Today I'm excited to share the details of my PaperTrey Ink Teacher's Apple stamp set project; I just loved working with this set, and I think it will fill a niche in many stamp collections! I adore the little patterned apples, as well as the sentiments included in this set. I've used the set here to create a card, a re-usable covered box, a covered mini legal pad (with a red pen, of course), a stack of sticky notes, and a couple of book clips. Having taught for ten years, and having had numerous teachers in my extended family, I'm pretty sure that this would be a useful gift.
I started by painting my PaperTrey Egg Box with a flat ivory craft paint inside and out. While that dried, I stamped apples in Pure Poppy, Spring Moss, and Summer Sunshine, with the outline being stamped in Dark Chocolate. I used the Borders and Corners: Square set to add stitching a round each apple before punching the square out with a 1-3/8" square punch. Next I inked the small dot pattern from Polka Dot Basics with Versamark and stamped the pattern on both Pure Poppy and Ripe Avocado cardstock, and then punched squares of these also. I alternated stamped and solid squares on a Kraft cardstock background, then tacked them with adhesive in the enters before zig-zag-stitching around the edges. (You could skip the sewing step since you've stamped stitches on, but you would need to use a really good adhesive to make sure that the squares don't peel up on the edges.)
I used a pad of Versamagic Tea Leaves ink to ink the edge of he box lid, just to add some contrast to the ivory of the box. Next I attached my quilted kraft box top with some Royal Coat Decoupage Medium and let it dry before proceeding. (If you don't let the base coat dry thoroughly, you will usually end up with the cardstock buckling when you apply your top coat.) When my topcoat was applied and had dried sufficiently, added a piece of Ripe Avocado twill across the box top center, bringing its ends down far enough to be covered by the Pure Poppy Grosgrain around the box top edge. I then added some buttons (Foof-a-La) and the red grosgrain band and faux bow. (I used a super sticky tape to attach all of the ribbon.)
For the medallion on the box front, I stamped one of the many beautiful sentiments in Dark Chocolate and Pure Poppy inks before die-cutting them with my Spellbinders Nestability Classic Ovals set and sponging a bit of Antique Linen Distress ink on the edges. The two tiny apples on either side of the sentiment oval are made from translucent shrink plastic; I stamped them in Staz-On Timber Brown, then carefully stamped the apple pattern in Versamagic Red Magic and Tea Leaves inks. This is the tricky part--try it having been warned: Versamagic can sit on shrink plastic for hours without ever drying. But if you can cut the image out without smearing it, you can almost always get it shrunk (and consequently heat-set) successfully. ;-D It is not made for stamping on plastic. Still, I love the look that I can get with it--colors that are still true rather than getting really dark as they shrink. You must keep your fingers away from the ink though, because you will smear it if you touch it before shrinking it. The medallion is sealed with several thin coats of Krylon Workable Fixative spray; the rest of the box is sealed with Royal Coat Decoupage Medium in a matte finish.
Having babbled for far too long about the box, I think I'll just show pictures of the card and box contents. The leaf pattern on the card background is from the Borders and Corners: Square set, and the sentiment is stamped on a Spellbinders tag die cut.
I had added the ribbon loops on the little notepad cover purely for decorative purposes before discovering that they were just the right size to slip a red pen into--don't you love happy accidents? I had intended to make a small set of coordinating notecards and envelopes for the teacher to send notes to parents as well, but I spent too much tome on the box to have time left to get to those.
So, can you see why I love this set? Think of how useful it could be for a mini scrapbook as well--having the students contribute a page, and having an adult volunteer put it all together beautifully, interspersing inspirational says throughout. . . Ahhhhh, the ideas!
If you haven't already seen Nichole's post today, it is a group post of the entire DT's ideas for using this set; if you ever see yourself needing a teacher gift, RUN check it out! Thanks for visiting.
P.S. Here are links to all of the other teacher sets--I was checking them out, and they are amazing and all different. Have fun!
Niki Estes, Nichole, Mish Wooderson, Melissa Phillips, Lisa Johnson, Lauren Meader, Heather Nichols, Geny Cassady, Dawn McVey, Betsy Veldman, Becky Oehlers
