With my oldest daughter, Ella, beginning Kindergarten this year I have now entered the world of Teacher Gifts.  I went in search of a cute, practical and personalized Teacher Gift for the bestest Kindergarten teacher in PA, Mrs. Herman.  And this is what I came up with.Finish this cute, personalized clock in under an hour.  And for around $10 and it will be sure to be a standout among the gift cards and pencil boxes that teachers always receive!

1. Download LIFE LESSONS font from http://www.dafont.com/
2. Print clock face onto cardstock using the following instructions…

Adobe Photoshop

1. Create a new 8.5×11″ canvas.
2. Start a new text layer.  Choose LIFE LESSONS from your font options.
3. Click on this small icon along the top toolbar.

4. This box will appear.  Highlight the top box and type 55 in.  Highlight the lower box and type 50 in.

5. Leave a 1 inch border along the top and bottom of your page.  Starting at the top of your page type spaces using the space bar all along the width.  This will make the practice lines appear.  Make sure to not leave a margin…type all the way to the edges of the page.
6. On the fourth line type MR., MRS. or MISS.  Put spaces on either side of the word until it is centered.  Then space bar three more blank lines.  On the eight line down type the teacher’s last name.  Put spaces on either side of the word until it is centered.
7. Type three more blank lines and Print onto 8.5×11″ cardstock.  Even if your program sends an error message saying some of your text is outside of the printing area, just click okay and continue to print.

Microsoft Word

1. Create a new 8.5×11″ document.
2. Click PAGE LAYOUT > MARGINS > and make top and bottom margins 1″ and left and right margins .5″)
3. Choose LIFE LESSONS from your font options and center your text.
4. Click LINE & PARAGRAPH SPACING icon > LINE SPACING OPTIONS.

5. Under LINE SPACING choose EXACTLY and under AT change it to 55 pt.

6. Starting at the top of your page type spaces using the space bar all along the width. This will make the practice lines appear. Make sure to not leave a margin…type all the way to the edges of the page.
7. On the fourth line type MR., MRS. or MISS. Put spaces on either side of the word until it is centered. Then space bar three more blank lines. On the eight line down type the teacher’s last name. Put spaces on either side of the word until it is centered.
8. Type three more blank lines and Print onto 8.5×11″ cardstock. Even if your program sends an error message saying some of your text is outside of the printing area, just click okay and continue to print.

2. Turn clock over and use small screwdriver to remove the 6 small screws.  Place these screws in a small dish.  Remove black outer ring and glass. Set aside.

3. Gently pull up to remove hands of the clock.  With wire cutters, trim the different clock hands to the following measurements…Hour hand to 1.5″ long, Minute hand to 2.5″ long and remove both sides of Seconds hand to leave just a small red circle.  Place trimmed hands in same bowl as small screws. Set aside.

4. Trace 8″ circle onto printed cardstock sheet. You can do this by using a circle cutter, finding a bowl which is 8″ across or by tracing around the glass included with the clock and then trimming it 1/4″ inside the trace lines.

5. Place paper on top of clock face, making sure it is centered and gently press down on the mechanism which holds the clock hands, making an indentation. Then use scissors to cut a hole large enough to go around hands mechanism.

6. Place in clock face to make sure you have the correct fit. Then, turn over and use gluestick to cover back of cardstock. Press onto clock face, making sure to keep “12” at the top of the clock. (you’ll notice that there is a round nail hole where you took the screws out of at the top of the clock to help you orient it correctly).

7.Starting at noon, place your small school supplies around the clock face until they are organized the way you want them. Make sure to vary colors and material (put plastic next to metal clips and pink eraser next to blue push pins, etc).
8. Remove your items and lay them next to your clock in the order they were on your clock face. Now, use a hot glue gun to glue down your school supplies, gluing down in this order…12, 6, 3 and 9. Then fill in the gaps in between those points. When using groups of items, like paperclips, I simply laid down a blob of glue and quickly arranged a pile of the items on top.

9. Now replace the hands of the clock, putting the red dot on top. Don’t worry about not putting them on in the correct order, they should only fit on in the correct order.

10. Clean glass and then handle carefully to replace glass and screws.

You’re finished! Wrap up and gift to your child’s teacher (it would be nice to include the AA battery required).

Note: I used a red rimmed clock and then regretted it because it clashed with some of the red school supplies I found. I would recommend using either the black or white rimmed clock.