Monday Made It #5

Let me start off with an apology.  I didn't realize until last night that I had "word verification" turned on.  Apparently, it's a default setting.  Sorry about that, folks!  Those things drive me nuts!  Let's move on...

I've had a busy week of packing, and was away from my apartment dog sitting this weekend, so I only have two things to share.  Both were very quick and easy to make. :)

Teacher Notes Box: This one was inspired by Pinterest.  For the life of me, I can't find the pin.  If anyone has the address, let me know and I'll add it.

The one I saw on Pinterest, was a wooden box with a hole cut in the lid.  I bought new shoes last week and had a shoe box sitting in front of me when I got the bright idea to paint the box!  If you're thinking about doing this, let me give you a friendly warning: don't even consider acrylic paint.  It doesn't coat well and with each coat, you actually remove some of the paint.  Go straight for the spray paint!!  I was able to use acrylic paint for the pink and white after a coat of the blue spray paint.  I had a clear sealer left over from making my supply box, so I also sprayed on a coat of sealer to protect the cardboard box.  It's kind of funny that I want to protect a cardboard box. :)

Kiss Your Brain Jar:

I first saw this idea on Amanda's Blog (Teaching Maddeness).  I wasn't going to make one, but I saw this jar for cheap at the Christmas Tree Shop, so I decided to go ahead.  The hardest part??  Deciding on letters.  I seriously stood in Walmart for 20 minutes trying to decide which letters to buy.  I don't normally switch back and forth with caps and lower case, but there weren't enough of each in the pack I bought... and I wasn't about to spend the money on a second pack.  So... It just looks funky and fun! :)

Brownies:  I don't have a big sweet tooth, but I do love brownies!  What's more, I love slightly burnt brownies!! :)  I picked up a $1 box of Duncan Hines brownies at the grocery store today.  They are not the best brownies, but for $1, they're great!! :)

Yep, I couldn't wait to taste them. :)
**Update: I just realized I put the brownies in the refrigerator.  WHY???

That's all for this week!  I get to start working in my classroom tomorrow, and we have 5th grade planning on Wednesday, so I'm not sure I'll have time to make anything new this week; HOWEVER, you can expect to see classroom pictures as I get everything set up! :)

P.S. I have one last picture to share.  Last night, I packed my car full of school stuff that will be taken on Tuesday.  I would have done it tonight, but there is rain in the forecast and I didn't want to take the chance.  So, as of last night, this is all the school stuff that is left in my apartment (that I didn't want exposed to outrageous heat)!!  Woot!!

And yes, those are twigs and that is a pumpkin.  I never bothered to take down my fall decorations, but hey... It's almost fall, again!!!  Too bad I have to pack it all up, though. Haha :)

Thanks for reading! :)

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I was just asked to join a "teacher fashion" linky party for tips on how to dress.  Mind you, I'm not the most fashionable girl (I just can't make myself care when I'm not trying to impress 5th graders), but I do know what's comfortable.

1. Do you have a favorite store for "teacher clothes"?

I am a loyal Kohl's shopper.  While I realize that the prices are marked up only to be put on "sale", I cannot help but love the clothes.  They are somewhat affordable and wear very well.  New York & Company is good, too.  I don't find their clothes quite as comfortable, though.

2. What are some of your favorite accessories?

I have to admit, I'm not an accessories girl.  I wear my pearl studs, my Clemson ring, and my Citizen watch everyday and that's about it, besides my Clemson lanyard for my ID. :)

3. What type of shoes do you teach in?

If you're smart, you're not going to go for fashion where your feet are concerned.  I'm lucky in that we are allowed to wear flip-flops every day of the week.  So, if it's warm, I'm usually in my Rainbows.  During the winter, I opt for Dansko's.  They're comfy and ergonomically correct for your feet.

4. Do you have a "go-to" item in your closet?

My closet is full lightweight cardigans.  They're great because you can wear them all year (especially when you want to wear a cute tank that isn't exactly school-appropriate.  Like these:

5. Have you ever had a fashion "uh-oh" at school? 

Ummm, last year, at the end of the day, I realized that a pair of my dress pants had a split in the back.  Luckily, it was in a position that no one could see!!! :)

Monday Made It: Sorting Papers

This is my first time participating in Monday Made It!  Let me tell you, I have been bursting at the seams since Friday wanting to share my creation, but I made myself wait! :)  So, anyone connected to the educational pinning world has probably seen the plastic drawer system for sorting papers.  Let me find the picture...  Can I just go off topic for a second and mention that it drives me NuTs!! when only a blog is pinned and not the actual blog post.  It's so frustrating having to search through entries to find the picture that I saw on Pinterest!  Ok, back to my Monday Made It... So I'm sure you've seen this on Pinterest.  It's a SUPER great idea, but I must say, it's not very pretty.  I was reading The Help, on Friday and all of a sudden it hit me!  SCRAPBOOK PAPER AND MOD PODGE!!!  Now let me say, I had never, ever used Mod Podge before (unless you consider the Mod Podge for puzzles as a kid).  It was a new, wonderful experience!  :)  I tried to take pictures as I went along, but I was sort of [messy] with the Mod Podge and really didn't want to ruin the iPhone, so there are only a few.  BUT I'm excited to share.

I should also mention that I got my idea from a pin I saw about two years ago.  Let me go find that one... I want everyone getting credit!!  So, Jen's blog was really helpful.  Like I said, I'd never used Mod Podge before and I had no idea what to do with it!  You gotta love clear, step by step directions!  I'm going to go off topic again...  Blogger sometimes really annoys me with where it wants to put pictures and where it doesn't want to put them.  Thankfully, I have a bit of knowledge with HTML.  Ugh!!  Back on topic... I'm so glad Mod Podge dries clear.  I applied the initial coat of Mod Podge haphazardly!  I could see pockets where there was too much.  I'll just caption the pictures from on out...

I used my "paper slicer" to cut the scrapbook paper down to the right size, and I printed the labels on regular computer paper.  Then I used my spiffy, decorative scissors to put out the labels.  Finally, I used rubber cement (LOVE) to glue the labels to the pieces of scrapbook paper.

You can see where I had too much Mod Podge.

Next, I tried to smooth out the air bubbles and wrinkles and applied 3 coats of Mod Podge to the back side letting it dry between coats.

Final product!  The first drawer I did was the top one.  You can see that I went to the left with the paper on that and to the right with the paper on the other two.  That's the only flaw that stands out to me, but I'm pretty proud!  I think it turned out really cute! :)

I hope you all like it!  Let me know what you think!  Also head over to Fourth Grade Frolics and view other Monday Made It ideas!  :)

Randomosity

This post is going to be a bit of a random one.  I just made myself lunch/dinner.  I saw a pin on Pinterest last night that looked like Salmon Carpaccio on a bagel.  Incase you were wondering, the way to my heart is definitely through my stomach.  If you're not familiar with Salmon Carpaccio imagine thinly sliced raw or smoked salmon topped with arugula, capers, red onions and a fresh lemon-extra virgin olive oil dressing.  Delizioso!  Once I saw the pictures of it on a bagel, there was no doubt that I would have it today.  I didn't put the arugula on it...mainly because I didn't feel like spending the money on a ton of arugula that I would only use with one meal.  I'm cheap...  Here are pictures of my creation:

I decided to go with the Everything Bagel Thins...  which meant that I could make two. :-)  Go make it!

I also have other random info...  When I was home in SC, I went by the local teacher store to buy border (which is really cute) for the bulletin boards.  While I was there, the owner asked where I taught and when I mentioned NC, she said, "There is a puzzle back there.  You can have it if you will just take it!"  Something FREE?  Yes, please!  I'm sure I can find some use for it.  I was thinking maybe a rainy day recess game?  We'll see... It's really cool, though.  It has info about every county in NC.  I learned a lot by reading it. :)

I suppose that will do for now... If there was something else I wanted to say, I certainly don't remember now.  I'll update if I think of anything!

Curtains in the Classroom

Tonight is my last night at home in South Carolina.  A couple months ago, I saw some super cute curtains on Pinterest that I thought would look great in a classroom.  (Picture to the right... the original site doesn't work anymore.)  They were colorful and sheer.  I had to have them...  One of my missions while I was home, was to find material to dye and turn into curtains.  Mission: accomplished; however, I can't take credit for this creation...  All I did was dye the fabric.  My mom did all of the work with this one!  Thanks, Ma!! :-)  Just so you know, there will be plenty of pictures to follow.  Half-way through the process, I thought to start taking pictures to share with the blog world.  Unfortunately, I won't have a picture of them hanging until I'm able to get back to school in August.  Womp womp womp....

First two pictures:

These two pictures show the type of fabric and the color.  I knew I wanted to find a sheer fabric in an orange color, but the only thing I could find was tulle.  There was no way in Hades that I was going to make curtains out of tulle, so I moved on to the next best idea...  Dying a sheer fabric orange.  After doing a little research on the RIT website, I decided on the color "Sunshine Orange" and learned that the fabric can be pretty much anything except polyester.  Would you like to guess what material most sheers are made out of??  Yes, polyester.  I did luck up and I found this fabric at Hobby Lobby for, I think, $4.99/yd.  The reason I really wanted to do all this while I was at home was because my parents haven't upgraded their washer/dryer to one of the HE models yet, so I figured it would be much easier to dye the fabric (since my washer puts water in according to the weight of the fabric).  Dying the fabric was super easy and I'm pretty much hooked on RIT dye.  I'm trying to think of other projects that would involve dying fabric! :)  Once the fabric was dyed, we were my mom was ready to make the curtains (after a few days of it sitting on the dining room table)!  It's pretty cool, don't you think?  I love the sparkly look!

More Pictures:

This stuff is great...  It's called Stitch Witchery.  We bought this stuff because we figured the fabric was too thin to put stitches through it.  (Actually that's a lie... I have lazy tendencies and I couldn't imagine doing that much sewing.)  The Stitch Witchery Is great!

So, basically, what you do, is lay this stuff wherever you want to make a seam.  This stuff is super thin and tears easily.  Once you have put it where you want it, you hold your steam iron over the Stitch Witchery until it becomes tacky. 

It's easiest if you pin the stuff in place before you put the iron over it.  Sometimes, it can move around with the steam.

Once it's tacky, you will want to fold the fabric over and pin it down again.

 Next, you take a damp cloth and press the fabric with the iron for 10 seconds.

After 10 seconds, this is what you have... A really nice seam!  It's pretty amazing! :-)

Now, for the loop to hang on a wire or curtain rod, we measured down 4 inches from the top seam...all the way across.  Yes, I am OCD.  At one point my mom said, "Just back up and keep your OCD away from me."  :-)  It's pretty bad...

Apply more Stitch Witchery, make tacky with the iron, and then fold/pin the fabric down like before (making sure the fabric is 2 inches all the way across).

Now let me begin by saying, I appreciate everything my mom does for me, but after working on a project with her all day, I needed the glass of wine you see off to the right.  In this picture, my mom is sewing a straight stitch (I guess you call it that) in the top seam just for a bit of insurance.  It would be my luck that the top seam would come out and I wouldn't be able to hang the curtains!  I'm not worried about the side and bottom seams.  (PS I don't know why it looks like there are black marks all over my mom's hands... they're definitely not there in person!)

Last picture:  This is a picture of my mom's great work!  Woot Woot! :-)

I am so proud of these curtains!!  We only have one set of windows in the rooms, and we have a blind, but I love natural light!  I love how curtains make a room feel really homey, so I cannot wait to get these up!  They're going to look so good!!  Again, I couldn't have done it without my mom!!  :-)

UPDATE: If you want to see the curtains in action, please click here!