Push Pins and Pencils Bouquet

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For those of you new and old that don't know, I am a teacher. While teaching summer school makes me feel like I have been going NON-stop for the past year, I still became appropriately excited and anxious for back to school time and new school supplies. In fact I am always this way. One of my favorite movies is probably You've Got Mail if for no other reason than this line: "I love the smell of New York in the fall. If I knew your name and address I'd send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils." LOVE IT! Ever since I saw it the first time, I have desperately wanted someone to do that very thing for me. I think I would pass out in happiness!

Anyway, it gave me an idea when I was thinking of something cute to give a great teacher (and even better friend!) on the first day of school. I decided I wanted to create something using some of my favorite school supplies and this is what I came up with:

The best part: It was super easy to create and functional too! All I needed was a few simple supplies.

First I cut some petals out of scrapbook paper (I recommend double sided so that you don't have to glue 2 together like I did.)

Next, I glued the petals onto a Styrofoam ball (with hot glue.) Oh, and see that stem? It is a freshly sharpened pencil!

Then I used an assortment of push pins to create the center part of the flower. I just pushed them into the styrofoam in a circular pattern.They are easy to pull out and replace later. And trust me, as a teacher you might just have a LOT of push pins lying around.

Next I hot glued matching buttons to the very center of the push pin flower. It didn't take more than 10 on each side.

When I was done with the flower part, I moved on the pot. I quickly used an ordinary black paint pen to initial the pre-painted pot.

To "plant" my flower I just filled a skinny ceramic vase with some of my favorite BIC markers and stuck the pencil stem in the center. (And of course tied on the cutest bow I could find as a nice 'finishing touch!')

Finally, I attached a personalized note for 'ms. johnson,' or as you know her 'Jessica who posts on Fridays.' We just so happen to be fellow teachers and bloggers. Aren't I lucky to get to work with such wonderful people all the time?

And that is it, I was done! In less than 1 hour and at a reasonable price I had a personalized gift I could be happy with. Do you know any teachers whose days you can brighten? Trust me, they are working over time as they go back to school to make sure everything goes as planned, and they would love to know they are appreciated!

Hope you are motivated to put those extra school supplies to good use this week! Come by tomorrow to see another great way you can use supplies to brighten someone's day. I'll be linking to these great parties this week.

Oh, and stop by the CSI Back To School Challenge to find me too!

Happy Thursday and Back to School Time too!

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(Side note: I will finally be uploading my dining room makeover and answering some questions about my new farm table next week, so stay tuned...)