letter makeover

A minor adjustment happened to our goal board this year.

The letters got a makeover

I used the cardboard letters from Jo-Anns Fabrics

covered them in some glue and then sprinkled some glitter on top. 

To attach them to the board I hot glued a command hook to each of the letters, tied some twine to the hook and stapled it underneath the boarder. 

Out with the old in with the new

We have all seen them and probably have a couple in our classrooms. In fact you may find them in other classrooms as well. It's hard to escape them because there really is little options out there. What am I talking about?

classroom posters

Lets face it there are some really cheesy posters out there. Sure their cute, but dorky too. Thankfully, I found a way to rid myself of the all the boringness! My solution comes from two sources: Pinterest and Staples. Did you know you can save images to a flash drive take them to staples and they will print it for a couple of cents. I think my most expensive poster was a little over a dollar. Then all you have to do is laminate them and wah-lah new posters that are no where near cheesy!

I am pretty sure that 47% of my students pay little attention to what is on my walls, but I do and I like what I see. 

You might want to check and make sure its okay to print and display any poster you find.

New look

Sometime in July or maybe June I could not stand the look of this here blog...which explains my lack of posting at the end of last school year.  I knew I did not want to design the layout myself because that just did not seem like fun. So I set out to find a new look. I headed over to Etsy to see what was offered and found an abundance of talented people that designed blogs. Perfect! Then came the part of shifting though all the options...there were several! 

After flipping though several designers I decided to go with Theresa from Always in Bluhm blog and graphic design studio. Her designs were unique, beautiful and well priced. If you are looking for a new design I suggest you head on over to Always In Bluhm. She is quick with installation and has fantastic communication. I am so glad that I found her on Etsy because without this new look you all would be experiencing radio silence on this blog.

I love the new look. It's crisp and clean! Plus it makes me look like I "know" what I am doing when it comes to blogging...

drip, drip, drip

A couple of weeks ago I volunteered for VBS with my mom which happened to be housed in an elementary school. While the students were singing their songs, which if you listen to them they will get stuck in your head for about a week, my mom and I decided to take a tour of the school to spy on some classroom decor! Half way through our adventure the janitor found us and let us in some locked classrooms as well!  I love peaking into classroom for inspiration. 

One of the classrooms had this magnetic board. With further examination we discovered that it is was a drip pan for oil to put under cars. The teacher drilled the pan into the wall and spray painted the pan lime green. The next day mom and I went out to find a drip pan for our own classroom. We went to Auto Zone and the pans were $13 not too bad and then we went to Wal-Mart and the pan was $9ish dollars...SOLD!

 My mom the art teacher took the more creative approach with her drip pan. She decoupaged the edges with various art pages from books. She started off with black and white pictures at the bottom and then the pictures slowly emerge into color...sort of like when Dorthy was in Kansas and then went to Oz...no color to all color. She is planning on drilling her pan to the wall and displaying artists and their art work throughout the year. 

With my pan I spray painted it with a teal color. Then took ribbon and added to the pan to create rows and columns. I found black paper at hobby lobby and wrote out all the steps in the writing process (planning, drafting, peer editing, revising, teacher conference and publishing). The best thing about this pan is that if I decide to do anything else with it everything on it is attached with a magnet...ribbon and black labels!  I plan on putting students names on paper and placing a magnet on the back as they write their essay they will move their name down the drip pan...drip, drip, drip down the writing process they go. 

Teacher board

I am revamping my teacher area this year. The look I am going for is clean and crisp. I have two teachers desks one contains my computer and the other is used as an area for my para or students that need to work away from others. I may be ditching the second desk this year and working with one. Possibly getting an Ikea shelf to house files and books.

Here are some of my inspirations

Here is what I came up with to put on the wall

My mom gave me an old cork board from her school. I somehow forgot to take a before and after shot, but I'm pretty sure everyone knows what a cork board looks like. All the supplies I found at Hobby Lobby. This DIY was pretty simple and did not take long to complete.

I have a few other ideas I am planning with this board, but you will have to wait until I hang it on the wall at school.  I am linking up with Tara from 4th grade Frolics for her Monday made it!

S.T.U.C.K

As I mentioned before my creative juices are not running at full capacity

//I think something is broken\\

 

Here is my dilemma:

 

I bought these letters that spell out write...in hopes I would display them in my classroom. I have had them for six days and they still remain in their original form....blank! As of right now I am 95% sure I am going to paint them with chalk board paint unless a better idea comes to mind. Perhaps hang a piece of chalk off one of the letters??

Then comes this fabric that I spotted at Jo-anns today. Its practically perfect...burlap, metallic and polka dots. I stared at them, went back and looked at them multiple times, took a picture and NOTHING is coming to mind as of what to create with this fabric....the only thing I thought of was to frame it...not creative at all!

 

Summer is winding down...various stores are threatening to put out their school supplies and I have made a total of four creative projects...two of which are half way complete

welp

 

Well Hello there

I must admit I was worried for a while becuase it seemed like my creativity had vanished. Nothing was inspiring me and no amount of pinterest browsing was helping...I was concerned! Until last week when I came upon this darling hello sign and all of a sudden my creativity had returned...unfortunetly it was 9:30 at night and no craft stores were open.

This DIY required the use of super glue. Given the fact that I am a tad bit messy I managed to cover my fingers with the lovely liquid. I made my mom one of these signs for her classroom and I switched from super glue to a low temp glue gun....much better!!

I plan on making a goodbye sign as well...both signs will hang on either side of my classroom door.

I found the fabric (its performance fabric) at Jo-Anns and both Michaels and Jo-Anns had the wire needed for this project.

//TUTORIAL\\

Finger painting

I picked up a set of three canvas at hobby lobby with a goal of bringing out my inner five year old. I am pretty sure that most of my adventures in finger painting did not turn out to look as nice as the one below, but I suppose my skills are a little more advanced.

Then I saw this little saying on Etsy and decided to do a little re-create with a twist. The original was done in all black, but I decided to add some sparkle to the end of this quote. I used black paint for all the letters up into the word sparkle and let the paint dry. Then I used decoupage and went over the letters for sparkle and sprinkled gold glitter over it. An added bonus was that some of the black paint was not completely dry causing a light dusting on the black paint.

The third canvas is yet to be used.

Sparkle Pebbles

The glitter bug has struck again after I watched my mom make a dozen or so of these beauties

Sparkle Pebbles Steps

1 layer of decoupage

Sprinkle glitter

Allow to dry (a couple of hours)

Apply another layer of decoupage to seal in the glitter

Clean up glittery mess

I later hot glued a magnet on to the flat side of the pebbles

Clothes pin art

I like to display student work outside of the classroom. Typically, I just use painters tape and stick their work to the wall, but I was tired of going through all that tape just to eventually throw it away because lets face it...painters tape is a little pricey. I then came up with an idea that would use my glittery clothes pins to display students work.

I used command hooks, twine and the sparkly clothes pin to hang student's work. I only did two rows and then displayed the students work I liked best.

The work that is currently beign displayed are 8th grade "Where I am from" poem. This poem is version of the bio poem just more mature.

Passing Notes

Not a week goes by that I do not find a sweet little note from one of my students that they have left behind for me. Either on a post-it note or on a back of a test their sweet words make my job ten times easier. Unfortunately, I have no place to keep these notes and they eventually end up in the trash. So taking another great idea from pinterest I have created a keep safe box through the use of a shadow box.

Supplies

fabric

ribbon

letters

hot glue gun

scissors

Library Decor

My schools media center is going through a make over. Part of this remodeling was improving the posters that hung through out the library. Each department was responsible for recreating two of these posters.

Since I am part of the Language Arts department we brainstormed what our posters would be. Our first one was modeled after an I-phone; where each app is L.A related. For our second one we tore out pages in a novel and arranged them across the old poster. Then we were stuck...for a while we were just going to leave the pages alone, but it looked like something was missing. Thankfully, pinterest is full of ideas and after searching we combined two pins into one.

Supplies

Mod podge

spray paint

sponge brush

letter stickers

Mod Podge the book pages together. To eliminate the letter stickers on the pages we used mod podge. Cut out the letters and then arrange them how you like. Peel and stick them on the book pages. Make sure the edges are stuck tightly to the pages so spray paint will not seep through. Spray paint the poster and then peel off the letters. Supposedly, you are supposed to let the spray paint dry, but I lack patience for that. I waited about three minutes before peeling off the letters. The letters came off easily and did not stick at all!

{it looks better in person}

More glitter

Thanks to Isaac a.k.a a giant rain cloud I decided to take on this little project through YouTube via Missglamorazzi. She has a full tutorial on her channel.

Supplies

Mod podge

various glass candle holders

fine glitter

brush

Paint the inside of your glass jar with mod podge and then immediately pour in the glitter and swirl it around covering the entire inside. Tap out any extra glitter that remains. The outside of the jar will look murky, but as the mod podge dries it will clear revealing a glittery surface.

Confetti Canvas

Truth is I did not want to bust out my camera to capture the true beauty of this.

The canvas came together in under an hour and took little supplies to create!

Scrap book paper

spray adhesive

circle cutter

I decided to go for the glittery confetti descending down the canvas. I like how the light reflects the polka-dots throughout the day. I would include a step by step, but this project is really self explanatory!

punch out circles, arange, glue!

All in all came out great and pretty simple to make! 

JOY

I talked about my new bff yesterday...Glossy Accents! I honestly do not know where this has been all my life. Did everyone else keep this secret from me?

My sister went back to college on Friday. I decided to incorporate my new found love into something she could use to spruce up her dorm room. I asked her what her favorite fruit of the spirit was and she picked JOY...thankfully the one with the least amount of letters!
Supplies
Glossy Accents
glitter
letters
glue
paint brush
ribbon
hot glue gun

Step 1: Apply a thin layer of glue to one letter at a time. Pour glitter on the letters and tap off any extra.

 Step 2: Outline the glittery letter with glossy accent.
Step 3: Fill in the letter that you just outlined with glossy accents. If any bubbles appear pop them with a needle or drag them to the edge of the letter. The letter will look cloudy, but once the glossy accents dries it is clear, smooth and shiny. 
Step 4: Repeat step one through three with each of the letters and then let them dry over night.

Glossy Glitter

I have a love hate relationship with glitter. Love how it looks hate the mess. Thankfully, through Pinterest I stumbled upon a product that takes half of the mess away! Glossy Accents when applied to a glittery surface leaves glitter smooth, glossy and seals in the glitter from escaping. I will be showing a project tomorrow that I made with this little jem.

{I found Glossy Accents at Hobby Lobby}

Yarn Art Mural

This Monday made-it takes us into the classroom. I have a concrete block wall that is not eye appealing. I found this idea via pinterest...a.k.a the website that is stealing everyones creativity.

Supplies:

Yarn

Clear command hooks and strips

Letter cut-outs

scissors

Step by Step

1. Pick your color yarn. The darker the color the more the letters will show up. For the command strips I bought one pack at a time with 40% off various craft stores (Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Jo-Ann Fabric). I used around 141 command hooks. Each corner of a letter needs a command hook.

2. Either print out your letters or draw them yourself. I did a mixture of drawing and printing the letters. The bigger the better.

3. Tape up all your letters to see how you like the placement.

4. Start with one letter at a time. Stick on a command hook on each of the letters corners.

5. Once all that letters command strips are on start wrapping the yarn on the hooks. I wrapped each letter around about four times. The more times the thicker the letter will look. I used one continuous strand of yarn and did not cut the yarn until all the words were done.

5. Continue with each letter. Sticking on command strips and wrapping the yarn.

6. When all the words are complete I draped each color yarn to connect to one another. Then cut the yarn.

Instagram ribbon banner

First off I love this project for many reasons:

1. the pictures capturing memories from last year

2. the life that it will add to the cement block walls

3. the colors

4. the movement that happens when the picture twirl and ribbons sway

5. It took little time to assemble

I discovered you can print your instagram pictures via Printstagram

{warning: expect to wait 4 weeks for the pictures to be delivered}

On a positive note the prices are reasonable. I also purchased a mini book of all the photos.

I picked the same ribbons that matches the banners I created last year. Speaking of the motivational banners...they had a little plastic surgery on Friday. Last year I did not have the time or patience to back the banners with fabric. Therefore exposing what I did not finish. I put off covering the back with fabric until summer. Thankfully, I had enough fabric left over to cover the backs. They look so much better now that they are 100% complete.

Both the banners and ribbon tassels will be going up in the classroom tomorrow.

{Pictures soon to follow}

Find me on instagram

@ helloitsmeg

Book Frame

Another Monday Made it and of course this one was inspired by Pinterest

{shock}

I knew I wanted to make this book frame so my mom and I headed toward the Goodwill book store. We needed to find a sturdy old book that could with stand being cut into. We both found these old children's books to use.

Supplies:

3 cardboard rectangles varying in size (L, M, S)

hot glue gun
cutting board

exacto knife

old book

ribbon

pencil

letters

ruler

Step 1: Measure out three rectangles from a piece of cardboard. Going from large, medium and small. These will become your frame you will cute around for each section.
Step 2: Starting with the largest rectangle trace that shape on the cover of your book. Then start carefully cutting out the book cover. This will take time because you are cutting through cardboard. Use a steady hand as you do not want to cute outside of the outline. Once the cover is loose enough you will be able to pop it out. Some stray cardboard may be left on the edges, just cut it out.
Step 3: With the largest rectangle again you are going to use that as a guide and cut ten pages at a time. I put a thin cutting board underneath ten pages so I would not go any farther. Make sure you cut the corners out nicely as it may rip.
Step 4: Determine how deep you want each section to be. I ended up having each section 130 pages or so. After you finish with one section move on to the smaller rectangle until you have created your frame.
Step 5: After all the sections are cut out arrange your words how you would like them. I put my words on a separate sheet of paper and just taped it in...just in case I want to change the message in the future. You could also hot glue each of the pages together, but I like how then looked loose and such. I did hot glue the front cover to the first page. Oh and string a ribbon through the binding so you can hang it.

Dear Students,

Another Monday Made it inspired by the one and only Pinterest. When I saw this letter to students I knew it was a must for the classroom. I thought what a wonderful reminder for them (as well as myself) that I am here to support them even when it seems the opposite.

 Pretty simple projcet to put together

Supplies:

foam poster board from the dollar store

foam paint brush

paint maker

paint