Five for Friday

It cannot really be Friday already. Seriously. Where did summer go? Last Friday before our teacher in-services start on Tuesday...waaah! 

I guess the best part of it being Friday is that it's time to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for another Five for Friday...woot, woot!

I know, I know...I've already mentioned at least fifty times that I got my wisdom teeth pulled on Tuesday. I swear, last time...well, maybe. It was a really big deal for me though. I was TERRIFIED to have it done and have been putting it off for at least a decade! But in all seriousness....

...no really...I don't have time for this!  

Finally got these darling babies in the mail. 

They're beautiful and I love them. The little blue one has adorable little cups in the middle to store your goodies. They're both from Copernicus Educational Products. 

I wrote out cards to my new students. I included a folded up a page from an activity book, 2 strips of stickers and this adorable card from Sarah's First Grade Snippets. Thanks Sarah for the freebie!!

Hung up these cutie patooties today. Another fabulous purchase from the lovely Cara Carroll. 

Sneak peak at a Monday Made It...if I ever actually get it linked up. I swear I've been making things folks...the linking up is another story. 

Monday Made It- Ruffle Bags

Today I'm linking up with Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics for another Monday Made It. 

 

Wahooo, that's two in a row. Unfortunately, this is related to school 0%. But, I was so proud I just had to share. 

My dear friend has the cutest twins who just turned 6 and I made them these ruffle bags. Matching, but not matchy-matchy if you know what I mean :)

 

They're the same size, the picture on the left is just closer up. The one on the left is the one I did first. I definitely had to work out some kinks when I made that one. The one on the right was much quicker and a tad straighter. Good thing little girls don't notice stuff like that!

Here's a link to the Pin that inspired this fun little project. 

And here's why I was not able to get anything school related (or otherwise) all week long...well except for my sewing project which took me about one long ol' nap time to complete: 

 

My niece and nephew (the two on the right) came to visit for the week. So it was me all day by myself with a 10, 7, 4, and 3 year old. Oh. My. Word. And that's all I have to say about that. 

And after the first poopy diaper {yuck!} I had the brilliant idea to potty train my nephew. Good thing he was totally ready for it and it was the easiest potty training ever!

 

 

 Doesn't he look so happy! 

Now run along and check out all of the other amazing link ups for this week's Monday Made It. 

And don't forget to come back for the next post in my Mega Management series. 

Monday Made It

Okay, so today is my FIRST Monday Made It of the summer. I cannot believe I just typed that!

 

Before you read on too far here is my disclaimer: No paints, glue, glitter, Mod Podge, frames, ribbons, crates, stamps, fancy stickers, magnets, sequins, burlap or fabric of any other kind were used in the making of any of these "Monday Made Its". 

Ugh. I cannot believe I just typed that either!

Ok, so nothing that I made is extremely "pinteresting" or even pin inspired...well, except for one thing...BUT,  I worked hard on these little projects (I have the aching fingers to prove it!) and above all they were made with L-O-V-E love which in my mind qualifies this post as Monday Made It material. 

Without further ado...my first (and possibly only) Monday Made It of summer 2013:

This first one was something I pinned oh so long ago from First Grade Glitter and Giggles:

 

I tried to make mine a little smaller and a bit more 3rd grade friendly. Thanks to My Cute Graphics for the darling images I used.   

Here's where the aching fingers begin...

I typed 322 high frequency syllables that I'm going to use for a word study program I'm implementing this year (more on that in a future post). 

But it didn't stop there. 

Not only did I have to type all those words, I had to cut out 322 flash cards, laminate all the flash cards (and I can't really take credit for that...huge shout out and many hugs to Karen in my school office who totally rocks and did it for me), then cut all 322 out again! 

 

So sad to think of how long it took to fill that tiny little Ziploc....

As if that wasn't enough punishment for my fingers, I cut and laminated these two activities also.

 Check out that stack! Can I get an "ouch" from anyone out there!?

Update: These poke cards are from Flapjack Educational Resources. 

Click HERE to get them free. 

I love that it's a self checking activity and it was a freebie I found last summer. I just can't remember who I got it from. 

 

UPDATE: It was a flash freebie from Hooty's Homeroom,
but you can still purchase it from her TpT store by clicking here.

I can't remember where this one came from either...YIKES. Anyone have a way for managing this stuff. My brain can't hold all the information. It's amazing that I even remember my own children's names any more! (If either activity belong to you please let me know so I can link up appropriately!)

And yes, those are frosting cans. I actually had this printed last summer, but it took me that long to remember to save those stinkin' cans. I remember that being a suggestion on the blog I found this on...I think...either way it's so clever, huh.

 

This is a huge pile of all the things I need to start my Multiplication and Division Boot Camp from 3 Teacher Chicks. I know I didn't really "make" this, but that was a lot of copying, cutting, and paper clipping. It just feels so darn good to share something I've checked from the To Do List! And...I also copied all of my Bible tests and spelling pattern take home pages for the year...glad I could sneak that one in at the end ;o)

Head on over to Fourth Grade Frolics and see what everyone else has been up to this week.

Monday Made It: Pendant Banner

Another link up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for a Monday Made It. 

This week: Pendant Banners. 

So much easier than my filing cabinet makeover that you can read about here. 

Working backwards, here is my finished banner. (Sorry the picture is not that great.)

 

Not sure that I love it there, but we'll see. I might put it across the windows.

Anyways, here's how I did it.

First, I made a template out of some thin cardboard I had from the packaging of some scrapbook pages.  

 

Keeping the fabric folded in half, I used a washable fabric pen to trace the template on the fabric.  

 

I cut through both layers of the fabric at once. 

 

 

I piled up all of my triangles according to color and kept them in pairs with wrong sides together. 

 

I tried pinning the ribbon in half, but the ribbon was too narrow. It was easier to fold it as I fed it through the machine. I only sewed across the ribbon, not down the sides of the triangles. I figured since it was going to be hanging it didn't matter much. I used some liquidy stuff (used to prevent fraying) on a few areas that looked like they might be prone to fraying. 

 

And that's all folks. It was a pretty quick and painless Monday Made It. Can't wait to see what you're linking up!

File Cabinet Makeover

Time for another link up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics and boy is it a biggie! If you've never linked up with her, you need to right away. Well...not right this very second. Finish your reading here and then go link up {smiles}.

 

This week's Monday Made It was inspired by this awesome project I pinned a few months ago. You can check out her steps here.

After reading her post, I thought, no problem. I can do this. I don't have the time right now to do bargain hunting, so I thought I'd ask Mrs. T (our Vice Principal) if she would mind me making over the filing cabinet in my class. She said YES! 

So, last week I went to the school and took out all the drawers and gave it a fresh coat of paint.

 And this weekend the drawers got papered. I'm proud to present my newly made over filing cabinet!

 

Easy right? 

WRONG!! This was a nightmare of a project. I don't want to discourage anyone from trying so here are some things I learned to make your project go much more smoothly.

#1. Choose a filing cabinet that you are 100% sure that all of the hardware on the front will easily come off and go back on. 

Let's just say I didn't do this and that the husband had to get involved with drills and that now one cabinet has a "no longer working" knob hot glued on. 

#2. Spray paint in light coats. 

Do one light coat, let it dry a bit, go back and do another and repeat until you have it covered. I tried covering the thing in one coat which resulted in drips, which resulted in me attempting to fix said drips, which resulted in the necessity of that side having to be placed up against a wall to avoid any embarrassment.

#3. Be an expert Mod Podger before attempting. 

I used a coat of spray adhesive to get the paper to stick. The first drawer bubbled like crazy so I ran to get my Pampered Chef scraper and that only helped minimally. 

I thought maybe I didn't let the spray adhesive dry enough so I waited. I noticed ripples coming up on all the other drawers that hadn't been Mod Podged yet.  Uggh! Frustration level climbing. I reapplied spray adhesive, used the scraper to make sure the paper was really flat and let it dry. The Mod Podge despite my extra efforts. Boo on Mod Podge!

Since I had cut my paper slightly smaller than the face of the cabinet (I didn't wrap it like the one I pinned) I really only needed a seal along the edges. So that's all I did on the other drawers and they came out much better.

Whew! I'm glad that's over. 

After all that work I'm only okay with how it came out. I wish I hadn't done green. I had originally thought about doing blue or pink, but wanted something to pop more. The green sure does, but not so much in the way I had hoped. 

I think I'd be happier with the result if I had skipped the Mod Podge. I always hear about people using Mod Podge, but after this project I just think it stinks! A lot of people mention the bubbling. Why are we still using this stuff?!

Here's what I'd love to know:

What projects have you done with Mod Podge?

Were they successful or did you find yourself frustrated 

(or is that just me)?

What types of projects are best suited for Mod Podge?

What are your top tips for a successful Mod Podge project?

and last but not least, the question on everyone's mind:

How do we avoid the bubbles?!

My First Monday Made It: Teacher Toolbox

Apparently I cannot get my act together, because I have been attempting to get in the swing of this Monday Made It business over at 4th Grade Frolics and just haven't been able to make it happen. 

Why I chose this week to jump in is beyond me! Not only do I have two of my own kiddos and two brand new puppies I'm trying to potty train, I also have one Mother-in-Law (Who, by the way, I adore! Big {hugs} to all you awesome MIL's!), a 9 year old niece, and a very busy 2 year old nephew visiting. Welcome to the crazy house!


And if all that wasn't enough my stinkin' printer was going bezerk all afternoon. This is why it's nearly 11pm and I have just finished my Monday Made It. 

Teacher toolboxes have been floating around on Pinterest forever now so I am probably the last teacher on earth who hadn't made one, but nonetheless I was still very excited about my project.

I started with some scrapbooking paper, vellum, some paper ribbons from Creative Memories, and adhesives. 

I printed my titles on vellum instead of on the printed scrapbook paper. (Mrs. Rojas over at Create-Teach-Share has some great how-to tips for printing right on to the scrapbook paper.) I loved the polka-dots but didn't want the words to get completely lost by printing right on that paper. I thought the vellum might help break it up a bit.  

 
Next it was time to trim my paper. I cut 14 pieces that were 1 and 1/4" x 2" and 8 pieces that were 2 and 1/8" x 4 and 1/4". 

 
After I had my pieces cut, I stuck on my titles, added a little flair with the paper ribbons and clip art, and....TA-DA...

Now the pressure is really on for next week. Yikes!


If you want to join in head over to 4th Grade Frolics, grab the Monday Made It button and get busy!