Teacher Thank You Gift Pockets

A neighbor of mine is getting ready to send her kids back to school and asked me for some ideas for small teacher gifts that she could hand out.  She has her hands full this time of year (and I could use the practice for back-to-school time anyway), so I offered to make a few gift pouches for her.  It also gave me a chance to play with some new goodies I had on hand – the new “Owl Nerds” stamp set from Pink & Main being released tomorrow and the We R Memory Keepers Fuse Tool.

Side Note: I purchased my Fuse Tool a while ago from HSN and had not had a chance to use it until now.  If you want just the tool itself, you can find it in a lot of online stores…but I wanted to play with all of the accessories too (extra tips, fusible diecuts), so the bundle from HSN was the best deal for me.  Stay tuned for more projects with the Fuse as I find time to play with it more!

I have seen a lot of great projects with the Fuse lately, but I was curious to see if I could use my CAMEO to create shaped pockets…and it turned out to be simpler than I thought!  You will want to choose a simple shape like the apple above though…the CAMEO can cut an intricate shape, but I’m not sure you’ll want to have to fuse all of those intricate cuts later.

I started by opening this apple shape up onto my workspace.  Since I would be cutting both an apple to assemble as an insert and a template and pocket as well, I needed to create a copy of design.  To do this, simply select all of the pieces in the design, and then press Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V (on a PC).

Next, I welded one copy of the design to yield an apple shape “background”.  Select all of your pieces (arrow 1), open the Weld Menu (arrow 2), and click on Weld (arrow 3).

The welded shape would serve as the background of my apple insert, but I would need to make a larger apple for a template to “fuse around” and an even larger shape for my pocket.  Select your welded design (arrow 1), open the Offset Window (arrow 2), click on Offset (arrow 3) (I chose an offset of 1/8 inch), and click Apply (arrow 4).  Repeat these same steps one more time using the new offset design as your starting point.

You will end up with three apple shapes:

• Black – this will serve as your insert and I cut this out of red cardstock to create my apple background.
• Blue – this will serve as a template to use with your Fuse Tool and I cut this twice out of Silhouette Chipboard.
• Red – this will serve as your pocket and you will cut your disassembled page protector or other plastic materials using this design.

To assemble each pocket you will need the following:

• Apple insert pieces – cut from colored cardstock as shown.  Mine were inked around the edges with coordinating Distress Ink colors (Fired Brick, Mowed Lawn, and Walnut Stain) for a more finished look.
• Template for fusing – cut twice from Silhouette Chipboard and glued together for thickness.
• Two apple pocket pieces – I cut mine from a disassembled 12×12 page protector (i.e. cut a single side of the page protector at a time) using the settings in the Studio software for Clear Sticker Paper.

I also stamped out my images from the “Owl Nerds” set by Pink & Main onto some Copic X-press Blending Card and colored them with Copic markers.  The sentiments are from the same set and are heat-embossed in white onto little flags cut from scrap black cardstock using a die from Lil’ Inker Designs.  If you aren’t a stamper, you’re in luck!  These designs are also available in the Silhouette Design Store as cut files: Owl with Globe, Owl with Pencil, and Nerdy Owl.

After assembling my apple insert (adhere the stem, leaf, and images to the red background), I sandwiched it between two of the apple shapes cut from my page protector and placed this on my heat-resistant Fuse mat.

Then I carefully placed my chipboard template over top and centered it to leave an even border of plastic all the way around.

Next, I ran my Fuse Tool around the apple, moving slowly and steadily and pressing the tool up against the template to ensure an even border on my pocket.  Don’t forget to leave a small opening to insert your gift!

I fused all of the sides and left just the area around the leaf and stem open to fill my pockets.

This pocket was filled with colorful paperclips.  If you plan to fill your pockets with larger or thicker items, you will need to cut your pocket pieces a bit larger to compensate.

Once sealed up, they make the perfect little gifts that won’t spill (until the teacher needs some supplies and they cut the pocket open!).

This stamp set from Pink & Main has plenty of cute images for all different kinds of teachers and even coaches.

But you can always use this idea to give gifts to some of your computer geek friends too (trust me, in my field, I have plenty of those!).

I hope this project gives you some new and unique gift ideas for back-to-school time.  And if you have a CAMEO and the Fuse, there are millions of cute ways to use these two tools together – shower favors, Halloween treat pockets, or even shaped pockets for scrapbooking?

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear your comments!