A Crafty Gift for Teacher

It's that time of year again ... another academic year's coming to a close, so it's time to think about teacher/coach/instructor gifts. It may come as a surprise to some, but most homeschoolers also take classes - and therefore have teachers! - outside of the home. My kids have all taken outside classes - here and there, now and then - so we too have teachers to thank at the end of the year.

Anyhoo ... today we worked on a craft for the older boys' art teacher. Mrs. James teaches art at their tutorial center and she is just the nicest woman. AND she's a wonderful teacher! I'm planning to bake cookies for her later this week, but the boys wanted to make something for her, too.

And so, after much discussion and brainstorming, we came up with a handmade planter pot. It was a very easy and quick craft, so I thought I'd share it with you all.

:)

So we settled ourselves on the deck on this LOVELY afternoon and set to work ...

Last week I bought plain terra cotta pots (at Michaels, $1 apiece) and a bag of tiny craft seashells (approximately, $2). The rest of the supplies we had on hand - paints, brushes and glue. We also bought a flower plant this morning at the farm.

Crackerjack and Earlybird set right to work ... both of them LOVE to paint!

Here are the flowers we chose, because they remind us of Mrs. James - sweet "Marguerite" daisies in a shade of vibrant yellow. :)

Crackerjack worked on the base coat of his pot ...

And then he added a pattern. He tried to use colors that would compliment the seashells.

Earlybird gets very absorbed by the "paint" aspect of any craft. He really loves to mix and play with colors.

That's Bill in the background, planting the herbs we picked up today at the farm: sage, English thyme, rosemary, basil, mint, etc. I think this is the fastest turnaround we've ever had - usually our plants linger (and wither) a good week or so before we get them planted.

After Bookworm had trouble getting the seashells to stick (his portion of the project) the boys roped Dad into helping ...

The trick seemed to be applying a good dose of glue (we used Mod Podge) and then sort of smooshing the shells into the glue.

Once the pot was dry, we planted the daisies.

And here's Earlybird's pot ...

(When I asked him who he made his pot for, he replied, "You!" And apparently we need to find "pink" flowers for this pot. ❤)

The final project:

A whole family collaboration!

:)

Well, my friends ... I hope you all had a nice weekend. Ours was very nice ... busy yesterday with soccer and house stuff ... then today started early with Mass followed by an RV ride up north to a favorite farm. We were home by lunchtime though - armed with herb plants and cider donuts - not bad!

I'm sorry I did not have time to catch up with comments this weekend, but I will do so just as soon as I can. I truly appreciate your time and thoughts, and as always, your support. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing in our day ... 

I will see you all again very soon!