If you're like me, when faced with something crafty that needs to be done, once you've searched through and exhausted your mental reservoir, you hit Pinterest.
My task -- to make valentines for all of the classroom teachers from the PTA. My added challenge -- a few of the teachers are my Pinterest friends, so odds are decent that if it's a cute idea that I've seen in my feed in the past couple of weeks, they will have, too.
Luckily, I saw something non-valentine related that I had pinned a while back (paper fortune cookies!) and inspiration struck!
We're so FORTUNE-ATE to have you!
Happy Valentine's Day from the (school name) PTA
Materials needed:
paper (I found awesome Valentine's Day themed paper in the bargain bin at Target!)
card stock
ziplock sandwich baggies
stapler
white glue, such as Elmer's or Eileen's Tacky Glue
paperclips
There are numerous tutorials on how to make paper fortune cookies, but here's the one I followed. http://www.kindovermatter.com/2009/03/kind-over-matter-fortune-cookies.html
I tried both gluestick and white glue and suggest using the white glue. The glue stick is a bit harder to hit the exact right area and also to get on thick enough to hold. These puppies want to spring back! Make sure you let them have a few hours to dry totally before taking your paper clips off, whichever glue you use.
I used a jar lid to trace my circles-- easy peasy! Then start something on Netflix and settle in to cut out circles for the next hour or so. (Shhh....it's relaxation time disguised as being very productive.)
I typed up four different "teacher wisdom" phrases for my fortunes and printed out a whole sheet of them. After cutting them apart (a paper cutter will seriously save your sanity), I folded them in half and tucked them into the fortune cookies. Note: I paired my paper cookies up before choosing the fortunes for each pair to eliminate the odds of a teacher getting two of the same fortunes.
A teacher presents the past, reveals the present, and creates the future.
You will inspire someone today to greatness tomorrow.
A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, and touches a heart.
What a teacher writes on the blackboard of life can never be erased.
After bagging each pair of cookies, I cut card stock to fit (folded in half) on top of the bag as a header, and stapled it on.
I hopped onto Photoshop to make up my wording, but you can easily do it by hand with markers. Then I just cut it out and glued it on. I added a strip of another paper to give it a bit more oomph, and VOILA!
I love the way they came out, and they were super easy to make. I'm sure I'll be doing these again some time!
Give it a try!
