Cactus Teacher Appreciation Craft

This Cactus Teacher Appreciation Craft made with the Cricut Explore Air 2 is cute and easy to assemble. This post contains affiliate links.

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at my daughter’s school. It is unreal that this school year is quickly wrapping up. My daughter adores her teacher, and I fully expect her to shed tears on the last day. Her teacher has made a life-lasting impact on her, and she will go down as one of her most memorable teachers. I am happy to celebrate my daughter’s teacher this week for all the love, kindness, and knowledge that she has bestowed upon her.

The PTO devised a Teacher Appreciation schedule for the week. Today, each child is to bring in a plant or flower for their teacher. I am not sure what kinds of plants the other parents will send, but in my mind I picture an entire desk of plants that must be planted in the ground or flowers in vases. I wanted to send something small, that would require no upkeep on the teacher’s part, and that could serve as a keepsake or even room decor for her themed room. This Cactus Teacher Appreciation Craft was the perfect answer!

This is a Cricut project, but if you are not a Cricut owner, hopefully you can still find inspiration from this craft. You may purchase a cactus and add a hand-written note as an alternative.

Supplies:

Cricut Explore Air or Cricut Explore Air 2
Standard Grip Cutting Mat
Cricut Scoring Stylus
Cricut Pen (0.4)
Light green card stock
Medium blue card stock
Dark green card stock
Mustard card stock
Styrofoam egg or small ball
Terra cotta pot
Hot glue gun and hot glue
Craft glue
(2) tooth picks
Shredded brown paper or card stock

Open up Cricut Design Space. Open a blank project window. Click “Insert images.”

Locate the cactus that you wish to use. I am using the Golden Barrel cactus. I have Cricut Access Standard, and there are several free cactus options that are available with this subscription. They are the images with the “a” in the left hand corner. You can read more about Cricut Access HERE.

Insert the cactus onto the project grid.

Measure the top of the terra cotta pot. Resize the cactus to make sure that it will fit just inside the pot.

Click “Insert Images” again. Locate a banner image that you like. Insert it into the project grid. Mine is 4″ in length.

Click “Insert Shapes.” Add a score line down the center of the banner.

Click “Text.” Add the words “Thank you for keeping me sharp!” onto the right side of the score line onto the banner in the font variety that you choose.

Select the banner, the score line, and the text. Attach them together using the layers panel on the right hand side.

Send the cactus and the banner to Cricut machine for cutting.

Assemble the cactus. I have 9 cactus pieces. I glued the prickly light green pieces in between a dark green and medium blue piece.

I then folded them along the score line and glued each section together, alternating colors.

Glue the styrofoam egg or ball into the bottom of the terra cotta pot.

Glue a toothpick into the center of the cactus.

Add a dab of hot glue to the other end of the toothpick. While the glue is still hot, insert the tooth pick into the styrofoam egg or ball.

Fold the mustard colored banner in half and hot glue to the top of the second tooth pick.

Add a dab of hot glue to the other end of the toothpick. While the glue is still hot, insert the tooth pick into the styrofoam egg or ball, making sure the banner is to the side of the cactus.