10 Weeks of Christmas -- Week One.. Teacher Gifts

Beth and I thought it would be fun to do a Christmas countdown, mainly because moms don't have enough important things to worry about and isn't it fun to add one more?  Because I know now you are totally stressed that you only have 10 weeks until Christmas.  You can thank me later....just doing my part! :)

Anyway, we decided to pick a theme for each week, with a few other topics thrown in along the way.  This week we are featuring some ideas for teacher gifts.  I already featured some "back to school" teacher gifts, so look back at those too for more ideas.

Today I am showing you a gift I've made for the past 4 years.  It's easy, inexpensive, and it's been very popular with the teachers.  Teachers get so many candles, soaps, books, etc., and they appreciate them all, but as one teacher told me "It's so nice to get something different."

My gift is a customized Christmas CD.  I will give you the basic steps as to how I made it, and I'll also share my cover below in case you want to print it and use it.  In photoshop (love, love, love photoshop) I created a new document that was 5 inches by 5 inches.  I made a plain black background, and then downloaded a free chevron pattern from brusheezy.com.  That made my background, and then I added a vintage Santa picture from the graphics fairy.  On the inside of the cover, I listed all the songs and artists.  I also added the teachers name, my son's name, and the year.  To make the actual CD, I used itunes.  For the CD label, I used LabelCreator Pro, software that I bought at Staples years ago.  I used my same paper that I made in photoshop and just added a red stripe with "Merry Christmas".  Then I printed it off onto the CD labels that were part of the kit I bought at Staples.  I printed the CD insert on photo paper at Costco (each one as a 5x7) and then double taped the 2 sides together.  I had to trim to fit the case first though.  I have also printed on white cardstock before using my printer but I think the Costco option is alot cheaper since colored ink is so expensive.  Then I just put it all together and tie a ribbon around it.  In this picture,  I don't have the cd label adhered to the cd because I haven't yet made the actual music cd.  That's why you can see the jagged edges of the backing paper in the center.

I'll put this cd in a little gift basket with some other items for a fun family night.  This teacher has 2 young boys, so I'm planning on including a homemade hot chocolate mix, a cookie decorating kit with some sugar cookie dough, and the cd.

Of course, this gift would be great for anyone -- neighbors, grandparents, friends, etc.  Here are the front cover I made and the inside cover, without any words on it.  And also the cd label. Print the first two as 5x7s. If you are unable to use this in photoshop or a similar program, you could just handwrite the songs in.  And these will need to be trimmed to fit your cover after you print them.
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