It's Teacher Appreciation Week May 5-9

If you have a child in school you are probably well aware that it is Teacher Appreciation Week and whether you love your kid's teacher (or not) you may be asked to help your child write a personal note about how much they appreciate them. Well, Sunday night at 10:00 pm (of course at the last minute) my 11 year old son had to write such a note and we needed a quick, creative solution! I'm sure this has never happened to you! I put on my creative thinking cap and came up with an idea that I think was totally cool and I wanted to share it with you! Well, I'm sure it's been done before but I can take some credit can't I?

Do you have any of your child's awesome artwork laying about and you're not sure what to do with it? Well, my suggestion is that you turn it into notecards! These could even be printed up and given to grandmother on Mother's Day! How's that for original thinking!

Here's are some general directions (specifics depend on your photo-editing software ):

1. Take a photo of the artwork or if it's small enough scan it.

This is the hardest part especially the picture taking. Make sure you lay it on a flat surface with plenty of natural light. Don't use a flash! If you have a text setting on your camera this will make sure it is sharp.

2. Fix the photo in a photo editing program so it's perfect and then crop around the artwork. (I use Adobe Photoshop Elements and it works wonders). Change the image size to approx. 5" X 4". The 5 inches is more important than the height, just keep the proportions right.

3. Create a document the size of a card 5.5" X 8.5" which is half a piece of cardstock (also called statement for printer paper settings). Copy and paste your image onto the document.

4. Cut your cardstock sheet in half to be 5.5" X 8.5". Print the card: It is very important to set your printer to cardstock paper and high quality.

5. Have your child write a small note, attach a school picture and you're done!

Voila! Their teacher will be so impressed! You could also make a variety of cards to give grandparents to use as thank you cards. They will be so proud to show off her grandchildren's talents for sure!