tape for a lifetime. P.S. Don't forget to use your teacher ID for an additional 15% off the purchase.
I needed to figure out how to stick the wooden piece onto the pen, and then I found these miniature craft sticks. That was about $4 for the pack of 100. To secure it well, I got a pack of Tacky Glue. Again, I only used some of one bottle only, so if you find single mini bottles, get that instead. The pack of three was around $4 too.
I found little heart stickers for embellishments and I got two packs of red pens from the Dollar Store. Finally, at the Dollar Store, I got two little flower bunches. I decided I'll stick a flower onto the back of each girl's pen.
First, I put the Tacky Glue onto half of the mini stick and stuck it half way onto the hearts. I let it still for a little while so it would get secure.
After that, I wrote short but sweet messages for each kiddo. I used Flair pens. Don't use markers - they will smudge in the wood.
Next, on to making the pens. For the girls, I added a flower piece. I cut it off the bunch, held it behind the wooden heart piece, and started slowly and securely, wrapping the flower tape on it. You will want to go around the top a few times before working your way down. Make sure to overlap each wrap and pull on tightly as you twist and roll. Only roll down to where the top of the pen cap is, then start rolling back up again. Once you reach the top, wrap it a few times around the end, and rip off.
If you are not adding a flower, it's much easier. The boys' pens were done much faster.. :)
Finally, I added two star stickers onto each heart piece to make it look a little better. Of course, if you have the time and patience, you could spray paint each wooden piece, and it'll be more colorful!
I think they came out pretty darn awesome!
For 20 kids, the whole project cost me under $25, plus I have flower tape, craft sticks, and Tacky Glue, and stickers left over for another future project!
Any other ideas to make a future project like this even more amazing??
Second, is a product that I finished after months. I started it in the spring last year. I dropped it in the spring last year. And I picked it back up last week. It was just sitting there with a pretty nifty cover (this unbiased person over here thinks so) and some pages, but I lost the motivation. I had a week off last week so I decided to finally finish up this huge project; my biggest product yet.
There was too much to include in one preview pic, so the following 4 pics shows you almost everything that is included.
I'm going to discount this product 20% just for today!
Click here if you'd like to see it!
Thanks for stopping by.
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