I am constantly amazed at how wonderful teachers are, at least the ones I know. Aubrey’s teacher are so patient and kind and I’ve never seem them without a huge smile on their faces. I adore her preschool and love how they engage the children with creative play, interactive experiments, gardening and cooking.
She had her end of the year program and I wanted to say “Thank you” one last time to her amazing teachers. They have helped her grow and learn so much this year and I wanted to make sure and express just how grateful we are, so I made a cute little gift.
I used clay pot from Hobby Lobby and painted the base black and the rim yellow.
I took my measuring tape and wrapped it around the rim and marked off the little measure lines.
Next, I painted the lines black and added the number to mark each inch. In hind site I would have used a skinny tip permanent marker, but I didn’t have one on hand and since I was finishing these up during nap time a few hours before they had to be delivered I just painted it (but the lines aren’t perfectly straight)
I bought $4 worth of red flowers at the garden center and divided them up and planted them in both pots. I gave them a little drink of water and crossed my fingers that they would at least live until the next day! 🙂 I do not have a green thumb.
I bought “Thank You” gift cards from Target. I attached those to skewers and stuck them down in the flowers.
I liked the way this looked, but it was still missing something so I got out my chalk and wrote a sweet message on the pot…Thank you for helping me grow.
There you have a practical, thoughtful and unique teacher gift for under $10.
I’m sharing this at the following linky parties:
http://todayscreativeblog.net/link-party/
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Maridith @ Strictly Homemade says
May 28, 2011 at 11:49 amThis is so cute!! What a great idea. I am going to do this for my daughter's teachers. Thank you for sharing.
Erin says
May 29, 2011 at 10:59 pmThis is adorable! What a great idea!
the cape on the corner says
May 31, 2011 at 8:01 pmgenius! i LOVE that!
Rachel at Sun Scholars says
June 1, 2011 at 3:31 pmPerfect! Those are so sweet! I'm going to have to add this to my Teacher Gift Inspirations. Thanks so much for sharing at For the Kids at Sun Scholars! I'm off to share this post with my Facebook friends.
I hope to have you back to link up again! Next party will be posted tomorrow night!
:)rachel
http://SunScholars.blogspot.com
Melanie @ bear rabbit bear says
August 9, 2011 at 8:13 pmLove this post and your blog! I'm your newest follower- I'd love if you'd stop by and follow, too!
I am having my first linky party on Thursday and would love for you to come link your awesome craft! It's a party only for kids and teens crafts, so this is perfect to share on Thursday for our first “Crafts for the Under Twenty-Something” linky party!
Thanks for sharing!
bearrabbitbear.blogspot.com
Mejia Mamma says
December 17, 2011 at 5:19 pmFound you through Pinterest…I cannot even handle the adorable level of these little pots – so excited to make some for my daughter's teachers. I'm contemplating doing it for Christmas gifts….but the end of year makes much more sense! Thx for the great idea!
Jackie says
January 21, 2012 at 2:26 amWe made these years ago for every teacher in the elementary school for Teacher Appreciation Day. However, we put filled in the hole in the bottom with hot glue and made them into pencil holders. Using flat black paint on the terracotta made them feel just like a chalkboard. Great to see this idea again!
Pretty Shabby UK says
February 9, 2012 at 10:18 amHi, What paint did you use to paint the pots please, I would love to give my mum on off the kids for mothers day. Dawn xx
Audrac says
April 23, 2012 at 4:52 pmHow sweet!! And I like the way the lines turned out – the fatter lines give it character. I might try making one with chalkboard paint….
TamaraTuggle says
April 26, 2012 at 8:46 pmI made these for my kids teachers this year and found that the chalk rubs off to easy so I painted the thank you on!! 😀 Also the pot I got had a hole in the bottom so I got a plate to go with it and painted it green and used it to put from the kids names!!! 😀 Thanks for the Idea!! 😀
safdar ali says
May 3, 2012 at 11:40 amwhat a great idea. thank you for sharing this idea of thank you.
Send gifts to Pakistan from Australia
Send gifts to Pakistan from Australia
Send gifts to Pakistan from Australia
Printabelle says
May 4, 2012 at 12:54 amLove this! I wanted to let you know that I featured you in my Teacher's Appreciation Gifts round up at: http://printabelle.com/?p=3096
If you would like a featured button, I have one here on my About page: http://printabelle.com/?page_id=724
Whitney & Dan says
May 4, 2012 at 4:25 pmI'm in the process of making 6 smaller versions like this for my daughter's teachers and coincidently my co-workers. I just need to get the little flowering plants to put in them. What a great project and much easier than I had anticipated. Will do again in the future with other themes and colors. (Great for Mother's Day too, with a gift card to her favorite restaurant to take Dad out for a date?) 🙂 Thanks for the idea!
GoodDinnerDiva says
May 4, 2012 at 4:27 pmI'm going to do this for my daughters day care lady for mothers day – who acts like a second mom and is the best – great idea and lots of bang for the buck – thanks!
Doreen says
May 7, 2012 at 8:52 pmHi Mariah,
Just clicked over from Itsy Bitsy Paper's linky party. I l.o.v.e. using terra cotta pots for soooo many projects and gifts. I volunteer in an ESL pre-K class where the teacher works tirelessly, with very little help from the children's parents. She does so much more than teach the students their alphabet. I decided to surprise the teacher with a hand-painted terra cotta pot with “flowers” that the students stamped their names on. I'll post it when done. I think I will use your measuring tape idea for the top of the pot. And I also like the larger lines….thanks for sharing!
http://altered-artworks.blogspot.com
Pamela says
May 10, 2012 at 8:25 pmWanted you to know I have a link to this project on my post today. Love, love the idea and can think of lots of ways to use it. You are just so creative!
Crissy says
May 11, 2012 at 9:16 pmwhat kind of paint did you use on the pots??
Mariah says
May 11, 2012 at 9:35 pmCrissy, I just used craft paint, you can find it at any craft store. Because it is a little glossy the chalk just wipes off easily, but you could also use chalkboard paint if you wanted.
Mama says
May 17, 2012 at 5:20 pmLove this idea! I did it for my two boys' teachers with stuff literally sitting in my house … just had to buy the giftcards. I used chalkboard paint because we have a can of it already.
Pinned it with a link to your post. Thanks again for sharing the idea! http://pinterest.com/pin/150729918748990481/
Tan says
May 24, 2012 at 3:20 amThx for this idea.I was able to do this paint this and will be able to get my 2nd grader son to pot this ASAP for him to give his teacher who's retiring on Friday 🙂
Darla says
May 28, 2012 at 7:13 pmGreat idea! I used chalkboard paint as that's what it looked like on Pinterest…(I didn't come to your site first 🙁 Anyways, that worked, but I tried also to just glue on a tape measure. Not the greatest idea as it's not sticking on uniformly. It's a great idea, very well described on your blog…thanks!
meredithdamama says
June 4, 2012 at 8:32 pmThanks for this wonderful idea! I'm working on making 7 of these for my preschoolers teachers. He even helped paint them!
pinkoddy says
July 17, 2012 at 9:07 pmThank you for this great idea. I have blogged that my son has made them this year and linked back here.
Littleboutiue Village says
August 12, 2012 at 4:38 pmWow, Fantastic Blog, it’s so helpful to me, and your blog is very good, I’ve learned a lot from your blog here, Keep on going, my friend; I will keep an eye on it,
unique gift ideas
JDaniel4's Mom says
August 25, 2012 at 10:15 pmI would love for you to link this post to my Back to School Traditions link up! It is awesome!http://www.jdaniel4smom.com/2012/08/back-to-school-tradtions-link-up.html
Rachel says
August 27, 2012 at 2:52 amLOVE IT!!! Found your blog through
JDaniels4mom's and am now following you, would you mind visiting my blog and following me too?:)
http://www.make-something-beautiful.com
JDaniel4's Mom says
August 27, 2012 at 6:37 pmThank you so much for sharing this idea on Back to School Traditions! I really love it.
maria says
January 18, 2013 at 11:12 amIt is a nice gift for teacher. Teacher also remember your gift.
Cindy deRosier says
May 9, 2013 at 6:11 pmI’m the Editorial Assistant for Fun Family Crafts and I wanted to let you know that we have featured your project! You can see it here:
http://funfamilycrafts.com/thanks-for-helping-me-grow-flowerpot/
If you have other kid friendly crafts, we’d love it if you would submit them. If you would like to display a featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above. Thanks for a wonderful project idea!
Rosey says
May 22, 2013 at 7:12 pmI saw this featured at Controlling Craziness and I came to take a look. This is most def. what we’ll be making for my son’s teacher this year. I’ve pinned it.
Christine says
June 17, 2013 at 12:09 pmI love this idea and you did such a great job of making it! Did you spray any type of fixative over the chalk so that it wouldn’t smudge?
Mariah says
June 17, 2013 at 1:44 pmThanks Christine, I didn’t spray it with anything because I wanted the teacher to be able to reuse and write anything on it as well. Just be careful when delivering it! 🙂
sue sacco says
June 21, 2013 at 7:32 pmWondering if you have to do anything to the pot on the inside or outside for sealing or priming? I read that you need to do something so that the water will not …oh goodness I can’t even remember. Something about how the paint changes the pot so you have to do something so that a plant will still grow properly in the pot. Thank you!
bernadette says
May 4, 2014 at 5:35 pmlove this idea! but can’t print it out the Thank you for helping me grow!’ . could you send it to me e-mail? thanks
Mariah says
May 5, 2014 at 4:13 amThank you Bernadette! I sent you the email with the printable file, please let me know if you have any trouble with it.
maura says
May 10, 2014 at 1:23 amLove the idea and so easy to make! Instead of putting a plant in it I am going to let my daughter color flowers and attach to stems so it isn’t just something mommy made
KC says
June 5, 2015 at 10:15 amdid you do anything to seal the terra cotta pot?
I winged this myself from just doing a Google image search, so I didn’t follow step by step. It turned out super cute, but I had big issues with the yellow paint getting tacky (long after it had dried) when I tried watering the flower.
I am redoing it now, trying to use a sealer first on some new pots.
Mariah says
June 6, 2015 at 11:23 pmHi! I did use an acrylic sealer after I painted the yellow paint and made the ruler marks. I used yellow acrylic craft paint, but I haven’t had any issues with any of the ones I’ve created for our teachers. Some other reasons the paint may get tacky is if you painted multiple coats and they didn’t have time to adequately dry in between coats. Hopefully your new version will be much better. 🙂
KC says
June 5, 2015 at 10:17 amTo edit- I used register yellow acrylic and then actual chalkboard paint. The chalkboard paint didn’t have near the issues.
Lisa says
April 25, 2017 at 7:20 amToo cute!
Carole @ From My Carolina Home says
April 27, 2017 at 7:09 pmThat is just so cute, and clever!!!
Mariah says
May 2, 2017 at 2:22 pmThank you Carole, it is one of my all time favorite projects!
Michelle James says
April 28, 2017 at 1:17 pmHi Mariah! Just wanted to let you know that we loved your Thank You Flower Pot so much when you shared it at #HomeMattersParty last week, we’ve FEATURED it THIS WEEK! Hope you can check it out when you get a chance. http://ourcraftymom.com/home-matters-linky-party-133/
Kristi Wheeler says
May 4, 2017 at 11:58 amThis is such a cute idea. I just love the red flowers. Any teacher would love this as a gift!
Mariah says
May 5, 2017 at 12:42 amThank you, it’s one of our favorite gifts to give!