This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut. All opinions are 100% mine.
As a former teacher, there are still some special times of the year for me — back to school and the end of the school year/teacher appreciation. They were always times of memory-making for me and I like putting together gifts for my children’s teachers these days! This year I have been making a teacher survival kit for each of the teachers.
I did this at the beginning of the school year and now I’m working on a kit for the end of the year. The great thing about making an end of the year survival kit for teachers is that you can personalize it with ease!
Check out how Target and my new Cricut Joy helped me put together some easy survival kit goody bags (or in my case — goody boxes) as we wrap up the school year. We might be finishing the year in a different way than usual but we appreciate our teachers so much!
MAKE A CUSTOM TEACHER SURVIVAL KIT
At the beginning of the school year, I found some great plastic bins at Target and snagged a few to create a back to school survival kit for teachers to take with us to Meet the Teacher.
The great thing about making a teacher survival kit is that you can make them with different themes in mind.
In the past, I’ve used my teacher survival kit list to create a kit that had everything a teacher might need to take care of themself in the classroom. I always kept one in my cabinet in my classroom so I had lotion, deodorant, a toothbrush, lip balm, and more. It was the way I made sure I had those little basics I needed from time to time.
This year, I put together a box full of basic school supplies for our teachers that would be helpful for them and handling things like grading and notes home. It included sticky notes, stickers, some goodies for the treasure box, good scissors, and more! On top, we included a Target gift card so the teachers could stock up on more of what they needed or so they could just go shopping for themselves.
That teacher box inspired my end of the year teacher appreciation gifts this year. It was so easy to make and now that I have my new Cricut Joy, it was easy to customize a box for each teacher to match their personality.
CRICUT TEACHER GIFTS
Cricut ideas for teachers are great because they make it easy to customize almost anything for your favorite teacher! You can do supply boxes, clipboards, mugs, and a lot more!
If you’re familiar with Cricut, then you might be thinking about the Cricut Explore Air 2. It’s an incredible machine, but I was thrilled to have the chance to add the Cricut Joy to my crafting collection. In addition to the easy crafts I do here at The Simple Parent, I also do bullet journaling at my other site, The Petite Planner, and I cannot wait to use the Joy to create stickers for my journal!
But for now, I’ve been hard at work at fun teacher survival kits for teacher appreciation and end of the school year gifts.
USING CRICUT JOY TO PERSONALIZE TEACHER GIFTS
The great thing about the Cricut Joy is that it doesn’t take up very much space and packs away easily. It’s also so easy to set up.
The set up is so simple that I was honestly shocked. Once I plugged Cricut Joy in, the app on my phone helped me walk through the set up process and just a few minutes later, I was ready to go!
I also connected my computer to the Cricut Joy with ease so I can use DesignSpace on my phone and on my computer. With Bluetooth, I was connected so quickly!
The machine can cut over 50 materials and is compatible with Cricut Smart Materials which means there’s no need for a cutting mat. When you’re doing simple customization projects, this makes the process so simple! You can use one of the ready-to-make projects online or join Cricut Access™ for more easy project ideas.
If you want to go even more customize, you can use Design Space to create your own design or upload a design you had previously.
I have a lot of designs I’ve collected over the years, so I often find myself uploading an image and turning it into a cut file. With Cricut Joy and Design Space, I did this and was ready to cut in minutes!
If you’re looking for more fun graphics to use for your projects, I also highly recommend the artists at Creative Market. I’ve gotten so many great ideas. Although my Chaos Coordinator graphic is not from this specific set, I love the Life in Chaos SVG Bundle. It has a cute Chaos Coordinator graphic and others that would be great for busy teachers.
TEACHER SURVIVAL KIT MATERIALS
If you’re just getting started with your Cricut Joy, the machine comes with materials to do some practice cuts. Once you’re ready, Design Space makes it easy to send your design to the machine. The Joy will help ensure that you have a long enough piece of material and that your design will fit the size limits.
In three basic steps, you’ll have your project done!
- Choose your project and customize it, if needed. Or upload your own image and turn it into a print or cut file.
- Load your material and Cricut Joy will cut or write for you.
- Then put it all together.
SHOP THE PROJECT
For our teacher survival kit box, I used the following materials:
- Cricut Joy
- Cricut Joy Starter Tool Set
- White Cricut Joy Smart Vinyl – Permanent – Shop Amazon or Shop Cricut.com
- Cricut Joy Transfer Tape
- Plastic bins with lids
I got my bins at Target and fell in love with the bright colors and the size of them. But you could use any plastic bins, supply boxes, etc.
You can customize them on the top or on the side as long as you have a flat surface to put your vinyl on. I usually look for a bin or box that is big enough for all of the goodies that I want to include in it.
For this end of the year survival kit for teachers, I wanted to put together a collection of some of my favorite things from when I was a teacher. This includes the best pens ever (all teachers seem to love them), my favorite scissors, and another gift card to Target (which happens to be one of my favorite stores).
This gift box is more focused on some of our favorite things for our favorite teachers as a way to say thank you! You can include a collection of your teacher’s favorite things to make this easy teacher appreciation gift!
HOW TO CUSTOMIZE WITH CRICUT JOY
To create your own teacher survival kit, you need to find the box you plan to use for the kit. The size of the box will determine the size of the design you use.
In Design Space it’s easy to resize designs to make sure they fit your box. Design Space will also make sure that your design is the right size to be made using Cricut Joy. No worry about making mistakes!
Once you’ve made your cut, pull the vinyl off the backing so you have your lettering left. Then use the Cricut Weeder to pull out any extra bits and pieces of vinyl from your design.
Cut a piece of Cricut Transfer Tape that is big enough to cover your design. Peel off the backing and place it on top of the vinyl.
You want to make sure all of your vinyl is covered.
Using the Cricut Scraper, work the transfer tape onto the design. You want to smooth it down so it sticks to all of it, especially the edges of the letters!
Once you have the Transfer Tape on your design, you should be able to lift it from the backing and you will be ready to apply it to your school box or plastic bin!
Place your design where you want to apply it on your bin. Then use the Cricut Scraper to smooth down the entire design. Be sure to pay attention to the edges of the letters to make sure they stick.
Then peel the Transfer Tape off, leaving your lettering on your box!
With Cricut Joy, it’s really that easy to add a bit of personalization to your teacher appreciation gift!
After I finished the lettering, we filled the box with some of the things we know our teachers love! So they can enjoy some of their favorite goodies, do some shopping (I always include a gift card), and they have a plastic storage box they can use again and again!
So if you’re like me and you LOVE personalized gifts or even love things with cute sayings on them, the Cricut Joy is making it easy for even the most basic crafters to have fun!
When I’m crafting, I need things to be easy to do! Cricut Joy really couldn’t have been easier and I already have a list of other projects I want to make.
If you’re ready to get started, now is a perfect time! Check out Cricut and get everything you need to make your own end of the school year teacher gifts!
SHOP CRICUT NOW and then let me know how your project turns out!
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