you know how every year in the spring you need to give a present to a teacher, graduating friend, or bride-to-be?
and you know how you never really have enough money for all the presents you need/want to give?
and you know how you decide that you could make something, but you don’t know what to make, and you don’t have much time left because you deliberated and cogitated and calculated for so long that you end up making something not very well at the last minute?
yeah, me too.
most of the time, i don't give in to the temptation--i run out and buy something and pretend that my self-esteem is not damaged by the act of giving a pre-made, already-finished gift.
but the director at ella’s preschool asked me to make gifts for the parents club to give to the teachers at the teacher appreciation luncheon--how could i say no? the budget was $10.00 per teacher, and because of my schedule i had to get all of them done in just a couple of hours.
this is what i came up with:
it's a notecard portfolio, made almost completely from materials i found at the dollar tree. the portfolio itself is made from a placemat--i folded up the bottom edge, stitched pockets, and then added ribbon ties to hold the whole thing closed.
in the pockets are, from left to right: notecards and envelopes, an address book, a pretty ink pen, and a notepad. the ones the teachers received have their class picture on the front instead of a flower.
this is one of those projects that made me completely happy--it turned out pretty much exactly as i hoped it would. i would have shown it to you sooner but a couple of the teachers read this blog, so i had to wait until after they were delivered.
however, i must confess that i did briefly hesitated to show this to you at all, because as soon as i finished it i thought, "from now on, everybody i know is getting one of these for birthday/christmas/graduation/whatever"--and now that i've posted it, all my friends who read this blog know my secret. but this project is just right for someone with little cash, little time, and esp. for someone with little sewing experience. you can create a handmade gift for someone in just minutes--i couldn't keep that kind of crafty goodness to myself.
oh, the name--ella calls them "holder keepers". i didn't correct her because, for one, i love the little names she comes up with for things--it teaches me something about how she sees the world--and for two, because if she went to school and told the teachers about their holder keepers they would probably have no idea what she is talking about and so the surprise would be intact. this is an important tactical detail, because what she said to me every day of the week before mother's day was, "mama, i'm making you a mother's day present and it's a surprise so i'm not going to tell you anything about the lemonade jar or the cookies."
ah, it was still a surprise--it was all delicious.
