Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Keep Calm and . . . Go Back to Class?

My sweet, beautiful, oh-so-crafty Momma made me some gorgeous custom hall passes when I started teaching.  Since then, my name changed-- and the hall passes went to the bathroom 586,241,198.2 times.  They were pretty gross, so I threw them out and started over.  I am nowhere near as talented as Mom, but I wanted to make my own this time, and I wanted them to be super fun.  So I made a little trip to Michaels (armed with my school ID for that awesome teacher discount) and got started-- here's how I did it:


1. I bought a 2-pack of "craft wood" pieces, some Mod Podge, and a pretty piece of polka-dotted scrapbook paper.


2. I created my "Keep Calm and Go Back To Class" design using My Memories Suite, a software program designed for digital scrapbooking.  (I use it more frequently these days for making fun classroom posters and blog images.)  In hindsight, I could have just as easily done my design on Microsoft Word, because it's so simple.



3. After checking my measurements on the wood blocks, I printed my design (2 on a page) onto the scrapbook paper in the right dimensions and trimmed off the excess.

4. I applied a thin coat of Mod Podge to one side of each piece of wood, and stuck the papers on.  When I had them where I wanted them, I applied another coat of Mod Podge (fairly thick this time) over the paper.



5. I let the Mod Podge completely dry, then applied another coat.  (Repeat this step 2-3 times.)

6. To keep the hall passes from feeling sticky, I sprayed each one with a generous coat of clear varnish twice, letting it dry completely between coats.



Now I've got two adorable hall passes-- and I love the trendy reminder to hurry back to class!   

Click below to grab the materials I used.




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