Gift Factory

Monogrammed Stationery

Karen — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:07:15 +0000

Monogrammed stationery makes a nice gift for friends and co-workers. By making it yourself, it costs less and you don’t have to wait for a printing company to print & ship them.

To make monogrammed stationery, you will need to buy sheets of scrapbook paper with a print and coordinating solid color scrapbook paper. Make sure the printed paper has a small print, such as small dots, small stripes, small floral design, or small swirl design. A large design will not show as much once the letter is cut out.

First, decide what kind of envelopes you will use. You can use any size or shape. I bought a box of invitation envelopes from an office supply store. Next, cut your solid color scrapbook paper with a paper cutter, sized to fit your envelopes. Since I used invitation size envelopes, I cut my scrap book paper in half & it made two cards. After you cut the paper, fold the cards.

Then use MS Word (or other word processing program) to print out the letter for monogram. Choose a font that’s a bit “fat”. These fonts work well: Times New Roman, Century Schoolbook, Chubble, Garamond Premr Pro Smbd, Georgia, Goudy Stout. Type in your letter, highlight it, and change the size to fit your cards. With the letter highlighted, click Format, Font, and under “Effects”, check the box that says Outline and hit OK. Print out your letter on regular white printer paper. Lay the letter over your designed scrapbook paper and cut it out. (For my cards, I used Georgia and Cubble fonts at 400.)

Then, just cover the back of the letter with a glue stick and stick it onto the front of the card. Stack a set of the monogrammed cards (in a stack of 5 or 10 or however many you choose) with the envelopes and tie the stack with raffia or ribbon.

Custom Gift Tag Labels

Karen — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:23:40 +0000

I came across a site called Tiny Prints which is a company that makes personalized stationery. I thought these custom gift tag labels would make a great gift for a co-worker or friend. Have them printed in a Christmas-themed print with their name (e.g. “The Jones Family”). These would come in handy during the Christmas season.

Or better yet, if you know how to add text to images using PhotoShop, you could make your own rather than buy them. You may be able to find free images on the web, but you’re best bet is probably to purchase a better quality image through an image stock company, such as iStockphoto or Big Stock Photo. Here is an example of gift tags I made using PhotoShop and an image from Big Stock Photo. I printed them on card stock paper at “Best” printing quality.

Christmas Mug

Karen — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:44:40 +0000

Most teachers will tell you they don’t want another mug. For me, that’s true for the most part, but I love these clear glass mugs from Pier1. I gave these to my teacher co-workers one year for gifts. Inside each mug, I put two packets of hot chocolate and some Dove chocolate candies, and tied a red bow to the handle.

Chocolate Bar Wrapper

Karen — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:10:41 +0000

This was a small gift I put together for my class to give our classroom janitor. She loves chocolate, so I bought two large Cadbury’s chocolate bars.

Stack the bars and cut a sheet of scrapbook paper to the width of the bars.

Wrap the scrapbook paper around the bars and tape.

I added a tag by taping a small piece of scrapbook paper to the front.

I chose Christmas print scrapbook paper for a Christmas gift, but you could use any print paper for any occasion.

English Crackers for Kids

Karen — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:35:59 +0000

I made these English crackers for the students in my class. (I also gave them a book.) This is the simple way to make English crackers. If you want to make them the fancy way, see this site. I purchased some stickers at the school supply store, a variety of candy, and a small toy (party section of Walmart).

Take a paper towel tube and cut it in half.
Stuff the “goodies” (whatever you chose to purchase) into the tube.
Cut a piece of wrapping paper to size, wrap it around the tube, and tape.
Pinch the ends with your fingers, and either wrap tape or ribbon around the ends.

I made these for Christmas, but these could be used for any holiday or occasion.