I always love when Craft Lightning comes around. Of course I wait until the last minute, but that’s okay because it’s a craft that takes just 15 minutes to make!
I found a $2 clipboard from Target and thought I could do a little DIY to make it a fun, inexpensive clipboard teacher appreciation gift. I wanted it to be gender neutral — teacher’s gifts tend toward the feminine and that didn’t seem fair to me. I also wanted something that worked beyond elementary school.
Recently, I saw this adorable nursery idea where the blogger used the Periodic Table of the Elements to spell out the name of the baby on the wall. The idea of using the Periodic Table as an alphabet has stuck with me, and I knew it was perfect for this project.
Thankfully, it had the letter combinations I needed to spell out NOTES! (That’s Nitrogen, Oxygen, Tellurium, and Sulfur and their atomic weights, if you’re wondering.)
Supplies
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Clipboard
Chalk paint
Cuttable vinyl
Transfer tape
A cutting machine
Directions
I started by painting the clipboard with some teal chalk paint. You could use whatever color you’d like, of course — I really wish I had some black chalkboard paint! That would have been rad. I like chalk paint for this project because if needed, the teacher could take notes directly on the clipboard. So handy.
I just used my steady hand to paint around the clip at the top — this is craft lightning and there’s no time for taping it off! You can always scrape paint off the metal with your fingernail if you need to. Painting the clipboard took two coats and dried quickly — make sure you get the edges as well.
I designed the Periodic Table letters in Illustrator and you can download the SVG files here, for cutting on a Cricut or Silhouette. I used my trusty Cricut Explore to cut out the file in white vinyl, sized 8″ across, and weeded out the negative-space vinyl.
I then needed an easy way to transfer my vinyl to my clipboard — all of those tiny pieces seemed way too difficult to transfer one by one! Thankfully, I had some Cricut Transfer Tape in my stash. I’d never used it before, but thought this was the perfect chance to give it a shot.
It worked like a dream! I transferred the vinyl to the transfer tape, and then placed it on my clipboard. Rubbed it down to make sure it stuck, peeled off the transfer tape, and it worked perfectly! Even those little periods transferred. Brilliant.
If you want, you could add a gift card, pencils, or other little present under the clip — whatever you think your kid’s teacher could use the most. Hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of Craft Lightning! If you enjoyed this post, I encourage you to pin it for later!
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