Teachers Appreciation Handmade Gift Ideas

Most of the schools in USA have their year end celebration in the last week of May or somewhere between first week of June or mid June. Some schools celebrate Teacher's Appreciation day or simply appreciate Teachers for their year long hard work with the kids. It is a great time to show how grateful the kids and their parents are for their guidance and encouragement throughout. As most of you will agree getting a good teacher for your kids is nothing short of a blessing and you should always show gratitude. This year, for the first  time we got  a chance to thank her Preschool teachers as well as her Dance teacher (She has been learning Ballet). Like everybody else I wanted to give something useful but  personal and unique as well.

For the preschool teachers, apart from the common contribution for gift cards we packed a big box of assorted chocolates and made a handmade paper quilled greeting card.We made two similar cards for both of her teachers. I was inspired by Alli Bartkowski's book 50 Nifty Quilled Cards of quilled creations. Both me and my daughter wrote a personal message  inside the card.


For her Ballet Teacher I made a gift card holder with a beautiful pink Ballet Dress also called Leotard. The gift card holder is entirely handmade and has Velcro closure to keep the gift card secure. It makes it reusable as well. She loves coffee so I included a Starbucks gift card in it. Along with it I included a coordinating note card with personal message.

 Hope you will get some inspiration from these ideas for the wonderful teachers that play such an important role in the overall growth and development of our kids lives. Thank you teachers.

P.S. : We do sell gift card holders at our online Etsy shop. You can see some of our popular designs there. We  also take custom orders.

Gift and Gift Wrapping idea for a New Baby Boy

Sometime back I was wondering how can I make a gift to a friend's new born baby a little special.Like many of us I love to give new born baby, clothes among other things. Problem with clothes is that it is a little uninteresting to pack them as is.

I got an opportunity to give some baby boy clothes to a dear friend when her baby boy was born.

This is how I wrapped and gifted it to her.

Supplies needed
- Gift box

I had a baby gap gift box (I usually request for a gift box at shops like Baby Gap, Gymboree, Children's place etc. Some give it for free and some charge a little amount for it). I love the brown color and the inside colorful stripes.

- Light Blue Ribbon
Another color which I think is favorite of everyone for little boys is light blue.

- Clay flowers (blue)

I had some lovely blue clay roses and clay hydrangea which I made earlier. You can learn making some clay flowers here. Or you can use paper flowers some tutorials here or silk flowers or fresh flowers will do too. I do believe that Flowers speak words we often cannot find. Hence, the flowers.

- New Baby card

I had made a quilled new baby card especially for her. I believe cards are a must when you have to express your happiness and best wishes especially for a new baby.
You can make any card or buy one if you are out of time. Make sure you date it and write your name and some lovely sentiments.



Assembling these didn't take much time.


The gift was looking as I wanted it to look.My friend loved it too.


She loved the card and the flowers the most and especially the fact that it was handmade. I hope this will give you some ideas to make your gift giving extra special for you and the receiver too.

Paper Quilling Typography

I made this for a friend's son's Birthday. He turned four this year. His parents requested for no gifts for the party. Initially I  planned to make a birthday card with his name in quilled typography. I thought that would be a meaningful gift and being handmade rather than store bought would respect he no gifts request from the parents too ;). But while making the project I changed my mind and framed it so if they wish they can display it in his room.

His name is "Avi ". In our native language Hindi it means Sun and Air.  I tried to include the colors Orange Red and Yellow to signify the brightness of Sun and a cool blue as background with a few scrolls between the individual letters to signify "Air".  I added a sun over the letter "I" using special quilling strips with golden edge. I tried the bee hive technique invented by Susan  for the first time and it sure was fun.

The letters measure almost 2.5 " in height. The finished design is 5 " x 7" approx and is framed in a 8" x 10" matted frame. Here is another photograph of the finished project.

I would love to get your feedback/ comments. They definitely make my skies brighter here in Seattle :).