Monday Made It!!!

Projects, Projects and More Projects!

Linking up for my Monday Made It!!!!

This weekend my husband and my oldest daughter were out of town so I took full advantage and tried to knock out lots of projects. In the grand scheme of things I feel like I have a very long way to go but ultimately I am proud of what I accomplished.  So here we go....

Project #1 Back to School Resources

I added a page to my blog that shows a few back to school books and activities I use. My hope is that as you check out the site you add a comment of a book/activity that you use for back to school or team building! 

Project #2 Finished Clipboards

I finally finished my clipboards, okay actually one of them is a brand new one I just made this weekend. I followed my own advice from my earlier blog and it turned out much better this time! I even added glitter to my Mod Podge and I super love it! Especially out in the sunlight! 

Speaking of putting them in the sunlight...I had these drying on my back upper deck and accidentally  locked myself out of my house when I went to get them. :( Let me explain how truly terrifying this was to me. As I said, my husband was out of town and I didn't have my phone on me. I am now locked 10 feet (or more) up in the air with no one around and no phone. My precious little three month old was asleep just inside! I started freaking out almost immediately as my mind began running through options.

Option #1 - Drop off of the deck (this could quite possibly break my legs)

Option # 2 - Break the double paned glass (I'm probably not strong enough to do this and a broken arm will make it very hard to lower myself to drop off of the deck)

Option # 3 - Scream for help! (We have only lived here a week, I don't know anyone and I never see anyone out during the day)

Option # 4 - Break the whole dang door! 

I chose...

Option 4!!!!!!!!!!! Yep I broke the whole door and then I sat with my baby and cried like a MANIAC!

So at any rate, these clipboards will hold a very special memory/lesson! I will forever leave the deck door (newly fixed) open, and will take my phone out with me every time! 

Project # 3 Sweet Rewards Classroom Management System

I got this idea from Tara over at Fourth Grade Frolics She's not sure where she got the idea so I'm just giving her the credit. LOL! Anyway I loved this idea. I made the cupcakes but haven't bought the pan yet to display them. Here's how it works...students will receive a magnetic cupcake on the pan when they receive a compliment as an entire group. When the baking pan is filled they will get a "sweet" reward. Since my district isn't big on actual sweets, the reward will be "sweet" in the sense of being TOTALLY AWESOME! I love using positive reinforcement in my class and I hope this inspires my kids to be on their best behavior! 

Project # 4 Welcome Kit

I got this idea from Heidi over at Living.Dreaming.Teaching! I love the idea of having a welcome kit on their desks when they come in. I found some super cute items to put in it at Walmart in the dollar bin so that makes it even better!!!

Sorry it's not the best picture! Anyway you can buy these at Heidi's teachers pay teachers account if you don't want to make your own! Now I just need to put them all together! 

Final Project - Bow Holders

So I kind of have a bow infatuation! My daughter has a million bows and they were all just stuffed in a drawer. I found these adorable letters at Hobby Lobby, glued some ribbon to them and voila!!!!

It looks way cuter in person! 

So those are my projects not including all the half finished ones! :) All in all I'd say it was a good weekend! (other than the whole deck experience!) I can't wait to hear your comments and don't forget to check out the Back to School Resources to leave your back to school ideas! I'd love some new things to try!!

Okay...the diapers are changed, the dishes are done now it's on to my wish list. Ha!! Where to begin?! First of all I guess I should say I WISH my WISH list was much shorter since we are just a week and half away from August! I was just reading over on Heather's blog at Heather's Hearts and started thinking about all the things I want to accomplish and why I do what I do.  She's exactly right! We do all these things to make our classrooms look amazing because it's who we are! Do I expect any compliments on it from my students? Nope! Do I hope my co-workers compliment me? You bet!! LOL! At any rate...I am so grateful to all the bloggers out there that not only are you willing to put the time and effort into making your classrooms amazing, but that you are willing to share it with the rest of us.
Okay, now that I've got that out of my system I want to share a couple of projects I made and give some tips that I learned along the way. First of all let me just tell you that I am the most anti-crafiest person you'll ever meet. I have all these dreams and images in my head of what my project will turn out to be and it NEVER turns out.  I like to take short cuts for one thing and I don't have much patience or time (with my two sweet babies always at my feet)! So...anyway here they are...

Ta-Dah! My clipboard!!! (minus the ribbon at the top)

Okay so these have been floating all around the world of blogs so I have no actual idea where the idea originated. I do know that I've seen teachers in my very own building toting these things around and always wanted one.  HOWEVER...Some words of advice. One cut your paper shorter than the board so that there are pieces of the board left around all edges. I wrapped my paper around the whole darn thing and I'm fairly curtain that my paper will not last long due to this. My advice would be to paint your clipboard (at least the edges) so that when you put your paper down the paint just shows around the edges and this will make the top metal part much easier to deal with! It will also help with not having to try to line up the paper the way I did since I wrapped it from front to back :( Oh well! I am at least proud that I learned how to do this in first place!

Second.....

Glitter Clothespins!!!

I'm starting in a new district and trying to win the hearts of the building engineers ;)! JK!! Anyway, the theme for my room this year is black and white with pops of bright teals, greens and pinks! So far all I've done are silver and black clothespins. However, I do have some words of advice for these as well. Number 1- Get the finest glitter you can find. My silver are far prettier than my chunky black just due to the fact that the glitter is finer. It also seems to dry better. I simply painted the front with mod podge and dip it into glitter. Voila! My other piece of advice for these is...I sprayed mine with an acrylic type spray. Great idea! But I bought flat and it made my clothespins FAR less shiny :(! BOOO!! At any rate I am not sure where I saw this either, but it is not my idea either. I do a lot of what I call "Brain Borrowing" :) While I am curtain most of you have already created your own clothespins and clipboards I thought I'd share my experience! Tee-hee! Now I'm off to do laundry and snuggle my 12 week old baby boy! :) 

Alright, since I am new at this I am going to try to link up for my first Made It Monday (even though today is Tuesday) with the  4th Grade Frolics page. I have been following this blog this summer and have fallen in love with it. So for my first Made it Monday activity I have made this blog! The more I play with it the more I love it. So now...my fellow bloggers I have a few questions??? I have several projects I have been working on but don't have a color printer in order to finish them. I am wondering what is the best solution to this problem? 1. Go out and buy a decent color printer? 2. Send them off to a site that prints them for me? If you suggest choice number 2...please specify a site you'd recommend and why. Thanks in advance for all your advice!