Easy gift for a teacher

If you're like me, you're doing back-to-school shopping. One of my favorite of all school supplies is wooden pencils. I've always liked Dixon Ticonderoga pencils the best. Is it weird to have a favorite pencil?

As I'm hitting the back-to-school sales, I try to pick up some extra items while they're cheap. Even though my own kids are too big to need crayons, I buy some boxes of Crayolas. These are great to add to Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.

I also purchase supplies for making this fun teacher gift:

Supplies: inexpensive vase with straight sides, pencils, rubber band, ribbon

Tools: glue gun

(Note: I bought a vase for $1 at Wal-Mart as well as some cheap pencils. You can use very cheap pencils because they don't have to write well--they're just for looks. So these don't have be Dixon Ticonderogas. My vase required 22 pencils to cover the entire outside.)

Simply apply hot glue to sides of vase and glue pencils all the way around the vase.

You've got a perfect vase for a teacher's desk.

Encircle the vase with a rubber band (just to keep things nice and steady) and cover with a bit of ribbon. Add some grocery-store flowers and you're done!

Easy as pie, quick to put together, inexpensive. But much appreciated by a hard-working teacher.

--Linking to Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge

and The Back-to-School Challenge at The CSI Project