Back to School Gifts

I love the excitement of Back to School time.  I love to shop.  I love to make things.  And I love to give gifts.  Roll all of that into one and what do you get?  Back to School gifts for my co-teachers!  I made them a cute pencil cup out of a tin can (from a can green beans, corn, or whatever other veggie you eat for dinner), some hot-glued crayons and ribbon, and a gerber daisy.  Super cheap, super easy, and super cute!  Add a few bright neon pencils tied with a string, plus a cute graphic someone else made, and you've got instant gifts!  So easy!

 

 

The graphic says "#2 pencils for a #1 teacher" (in case you can't read it).  I hope my co-teachers like them!

 

 

I'm also linking this post up with Tara today!  Click the button below to check out what everyone else has been up to!  Thanks, Tara!

 



Truffula Trees!

I love all things Dr. Seuss.  I ran across a tutorial on how to make Truffula trees (from The Lorax) sometime last year.  I pinned it but never got around to making one.  I usually don't have the time and/or energy to craft during the school year, so projects get done in the summer.  Well, with less than two weeks left before I go back to school, I decided to give 'em a go.  I love how they turned out!  Ta-da!

They were pretty simple to make, too!  I got the yellow planters at Walmart for $2.97 each.  I added polka dots using acrylic craft paints and a round foam brush. 

The sticks are actually tree limbs from my (neighbor's) yard!  We have pecan trees and are constantly having limbs blown down in storms.  To get them to stay standing up in the planters, first I put a thick layer of dirt from my yard (helps absorb the water from the p of p-->), then I used plaster of paris (found at Lowes for $5.98), mixed according to the directions on the box.  I used 4 cups of plaster for each one.  It said that it needs to set for 24 hours, but it was stable enough for me to start painting them in about 2 hours.  Again, I just used acrylic craft paints and a foam brush.  They needed about 3 coats of each color to be completely covered.

For the top fluffy parts, I used an 8'' Styrofoam ball (ridiculously expensive @ $12.94 a piece!!) and a feather boa ($4.98 each).  I found both at Walmart.  I just started wrapping the boa around the ball and pinning it every so often with straight pins.  I did have to adjust and readjust to get it to cover well.  (Don't try to use hot glue or you will get a gunked up, grody feathered mess). 

Then I just shoved the bottom of the balls down on the top of the tree limb!  Nothing to it!  I added pom poms (also from Wally World: I think they were $3.97 for 100, various sizes) at random places on the sticks just because I felt like it.  Then I got a chevron plastic tablecloth (97 cents from Walmart) to add to the planters to finish them off.  The tablecloth was just chevron on the sides with a white middle, so I just cut it and used one side for each planter.  You could use fabric, rocks, or whatever else you like.

And that's all she wrote!  Super easy and super cute!  I love 'em!  I know my kiddos are gonna get a kick out of them this year!

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Monday, July 29: I've linked up with Tara for Monday Made It!  Click the graphic below to see all the other great projects out there!  Thanks, Tara!

And almost a year later....I'm still alive

Oh my gosh, y'all, it has been almost exactly a year to the day (5 days short!) since I last blogged!  Wow!  I started my blog in June last year, and posted all of the crafts I was creating for my (then new-to-me) 4th grade classroom.  But once I got done with my crafts, I really didn't know what else to say!  Haha!  And then school started, and you all know what that means!  Total craziness!

I fully intended to post pictures of my classroom after I got it ready last August, but then things got so busy that I never got around to it.  And I fully intended to blog about my first year in 4th grade, but as you can see, that never happened either!  I've looked at my blog a few times over the last year, and I almost even decided to delete it, because I just didn't have the energy to add anything to it.  But then I thought about the pics of things I've made that are on Pinterest, and how they would be deleted if I did that, so I decided not to.  But I still didn't have the energy to do more to it.  So here it has been sitting for nearly a year.

So....how've ya been? ;)  I guess I may end up just being a "summer blogger". Haha.  Who knows.  Maybe now that I've gotten a year of 4th under my belt, I'll have more time and energy to focus on blogging?  I guess we'll see.

But I'm back today to show you another craft!  (What else?)  Today I made a school supply cake that I saw on Pinterest.  I followed the tutorial at The Butlers blog.  I love how it turned out!  It is so cute!  Seeeeee???

 

 

I just love it!  I am going to be making something else fun for my room tomorrow!  Stay tuned!

New Freebie added

I just created a new freebie based on this pin on Pinterest.  Go to my Freebies page to check it out!  Here's what it looks like:

Leave me some comment love to let me know you were here! :)

Update to the "I'm Outta Here" board

If you've read the update to my "I'm Outta Here" board that I made yesterday (you can read the original post and the update added here), you know that I messed up that board with Gorilla Glue.  Here's a sample of the mess:

It was everywhere.  I was so mad.  I let it sit there for several days before I decided to do anything about it, because I knew it would not be an easy fix.  Today, I finally decided to tackle it.  After trying to cut away most of the seeped out glue with scissors and a knife, I was left with chipped paint and remnants of glue.  I didn't know what to do.  I decided to try to make borders around the frames that got messed up with ribbon, but wouldn't work well and would require a lot more gluing.  So I went with duct tape.  I had searched and searched for polka dot duct tape everywhere locally and couldn't find any.  I was frustrated by that because there are some projects I wanted to use it on.  But Saturday I scored at a Walmart about 30 minutes away.  I bought 4 rolls.  Then my husband told me today that he saw some at our local Walmart today. *sigh*  Of course.  It would happen that way.  Anyway....

After a while of dealing with it, this is what I came up with.  I added some polka dots to it, too, because I thought it was just too plain before.  So here's the finished product (minus the arrow to be added once I get it to school) :

So, what do you think of it now?

I just figured out permalinks!

It took a while, and several Google searches, but I finally got a good explanation of how to make permalinks more prominent.  Right now, if you have clicked on one of my current pins from Pinterest, they take you just to my Home page and you have to scroll down to find what you are looking for.  Sorry about that!  (I'm learning as I go!)  BUT, now that I have figured out permalinks, I have tried to make things a bit easier for you.  If you will go to either "Classroom Crafts", "Freebies", or "Tutorials" in my links up at the top, you can find what you are looking for much more easily.  From now on I know how to pin things so that it will take you only to that one post instead of the Home page.  No more scrolling forever!  You're welcome! :)

QR codes: My 1st Monday Made It Link Up!

This is my first link up to another blog and I am so excited!  This blogging thing is so much fun!  I made the following last night, and then was looking at some other posts on Facebook and the 4th Grade Frolics website, so I thought I would add this in!  I hope you like it and hope you come back and visit often!  You can become a follower down at the bottom of my page! :)  Thanks for stopping by!


I just got through creating a QR code for Open House.  I will hang it outside my door and parents can scan it with their smart phones.  It will link them directly to my school webpage.  This is the coolest thing ever! (Well, until the next coolest thing I find! haha)  I'm so excited.  Here's what it looks like:

So cool! 
Now, to make your own, follow these steps:

• Go to http://www.qrstuff.com/
• Open your school webpage in another browser window
• Right-click on the address in the address bar and click copy
• Back on the qrstuff site, there are 4 steps, but they are super easy!
• 1) is already done for you (Data Type: Website URL is already selected.).
• 2) Content: right-click in the box and click paste. There are two buttons below that--you don't need to do anything there.  Move on. :)
• 3) You don't need to do anything here, either, unless you want to change the color.  I wouldn't.  Move on.
• 4) Here's where you choose what to do with your code once it's created.  If you choose print, it only gives you options for multiple images, so I wouldn't choose print.  I chose download.  then you can save it to your computer, and then create a page like I did above.

Simple, easy, and fun!  And your new parents and students will think you are so hip!

If you need any help with it, please feel free to email me!  I LOVE TECHNOLOGY!!

Update 7/21/12: I'm also linked up with Jen at Teaching and Tech!  Click the button below to see more technology link ups!  Thanks, Jen!