Tuesday, June 26, 2012

More crafting!

I've been working on more crafts for school, and a couple for home, too.  I'm having so much fun. For the first one I'm showing you, I was inspired by a pin similar to this on Pinterest.  I saw it on a Classroom Management board, and the pinner said she envisioned a board like this for her classroom for papers that have no name on them.  I thought, "Genius! I am SO doing that!", so I did it.  And it came out soooo cute!  See??

Is this not adorable??  What a great idea!  I had TONS of papers without names while teaching 1st grade, but I'm hoping I'll have less of that in 4th.  But I have such a cute board to use in case there are any. :)  Now I won't have to say over and over, "Who's paper is this?" "This paper doesn't have a name on it", "so-and-so, I don't have your paper; is one of these yours?"  I'll just stick the paper on this board and tell the students they need to check the board for their papers.  Of course, I will start this procedure at the beginning of the school year.  I'm so excited!  I love this idea!

How I made it: I had the board ($4.99 from, where else? Hobby Lobby) in a closet for a long time, not knowing what to do with it.  It was just plain white, and I intended on using it somehow in my home decor.  But I never could think of a good idea for it.  Until now! 

I found the adorable letters in the spray paint/wallpaper section of Walmart for 97 cents a sheet!!!  Can't beat that deal.  They are stick-on.  Then I added a strip of left over wrapping paper that I've been using on my Mod Podge projects to it, painted some clothes pins, and hot-glued them on. Super easy and ADORABLE!!!! 

The second thing I got finished today is a board for students to "sign out" when they leave the room.  I was inspired by this pin , and took it a little bit further.  I am not sure if I am really done with it or not--I may end up adding some polka dots to it or something.  I have a cute arrow that I am going to add to it after I get it in the classroom and see where I am going to put it.  Which direction the arrow goes will be determinded by where I put it in my room.  (I want the arrow to point to the door.)  Anyway, here it is:

 It is BIG.  I am hoping there will be a good place near the door for it. (Remember, I am moving to a new room, so I am not very familiar with the layout yet.)  The arrow is going to go right under the words.  I am not sure if it needs polka dots or not. What do you think?  I love it, though.  This way I will know where every student is all the time (I have a bad memory!).  Then, in case of an emergency drill or whatever, I can glance at it and make sure I know where everybody is and who they should be with.  The yellow board is a heavy piece of plywood, approx. 4x3 ft.  It was left over from a project my hubby was working on.  Already framed out on the sides and everything.  So I confiscated it  asked him if I could have it.  ;)  I painted it yellow, which took several coats.  I had the three frames in the middle (I didn't do anything to them--they looked this way when I bought them) in a closet forever, not knowing what to do with them.  But they were so cute, so I had to buy them.  And let them sit in a closet. Cuz that's how I roll.

I also had the outer two frames in a closet, but one was black and one was gold, so I painted them and added the bows.  I used a white paint pen to write the words on them.  The pink one is our "pull out" teachers' names.  I wracked my brain for a couple of weeks to make sure I wasn't forgetting a major "out of the room" place, and I could only come up with these.  I hope I didn't forget anything major!

I broke the stands off the back of the frames and hot glued them to the board.  I staggered them 1) because I liked it better that way, 2) (the main reason) because I can't do anything in a straight line, lol, and 3) because the frames were not all the same size.  The 3 in the middle are 4x6's and the two on the ends are 5x7's.  But with them staggered, you can't really tell. :-)

For the background of each frame, I simply cut out a plain white piece of paper to the right size and put them inside.  The students will use a dry-erase marker to write their names on the appropriate "boards" when they are ready to leave the room.  Another fabulous piece of organization!  I love it!

**Update (7/2/12) on the "I'm Outta Here!" board: the hot glue did not hold! So hubby gave me some Liquid Nails type stuff to try.  It didn't hold, either!  I was getting frustrated, so I pulled out my Gorilla Glue that I've used before.  I hesitated to use it because it has always spread and squeezed out past where I put it when dried, and I was left with a clumpy mess.  But I tried it anyway.  And it held! :)  But it also squeezed out! :(  So now I have clumpy gunk to try to figure out how to get rid of.  Ugh.

And just for the fun of it, I'll add in the two home crafting projects I've done:

 (I know the color quality of this pic is terrible, sorry.)  When I first made it last summer, this is what I came up with.  I wasn't too thrilled with it, plus it didn't really go well anywhere in my house.  So, it too, went in a closet.  I brought it out this week when I was doing my other crafts and ....







added these flowers!  It made such a big difference!  I really like it now.  The colors match my bathroom, so I hung it up in there.  And although nothing else in there is zebra--it's all French country--I love it in there!






One other thing I've been working on is this:


The R is my hubby's initial and the J is mine.  They are thin wood letters (the & sign is a lot thicker than the letters) that I found at Hobby Lobby.  I had the canvas from another project and I painted over it with some leftover paint.  Gorgeous color--Valspar Deep Blue Sea.  Then painted the letters brown.  The colors match my bedroom colors.  Not sure where I am going to put it, but I'll find a spot!  I am not quite done with it yet, though.  I am going to find smaller wood numbers for the year we got married, paint them, too, and add them to the bottom left corner.  I love it!

I've been having so much fun crafting this summer.  It feels so good to be productive instead of just sludging it around all summer.  I can work a little when I want to, and relax when I want to.  It's perfect!  I've got many more ideas running around in my head, so who knows what I'll come up with next!

16 comments:

  1. I love the no name sign idea! I'm going to have to do that in my classroom. I teach 5th and there are still several kids who never write their name on their papers.

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  2. Ilove your no name sign...its one of those lil naggin teacher things,,,so this would help save the day.

    the zebra print is nice as well. the flower defininately made the difference.

    also really like the im outta here.....KEEP CRAFTING

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  3. No name sign is "going viral" on pinterest! Such a great idea! I am a new follower.

    Laurie
    Chickadee Jubilee

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  4. Like the others I love the no name sign. I am just starting 1st grade this fall after 6 years as a sped preschool teacher. I am very excited. Good luck in your new grade level too!

    Terri
    first-tastic.blogspost.com

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  5. I stayed up late last night and made my own "No Name" sign. I have a black/white/pops of yellow theme going on and went with that. I love it! Thanks for the idea! I'm a new follower!!

    Now I've got to decide how I want to make my own "I'm Outta Here" sign. Love the creativity of yours!

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  6. I LOVE your no-name sign. I saw it pinned on Pinterest and had to come check out your blog (I started following you, too). I'm adding this project to my ever-growing to-do list. I'll be sure to post a pic on my blog once the project is finished. Stop by for a visit at my blog sometime :)
    Storie
    Stories by Storie

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  7. I love the no-name board, and I am completely inspired by it! I am a new blogger, and recent follower of your blog. I gave you a shout-out over on mine!

    www.msgingrade3.blogspot.com

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  8. Love this "no name" craft idea!!! I'm heading out to Michael's and plan on snagging the materials to make my own!

    Dana

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  9. How can I send you a picture of the no name board that I made? Awesome things on your blog!

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    1. Just click the blue email button up at the top right and you can send it that way! Or, you can post it on my Facebook page (pink button on top right). I'd love to see it!

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  10. Very cute!! Love your "No Name" board. How did you paint your clothespins?

    Thank you!

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    1. I just used craft paint and hand-painted them. I've since seen on Pinterest where you can use Rit dye to dye a bunch of them at a time, which would be easier, but since I only needed one of each color, hand-painting worked for me. Thanks for commenting!

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  11. What kind of board did you buy for your no name sign?

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    1. It is just a small board I found at Hobby Lobby! I've had it for several years. It just sat in a closet until I got this idea. I'm sorry I can't give you more direction than that! You could really use any type of board or other surface for one. Search for No Name Board on Pinterest and you'll see several different kinds!

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