Fun & unique gift idea for teacher, family or friend!

School year end was fast approaching and my daughter, M (9 years old) and I wanted to make something different and special for her teacher who was retiring after over 30 years of teaching.

We had seen on different websites different word clouds, where a bunch of words are repeated and form a shape.  After a bit of online searching, I came upon the website Tagxedo (http://www.tagxedo.com/). After a few trial and errors, I managed to create exactly what we were looking for!

Once we found the format, layout & colors that M was happy we with, I saved it.  I then went onto the Pic Monkey website (http://www.picmonkey.com/) where I was able to customize it with the school name and school year & saved a new version.

We had d it printed at Costco (cheapest price for 8x10 even without a sale), bought a frame from the dollar store & voilà! A unique gift that will for sure please the special person that it was made for.  The teacher was really touched, even cried when she saw it.  She told me this was the BEST gift she has ever received in all of her years of teaching.  We also had some 5x7 printed for all the kids in her class.  The kids loved it! They had fun trying to see how many times their names are in the picture.

And did I mention that these two sites are free!? Yes, you read that right, free!  There is no need to sign up or sign in in either of the sites.  You have an option of buying a membership with Pic Monkey, but that is up to each individual.  In total, this gift cost $4.00 + tax.  Frame was $3 & there was a sale on 8x10 printing at Costco.  It was an extra $0.29 + tax per 5x7 for her classmates.  This gift was fun to make and it was a success!

For a quick overview on using Tagxedo, go to: http://christinesthisandthat.blogspot.ca/2014/06/overview-on-using-tagxedo.html

For a quick tutorial on using PicMonkey, go to: http://christinesthisandthat.blogspot.ca/2014/06/overview-on-using-pic-monkey.html

Christine

(@marlchr)

** Disclosure:  I was not financially compensated for this post.  The opinions are my own, based on my personal experience.