Back to School Time!

I decided last month that instead of buying everything for my classroom, this year I would make some of it.  I loved the idea, but making it happen... that was a bit harder than I thought it might be. 

I have the Foxy Friends photopolymer set, as well as the Fox Builder punch (both retired), and decided that would be a great idea to use for my class this year.  I try and come up with a theme each year for the locker tags etc so that I have a fresh new look for myself as much as for the kids.

My search online was pretty easy, and I found a whole bunch of animals that I could make using this one basic punch, with the addition of a scalloped circle for one of the animals.  I set out to make them.

I punched out the colours that I needed to make multiples of each animal.  I did one at a time or I would have had a pile of colours to sort through.  You can see the process in the picture - punch, assemble, glue.  I added noses, eyes, sometimes with a stamp, some with paper, and some with marker.

When they were all done, I needed a background.  The Seaside embossing folder looked like it would work for grass, and the Woodland Textured was perfect for the forest.  I punched out the backgrounds, and some small tags, and glued them up.  After all of that, I added some bookmarks to round out the set, this time just using the masking technique and stamping a picture on one side.  I had to cover up the mess I made on the back, so I added some retired DSP patterned paper on the back.  Voila!  I am pretty proud of this one. It took a lot of finicky assembling, and time to figure it all out, but I really think it was worth it.

 If you would like me to make some bookmarks for you, I would love to.  Large quantities or small, they would make great stocking stuffers!  Drop a comment or send me a message if you would like.