Teacher Appreciation Week: Mini Photo Books How-to DIY

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week so I am sharing a couple of projects I made for Teacher gifts this year.  Our kids preschool runs on a college schedule so their last day was last week.  I made gifts for all the teachers and of course they were photo heavy.

I'm actually getting a little sad typing up this post because their teachers were so great and will be sorely missed.  Nandini's first school experience was amazing entirely due to the team of teachers she had, especially her beloved Mish Matalie.  Her first few days Nandini had such a hard time saying good-bye, she cried for at least twenty minutes on her first day.  But she quickly warmed up to her teacher, who is the gentlest soul and has looked forward to school more than anything else ever since.

If you are an avid scrapper like me then you probably have a pretty big stash to work from.  I started with a stack of patterned papers.  I tried to pull a lot of neutral papers with a few splashes of color. I then printed my pictures, two pictures of each child and a few group shots that I had.  Another great idea is to get each child to draw something on a project life card or tag and include it with the picture.  I wasn't able to coordinate that this year, but maybe in the future.

 I then pulled some embellishments.  A few packs of thickers.  Shipping tags for layering and consistency throughout the book.  I also grabbed some paper clips and sticky notes.  I added to this with some washi tape and project life filler cards.  Mostly from Mignight, Sunshine and Studio Calico kits.

 Here is how it came together.  I just love that quote card on the front page.  I think it is a great sentiment for a teacher.  It reads: Invest in the human family, invest in people, build a little community of those you love and who love you. 

Some of the interior pages here.  As you can see, I kept everything pretty simple but I love the end result.  I adhered the pages together and glued some muslin fabric to the outside to 'bind it' all together.  Initially I was worried about durability but Nandini looked through this book about a hundred times before I gave it to her teacher, so I think it will stand the test of time if need be.

 I made two more books for the student teachers in her class.  I started with this stack of gorgeous Jenni Bowlin papers.

 I grabbed some letter stickers. Everything was so easy to pull together because JBS stuff coordinates so well.

 I added in some stamps, more shipping tags and printed out a few sets of the digital school bingo cards.

I cut the paper to 6x12 and folded each page in half before adhering them together. Love how all the papers look together.

And there you have it!  Nandini's teacher actually started tearing up when she got this book. I was so nervous about not using a professional service but she really appreciated that it was handmade.