A Chair For My Mother

I am lucky to have a mom who still enjoys handmade items from me even at my age.

 

I sooooo love this about her. 

 

Besides, I get my craftiness from her, so the apple didn't fall far from the tree. 

 

I saw a chair makeover on a local site, and knew my mom would love a similar look.

 

My booth mate had the perfect chair.

 

She painted it "cloud" blue from our line of handmade chalk-like paint and removed the seat.

 

Love, Love, Love~

 

 

I distressed and waxed it to add a little more "shabbiness."

 

 

 I made a quick trip to the local Michael's Arts and Crafts store and purchased a precut letter "M" and a burlap bow. (Don't forget your coupon.)

I attached the materials to the back of the chair.

 

 

I added a beautiful fern from Home Depot in the "seat" part of the chair frame.

 

 

I tried it out on my porch for a couple of days before giving it to my mom.

 

My mom had the perfect spot on her patio. (My mom has a knack for decorating, that unfortunately, I didn't get.)

 

Happy Mother's Day!

 

Thanks for stopping by~

Chalk Paint and a Table Makeover

Chalk paint.

Milk paint.

Chalkboard paint.

 

These types of paints are all the rage these days in the furniture consignment and shabby chic market.

This week I decided to make my own chalk paint.

I do have Anne Sloan chalk paint, but I'll discuss that product at a later time.

Chalk paint is easy to make.

 

You'll need:

Plaster of Paris

Flat Latex Paint

Hot Water

Small Plastic Mixing Bucket

Paint Stick for Mixing

 

Mix 1/2 cup of hot water and 1/2 cup of Plaster of Paris together in the plastic mixing bucket.  Mix thoroughly with the paint stick.  A mixer will work for this step as well.  However, the mixer should be for paint only- not food preparation.  You want to eliminate any and all lumps.  Next, mix 1 1/2 cups of a latex paint of your choice with the Plaster of Paris mixture. I used a quality sample paint from Sherman Williams. Again, mix thoroughly.

 

The above recipe works great for me.  I love the consistency- not too thick or too watery.  However, feel free to add more Plaster of Paris if you want the chalk paint thicker.  The Plaster of Paris will also lighten the latex paint color slightly. I had extra paint left over and stored it in a covered glass jar to use for a future project.

 

I picked up a table from The Salvation Army.  I loved it's shape, but it was UGLY!  This table was a great chalk paint project.  With chalk paint, you do not have to sand or prime. Just apply the mixture with a good quality brush.  Woo Hoo!  Because the top of the table had a glossy finish, I decided to sand it down to the bare wood before painting. Again, it was not necessary, just a personal preference.

 

Enjoy the photos~

Sorry, I do not have any before pics.  I always forget to take pictures until I'm halfway or even finished with the projects.

 

 

I applied two coats of chalk paint to the table and sanded it to give it a distressed, shabby look.  I followed up by applying 5 coats of Polyacrylic to seal it.  Polyacrylic is waterbased.  Oil based products have an unbearable smell for me so I don't use them.

 

 

 

A close up of the top.  Halfway through the sanding process, my hand sander broke.

 



 

I finished the sanding process by hand. A lot of muscle work but worth every sore muscle I had the following day.

 

 

 

This is the finished product waiting to be adorned in one of my shops.  She is a beauty if I say so myself.  She even has a removable leaf- an extra bonus.

 

 

She is now in her spot in my booth awaiting the perfect owner to come along and take her to a new home.

 

Have you had any experiences with chalk paint? Please share!

 

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.

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 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~

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~

Mother's Day, A Freebie, And Shabby Chic

I'm always a day late and a dollar short, as the saying goes. I know holidays are coming, however by the time I get around to planning and completing a related activity with my students, it's too late. So I file it away until next year.  Sadly, for some activities, next year hasn't come yet.   Trying to find a "just right" place within my lesson plans as well as meet the weekly expectations on the district's pacing guide make it difficult many times to integrate seasonal fun ideas.  (Insert sad face here.)

Friday was an Early Release day for year round schools in our county.  The kids had no specials for the day, like music, art, media, P.E. or technology, so I crossed my fingers hoping I would not see my AP walk in with her laptop to do her final observation of the year. I closed my door and pulled out the construction paper. My kids lit up with excitement. "A Craft project," they yelled.  I led the class in creating a TLC Iris Art Project. (See this link for another TLC project we have done.)  You can't have Mother's Day without flowers, so I thought I could easily fit this into the math curriculum of congruent shapes and figures and combining shapes as well as create a unique flower for our moms.  Well all I can say is ~ they are unique.  Here's a few samples of the finished product.

Our mommies are just going to love them~

As educators, we celebrate the small things.  Many times, if it wasn't for the small things, there would be no big things.  So with that in mind-

 Woo-Hoo! I have reached 25 followers. That deserves a FREEBIE.  

So for ONE WEEK~ 7 DAYS~ Monster Mania will be a FREEBIE.  However, after this time the games  will be $1.00 in my TpT store.  Either way, it's a great deal. This is such a fun math game of creating equations with three numbers.  For younger students, like second graders, I would encourage a calculator but definitely not necessary.  Click below for the download.

Monster Math

A shout out to Casey for walking me through the steps to creating a layered preview screen and for listening to me vent after the Staff Development on Friday. She had interim reports to complete, but she listened to me ramble for at least 20 minutes.  Thanks~

On a simple note, I wanted to share two pics of one of my favorite "shops" in an Antique Marketplace.  In this Marketplace, one can rent a space to sell various items.    I've debated on whether or not to rent a space in this cute Marketplace to sell my wares. However, that decision is still up in the air.  I'll keep you posted, but enjoy  "The Shabby Chic" spot.