Paper Cutz Challenge and Back-to-School

Well, it's that time of year again! Back-to-school time! I'm always sort of happy and sort of sad. I do miss my crazy kiddos when they are gone, but sometimes it's nice to get a break....more time to play in my Purple Playroom....Yay!!!! Anyway, my kids start back on Thursday, which is kind of weird, but whatever..... I have a friend at church that is going back to school herself. She is going to be a kindergarten teacher this year. She has been a SAHM, but her girls are a little older now, and I guess she's ready to go back to work. Her classroom theme is crayons, so I knew I had to make something for her desk! I began to imagine this pencil holder in my mind and started saving my green bean cans! I stocked up on crayons at Walmart when they went on sale for 25 cents, too! I noticed that Paper Cutz Challenge blog was doing a back to school project challenge, so I decided this would be perfect to enter! The Post-It Note Holder is a box bottom that I made from black cardstock. I cut a 6 1/2 inch square and scored it at 1 1/2 on each side. I cut the bottom score lines on each side to the other score mark, applied adhesive and tucked the cut ends behind the long sides to form the box. The bus is cut from Doodlecharms and the passengers are cut from Paisley. I also cut some white ABCs from cardstock to apply to the sides of the box to look like a chalkboard with letters. I used Sizzix Lolllipop letters, but you could use any of your font carts cut at 1 inch for these. I made this box 1 1/2 inches deep and it very easily holds two note pads, but you could probably put one more if you wanted. I thought this would make a great teacher gift. I'm thinking of using my Hello Kitty cart for the cut with the books and apple, plus some others. For my can, I cut a strip of red cardstock and wrapped it around the can. I then glued crayons around the can. Next, I glued on a wide yellow ribbon. The label was made from my Lacy Labels Cricut Lite cartridge, which I stretched on my Gypsy to make a longer label. I absolutely LOVE this cartridge!!!! It is so great and so worth the money. I pay 24.99 for a set of Spellbinders dies and you only get about 5 different sizes there. Don't get me wrong, I still really love my Spellbinders, I was just trying to make the point that you get a lot for the money on this cartridge. I cut one larger label in red and one in yellow and layered them. I cut the apple from the Paisley cartridge, and the "E" was from Pooh Font (I used the shadow marker font). I added the green brads and used red sticky strip tape to adhere the label to the yellow ribbon and the crayons. I love how this project came out and hope that Jandy likes it! Her hubby is deployed right now and she's leaving her babies to go teach for the first time, so I hope it brightens her day a little! Thanks so much for looking and have a great day!