Memories and Easy Snowflake Ornaments

I know some of you have had up your Christmas tree(s) since October. Others of you probably  have never taken your tree(s) down from last year.  The tradition at our house is to put up the trees on Thanksgiving Day and take them down on Christmas Day.  Yea~ you are probably saying a few choice words right now,but this ritual works for me.  After the tasty Thanksgiving dinner, the trees (yes, plural- two of them) go up.  On Christmas Day after all the gifts have been opened, the trees are packed away safely and neatly in the attic until the next Thanksgiving.
 
Each year as I place the ornaments on the tree, I'm reminded of the stories that go along with each of them- the mason jar ring holding a picture of Sid's preschool years, or Jess' paper plate angels that adorn the top of each tree, or even the  ice cream cone (a real one) with a round ornament as the scoop with Mike's name printed in glitter, or even the "World's Best Teacher" ornament from 15 years ago.  Many of the ornaments were made by our kids or given to me over the years by students I have taught. Each story is unique.  Each ornament is unique.  Each kid or student is equally unique.
 
These are my memories.  It's a lot like Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge visiting the old folks home with a "box of memories" for the residents who live there.  As a parent, I adore the handmade ornaments the kids made in school.  The trees will always have space for them. Always.  As a teacher, I want my students to create a memorable ornament for their parents to remember that particular school year.  I've made a variety of ornaments over the years, however when I saw this ornament on Pinterest my mind was made up.
 

 Our 2012 Class Christmas Ornament

original post {HERE}

 

I did a trial run at home to make sure it was as easy as the post describes.  It really is SUPER easy. The trial ornaments will be sold in my shop. 

 

Materials include Crayola Model Magic, a snowflake cookie cutter, rolling pin, and a straw. I bought a large tub at Hobby Lobby for around $13 with the 40% off coupon.  It will make about 50-60 ornaments (depending on thickness.)

 

After rolling the dough to about 1/4" thickness, I then carefully cut out the dough with the cookie cutter.  Use the straw to make a hole.  You won't be able to do this later once the dough dries.

 

 

Here is a close up. The ornaments are very smooth, yet very soft.  It takes about 48 hours to dry completely.  If you are in a hurry, this would not be a good project for you.

 

More close-ups

 

 

Because I wanted to put a few in my shop, I worked on packaging.  Presentation is KEY. Here is the final product.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Ornament Making and...

 

Thanks for stopping by~









Happy Thanksgiving

I'm keeping it short and simple tonight. 

 

 Happy Thanksgiving to All,

And to All a Great Feast~

 

 

I enjoy making this Indian Corn each year with my students. It can easily be done at your family get together at the children's table as a simple craftivity.

 

Happy Thanksgiving and Thanks for stopping by~

 

My Outlet and a Simile Freebie

A few weeks ago I opened my own brick and mortar "Field of Poppies."
 
Well, sort of!
 
If you remember {this} post, I was debating whether or not to rent a space at one of my favorite shops.
 
About a few weeks ago all the stars lined up in my favor. An affordable booth became available.  The booth comes with a few restrictions like having to have a 3 foot passageway from the storage door per the fire marshall.  Due to my booth being in the corner, it is not a perfect square like the others either.  It has a slanted corner. No biggie.  I'm a teacher. I deal with "thinking outside the box" each day with my students as well as tracking in and out of my classroom opens the door for new furniture arrangements.  So I was up for the challenge. Let the creative juices flow.  In a shop of this sort, presentation is key.  My booth is a work in progress, but I want to share with you my little piece of earth. (I borrowed this phrase from Mary in The Secret Garden.)I'm happy with my decision.  It's my outlet.  This little space allows me to be who I want to be, just like this little blog.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On another note...

 

I have been working with my students on including comparisons in their writing. 

 

We read this book.

 

I created this activity as a follow up to the book.

 

 

 

  Download it {FREE} from my TPT shop.

 

 

What is your outlet?  I'd love to hear about it~

Defying Gravity at the Trampoline Park

I often ask myself, "What will they come up with next?" Don't you?

This evening I want to share with you a new adventure our family had to an indoor trampoline park. 

Our youngest takes gymnastics at a local gym for gymnasts.  She loves it and constantly BEGS for a backyard trampoline.  Hubby Jagger is consistent with his response and never wavers. "No" is always his reply. "It will kill the grass and I don't want to be responsible for kids who may get hurt on it."  Point taken.

We heard a few months ago of a new trampoline park in Durham.  Our oldest has gone with a few friends, but never our middle and youngest.  So I thought this would be a great weekend to go.  I'm a fanatic for family activities. I love spending time together - minus any complaining.  Hubby Jagger agreed to take the kids.  We loaded up the kids and we were off to yet another new adventure.

Enjoy the visit~

 

 

Wall to wall trampolines~

 

 

 

This guy jumped a little to high~

 

 

So did this guy~

 

Jess is pondering which move she is going to make into the foam pit~

 

 

Sid is just happy. No reason needed~

 

 

Another view

 

 

We ended the night by taking the kids to the new two story Chic-Fil-A!

 

 

The kids being silly.  It's looks like Jess is going to barf. Yuck!

 

 

The kids had a blast.  We only had one broken toe. ( Yes, Jess broke her toe!) The kids are already asking to go back.

 

Even though I wasn't smart enough to come up with the idea of a trampoline park.  It is , however, a great way for the kids to release energy.

 

Thanks for stopping by!



Aargh! A Visit to Pirate Nation

Our oldest son has been accepted into East Carolina. 
Yippee~
Sniff, Sniff~ 

He hasn't made a final decision yet, however ECU is the only large campus in North Carolina that Hubby and Mike haven't had to honor of attending a football game.  That opportunity presented itself last weekend.  I bought a couple of tix on the local buy/sell/trade site on Facebook for the guys at a very reasonable price.  At the last minute, Mike decided to go with a few high school friends. Sad face.  That meant an extra tix. My weekend had already been planned with visiting a few local craft shows, getting my eyebrows waxed, and catching up around the house.  All of that was scrapped to go with hubby.  Boy he owes me big time. 

The game turned out to be better than expected.  The energy in the stadium was unbelievable and completely indescribable.  Even though I'm at the point of having a unibrow, I can't say that I totally regretted the experience.  Enjoy the game~ 

 

This statue was perched right outside the stadium.

 

 

Pee Dee the Pirate at the campus store.

 

 

 Another pirate in one of the common areas of the campus.

 

 



What an entrance tunnel!

 

 

The tunnel up close~

 

 

The purple haze only means on thing~ THE ECU PIRATES are here!

 

 

I'm only following directions!

 

 

 

This is a pic of hubby and myself with the "real" ECU Pirate at an event at church a while back.

 Hubba! Hubba! Hubba! (I'm referring to hubby- LOL!)

 

 

Thanks for stopping by~