An Easy Owl Burlap Door Hanger

It's EVERYWHERE~
A lot of decor I see these days has a commonality- BURLAP!
I love burlap~
The smell (yea, I know I'm in the minority with this one.  I worked in the fields as an adolescent, so I had the opportunity to bond with tobacco burlap bags more than most people my age.), the texture, the naturalness, and it's flexibility of uses. It can do most anything.

We have three AwEsOmE ladies on my second grade team who have chosen different paths next year. (Insert sniff, tear, sniff, tear)
Two of them big puffy heart OWLS, so I thought I would make an "until next time" gift from this fun material.

I saw these cuties on etsy.

I'm not going to reinvent the wheel of tutorials with this project because there are so many tutorials out there in blogland, they will make your head swim. So I've found a few simple ones to use as models. Head over to The Francis Family and Junque 2 Jewels. They each have great tutorials.   I modified each of these a bit to make them work for me.

The final results~

Thanks for stopping by~

Seuss-tacular Thank You Cards: A How To

We are celebrating "Read Across America" this  week at school.  Each year during this time, we also have a school wide book fair.  I don't know about you, but the thought of hundreds and hundreds of children's books in one place make me giddy with excitement.  Each time the book fair comes to school, the teachers are fortunate enough to create a wish list of some sort.  Just the thought of books being added to my class library makes me super excited.

Well, over the past few years, I've only had maybe two books per book fair donated to my class library. Don't get me wrong, I'm always thankful for each and every book donated. But I wasn't going to set myself up hoping for lots and lots of books and then be let down.  So I didn't get my hopes up too high when the Spring book fair rolled around this year.

Last week, I grabbed my basket labeled with my name and "shopped" around the book fair and carefully placed books into my wish basket.  I chose books that would really supplement the new Common Core Standards and would create interest for my students. After my selections,  I placed my book basket in its designated place amongst the letter "M's" on the teacher shelf and didn't look back.

Well low and behold, the next day one book came in, the following day two more books came in.  Oh my goodness~ books and more books and even more books. My heart smiled a ginormous smile.

In honor of Dr. Seuss and the generous book donations from my kiddos (and their mommies and daddies), I arrived at school super early this morning to make these thank you cards.  I really wanted them to know how much I appreciated their thoughtfulness and generosity.

Want to make your own?  Here's how~

• Gather your materials

 

 Dr. Seuss themed scrapbook paper. Jo Ann fabrics had it for 50 cents per sheet this week.

 

 

 Coordinating card stock.  When I think of Dr. Seuss, these are the colors I think of.

 

 

5 1/2" x 4 blank note cards (I'm partial to Kraft) , black stamp pad, thank you stamp of your choice, dimensionals

 

Cutting board, ATG or some type of adhesive, corner rounder (optional), tag punch

 

 

  I cut the colored card stock into 5 1/4" x 3 3/4" pieces.

 

 

 

 I cut the patterned Dr. Seuss paper at 5" x 3 1/2".

 

 

 I rounded the edges on the solid card stock and patterned paper.  I decided against rounding the edges of the Kraft blank card. I liked the hard edge. 

 

 

All the paper is cut.  I cut a 5 1/4" x 3 3/4" white piece for the insert for each card.

 

 

 I used this stamp to create a sentiment on red paper.

 

 

  I then used my EK Success tag punch to punch out the sentiments.

 

 

I added small dimensionals to the back of each sentiment.

 

 

I layered the pre-cut pieces onto the blank notepad.

 

 

I am impressed with the way the cards turned out.  After writing the thank-yous during my planning, I eagerly gave the cards to my kiddos to take home.  I heard one kiddo saying to another, "Wow, I got a special treat from Mrs. M. I can hardly wait to show my mom."  Insert <happy teacher.>

 

 

I hope you have a Seuss-tacular week~

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!



Great Games at the Dollar Tree and a Chair Makeover

I don't visit the Dollar Tree often, but on a random recent visit while searching for a mini puzzle for a Pinterest project, I spotted these games on the toy isle.

 Telling Time, Counting Money, Addition, and Subtraction Games

I will use these for my early finishers and my "I'm Finished, Now What? Station"

 These reproducible sheets will come in handy for students who need additional practice with manuscript letter formation and acceleration practice for those ready for cursive.  My kids think cursive is fancy writing and will think its a special treat.

 These timed tests will be great as well for remediation and acceleration.  I'll place these in a basket with a timer.  The students can time themselves or have a friend time them.

 I think this activity will be great for Work on Writing during Daily 5.

Head on out to your local Dollar Tree to snatch up these wonderful classroom deals.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 This is the makeover chair on display in my consignment shop.  (I love this display.  I'm learning so many things hanging out on Pinterest. I've also become obsessed with my shop.)  

The process was pretty simple.  This chair was originally brown. (Sorry, I don't have a before picture.  Once I get started on a project, I forget I need to take pictures through the whole process.  Sorry~)  It was a chair discarded by the school system I previously worked in.  Being the person I am, I have hoarded it in my storage space for the last 7 years. It was time to clean out the storage and give it a new life.

After two coats of primer, it was time to choose the paint color.  So I just headed down to the Home Depot and stood in front of the spray paint waiting for one to beg me to take it home.

 

Summer Squash yelled the loudest, so I took it home and sprayed the chair with two light coats.  Allow time between each light spray.  Don't rush or get too close.  You want to avoid "runs."

 

Two coats later, this is the result.  Next, I took this picture perfect chair into the garage and roughed it up using my Black and Decker hand sander.

Distress the furniture to your liking.  You really can't go wrong.  I stopped when I got this look.

I've been adding a little water to brown acrylic paint to give my furniture the distressed look, but I decided to try a walnut color by Minwax.

 

It wasn't as easy to work with as my acrylic paint. I'm not convinced that this particular product will continue to hang out on my paint shelf.  I do like that it is water-based versus oil based.  Better on my airways and less stained hands. Here was the chair after an application.

Not too bad.  Overall I like the end product.  The summer squash is a keeper on the shelf.  I'm loving my new found interest in repainting simple pieces of furniture.  And I'm loving all the positive feedback I get from the visitors at the shop.

 

Thanks for stopping by~

Snowflakes for Sandy Hook

One of my wonderful parents sent me a link with a list of ways to show kindness to the Sandy Hook community.  One idea was to create unique snowflakes for the students returning to school in January. So on the last day before Christmas vacation, my fabulous Teacher Assistant, who by the way is now our school's TA of the year- Woo! Hoo!, guided the students in creating one of a kind snowflakes for the Sandy Hook students.

Here are a few samples:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These snowflakes will go in an envelope and mailed to Connecticut. My heart continues to grieve for the Sandy Hook Community- the children, the parents, the citizens, EVERYONE~

These snowflakes will definitely not take away the grief and pain, but hopefully relay the message that WE CARE~

If you would like to join in on the effort, click {HERE}. All snowflakes are due by January 12.

Thanks for stopping by~