a little how to

it's old news that i'm a pinning maniac. so when i had to come up with some fresh and innovative ideas to not only save money but to spiff up my classroom for my twenty-four six year olds, i turned to old reliable: pinterest.

rainbow-esque colored clothes pins!

 

now, there was a wonderful tutorial that i found and of course managed to botch up the directions and take probably twice as long. but here is what i found out worked best:

 

1. start off with generic clothes pins. i bought a bag of fifty at walmart for dirt cheap and bought a second bag just for good measure (i was making 25 at the time and two for each student. plus, always leave wiggle room for mistakes.)

 

i tried both the egg dyeing food coloring and the generic shur fine brand - the generic brand takes the gold medal. last, grab some old containers that you might not mind getting discolored.

 

 

2. bring just barely two cups of water (this measurement varies depending on how dark you want the color, less is definitely more) and 1/2 cup vinegar, and the food coloring of your choice, to a boil.

 

*food coloring drops vary. i put the drops in until i had a nice vibrant color. experiment and always start out with less. in the case of the orange and the green, do more of the lighter color (i.e. more yellow than red, more yellow than blue).

 

3.  put the amount of clothes pins you want this color in your containers.  i was making a set of two for five kids, so ten clothes pins in each container.

 

 

4.  pour the boiling mixture over the clothespins.  let this sit until the water begins to cool or until the clothes pins are the color that you prefer. CLOTHES PINS WILL DRY LIGHTER THAN WHAT THEY APPEAR AFTER REMOVING FROM THE DYE.

 

5. lay out paper towels and place clothes pins there to dry.  it took mine about a day to fully dry and i made sure that i switched them to the other side about half way through.

 

*the vinegar will oxidize the metal clip part. no worries, this just gives them that "vintage" look.  if you don't want this look you can pick up clothes dye packets to give it a nice, shiny metal finish. this diy gives a great explanation of the clothes dye packets:  raising oranges blog

 

now go and make yourself some pretty colored clothes pins!

happy saturday!



let me clear my throat

remember that song way back when?
i'm pretty sure that they first time i heard that song it was in save the last dance and i could not have been more obsessed with that movie. so clearly i became all gangsta yo and it was my favorite jam.
or not.
but still. just to clarify the title.

i know my blog is not a big one (my sister's blog is totally growing by leaps and bounds! i'm so proud of her) but all 15 of you little followers i apologize for my lack of posts and seemingly lack of interest in this little blog, but before you get up and walk and and withdraw the follow-hood of my blog, let me make you a promise:
i promise to pay a little more attention to this little bloggy of mine. i promise to write a post at least three times a week (lofty, seeing as my habits as of late). and i promise to get back to the basics of why i love blogging.
i know you might have heard this before. but it is a brand new month (holy september?!) and i'm sticking to it this time. this may be more of a promise to myself, but hey readers! you're pretty dang important to this blog, so it's a promise to you as well.

promises. if my boyfriend could only see me now, making them left and right, he would about have a heart-attack. but that is a conversation for another post...

in other news! the very first week of first grade was absolutely PHENOM!
who wouldn't love running around and teaching twenty-four 6 year olds?
no? then i guess it might just be me. but it is the best darn job there is out there (again - might just be me).
i can't wait to see what the rest of this year brings for me and my kiddos in room 1-2.
of course, the post would not be complete without a few pictures of my room:

 calendar area. 

 reupholstered desk chair with some good'ol fashion packing tape.

 word wall, minus the words.

our writing bulletin board. are you using your "writer's eye?"

but for now, lost voice and all, i'm going to enjoy some family time this weekend.

just keep pinning, just keep pinning

in preparation for the long awaited week before the first week of schools (a.k.a this week! holy cow i cannot believe it is here already!) i began pinning like a mad woman who was hopped up on wayyyyy too much caffeine. and when i say "like a mad woman who was hopped up on wayyyy too much caffeine", in actuality i mean, i was about five cups of coffee deep and/or was sleep deprived and just began pinning like my life depended on it. such is life.

now, i have way too many cool things that i tried out in my room and absolutely adored that i cannot wait to share with you. but, sigh, my tired little brain and my even more tired little body just can't get themselves to cooperate and put together a diy post.
but, i digress, you will indeed get some of these diy posts in the very near future. pinky promise. but in the mean time, you'll get some of my top favorite pins. and some sneak peaks tomorrow (fingers crossed) of what has been going on in my little old first grade classroom.
excited?

source: the first grade parade

cutest little newsletter/ source: tpt

pssttt...hint hint / source: mrs.phippen

source: miss a's kindergarten

 

source: peace love and learning

to follow more of my pins, check out my an apple a day pinboard by clicking on the nice little "p" button on my sidebar

oh hello, saturday

wait what?
i know what you're thinking. who is this girl and why hasn't she posted on her blog.
i apologize to you all and especially to you, little blog, life has just got me a little frazzled these days. setting up an entire classroom in a two week time period - from scratch - is no small task. it is actually no large task either. if setting up a classroom were a ship it would be the titanic. and i may or may not have just barely missed a few icebergs. so please forgive me if my posts are sporadic, or short, or make no sense, or just end up being a giant jumbled mess. hey, a girl can try.

so, to stay with my theme of doing everything off of the norm, i've got for you today my friday letters...errr...on a saturday.

dear job, thank you. thank you for being in my life for this entire up and coming school year. who would have thought i'd be a full time teacher not even a year after graduating. God is good. bring on the kiddos.

dear blog, i may have already said it, but i'm so sorry for neglecting you the past week. hang in there, life is about to get a lot more interesting, and once i get the hang of balancing it all we will have some wonderful things to talk about. pinky promise.

dear fall, hey, i see you're trying to move in with some of these cooler temps (hello only 70 degrees last night). please hurry on up and move right in. my jeans and sweaters greatly miss you.

dear nugget,  i miss your little baby self. can it be labor day already so i can squeeze and hug your little baby goodness. auntie m has lots of new things to teach you (and a new stuffed friend named SkippyJon Jones that wants to play with you and Hungry Caterpillar).

dear phillip phillips, i became obsessed with this song during the olympics and i'll be forever repeating it for the next month or so.

p.s. hey olympics, i miss ya, wanna come back in my life sooner than four years?

happy teacher appreciation week!

ahh yes, the time has finally arrived in my life that i am celebrating my very first teacher appreciation week. am i celebrating it as a contracted employee? no. am i celebrating it as a substitute teacher with a bunch of sticky-fingered kindergartners? yes. do i get to indulge in all things teachery and chocolate fountainey since my school is cool enough to have a chocolate extravaganza for us in the educational profession? yes. and boy oh boy do i love it. so here ye, here ye all of you educators out there: you are wonderful and summer is only a few short weeks away!

oh, and here is where you can find it all:

outfit 1:
tee f21

skirt h&m (similar in polka dot)

scarf francesca's (similar)

flats francesca's

outfit2:

top banana republic (old from sister)
skirt target (similar)

belt target (recent!)
flats oldnavy (old) (similar)

outfit3:

blouse banana republic factory store
linen pants banana republic factory store (similar)

wedges ny&co (recent!)

once upon a time

source: claratales.com

i cannot take credit for finding this little beauty because it was recently posted on a blog (the daybook blog) that i read religiously every day. but i am so incredibly moved by this project and love the ideas behind it. seeing as i'm a teacher this has just pretty much made my week. check out the video and take a stroll over to their site to read more about this wonderful project.

and dino was his name-o!

c/o my iPhone

So lets just get right to it.  I pretty much have the mentality of a 5 and a 1/2 year old when it comes to about 95% of my life.  I love everything creative, crafty, adventurous, miraculous, dreamy, make-believe-ish, heroic, good guy vs. bad guy-esque...and I think you get the picture.  So for my anniversary with boyfriend he took me to the Franklin Institute to see their Dinosaur Exhibit and even though it was disappointingly smaller than what we had hoped for (granted I had in my mind that I would be walking through a museum sized Dinosaur - and this is a traveling exhibit people), it didn't lack in any way and provided us with more information then our pretty eyes could handle!  I pretty much obsessed over each and every one of those giant boney guys from the time I first saw the word "Jurassic" and didn't stop to blink (or take pictures, barely) until I had that nice little Dr.Seuss book in my purse and was on my way out the door.  This really actually frustrates me seeing as I am usually focused more on pictures and capturing moments then I am enjoying the moments as they happen, but I guess (just this once) it is okay.  Needless to say, the idea spurred for my love of those scaley extinct guys and the unit I taught during my time-span of student teaching...fresh ideas and unbelievably hard to pronounce dino names for next time I conquer that unit? Check!

Check out the Franklin Institute or plan a trip before April 15th to see my pals, the Dinos!