Classroom Subway Art

Free Download "In Our Classroom".  These prints will print out 8.5 x11.  The colors seem to print brighter on cardstock.  I used a matted 11x16 frame and they look wonderful.  Please for personal use only.  Feel free to "Pin-it."  I hope you enjoy the print <3

 To Download Free Pastel Color Printable Click Here

To Download Free Primary Color Printable Click Here

Yearly Organizer

Today I found at the Christmas Tree Shop this Yearly Organizer for $3.99.  It's a generic calendar with pockets.  As I looked at it, a light bulb went off in my head and I thought - wow I could use this to hold my greeting cards.  Truth - I always buy cards well in advance, but somehow I always seem to put them in a safe place only to be seen after the event/holiday is over!  Now don't get me wrong - years ago I went and bought a nice greeting card box with dividers from Current and yes I have birthday cards, sympathy cards, etc in there.  For some reason the box always remains on the top of my closet along with the cards!  Honestly it becomes such a hassle grabbing it and half the time I don't remember it's there.  I do love going to the dollar store for cards - so as I gather up my upcoming birthday, Easter and St. Patrick's day cards I filed them away in this neat organizer.  Much easier to pull out a a thin binder than the big box of cards.  Don't get me wrong - I will keep all my excess cards in the card box and from time to time replenish the "Yearly Organizer. I plan just to write down a generic month and add birthdays, anniversaries, etc. to the organizer.  This way it's a quick glance to see what events are ahead.

Christmas Tree Shop "Yearly Organizer" $3.99

Just fill in a generic month and add birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

School Papers/Artwork

Week 9:  February 24th - February - March 2nd **School Paper Work** I am a huge procrastinator at this, especially since my two children are no longer in school!  I have all their papers from Pre-School - 12th grade neatly placed tossed into a cardboard box.  I have started a binder for his child, but I still have all this artwork.  I have run across some great ideas - not sure which I will try at this point.  One suggested taking a photo (scan) 0f the artwork and combine it in a poster size collage print. I do like the collage idea, would be a great housewarming gift to my children for their apartments.  Other ideas that I've come across are to put the art work in bins, flat plastic boxes, or binders. My first line of attack is to see how much of the artwork I am keeping and then decide how to store it. 

Before...

I have my work cut out for me!!

Teacher Appreciation Gift

I have to say I love being off from school this week.  It gives me time to catch up on all the projects I have been putting off.  At 10:30 this evening I decided it was a good time to make a vase for my classroom.  This is a great "Teacher Appreciation" gift for less than $5.00.

I purchased the glass vase from the Dollar Tree.  I purchased 5 - 8 pack of pencils from Walmart - I couldn't find the bigger box of them, they were all sold out.  The ribbon was left over from another project and it matched the purple flowers! I used some hot glue - gluing the writing side (words) towards the glass.  This took less than 30 minutes to complete.

Gather Materials

Hot Glue pencils (word side down) to vase

Tie A Ribbon

Add Flowers <3

Organizing Your Desk/Workspace

Week 8:     February 17th - February 23rd **Desk/Work Space** This week's challenge is all about organizing your desk or work space.  We all know too well how quickly things can become a mess in the desk.  I am guilty of throwing papers on top of my work area as I'm working on projects and waiting until later to clean them up. Even if you're work area is small section of your kitchen - go get rid of that clutter.  Go through all your desk drawers and organize.  Use baskets or dividers to get the clutter under control.  Toss things that are not longer useful (dried up markers, pens, etc.).  Make a spot for pads, stamps, envelopes, and organize all your materials so you will find them quickly :-)  

Baskets from the Dollar Tree & Sterilite Bins are from Target

Made my own labels on the printer and attached with tape, this way I can change them easily 

Used Bins to house all my printer & decorative papers, the smaller bins on top
hold staples, tape, stamps, sealing wax, address labels (all from the Dollar Tree)
Medium Sterilite Bins hold thank you cards, Ipod accessories, and phone chargers.

Since virtually all of my lesson planning & grading is done
from home - this is where I house all my teacher supplies :-)

Free Printable Summer Subway Art

Celebrate summer with this free printable.  My fun and colorful print brings back childhood memories.

Finished size of print is 8x10.  Just dowload the print below, frame it, and enjoy :-)


This print is intended for personal use only not intended to be sold - Thank you.

Download Summer Subway Print here.

  

Subway Art

Lately I have fallen in love with Subway Art.  I've found some great free printable ones from Pintrest, however I wanted to personalize my own a bit.  After numerous searches on how to create Subway Art - I was feeling a bit discouraged.  I do not have Photoshop or any of the graphic software programs on my computer.  I attempted the online programs that everyone said was easy and I still had a hard time.  So - I went to my old stand-by Microsoft Word - opened a new document and played around with the Wordart.  This was a quick design to get my feet wet of sorts, by hey it worked!  I know I need to do some tweaking on it, but I am happy overall on this project.  Have a ton I would like to do for my classroom, once I get better at this and if I ever figure out how to share files, I will post on my project page :-)

My 1st attempt at Subway Art

Entrance Way Closet - week 7

Week 7:    February 10th - February 16th **Entrance Way Closet** With all the snow activity this week's challenge is the Entrance Way Closet/Coat Closet.  My closet needs a serious make-over.  Lately mittens, hats, boots, scarves, etc. has been thrown into the closet.  Even though we are buried under snow *Think Spring* purge what you no longer need or use.  Have a box for donations, trash, and items that belong elsewhere in the house.  My organizing tip for closets - purchase "Huggable Hangers" by Joy Mangano.  Target seems to have the best prices on them 19.99 for 34 piece set.  I have used these for years and believe me that they give you so much more space in your closets. I do not recommend buying generics of these hangers, they are not made as well-very flimsy.  Happy Organizing :-)

Refrigerator Organizing

It's been 3 years and I still can't seem to get use to a side by side refrigerator.  It seems like there is never enough room to hold all the groceries I buy, so today I took control!

Before

After :-)

Door

Now for the horrible freezer ~

This was quite the challenge!

Completed - Mission Accomplished

All items for this project were purchased at the Dollar Tree for under $10.00.  While I was there, I grabbed some more baskets for other projects I am working on.  

cut shelf liner to fit in the door - this way spills are easily cleaned up :-)

Dollar Tree Finds

I can not resist a good deal at the Dollar Tree.  Found some great bins & baskets.

Will use in my freezer & refrigerator

I love Post-it Notes

Shelf Liner for $1.00

Love the color - matches my kitchen