Teacher Appreciation week is long over in our neck of the woods...and I didn't get a chance to post this. Things just got too crazy at my house.

However, this is such an easy and inexpensive DIY that I wanted to share it anyway. There are lots of people out there (Sunday School teachers, music teachers, coaches, babysitters) who would appreciate a personalized gift like this.
Make a few and get a jump start on next year's teachers gifts!

I saw this crafty DIY on the blog eighteen25 and decided to make these painted photo bottles for Little Diy's teacher. Her favorite colors happen to be black, lime green and pink so those are the colors we chose.

This post contains some affiliate links; I only recommend products that I love! Thanks for supporting our little blog.

Here are a few TIPS that I learned from making them myself:

• they take a lot more paint than you think they will
• after squirting the paint into the bottle, the easiest way to get it to coat the bottle is to hold it by the handle and tap the other end against your hand, turning the bottle around to move the paint
• be patient and keep tapping and turning...you will get it all coated! each of my bottles had a 'tricky spot' but eventually I got them all completely coated.
• you will be amazed at the amount of paint that will come out once you turn them upside down; just keep moving them around to a clean spot on your scrap paper as they dry

Supplies needed:

I remembered to take pictures of the process:


After the big blobs of paint were no longer coming out of the bottles, we turned them right side up and let them dry overnight. The final result is a glossy brightly colored bottle that is SO cute!

The corks went back in and using a sharp knife, I made a slit in each cork to hold a jumbo paper clip. No glue was necessary. I just pushed each paperclip into the slit as far as it would comfortably go.





I ler Little Diy have a big hand in creating the cards to sit in the paperclip holders. We created all of them together in PicMonkey.

One of the cards is a picture of her reading a book with the caption 'You Make Learning Fun'. Another says 'You Are Awesome' and has an apple, a pencil and pair of scissors. The last one has her teacher's name, a great big smiley face with 'You're the best teacher ever!'



Because I had to do most of the project myself up to this point, I really wanted to be hands-off and let Little Diy be creative with the cards.

I'll be honest...as a control-freak, I had a hard time sitting back and letting her do her thing. She did need a little guidance, but I let her choose the fonts and the colors and where to put the icons and she did a great job! We printed them onto heavy white cardstock, cut them out and inserted them into the paperclips.

I love how this easy teacher craft is completely personalized, yet it can be easily switched out as well to hold other pictures or cards.

Little Diy was so proud to give this special gift to her teacher on Teacher Appreciation Day.


I know there is someone in your life who would love this gift! It's easy and inexpensive idea and can be personalized for anyone! How about a photo holder for Father's Day that's just around the corner? Or make a few for the grandparents in your lives - with pictures of their grandchildren of course!



bringing beauty to the ordinary,