Monday Made It: Trash to Treasure Edition

Summer Monday are happy days! It means time hours spent blog reading and pinning amazing ideas from other teachers! I love being surrounded by all the creativity! It just gets me in the mood to get my craft on! Thanks to Tara for hosting the fabulousness that is Monday Made It! 

Remember I was at the beach last week?! Since I didn't get back til late Thursday night there wasn't a lot of time to get crafty. BUT I had a big box of beautiful vinyl waiting on me when I got back and it was too tempting!

I bought this window at a flea market for $5. It was dirty, but otherwise in good shape. I shined it up and added some vinyl using my Silhouette Cameo. 

I'm challenging myself to use the Silhouette in new ways this summer. This was my first try at using more than one color of vinyl in a project and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. This also has to be one of the trickiest things I've ever taken a picture of, so please ignore the reflection of my laptop in the glass! 

I'm picky obsessive about things being straight, so this kind of project is always nerve wracking for me. I had to really do some big pep talks to get myself motivated for this one. Anyone else let needing perfection keep you from trying something? 

Monday Made It: Silhouette Fun and a Pillowcase

Happy Monday! It's certainly a happy one for me because I'm on my way to the beach!! It's been 12 years since I've been and I feel like a kid at Christmas! 

I'm linking up with Tara to share a few projects I've managed to squeeze in during my first full week of Summer break! 

After owning my Silhouette Cameo for over two years I finally decided it was time to try making some car decals. I loved how this one turned out! I have already ordered a big batch of vinyl and I can't wait to get started creating!

I also used the Silhouette and some full page labels to make stickers for my Erin Condren Life Planner. I'm really excited about all the possibilities with this! 

I dusted off the sewing machine and made this pillow case for a friend's little boy. 

That fabric was just too cute! This was also my first try at the burrito style pillow case and I was surprised at how easy it was! I'll definitely be making more of these this summer. 

My last made it has been on each picture in this post - a new watermark for my pictures. I used this fantastic tutorial from I Teach. What's your super power? 

It was very easy to follow and I love that I can add a watermark from my phone because that's what I use to take most of my pictures. If you need some blogging tips be sure to check out her site! 

Last Monday of the Summer {Monday Made It}

This is my last Monday off this summer. I go back to school on Thursday and the kiddos come back on August 6th. Yikes! I can't believe it's already time and I'm not quite ready yet. I've been working in overdrive to get through my long to-do list and that means I've been making some things, so I get to link up with Tara for this week's Monday Made It! 

I'm gonna spare you the very boring paperwork, tedious to-the-minute lesson plans, and copies I've made this week! I'm also still hoping there is a little classroom fairy that will be visiting me this week. If you see her please tell her I'm waiting....

I've been spending a lot of time in my classroom working on getting things in order. I've been using my Silhouette to cut out some bulletin board letters. 

This one will be for the display where students will store their brag tags. 

This one will go on a narrow little window on the door in my classroom. 

The font I used is my favorite bulletin board font of all times - MTF Jumpin' Jack. 

I am so excited about having the beginnings of my bulletin boards up. I have to share just a little sneak peak. 

Remember the rocking chair? I found the green cushion at Pier 1. 

I gave this little Back to School Freebie a face lift this week. 

Click on the picture to download it! This was one of my favorite activities to do with older kids on first day of school! 

And finally I have a home made it. 

I canned green beans! I think fresh green beans are the prettiest shade of green. Really, I think they should be their own paint color. Don't you?! It's just a happy color. 

These are gonna be so good when it's snowing outside! 

Rocking Chair and Brag Tags {Monday Made It}

It's a rainy Monday here in Virginia, so I'm using my time inside to catch up on some blog reading. I'm also linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for the fabulous Monday Made It linky! 

Ta da! The purple rocking chair is finished. I bought this chair for $30 at a craft show last fall, hauled it on a bus back to my car, and just stuck in the corner of my bedroom when I got it home. Sometimes I just have to let things sit and a plan will come to me. After I got word that I was moving from 4th to 1st this year I knew just what to do with this chair - paint it and move it to my classroom! 

The funniest part of this redo was the conversation I had with my husband. He was at work and knew I was painting the chair, but he had no idea what color. Here is what happened when he got home: 

Hubby: You sure did change the color of that chair. 

Me: Yup.

Hubby: Where are you planning on putting it? 

Me: In my classroom. 

Hubby: Good. 

Haha!! Bless his heart. He would've let me put that purple rocking chair back in our house, but I think he was kinda dreading the idea of looking at it every morning when he got up! 

I'm going with a bright color scheme in my room this year with green, blue, and purple as my main colors and some accents of orange and pink. It sounds good in my head, sometimes, I just hope it all comes together.

That brings me to needing some help from you. This chair needs a cushion. What color do you think I should use? I was hoping to find something orange?!

Can I count this as a MMI because I cut out these brag tags? Last week Miss Nelson posted about her new set of brag tags in a MMI post and I got so inspired. I'm looking for more ways to motivate my students and these cute little tags were the perfect fit. 

I used a tackle box from Bass Pro to hold the tags I'd printed and cut so far. I'm in love!! Look at that little bee how cute! I seriously want to make myself and necklace and just wear it around the house! If I'm this excited about it I can only imagine how my little firsties will feel about them. 

You can check out Miss Nelson's post about brag tags here and shop all her adorable brag tags in her TPT store.

So what have you been creating this week? Click the picture above to head over to Tara's blog and link up. Don't forget to leave me a comment with your suggestions to dress up my chair! 

Teacher Planner in a Discbound Notebook {Monday Made It}

It is a summer Monday for sure. I seem to be working in turtle speed, but at least I'm getting somewhere! I'm excited to link up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It. I've been a little slow with the making this summer, but I'm starting to catch up!

I finished my teacher binder/planner for the school year and I can't wait to show it to everyone! The calendar and other planning pages are from this Black and White Editable Teacher Binder set by Haley O'Connor. 

I've discovered discbound notebooks and they are this school supply lovers dream!! I have to stop myself from telling random, uninterested people about this notebook. I'm so glad I've got my teacher peeps here who like hearing about new notebooks as much as me! 

Just some random shots of the cover and some sections inside the notebook. The different sections are: 

Plans, Standards, Calendar, Student Info (parent contact info, contact log, student information sheets), My Info (logins and passwords, professional development log, etc.), Notes (from meetings, lined paper for lesson ideas) 

What is a Discbound notebook? The binding of the book is actually little discs. The pages are punched with a special hole punch and then they fit right over the grooves in those discs. You can add, remove, or rearrange the pages at any time - I love that!!  

The punches kinda look like little mushrooms and I may or may not have a lot of tiny mushrooms on the rug around my desk. The pages are surprisingly secure in the notebook. To get a page out of the book you start at the top and peel it down towards the bottom. I love that the pages can be moved around yet it is still more compact than a binder. 

Want to give discbound books a try? Here are three simple supplies you'll need to get started: 

Discs - the green discs on my notebook are 1" discs from Staples. Each letter sized notebook needs 11 discs.

Notebook shell or covers - my cover was customizable and came with 8 different inserts for the covers

Hole punch - I ordered a travel hole punch from Amazon. It only punches one sheet at a time, but it was much less expensive than the desk punches and I can carry it in my teacher bag. 

That's all you need to get started! The notebook shell I bought had 1/2" discs that I didn't use, so I already have enough materials to make another notebook if I want. I love all the options there are to customize these notebooks! The hole punch will punch card stock, so I see a lot of cover making projects in my future! 

Supplies can be purchased at Staples, Levenger, Amazon, Rollabind, and Etsy! 

Blast Off VBS Decorations {Monday Made It}

This is the 200th post on my little blog and I'm so excited that it happened on Monday Made It day because it is my all time favorite linky party!! 

Enough celebrating, time to get down to business with Miss Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics. 

This is my first time getting to link up for MMI this summer and I'm so excited because I get to share some snapshots from our VBS decorating. You'll have to forgive me for the poor picture quality. I was in such a rush trying to make sure I had all the supplies I needed yesterday and I forgot my camera. 

We always choose to make one big, focal piece for our decorations and this year we just knew it had to be a rocket. 

So how'd we do it? 

Tum-E Yummies, anyone? We were GIFTED these three drink displays and they made the perfect base for our rocket. We just assembled the displays, stacked them on top of each other, and used some duct tape to hold them in place. 

We added some silver wrapping paper to the front and red and yellow tissue paper around the bottom for the flames. For the top we used two pieces of red poster board taped together and cut out a cone. 

This was one of the easiest and least expensive decorating projects we've ever done. I love the way it turned out! 

Here is a shot of the stage area. We used gossamer from Oriental Trading to drape the back wall and then added some more stars from OT to finish it all off. 

Here is the view as soon as you come into the church. I just love all the twirly star and planet decorations we added.  

Remember those posters I had printed at Office Max? We used them downstairs to add a little color to the walls. We also used these really neat wall decals in the hallway and dining room downstairs. 

I thought someone might be interested in seeing what the packaging looked like. These came from Wal Mart and I think they'd be fantastic in a classroom!  I'm always getting classroom ideas when we decorate for VBS. 

What have you been creating? Link up with Tara so we can all hear about it! 

May Monday Made It

First off, let me just say that I made it a whole week without a computer!! That was an accomplishment and turned out to be a nice break. Break time is over, the computer is fixed, and I'm back in the blogging world to link up with 4th Grade Frolics!!

Remember that fabulous trip to DC I took a few weeks ago? And I took a trip to the Container Store *angels sing* well I found this little tote/box thingy and it was just what I'd been looking for!!

If my kiddos don't do their homework they take it outside on a clipboard and finish it during recess. I needed a way to keep all those papers, pencils, and clipboards together and this fit the bill. I also use it for library books on Fridays! 

Gotta love a little vinyl from the Silhouette!! 

At home I've been working on painting and decorating the island from last month's MMI. 

I've been hoarding some of these treasure for years just waiting for the right place and I've finally found it!! Yay!! 

Thanks, Dad!! 

What have you been making this month? 

Don't forget about the big TPT sale happening May 6 & 7. Click the button below to shop my store!!

Thanks to Jen Jones for the adorable graphic!