Many of us have a favorite teacher that just means the world to us. Or we feel the teacher is having a rough year and we want to cheer them up. Here are some ideas for gifts you can make for that special person, whether its your Sunday school teacher or the Professor at a major university.

Did you know a lot of teachers collect items with apples on them? Real apples are nice of course, but you want something a little more long lasting for a gift.

Here are some gifts you can make that have an apple theme.

1. Apple Head Dolls

You peel and carve a fresh apple and then slowly dry it out by hanging it in a warm place. I speed up the process by curing mine in a slightly warm oven. As they shrink they take on special wrinkles and sunken cheeks.

2. Apple Gourds

Did you know there are gourds that are shaped just like a giant apple? I'll put a link to them below. People paint them up like giant apples.

3. Tole Painting on Wood

If you know how to paint, you can paint a country apple scene on a wooden plaque, an old saw, wooden farm buckets, grape trays or whatever is handy.

4. Apple Fabric

Look for some apple fabric at the fabric or department store. Use it to make your teacher a handbag, place mats, potholders, oven mitts, or a table runner.

5. Scrapbooking

If you have some great class photos, make a few pages for your teacher to add to the class scrapbook. Find apple stickers and decals at the craft stores. Look for apple buttons or apple patches.

6. Fairy Dioramas

Once I made little fairy dolls and put them on a wooden plaque and decorated the plaque with little faux apples and pears and leaves I got at the craft store in a potpourri bag.

7. Apple Ornament

Cut a flat apple shape out of cardboard or balsa wood or with any luck you'll find a pre-cut wooden apple at the craft store. Use paint markers to write the year on it, and the subject of the class. Decorate it with a photo or sequins or paint it and hang a ribbon on it.

8. Gift basket

With apples and teaching as a theme, fill your gift basket with some real apples, jars of apple sauce or apple jelly with merry ribbons on them and a bow on top, a ruler, some chalk, a bag full of apple chips or dried apple rings, and any other apple themed goodies you run across.

9. Make a rubber stamp

Carve a stamp on an eraser carving block of a big apple with your teacher's name carved in the middle. Or if you are good at carving letters carve into it something like: From the desk of Mrs. Cooper. Remember to carve your letters backwards.

10. Knit or Crochet

Knit or crochet a fluffy scarf in apple red or apple green. If you are good at knitting with a graph you could knit a green scarf with red apples in the design or vice versa.