Vista Print Goodies

Did you purchase the Vista Print Groupon?  I bought the one that was $17 for $70 worth of stuff...I hear there is another one out there for $20 that is worth $80 in merchandise. 

I will forewarn you, however, that unless you end up purchasing more, they tack on like $40 worth of shipping.  However, if you spend another $25, then shipping is free.  So, instead of the extra shipping cost, I decided to add $25 more to my cart and get free shipping.  So, what you will see below I got for about $32.  I think it is worth it in the end.  It was a huge headache that I kept putting off for weeks.  Now that I feel like I {somewhat} know what I am doing, I will definitely order from Vista Print again. 

I'm linking up with Christina at Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge to bring you all of my creations.  

I first learned of ordering from Vista Print for my classroom from the one and only Stephanie (Teaching in Room 6).  I love all of her ideas.  Like every.single.one.  Seriously.  She even has a tab for her Vista Print creations.

Several of my purchases are mirrors of some of the things she's made before. 

Here's one inspired by her:

This was a large postcard.  On the front is a message greeting my students on the first day.  On the back is a survey for them to complete telling me a little bit about themselves. 

Here's a birthday card inspired by her, too:

Again, that was a postcard.


One last item directly inspired by Stephanie was this:

That is a notepad that is about 4x6, maybe?  I got 2 of them in the order.
 Next up:

Love my car door magnet.  It is hanging above my agenda board.  {Room pictures to come soon :)}

My next item I saw on Pinterest.  However, when I clicked on it to find the source, it was a dead link.  If it was your idea orginally, please let me know.  I'd love to give you credit, because this stinkin' rocks:

 

I got two sets of homework passes.  You can never have enough homework passes:

I can never have enough labels for my books:

 These were return address labels.

And, if I run out of those, I got this stamp (for free):

The only thing I don't like about this stamp is that it is teeny tiny.  Like only about 1 1/2 inches wide.  Oh well...it's free :)

My next item is, I think, going to be my favorite.  They are sticky notepads that I made for my math small groups:

The numbers are for a rubric of mine about how the student is progressing.  I'm not sure why the last line doesn't show that it goes all the way to the edge, but it does.

I got some round stickers to put on my back to school treat bags.  These are cute:

I also have a matching business card magnet that goes with this pattern.  I'm not posting that for obvious reasons :)

Finally, a few more free items:

I'm going to put that Happy Birthday bumper sticker above my birthday board display. 

So, there you have it...all my Vista Print Loot.  Love it all!  My momma came in and helped me in my classroom and saw all of my loot.  I think she was a little jealous.  Maybe I'll order some stuff for her for all of the hard work she's been putting into my classroom.  I'd also have to do this for Sarah (my daughter) because she's been helping, too.

If you've ordered from Vista Print lately, go on over to Christina's blog and link up.  I'm sure I'm going to find a reason to get that other Groupon :)

Monday Made It...Love Ya, Tara :)

First off....big Cyber Hugs to my friend, Tara.  She's the best and so encouraging!!  Just wanted to send a warm (((cyber hug))) to her. 

How busy have you been this week? 

For me, not too busy with crafty things.  We sent our French friend home yesterday and we were trying to squeeze as much fun into her last few days as possible.

Here are the few things that I made.

Well, this one was actually mostly made by my momma.  She's the best, y'all.  I don't know what I'd do without her. 

The only other thing that I can remember that I created for this week was a chore chart for my kiddos at home.  Now, this chart looks like we make them do everything. We do.  Don't judge.

I'm kidding.  We supervise.

Anyway, that's it for now.  I've been busy trying to get my house back in order after taking the month off to goof off with our visitor.  Back to business now. 

I'm sorry for the lack of educational posts lately.  It looks like all I do is shop and craft.  I promise that as we get closer to the start of school, things will get better.  I've read and learned a lot this summer that I am ready to share. 

See you soon :)

Fabulous Find Friday~ Week 5

Hi everyone,
I'm heading out to the Georgia Aquarium today with my daughter and our friend from France.  She leaves tomorrow to go home after being here since July 1st.  We've had a wonderful time while she was here.  Sarah, my darling daughter, gets to go to France next year to stay with her family for a month.  This has been a wonderful experience ;)

Do you have a fabulous find to share?

Grab the picture above and link up your finds....

Here's my fabulous find.

Now, let me tell you why I chose to buy these suckers. 

I know you have all been inspired (Pinspired) by all of these beautiful crates that everyone is making.-Just like Ginger's below:

But here was my theory:

But the time I buy the crate, the wood, the foam, the fabric and the blood, sweat and tears...I've spent the $20 that the one above cost me.  Right?  I'm sad that mine aren't customized, but I've got so much going on in my room that has been crafted by me, that I can sit back on this one, right?

The storage ottoman, by the way, came from Hobby Lobby (no doubt).  It was originally $39.99, but you know I bought it when it was 50% off.  I bought 6 of them.  I know that was a lot to spend on chairs for my guided math table, but, they look good and they fit my classroom.

I'm investing.  At least that's what I'm reminding myself as I am getting my room ready.  I won't have to do another over-haul for at least 5 more years.

OK, link up your fabulous finds below :)

Winners :)

Earlier this week when I was sharing my Monday Made Its, I offered my pennants to 5 winners. 

I was supposed to announce it last night.  Whoops:)

Here you go:

Congratulations to:

Martha Craft (Please email me...I don't have your email.)

Michelle

Mrs. Sheehan

Constance

Lindsay Topolewski (Please email me...I don't have your email.)

If you didn't win, it's in my TPT store for only $2.50 ;)

Happy Thursday!

See you tomorrow for Fabulous Find Friday.

Monday, what? {And a Giveaway}

You know what-what....

Linking up with my girl, Tara.  Love her :)

She has really kept me busy this summer, but I love everything I've created and can't wait to start school to enjoy it.  {Did I really just say that?}

Here are my crafty projects this week.

First off- I was inspired by Tara's "Believe" wall hanger:

I love this and knew that this is how I wanted to make my new name sign to hang above my classroom door.  I have to admit, that my daughter and her friend from France did most of the work.  Gotta love child-labor.  {I'm kidding}

Second-
I used Kristen's labels to finally finish my table caddies:

Third- I finally finished my Common Core Aligned Math Word Wall Hanging Pennants.  What a stinkin' mouthful.

What do you think?

Included are 5 pennants. Each triangle pennant measures 3". Once laminated and cut out, they can then be strung together on a 3/8" ribbon.

I abbreviated the 5 domains as follows (just so that it will fit in my classroom):
Operations and Algebraic Thinking= Operations
Number and Operations in Base Ten=Number(s)- You can choose between "Number" or "Numbers"
Number and Operations-Fractions
Measurement & Data= Stayed the same
Geometry= Stayed the same

Also included is one page of blank pennants that are editable because I finally figured that out, thanks Ginger :)  Be sure to head over to her blog and check it out.

I also worked on a few more things, but sadly didn't finish them.  I guess they will have to wait until next week. 

Now...for the giveaway.  Comment below that you'd like a copy and I will give away 5 copies on Wednesday night.

Winners have been notified...but if you'd like to find these in my TPT store, click the images above or {here}.

Don't forget to link up with Tara!

Fabulous Find~Week 4

Frame from The 3AM Teacher

Do you have a most fabulous find this week? Grab the above picture and add it to your post when you link up.  Highlight one (or two- one for school and one for home) special item(s) that you can't possibly live without, but if you have more, that's fine, too :)

My fabulous find for school this week comes from a prior link up from Kristen (Ladybug's Teacher Files).  This is why I am so glad that I am doing this linky.  I've found such great ideas and items that now I can't live without either.

This is by far the best circle cutter I have found.  Here's a link to it on Amazon.  I've used circle cutters with scrapbooking for years.  I've had several versions.  This one works the best!  It did take a bit of trial and error until I figured out how to make it work, so I thought I'd give you a few tips just in case you also bought it thanks to Kristen's post.  Or, if you didn't already purchase it, maybe these tips will help you decide if it is right for you. If you plan on cutting a lot of circles it's worth the learning curve.

Tip #1
Try it out on scraps of paper first :)  Seems like a no-brainer but one that I goofed on.  Duh! 
Tip #2
When you find the size you want (it cuts 1" - 6" circles), use the little hole as a guide to line everything up.  Let me explain further.  There are triangle shaped holes where you will put in the blade when ready to cut.  I lined up that hole with the edge of the circle.  Then, I would spin the plastic in the middle all the way around the circle to make sure the triangle shaped hole stayed on the edge all the way around. Make sense?
Tip #3
Cut slightly smaller than the edge of your circle so that you don't have a white rim.

Well, there you have it this week from me.  No exciting find for my home.

Hope you can link up.  This has been so fun :)

Check Out the New Common Core Blog!

Happy Thursday everyone.

I hope you have had a nice week.  I've been somewhat busy and somewhat not busy.  I've decided to narrow myself down to a to-do list each day that only has 4 items on it.

Today's items:
1-Finish Math Word Wall Pennants (you will see that on Monday's Made It)
2-Begin new name board-ditto
3-Finish table caddies-ditto
4-Go to friend's house for pool/beverage time! (You won't see that on Monday.)

Well, I at least could cross out item #4.

Priorities :)

I'm here tonight to share with you two new blogs that you MUST check out:




I am collaborating on both of these new blogs and I'm so excited :)  It will make me more FOCUSED in my planning because I know that I will want to share what I do on these two blogs!

The first one is geared more towards teachers and the second one is more for parents. 

I have found so many helpful hints and activities already and these blogs have only been running since the beginning of July.

Go and check them out!

Carolina Blogger Meet Up

Hey y'all, I've got news about a terrific blogger/stalker/teacher meet up coming up in September.  It will be here before you know it, so go ahead and mark it on your calendar.

Below is the information from Hope's Blog: Second Grade Shenanigans.
Make sure you click over to her blog to comment and let her know if you can make it so she can get a head-count.  Hope to see you in September!!

I am so ridiculously excited to announce that we are planning a big ol’ Carolina meet-up…y’all! ;) And no…not just for bloggers…stalkers other teacher friends are welcome to join! :) We are planning on meeting at some delicious restaurant where we can gab for a few hours about all things school! Poor people won’t know what hit them! I better call ahead! ;) I can’t wait to meet everyone!! I have been to several meet-ups and they are always way too much fun and NEVER enough time! I am sure that this meet-up won’t let me down!

So, If you will be in the Columbia area on September 15, I would love to see you there! I know this is still 2 months away, and we are still in the beginning stages of planning, but I wanted to give you PA-LENTY of time to put it on your calendar! Time and location will be announced once we have a general idea of how many people to expect.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED…

Please head over to Second Grade Shenanigans and leave a comment under Hope’s Carolina Blogger Meet-Up Post {HERE}.

Please make sure that you leave your email address so that we can contact you with further details!

Is it bad that I am already excited?!? Love my blogging/blog stalker buddies! :)

Monday Made It {I've Lost Count}

I missed it last week (beach) and I was sad.  For realzzzzzzzz.

But, I'm back this week and soooo happy to link up with my dear, dear bloggy friend, Tara.

Remember this mess?

I finally finished a few things.  I guess that means I can start something new.

These are the projects that I finished:

Birthday Balloons: 

Thanks to this cute freebie from Brooke at Once Upon a First Grade Adventure, I was able to make these:

Then, I made this canister for Highlighters:
I'm not sure of the cute source...so if it is yours, please comment below so that I can update and give you full credit.  I love this one:

Next up-
Repurposed Pizza Trays:
I'm not sure if you remember these (I really only had a handful of followers when I made these before):

But, I had to repurpose these to match my new color scheme in my classroom.  Here are the new ones (which I will use for my classroom jobs).  These are pizza pans.  You can read the original post {here}.

It's hard to see, but I replaced the yellow flower with a purple one.  They look better in person :)

Pencil Containers:
Thanks to Kristen (Ladybug's Teacher Files) for these labels, I was able to create these:

Number Magnets:
I made these magnets that I've seen around blog-town.  I used E6000 glue, glass pebbles from Michaels and I created 1.25-inch circles.  

So that's it for now.  I'm off to create some more things this week.  I've sworn myself off of all social media until I can cross off at least 5 things from my to-do list.  See you in a few days.

See ya soon :)

Repurposed Filing Cabinet-A How To Guide

Ahh, summer time.
The time that you can get caught up.
Or-you can get bogged down with 1000 projects and feel like you are about to lose your mind.

Which one do you I fall under?  Depends.

Last week, I spent the week at the beach.  My mind went to complete mush.  It was fantastic.

My one and only post last week was for my Fabulous Find Friday Linky.  {Which, by the way, you can still link up any time.  It doesn't have to be on Friday.} Did anyone notice the brain-fart that day?  I had titled it "Fabulous Find Friday-Beach Addition".  Duh.  Not "Edition".  Nope, beach-brain-mush. {obviously I have no real shame because I'm bringing attention to it all over again}

I realized it while on the beach-face down in the sand.  No joke.  I jumped up, pulled out my phone and desperately tried to edit it from my phone.  Ahhh, the iPhone.  Thank you, dear iPhone.  I was able to fix it.

Since I am back and trying to check things off of my to-do list, I thought I'd post this how-to for repurposing your filing cabinet.  I've had several questions and requests about it.

I'm going to start at the end of this story and work backwards, OK?
Here's my final product:

I learned through trial and error and thought I'd share it with you in case you were thinking of tackling this project.

Bottom line.  Don't Mod Podge unless you are an EXPERT.

See the one on the left.  Well upon closer inspection it is a HOT MESS.  You can see wrinkles.  The glue dried funny...yadda, yadda, yadda.

I had also Mod Podged {Blogger doesn't like that word, but it's real.} the one on the right, too, and it was WORSE.  Like a four year old had tried to do it.  Bad.  I went in the next day and tore it all off.

Let me tell you the error of my ways.

Take said fellow on the left.  He's made with scrapbooking paper and Mod Podge.  First off, the scrapbooking sheets were 12x12.  Unfortunately, the drawers are 12x14.  So, I had to piece together a little strip so that I could cover the entire drawer.
Mistake #1- I should have used wrapping paper {maybe} and it would have covered the entire drawer. 
Mistake #2- I should have taken the drawer handle off.  Instead, I trimmed around it with an Exacto knife.  It was OK, but again, would be better if I had taken off the handle.
Mistake #3- I am NOT a Mod Podge Expert!

Enter fellow on the right:

He's made with contact paper and paint!

What Went Right #1- I took the drawer handles off and measured the contact paper to cover the entire drawer.
What Went Right #2- The contact paper was forgiving.  That contact paper, by the way, was from TJ Maxx.  Cute :)
What Went Right #3- The pink drawers are painted.  Those drawers, to me, look the best.  Duh.  I should have painted the entire thing.   I used enamel paint that I rolled on with a sponge roller.  You will see pictures below.  I knew I couldn't/ wouldn't spray paint it, so this was the only way to cover it and know it would last.  Enamel paint is not the best to work with, but I just threw out the sponge roller when I was finished so that clean-up was easy.

Now, as far as all of the black...that's two different materials-black contact paper and black electrical tape.  It was easy.   You have to get that contact paper at just the right angle and it will go on smoothly.  The outsides that show all look great.  The two sides that are in the middle are more wrinkled, but I didn't care.

Here's a shot of the painting.  Step 1 {on the top}  prime it.  I used Kilz primer.   Step 2 {on the bottom} paint with enamel paint.  I bought mine at Lowes.  Here's what the paint looks like.  Then, below that, my drawers.  {I never tire of showing you my drawers...teeheehee.}

Here's a close up of the electrical tape.  I used it to cover all of the narrow strips.  (Like on the
top, between drawers, etc.)

Here's a side view of the black contact paper:

So, there you have it.  Repurposed filing cabinet.

If I had to do it all over again it would be contact paper and paint all the way :)

I like the way they both turned out, but I like the one on the right better.  Also, you might be going...blah, they aren't the same.  I know.  I like it that way, too.

See you tomorrow with my Monday Made It {not these, either}.  Then, I'm going to be a little MIA for a while so that I can get that darn to-do list down to a manageable size.

Fabulous Find Friday-From the Beach :)

Frame by The 3AM Teacher

Do you have a most fabulous find this week? Grab the above picture and add it to your post when you link up.  My intention is for you to only highlight one (or two- one for school and one for home) special item(s) that you can't possibly live without, but if you have more, that's fine, too :)

(By the way, I still haven't figured out the html code to make this a button, even though Mercedes from Surfing to Success tried her very best to help me.  I am on vacation this week and didn't even open Blogger until this morning.)

I have two Fabulous Finds to show you.  One for school and one for home.

First up:  School- I couldn't possibly live without my paper cutter.  Now, I know you are all envisioning this Fiskars one:

That one is OK.  I actually have a few of those. I have one in my classroom because I often forget to cut my papers in 1/2 (we run a lot of things two-to-a-page to save on copies) in the teacher workroom with the Mac-Daddy of all paper cutters that will slice your finger in 1/2 if you aren't careful.  So this works in a pinch.

But, what I'm really talking about is this one:

It's not the Mac-Daddy, but maybe baby-Mac.  I love it.  This is the one that I keep at home to cut everything.

Remember my teacher toolbox? 

Well, I finished cutting these labels in a flash because of baby-Mac. Want to know a little secret?  I found mine at Goodwill!  Seriously?  Why would anyone want to get rid of that baby-Mac?  I gladly adopted him.

Now for my Fabulous Find for home.  Do you Roo?  If you do, you know what I'm talking about:

Kangaroo Express has this Roo Cup deal where if you bought the cup (at $6.99), you can get 25 cent refills all summer long.  Ummm, yes, please.  The nearest Kangaroo Express is on the corner about 0.1 miles away.  The girls in there know our family by name.  I'm not kidding.  They even asked about the kids when they were away at camp.  We are literally in there at least 3 times a day.

Now, some friends and I are having a little Facebook "Where Is Your Roo?" challenge (well, kinda a challenge) and I think I won last night.

This was strictly by accident, but it made for a perfect photo-opp.  (or is it photo-op?) What do you think?

Ha!

There you have it-my Fabulous Finds.  I'd love it if you can link up.  I'm sorry I haven't been around this week.  I've been with Mr. Alligator.  I promise to blog, blog-stalk and comment with everyone starting on Monday. 

See you soon :)