day 217: composer art for the classroom wall

the finished bulletin board with our first composer of the year attached!

day 217 and i am going through all the finishing little bits for our home learning room.  i wanted to put something up to remind the peeps who/what we are currently learning about in different focus areas.  i have decided to carry on our learning about different composers, inventors, and artists and wanted a bulletin board type of thing to put up a picture and highlights of the person we are currently studying.

this piece of canvas art i picked up last year for $8 no longer has a home and i figured it might make the perfect base for my composers bulletin board.  i got out my stash of sticky back felt letters and began to play!

i then went on pinterest and searched for some of my favourite composers to start off this year.  several were then pinned to my home school projects board ready for when we begin our studies of them.  i decided we would begin with mozart (the peeps current favourite), i want to get in their good books at the beginning of the year with at least one subject!  they find mozart's music more mellow than some of his contemporaries ... i adore beethoven, i'm not sure if its because i feel so sad for the life that he lived or whether the emotion of his more powerful music makes me feel more involved.  the peeps find beethoven's music too overbearing, poor man his music was so often misunderstood :)

ANYWAY, back on track with today's pinterest creation.  i created the board and then used the links from pinterest to find some cool pictures and bio's of composers, which i then printed and laminated ready to attach to the new bulletin board.

what was used for this project

i went with a combination of colours so they would stand out on all the parts of the background

finished! love how well it turned out, the composer is just attached with blue tac :)

outcome: REALLY cool!  i now need to find some cheap canvas art that will work for inventors and artists :)  it looks sweet on the wall and will hopefully engage and be a constant reminder of who we are currently concentrating our learning on .,. well that's the hope anyway.  and if that doesn't work, at least we have some pretty nice looking art on the wall that's multifunctional! 

day 216: peanut butter and jelly with strawberries, banana, and granola flat breads

the finished wraps ... yummo!

day 216 and the family and i are off to the tennis again today.  it's the week of the men's event and the other half of my christmas present ... we have had rain all summer and the weather outside is looking

the tickets i was given by my sweet are for the day and night session, so it's a LONG day for the peeps.  luckily they enjoy tennis (when it's not raining) and when they are bored of that, they also love reading and when they are bored of that, they also love eating.  eating is a fundamental when you go out for the day and take peeps.  i saw these delicious looking flat breads i had pinned a while back on my recipe must do's board and thought they looked like ideal tennis food :)

i absolutely loved visiting the website flatout flat breads where this recipe originated.  my family love flat breads of all types and i found some really cool ideas for using flat breads i hadn't seen before.  the western flatout omelette looks so yummy i pinned it to my board on pinterest as well!  i will definitely be heading back there for some tasty recipes ... but now on with today's!

you need peanut butter, jam/jelly, strawberries, bananas, granola/oats, and some flat breads to wrap it all up in.

the ingredients

firstly spread the flatbread with peanut butter all over .....

then spread half the flatbread with strawberry jam ....

add sliced strawberries and banana .....

sprinkle on some oats .....

full of goodness and very filling!

outcome:  well i HAD to take a slice off the end of one before i wrapped them up to take to the tennis!  it was really yummy, nice and hearty and had that sweet and salty taste i love together (think peanut butter cups but with strawberry not chocolate).  this is definitely something i will make the peeps before their sports and such things because the small piece i had was so filling but tasted really good :)

my thanks to my new favourite flatbread website for recipes, flatout flat breads for this great afternoon tea snack ... great for active people for sure :)

day 215: entrance for our school room

the finished entry signage for our school room :) 

day 215 and our classroom is coming along nicely ... taking longer than i hoped but coming along ... good things take time :)  today i found inspiration on my home school projects board, in the form of signage :)  sara at august fields has this great little sign on her door and it got me thinking our little school room needed one too!

her classroom looks amazing, so clean and simple, love all the elements and thought she has put into it, including the signage on the door and the gorgeous bell to greet her children as they go into school.

as we know perfection isn't my strong point and as a silhouette machine hasn't mysteriously fallen into my craft area i went with the laid back approach to letter placing! i did use some liquid chalk (left here by one of my sweetest friends) to make sure i didn't go drastically up hill or down.

the supplies

the blank canvas

our motto ... i put a table cloth up behind the door so i could concentrate without looking at the mess still in the classroom!

can you see all the mess that is yet to be organised and the blank canvas walls and the filling that still needs to be done
... the list is still LONG :) rome wasn't built in a day and neither was my learning environment!

outcome:  the peeps will love it and i already do ... it's not straight laced because that's not us entirely.  we try to have lots of fun in our learning and i wanted our "school signage" to reflect that and the peeps to smile and be proud as they walk through the door into their learning environment.  i think the door says that .. i hope it will to my little learners as well :)

my thanks to sara at august fields for the truly inspiring classroom she has ... i would love to have a space like that, but feel incredibly blessed that at least i get to home school my peeps and have a dedicated space to do it in.  i will probably dream about her teaching space tonight and tuck it away in my dreams for one day.

day 214: blackboard

the finished blackboard ... perfect ;)

day 214 and blackboards anywhere, any way seem to be all over pinterest! so i, of course, wanted to have a go and join in on this blackboard craze :)  with a new classroom (an old store room) under decoration, painting a blackboard onto one of the newly painted ivory walls seemed like too good an opportunity not to take up ... and besides it's totally practical for a classroom ;)  i have pinned lots of blackboard ideas to most of my boards on pinterest, and there are several pins we took inspiration from on my home school projects board.

steve went down to the local hardware store and helped me get the right paint, who knew their were choices ... and while i have pinned many "make your own blackboard paint" i am not that confident yet, especially with a project this size!

what we used :)

ready to paint!

steve and i decided we wouldn't be able to make a perfect square ... what that really means is steve is a perfectionist and as he was helping me (the not so perfect) we decided it was better for our marriage to go for something that required a little less precision! so we went the free styler way ... yeah baby!

blackboard paint is so effective and so instant!

we literally rolled out a pattern for the wall!

outcome:  NEW ADDICTION for BOTH of us ... immediately after we had finished steve said to me "don't be surprised if you see blackboard paint on a whole lot of things in the future" ... now i know why so many things had been transformed into blackboards on pinterest!  no other way of describing it, it really is totally awesome and once you start, well ... just warning you :)

my thanks goes to all those lovely fellow addicts that have painted with chalkboard paint and then blogged about it.  all that wonderful inspiration ended up on pinterest and now i am completely obsessed with it myself!

day 213: perfect present for a teacher starting the new school year and a WINNER :)

WE HAVE A WINNER

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: 

Result:

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 Jenny said...

Love the digi card, they're a lot easier to send so definitely have a place in crafting:)
Great new blog header too.
Jenny x

Jenny if you could email me at kahoonz@clear.net.nz, i will email you out the details so you can download the software for FREE :)  

THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL THE LOVELY COMMENTS OVER THE LAST WEEK! I HAVE LOVED READING THEM AND REALLY APPRECIATED ALL YOU HAVE HAD TO SAY ...

WATCH OUT FOR A NEW ZEALAND GOODIES THEMED GIVE AWAY IN TWO WEEKS

lots of fun goodies for a very deserving teacher

 
day 213 and as i start the process of organising the peeps curriculum for the coming school year (starting february) i have teachers and the amazing job they do at the forefront of my thoughts.  i know lots of teachers, some i love, some terrify me, some are amazing, some are born to do the job, some are willing learners, some are misunderstood often, some are sweethearts, some make me cry, some are hilarious, but only one is all of the above ... and she is also an amazing friend.

the peeps and i are going to spend some time with her this week being her classroom slaves!  all teachers work SO very hard and all need more hours in the day ... so we are off to help her turn her new classroom into her dream vision.  i wanted to make sure she knew what a special teacher she is (we know personally as she was ben's last school teacher) so we are putting together a teachers survival kit for her ... something EVERY teacher should have a the start of a new school year don't you think!

i saw the idea on pinterest ages ago and waited until the right time to make it for her  ... what better time than her first day back at school for 2012.  this idea comes from lucia at ink me baby one more time and is pinned to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board.

you start with a basket or some form of carry-all and add the following:

• animal cookies for when your class seems like a zoo
• band-aids for when things get a little rough
• chewing gum to help you stick at it
• crayons to make your day bright and rosy
• a candle for all the late nights you put in marking and planning
• an eraser to remind you everyone makes mistakes
• lifesavers for when you've had one of those days
• marbles to replace the ones you'll lose
• paper clips to hold it all together
• pencil to "write the wrongs"
• rubber bands to remind you to be flexible
• a shiny coin to remind you that each will shine in their own special way
• starbursts to give you energy when you need it
• tissues to wipe away the tears ... yours and theirs
• toothpicks to help you pick out the good qualities in them ... and you
• a time out bar for when you need to sit a while
• smarties because that's what you will create
• a prayer/poem for you at the start of each new day

(god) please help me to

strengthen their voices, bodies, and minds

to express their feelings and control them sometimes

to explore what's near and venture afar

but most important to love who they are

a close up of some of the goodies!

some more of the goodies in situ :)

outcome:  i LOVE this, it has such incredibly wonderful meaning ... especially when you are giving it to someone so special who you know will appreciate it.  we give it to her in a couple of days so the outcome is still pending but i love the sentiments and for me that makes it an instant winner :)

my sincere thanks to lucia from ink me baby one more time, she makes the most beautiful things and clearly puts huge effort into making the people in her life feel super special.

day 212: a bunting for valentines day

LAST DAY FOR COMMENTING TO WIN THE MY MEMORIES SOFTWARE

so get busy my friends and i will have a winner late tomorrow nz time :)

ready to hang at valentines :)

day 212 and the weather outside is dreadful, it's our wettest summer, bar three, on record ... the up side is there is plenty of time to be creative inside and today i am making a banner in preparation for valentines day :)  i loved this one from the girl creative, especially the fact she used denim as the basis for her flags.  while i won't be using that part for inspiration today, i definitely will use the denim for an easter bunting as it will fit in nicely with the autumn decor i am planning .... planning, she says hopefully ;)

for today's creation i am using a kit from the my memories range called my funny valentine.  i bought it yesterday and downloaded it for making today's bunting.  i thought i would print it out on something different today, i am using canvas sheets that are pre-gessoed and normally used by artists for painting with.  i figured it would have the same look as fabric hanging but, because of the gesso, would still be able to go through the printer ... here's hoping anyway!

the bias binding and canvas i printed on :)

making the flags using the my memories software

i started with the triangles then added some of the embellishments to each triangle before printing them onto the canvas.

the finished flags, printed on canvas :)

then i used the bias binding, pinned all the flags in place and used fabric adhesive to adhere them all together.

the finished bunting for valentines

a close up of the bunting :)

outcome:  happily stoked with the outcome of this little project (especially after an afternoon of painting the new school room).  it was really easy to create on my memories and the printing on canvas is so COOL!  didn't expect that part to work so well and am already busy thinking of all sorts of different projects i can use this new found printing knowledge on ... heehee :)

my sincere thanks to the girl creative, i loved her bunting for valentines day and her instructions about how to create one without sewing will definitely come in handy for those who don't have access to a machine, for example, when your machine is covered in paint drop cloths ;)

day 211: summer is slipping by and it's time to start some school organising!

getting all these done was a big task!

day 211 and as some of you know i home school my two little peeps ... i love it, didn't think i would, but it is hands down the best decision we have made since having children.  one of the things i LOVE the most about pinterest is the amount and quality of education resources that are pinned every day by so many people.

today's creations are using some of these amazing education finds from pinterest and using them in my home classroom for the coming new school year (school years in nz run from feb to dec to coincide with our summer).

today i concentrated on inspiration for the walls, it's one thing to teach but without the right attitude no learning will take place so i wanted the walls to reflect some of that.  all the below posters are available at the vintage poster.   the posters can even be individualised so i am going to order some personalised posters for my niece and nephew's walls, tidbits that are special and individual to them.  the vintage poster, has awesome designs and its SO cheap to have them printed and sent from her, even internationally!  i also laminated the ones i printed because i love my laminator i want them to last the entire year!  here are some of the inspiring ones i found on the vintage poster

dr seuss was so before his time!

one of my all time favourite inspirations and one of the hardest things to achieve  

every good scientist should have this on their wall!

amazing man, inspiration for my boy peep

the one below is all from ubersuper and will also be heading for my classroom walls :)

picasso so had it right :)

and stylised by sacremento's children's museum, is this wonderful quote i have printed and will be putting on the wall first, it's my favourite :::

this is why i home school :)

once the walls are painted and the new carpet goes down in the classroom i will be able to get into their and show you where we learn ... our classroom is moving into a new space for this year and i can't wait until the boring stuff is finished so i can decorate!

last three days to add some comments to win the fantastic my memories software, so get commenting my friends!