TP Teacher Cards

Hurray! I got the thank you cards for Lily's teachers done. It took until 3:39 AM, but whew. Deadline met. If you have seen any of the toilet paper roll craftiness going on, you'll recognize the inspiration for these cards.

It took me about two and a half toilet paper rolls to do this. My husband suffers silently and just smiles and nods when I ask him to do random things like not throw empty tp rolls away. I'm a lucky gal.  I decided to make four cards, one for each of the teachers who have been fantastic in working with Lily this year. I did one flower with five and the rest with six petals. Six looked better to me and fuller.

I folded the roll flat and tried to cut the strips evenly, but it was late and I was working around a baby who wouldn't sleep. So  then I just tried to match skinny and not so skinny strips. I ran a glue stick along the edges of the side I was gluing down to attach them to the pretty paper I had picked out. Still with me? That sounds kind of confusing so if you look at the next picture, it will hopefully make more sense. I coyldn't get a clear picture of where I was putting glue on the tp pieces.

The petals were by no means even. Deadline, remember? So I let the flowers dry to the paper and cut them out. This was actually the tedious part because it can get a bit awkward. Best advice I can give you is go slow and prepare to bend your scissor hand funny.

If you look in the picture, you can see the ragged edges of the paper. I trimmed these as best I could. It was about 1:30 AM at this point, so my eyes were probably not the best. I really wish the paper would show up better, it's really quite pretty. I have this neat glitter spray that I sprayed the back of each card and the center of each flower. The spray was something I found on clearance at Michael's, and have never found again, which is kind of a bummer.

I glued the flowers to the cards I had on hand. They were not folded cards, more like post cards. To cover up my uneven centers and to make the flowers look more finished, I spent half an hour looking for buttons. When that didn't work, I looked for flat beads. After striking out with that as well, I had an idea that ended up working out.

I took my roll of never-ending hemp and coiled it, making a perfect center. I closed the coils with a dab of glue and then used as much glue as needed to glue them down to the center of the flower. To keep in with the hemp theme, I glued a hemp stem and leaf on each card too. I feel pretty proud of myself that my crafty skills were still working on so little brain power. I wish I would have had more time to tint the edges of the card or sewn borders, but there's always a next time!

After another mad dash search for my brown marker to write the message, I gave up and settled for a turquoise crayola marker. Again, not my best work, but the space was small and I didn't have enough stickers for four cards. I really, really need to invest in some alphabet stamps. (Note to self, don't let Lily use them and I might actually keep the whole alphabet intact.) I wrote a personalized note to each of the four teachers, stuffed the cards into their envelopes and then realized I wanted a gift for Lily's main teacher.

I found a huckleberry soy candle in a mason jar that I wrapped with ribbon and called it good. Just as I settled down, the baby woke up again. Haha, the life of a mother who has a crafty obsession. Now I'm off to make my living room NOT look like a bunch of drunken elves had a paper cutting party in it last night. I love that these cards are made from something that would just end up trash. I can always get behind using household items to make something pretty. 

T-minus two hours and forty-five minutes until school's out....I wonder how long before I hear, "I'm BORED Mom!!"

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