A Gnome Wreath - Teacher Appreciation Week

TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK 2013— It's serious business people! We have a "Teacher Appreciation Week" Committee appointed by our school's PTA. And every year, this committee recruits parents to volunteer to decorate classroom doors for all the teachers. This year is no different for me. I've been decorating doors for ohhhhh... six years now. And even though my time is very limited now that I'm a working mom, I still love the challenge of coming up with new and creative ways to show how much we appreciate our teachers. This year's theme was, "Thanks for Helping Our Kids Grow". I wanted to do something different than the old banner on the door thing. And this year, I wanted to get the students involved as well. So, I came up with a Gnome wreath. 

WHERE'D YOU GET THAT IDEA? The first question people inevitably ask me is, "Did you get that idea from Pinterest?" Yeah (duh!), doesn't everybody these days? Pinterest is chalk full of great ideas and inspiration. The key is to make it your own! Thanks to Sharon from Crafts n' Coffee for sharing her adorable moss rock wreath— my inspiration for this year's Teacher Appreciation Door Decoration!

HOW'D YOU DO THAT? The moss rocks were amazing that Sharon used for her wreath, but I didn't have time to order them online, so I bought Sheet Moss from the Craft Store instead, cut it into strips and wrapped it around a styrofoam wreath (with a glue gun). The needle felted mushrooms were fun and super easy to make. Here's the link to Sharon's "How To". Then I added some small creek rocks and a rope ladder where all the Gnomes would hang. The paper banner was the final touch. I secured that into the wreath with wooden skewers on each side strategically covered by red striped paper straws.

GETTING THE KIDS INVOLVED— I wanted the students to make something for their teacher, so I searched Pinterest again— this time for Gnomes. I had to keep it simple because I would be working with second graders. And viola! I found the perfect gnome...errrr.... elf:) Nix the scarf and add a fuzzy beard and we've got ourselves a cute little bunch of Garden Gnomes! The kids loved making them and couldn't wait to show their teacher. 

Thanks to all you teachers out there! We truly appreciate all you do for our kids:)

There's Gnome-body better than our teachers!

Happily sharing this post with: Making the World Cuter, Skip to My Lou, Creating My Way to Success, and Mad in Crafts.