Sucking up to the I.T. department is pretty much the smartest move you can make, particularly if you're an admin trying to keep a field office running. Fortunately for me, not enough people have figured out this golden rule of technology equipment supply & demand, so the bar is set pretty low!
I had hoped to send a big ol' gift basket, but the best I could squeeze out of my office-mates was some Starbucks cards. I added a tiny pot of Marionberry jam for Oregon flair, and assembled a gift box! Shala from Don't Eat the Paste has a great, great selection of free, pretty gift boxes to print and assemble... since I'm still getting mileage out of being "that admin with the lolcats," I modified one of her templates to use pictures of cats and computers.
This craft is easy, fast, and best of all, is actually a productive use of work time -- it's an investment toward the next time the blue screen of death shows up.
Office Supplies:
Color printer
Cardstock
Glue (I used Elmer's, but a gluestick should work too)
Template
Gifts (optional)
Shredder (optional)
Publisher or other design program (if you want to design your own box)
How-to:
Print, cut, fold along all lines, paste! After pasting it all together, I stuck something heavy inside the box to weight down the base until it dried, but that's probably not necessary. Optionally, add your gifts and shredded paper from the shredder to give it a gift-baskety feel. If you have colored paper to shred, you can make it look pretty -- I went with regular office shreddings because recycling is in these days.
If you want to modify the box image, copy the pdf into your design program and "trace" over the box lines by adding straight lines overtop (it's a good idea to use a bright color for these lines you're adding so you know what you've already done). Then delete the original image, and add your own pretty sides!
If anyone wants to make exactly this box, here's my template for the IT kitty box: (I'm trying a new filesharing site, so let me know if this doesn't work!) Kitteh Box in pdf. It makes a box 3" x 4".
I had hoped to send a big ol' gift basket, but the best I could squeeze out of my office-mates was some Starbucks cards. I added a tiny pot of Marionberry jam for Oregon flair, and assembled a gift box! Shala from Don't Eat the Paste has a great, great selection of free, pretty gift boxes to print and assemble... since I'm still getting mileage out of being "that admin with the lolcats," I modified one of her templates to use pictures of cats and computers.
This craft is easy, fast, and best of all, is actually a productive use of work time -- it's an investment toward the next time the blue screen of death shows up.
Office Supplies:
Color printer
Cardstock
Glue (I used Elmer's, but a gluestick should work too)
Template
Gifts (optional)
Shredder (optional)
Publisher or other design program (if you want to design your own box)
How-to:
Print, cut, fold along all lines, paste! After pasting it all together, I stuck something heavy inside the box to weight down the base until it dried, but that's probably not necessary. Optionally, add your gifts and shredded paper from the shredder to give it a gift-baskety feel. If you have colored paper to shred, you can make it look pretty -- I went with regular office shreddings because recycling is in these days.
If you want to modify the box image, copy the pdf into your design program and "trace" over the box lines by adding straight lines overtop (it's a good idea to use a bright color for these lines you're adding so you know what you've already done). Then delete the original image, and add your own pretty sides!
If anyone wants to make exactly this box, here's my template for the IT kitty box: (I'm trying a new filesharing site, so let me know if this doesn't work!) Kitteh Box in pdf. It makes a box 3" x 4".
feel: 
mischievous
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