Burlap Place Mats

Recently, I have gotten extremely excited to move into this house my friends and I are renting next year. It is the cutest and I've gone DIY-crazy making stuff for it.

We plan on having many family dinners at our place next year so I thought some cute place mats would add a special touch to our table. I picked up 1 yard of burlap at the local craft store. There was a crease on one side of the burlap from being folded and I wasn't sure if I could iron it. I called my wonderful Grandma who has the answers to everything and she instructed me to iron it with a thin kitchen towel on top.

Once the crease was taken care of, I cut the yard into six 12x18 inch place mats. 

My plan was to paint words on the sides of the place mats with black paint and stencils. I set up shop on my kitchen table with newspapers, acrylic paint, stencils, and the place mats. I wanted to use words relating to eating so I decided on eat, feast, dine, munch, chow, and graze. 

I started by painting the first letter with the stencils. I filled in the letters once the stencil was removed. I found these stencils at Wal-Mart for $4. They're a good size and reusable!

Since I wrote the words on both sides, I used a ruler to ensure the words were lined up and spaced correctly.

I did this same process for the rest of the place mats. I think they turned out pretty cute and I can't wait to use them next year for family dinners.

Sight Word Foam Dice

Another Dollar Tree specialty. I had some foam blocks left over from the Dollar Tree and wanted to create some sort of literacy activity. I decided I would use them for a word study station to practice sight words.

I used the green, blue, and red dice for the consonant letters.

I used the orange cubes for the vowels so they could be easily distinguished from the consonants.

Here's how the activity goes; it would probably work best in a center. Instruct your students to pick one orange dice and two others.

Then they will roll and try to make a word. If it's gibberish, roll again! In this case, I did not roll gibberish so I would form a word.

Writing down the words is a great addition to this activity. You could have your students either write down the words on a worksheet you provide in the station or in their notebook; whatever works best in your classroom!

For your students who need to be challenged, have them roll more dice.

Another way to use the dice would be to have the students use them to form words without rolling. Each student would have a pile of dice and they pick out letters they need to form words they come up with or find around the classroom.

What an easy, cheap addition to your classroom centers!

DIY Coasters

Cheap, easy, quick. The best three words to hear when you're approaching a DIY project. The photo coasters are just that. Here is a break down of how to make some fabulous coasters for a very low cost.

Supplies:

• White ceramic tiles 
• Felt
• Mod Podge
• Foam brush
• Sealant spray
• Tacky glue
• Scissors
• Photos/paper

To start off, collect all your supplies. I picked up tiles at my local Menards for 16 cents each. I found the Mod Podge, sealant spray, and tacky glue at the local Hobby Lobby (craft store). These are the most expensive part of the project, but these are items you can reuse for other projects. I printed my photos on computer paper from my computer at home.

To begin, I cut the felt to fit on the bottom of my tiles. This prevents the tile from scratching the surface of tables. Use the tacky glue to attach the felt to the bottom of the tiles. Let dry for a couple minutes.

As your felt is drying, cut your photos to fit the tiles. I like to have the tile show around the edge as a border so I cut my photos accordingly. If you don't want to use photos of people, you could use photos of landscapes or even scrapbook paper with a fun pattern. I am making tiles for my cousin's Christmas present and used a picture of her cute little puppy :)

Once the felt is dry, use the Mod Podge to attach the photo to the top of the tile. Let this dry completely. Once that is dry, you can add a couple coats of Mod Podge on top of the photo. Let each coat dry before adding another. Coming from the most impatient person in the world, I know waiting is hard, but I promise you it's worth it! They will turn out so much better if you let it dry.

After letting the Modge Podge dry, take them outside and spray with the sealant spray. This is an important step because if you spray too closely or uneven, bubbles will appear and you don't want that. Hold the spray about 8-10 inches away and spray evenly. Let it dry and then you can repeat this step for extra sealant.

Once the sealant spray is dry, your coasters are ready to use! It's a fun personalized item to add to your end table.

These work great as gifts! I've actually never made any for myself but have made them for my boyfriend, my dad, my boyfriend's mom, my friend, and now my cousin. Try them out this holiday season, you won't be disappointed!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

At a garage sale this summer, I found one of my favorite childhood books, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I was very excited to not only have a copy for myself and my future children, but also for my classroom. During my literacy class, a classmate of mine came up with a great lesson idea to follow along with the book; you create your own felt Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree and felt letters of the alphabet and have the kids add the letters to the tree as you read the story. I took her idea and taught it in the Kindergarten classroom I am in part-time right now. It's a great idea, so I thought I'd share!

First I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a pack of colored felt, 3 pieces of dark green felt, and 2 pieces of brown felt.

I used the colored felt for the letters of the alphabet (see right). I divided the sheet of felt into 4 equal sections using a ruler. I cut those pieces out and then drew the bubble letters on with permanent marker. Next, I cut the bubble letters out. I used a variety of the colors for all the letters.

I used the brown felt for the trunk of the tree. I cut two long strips out. I used the green felt for the leaves on the tree. I just free-handed this part; it actually turned out cute with random cuts!

When I taught the lesson, I used a felt board that my cooperating teacher had and it worked really well. I read the story once, and then handed out the letters to all the kids. I read the story again and when I read their letter, the students added their letter to the tree. The kindergarteners were very engaged in the lesson and loved the hands-on activity to go along with the book. It worked on letter recognition and participation in a group setting. After that, the kids drew their own tree on a piece of paper and added the letters of their name or other words they knew onto their tree. 

Some of the kids were really into it and added lots of details to their trees. It was great to see them so excited about learning!

The Dollar Tree is a Teacher's Best Friend

They have a whole aisle for teachers at The Dollar Tree. A whole aisle. I have to exercise my self-control most of the time because I'm a poor college student and don't even have my own classroom yet, but I couldn't resist this time! I found these foam cubes with numbers and addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division symbols. These are great for kids who need more hands-on activities during math. I was bummed that there was no equal sign.

I kept looking and ended up finding plain counting foam cubes in orange, red, blue, and green.

The orange ones matched the numbered foam cubes perfectly so I decide to make my own equal signs with a little permanent marker.

I can't wait to use these in a lesson!

Another treasure I found at the Dollar Tree are these magnetic numbers and symbols. I am planning on using a cookie sheet for kids to be able to move the numbers around on, but they're even great without their magnetic ability. They are easy to slide around on a desk, and just another great way for kids who need hands on activities to learn math rather than a pencil and paper.

Don't underestimate the Dollar Tree. It has some really cool stuff.. all for $1, unlike some of those other dollar stores that trick you into thinking it's $1.

I blame Grandma

This summer I became obsessed with garage sale-ing. And by obsessed, I do mean obsessed. Each week I would make a list of all the garage sales, look up the addresses, and figure out the best order to hit them in. Friday and Saturday morning would come along and sure enough I was the person I never thought I'd be; showing up early for the first sale.

Where does this obsession stem from? Her name is Grandma Pat. She is my mother's mother and is an avid garage saler. She taught me the ropes. Here are her top 3 rules, take note.

1. Never buy the price they have listed. You always offer less. If they deny you? Walk away. Usually about 4 minutes later, they will approach you and say, "Alright, I guess that'll work.."
2. Don't buy things you don't need. Otherwise you'll end up selling it at your own garage sale in 2 years.
3. If you're out running errands and see a sale, stop! Might as well, it's on the way home, right?

I bought a lot of things this summer and if I actually listed them out, my mom would probably faint. She's always telling me to stop buying things :) My favorite things I found are the unique treasures that I can redo myself. For example, I turned this boring coffee holder into a fun jewelry stand.

You just have to look past your initial opinion of the item and picture how you can put your spin on it. Here's another coffee holder I use to hang my necklaces on.

Garage sales are great for finding little gems you wouldn't find anywhere else. Or ugly pieces that you can put your magic on, like this fabulous little bookcase I flipped.

To spice up a simple painted bookshelf, add a piece of cardboard covered in fabric. That's what I did here. I took a $5 ugly bookshelf, painted it white, and added the fabric. I bought the fabric from Hobby Lobby and used it to cover a tri-fold poster board. Add your own personal touches and wha-la you have a new cute bookshelf!!

Another thing I always try to pick up at garage sales are books. Books are usually cheap and since I am studying to become a teacher, I just can't help myself :) I have such a great collection started for my future classroom (over 100 books!) My Grandma Pat is big into buying books too, but her favorites are the romance and mystery novels, whereas I look for children's books. There's always something for everybody!

I hope I've convinced you to start garage sale-ing. It's a fun summer hobby!

DIY Glass Tumblers

I have been wanting to create these glass tumblers for awhile now, but haven't had the time or need to. I finally made a little time and I am glad I did; they were a fun Friday afternoon craft.

 I searched and searched for the glasses I wanted. I didn't want to spend much so I first checked the Dollar Tree. No luck. They have carried them before but currently do not. I eventually found them at Wal-Mart for 99 cents each.. score!! I used my roommate's paint since I didn't need much. They were all bought at the local Hobby Lobby. I used q-tips to add dots to the glasses. 

First starting with dots farther apart, and slowly added more and more until the bottom half of the glasses were covered. 

After I let them sit and dry for awhile, I baked them in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees to seal the paint. I'm happy with how they turned out, I'll definitely be making more!

And I stuck to my word... made four more today! I now have 8 total, 4 sets of 2 with different color combinations. Don't be afraid to try new colors!