It’s the end of the school year and time for teacher gifts! These cards are super easy to make, even if you’re not too artistic.
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This has been the craziest school year for us! We started a new elementary school last fall, switching from private to public school, so we have had a lot of new changes. And, of course, there is the whole coronavirus going on, but even prior to that, our area of Tennessee was hit with serious tornado damage the first week of March. Our school was cancelled for a week due to the storm, then we had a week of spring break, then… coronavirus. We haven’t been in school since March 2nd!
But even though we haven’t been in school, our teachers have been AMAZING! By the Tuesday after spring break, all of my boys’ teachers were in contact with parents coming up with activities to keep the kids busy, and scheduling activities on Google Classroom and starting regular Zoom meetings by the 2nd week after spring break. Honestly, we could NOT have handled this schooling from home without them. They really have gone above and beyond!
So, obviously, we still want to let them know how thankful we are to them with end of the year teacher gifts! Luckily we get to go by the school soon to pick up items that got left behind (safely, by staying in our vehicle and having our items brought to us) and will be able to see our teachers one last time so we can give them their gifts, including these bright and colorful watercolor cards. And a free cut file for you!
To make these cards you will need watercolor paper, watercolors, and adhesive vinyl. And, trust me, you do NOT have to be artistic to make these!
I have an inexpensive watercolor pad from Target, but it is similar to this one. The watercolors I use are an inexpensive Crayola set. And my adhesive vinyl is black Oracal 651 from Expressions Vinyl so it will pop off the bright watercolors.
I am no good at watercolors. I love the idea of them, but I am a total amateur. I did the one floral sheet (these are cut into 4.5 x 7.5″ sheets) and it took forever and is so imperfect so the rest are just rainbows of color, which were much quicker to create. The key to the rainbows of color is lots of water on your brush to blend the colors together. I made these a day ahead so they would be dry when I was ready to apply the vinyl to them.
You could even have your child do all the painting!
We have 5 teachers between 2 kids, so I created 3 total cut file phrases, and used two of them twice.
You can download the free Teacher Quote PNG and Teacher Quote SVG files to use for personal use.
You will also need some transfer tape. I prefer the gridlined tape when I can get my hands on it. It make lining up text SO much easier!
Place a trimmed down piece of transfer tape over your vinyl text. Smooth it out to “capture” vinyl. Slowly peel up and line up on watercolor paper.
Use an application tool to smooth the vinyl onto the paper. Slowly peel up the transfer paper, leaving the vinyl behind on the watercolor paper.
All three phrases! I love how they turned out. And I love how the black text pops off of the colorful watercolor background.
I had my kiddos write sweet notes to to their teachers on the back of the cards. I think they make a fun keepsake for teachers, and have a sweet student’s note on the back. We’re going to pair these with a couple of other goodies and wrap them up pretty. Our boys are excited to see their teachers in person again and give them their gifts!
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