Framed Apple Specimen Art

I have a fun Teacher Gift Idea to share with you today that I originally shared last spring over at Tatertots and Jello! I wanted to think of something kind of different for the first day of school and something a teacher could enjoy for years to come. So I bypassed a food, drink, or plant idea and decided on a good old fashioned DIY project that is easy enough ANYONE can do it! No expensive tools needed…just some time and creativity! So I made this Framed Apple Specimen Art for a teacher’s classroom…

The idea is pretty simple and you just need a few things to create this project:

• Cut It Out frame
• Craft paint in red and green for apples and gray and white for frame
• 12 wooden apples from Michaels (29 cents each)
• hot glue
• gorilla glue (to glue frame together)
• paint brush
• Scrapbook paper for green apple and background

First, I painted this double layered 11×14 Balboa Frame that I got from Cut It Out. I painted the bottom layer white and the top layer gray and let them dry.

While the frames dried, I used a shiny silvery paper for the background of my frame and hot glued it onto the backing that came with the frame. Next…I picked up a dozen wooden apples for 29 cents apiece from Michael’s. Yes, I could have used a cutting machine to cut these out of paper, but I wanted to show everyone other options if you don’t have a Cricut or Silhouette to cut things. Plus, 29 cents isn’t bad!! I took 11 of my 12 wooden apples and painted them red with green stems. The one apple I had left I traced onto green scrapbook paper, cut out, and glued onto the apple, painting the stem green, as well.

Once all the apples were painted I just eyed them and glued them onto the open portion of the frame in rows. I used hot glue to adhere them to the scrapbook paper, keeping the green apple in the corner.

My message on my frame was “BE YOU-NIQUE” and my green polka dot apple was meant to represent that it stood out from all the others. I thought it was a fun message for Teacher’s Appreciation Day for both the teacher AND the student. I used scrapbooking letters from Michael’s to adhere the “BE YOU-NIQUE” to the frame, but if you have a cutting machine simple vinyl letters would work just fine too.

Finally, I used gorilla glue to glue the double layered frames together and let it cure overnight.

I think it turned out so fun and cute and I’d like to think that this is definitely a unique gift for a teacher that they can cherish for years to come. It’s something your children could personalize too with a teacher’s name on it or by painting the frame in school colors, etc.

Are you doing anything for your child’s teacher this year?