Sunshine & Art Projects

Now that the weather is warm, we have been soaking up every single minute of the day outside. Our mornings are busy with school craziness and I feel like my kiddos are pretty neglected to be honest. So I have been trying to make a concerted effort to do some fun things in our afternoons. We have been painting with watercolors and doing some art projects I discovered in Pinterest searches. This was an easy one that we all had a hand in doing together. 

I asked Dustin to grab my camera off the counter and sneak a couple of pictures because I am never the fun mom that does art projects with my kids and someday when they are grown and ask me why I was so boring, I will show them these pictures as proof that there once was a time, in fact, that I did crafty things with them. Ha! 

I bought a card stock set in rainbow colors and cut them into one inch strips with my paper cutter. 

From there, I let the kiddos decide what pattern they wanted to do. They took turns with their roles linking the paper and stapling to secure. 

There was a lot of math involved with counting out strips and ensuring accuracy in the pattern making. Math is everywhere, my friends. That is one thing my kids can always count on me for highlighting. 

A couple random family shots along the way. The love that this girl has for her Daddy is CRAZY! She worships him and I absolutely love it because I feel the exact same way about my own Dad. So glad he gets to experience that. 

Tay is still all about Momma. But that may change. :) 

Anyway, here was the completed piece once all of the chains were put on this long stick. 

We hung it in the playhouse. I love the brightness it adds to the space. 

Kids, crafts, and sunshine all brought to you by Quarantine 2020. 

Christmas Craft #2

I was inspired by a few pictures on Pinterest that had felt Christmas lights hanging on wreaths and used as holiday decor around the house, so I decided to try to make some myself. 

I really want to decorate Donovan's room with bright, cheery Christmas decor this year. I am just so excited for him to experience his very first Christmas. So I made the bright lights with his nursery in mind. 

I simply cut out the bulb shape in different colors, attached a black piece of felt at the top of each bulb, and then strung them with some thick white thread. 

So far I have only made two strands... but who knows, there may be more coming. 

Over his book shelves

 And outside his bedroom door

Feeling Crafty...

As previously mentioned I checked Christmas craft #1 off of my list this weekend. I was inspired by Sarah's cute wreath along with about 100 others on Pinterest.

I bought this giant yarn ball at Joann's. It was 40% off and with an additional 15% teacher's discount it ended up being around $4. The wreath frame was also around $4 after using a 40% off coupon. There's a million great tutorials on how to make a yarn wreath. But really it's pretty simple. Just tie a knot and start to wrap the yarn around the frame until you get all the way back around. Tie another knot and it's complete. 

 When it was finished, I added a few felt roses. I hot glued the felt roses and leaves directly to the wreath. 

 And that was it! I can't wait to hang it on the front door!

Prepping for school

So I have decided to add a few things to my classroom this year. I want to love being in my room, you know, make it feel more "me." Because the more me it feels, maybe the less I'll be dreaming of being home with my baby boy. Doubtful, but worth a shot.

I have the luxury of working at a school that is brand new. It's lovely. But it lacks a lot of wall space to hang the students' work. I decided to steal the idea from some of my colleagues to begin hanging student work from clothespins on a string in front of two large windows along one of the walls in my class.

But first I wanted to "me-ify" the clothespins. I looked up clothespin projects on pinterest for inspiration and then I got to work.

Step 1: Set up shop

Step 2: Paint each clothespin in a bright, cheery color

Step 3: Stamp students' numbers on white card stock

Step 4: Cut out each number into a small circle

Step 5: use bright patterned scrapbook paper to decorate the numbers

Step 6: Hot glue the numbers to the clothespins

Step 6: Hang them in the classroom next week and eventually use to display student artwork, or work they're proud of and choose to display.

I should be lesson planning but this was way more fun.