Throwback Thursday: DIY Chevron Wall!

 Hey yall!

Can I tell you how much I love Ms. Carroll??? Seriously, she is just the BEST! And her weekly linky is making my summer life all kinds of simple...it's Throwback Thursday, yall!



Since chevron is all the rage right now, I decided to share a post with you from last summer. Now, this is not at all teaching related, but it is super cute! And who knows, maybe some of yall have schools that will let you paint the walls...

*****Originally posted Monday, July 23, 2012*****

Hey yall! Happy Monday!

I have been waiting for this day, because I am so excited to share my Monday Made It with you guys!

Sooo....when the hubs and I were discussing paint colors and such for the new house, I thought it would be really cool to do a big graphic design on one of the walls. And who doesn't love a good chevron, right?

This was my inspiration...

Totally awesome, right?

I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to pull this off, but I was definitely willing to give it a go!

I enlisted the help of my mom, aka queen of crafty, and we got busy!

First, we gathered all the supplies...

*paint (2 different colors)

*painter's tape (I used a 3 in. Scotch painter's tape)

*measuring stick

*pencil

*rollers

*chalk line tool

I painted the whole room a light gray color that matched our duvet perfectly. I chose a slightly darker shade of gray for the stripes. No, I didn't go all fifty shades..... :)

My mom did all the measuring for me. Here is how the wall looked after we painted it the light gray.

Here are the basics when painting chevron stripes. The distance between peak to peak and crest to crest should be the same. The crest should be exactly midway between the two peaks of each stripe. Does this make any sense? This is a video that we watched before hand, and it does a much better job of explaining...

Much better, right?

Okay, so next we decided to snap a chalk line to help us measure out the points. It's kinda hard to tell in these pictures, but that light blue line is the chalk.

We used some tool that my folks had...it looks like this.



Now comes the hard part! Using your painter's tape, tape off each stripe so that the tape is in the inside of the base color. If you take a close look at my stripes, it looks like they are not even, right? But trust me...it works out in the end.

Remember that it doesn't have to be perfect :) Imperfection is what makes it unique!

After you have your stripes taped off, go back over the edges and make sure they are pressed down really good. The video even suggests using the base paint to seal in the edges.

Then paint your stripes! This was the fun part :) We put about 2 coats of paint on each stripe, then let them dry for a few hours.

And here are the final results!

I love, love, LOVE my chevron wall! I think it turned out amazing, and it looks just perfect with our bedding! Now our bedroom is all kinds of romantic :)

I still have some styling to finish in there, but I was dying to share this with you guys.

What do you think?

Go link up with Tara for your Monday Made It!

Burlap + Chevron = Love!

Hey yall! Happy Monday!

 

I'm super excited to finally be linking up with Tara for her weekly party. Last summer, Mondays were my favorite day of the week! Can't wait to see everyone's craftiness this week.

 

Last week, my mom and I went to a fun wreath-making night at her church. I was super excited to finally learn how to make those adorable burlap wreaths that I had been eyeing.

 

First, we gathered our materials. Everything you see below came from Hobby Lobby. The burlap is 50% off right now {or was last week, anyways}, so I got it on the low! The roll below is 30 ft., which was definitely not enough. I ended up picking up another 30 ft. roll to finish off my wreath and still have probably three quarters of that roll left.

 

 

Then we started adding pipe cleaners around the wreath wire.

 

 

 

 

Those stinking pipe cleaners hurt, I tell ya! I kept poking myself with the wire, and before I knew it, I was bleeding!

 

Battle scar...

 

 

Once we got all the pipe cleaners spaced around the wreath wire, I started adding the burlap.

 

 

I scrunched up one side and tied it in. Then I made a loop and tied it in the next pipe cleaner.

 

 

It's up to you to decide how big you want your loops to be. I like mine to be relatively small, but some people were making theirs really big! Whatever floats your boat. Just make sure that you don't cut the burlap! You should just use one continuous strand until it's all gone.

 

 

I started on the inner ring and made my loops all the way around. Then I moved to the outer ring and made loops there.

 

 

Now, this is where I ran out of burlap, so I don't have pictures of what I did next. But I ended up putting in one more row of burlap loops right in the middle of the two I already had. This really fattened it up and gave it the fuller look I was going for.

 

Finally, add your ribbon and flower! I wish I could tell you how to make that cute ribbon, but my momma put it together for me. I can only learn one new thing at a time...

 

 

You like? I'm in LOVE!

 

Here is my mom's wreath. She decided not to do the burlap and instead made a patriotic wreath for the 4th.

 

 

 I wouldn't say that it was really easy or really hard, it just took lots of time and patience. I think overall it took me about 2 hours to get it all together, give or take.

 

Now I'm off to see what everyone else made! Go check out Tara and link up, yall!



Throwback Thursday: Crayon Wreath Tutorial

Hey yall!

 

Two posts in two days.

That must be some kind of record

 

But I can't really take credit, because sweet Cara gave me an out.

She is hosting a weekly linky party called Throwback Thursday. Its all about sharing some of those oldie {but goodie} posts that some new faces might appreciate.

 

Sign me up!

 

Now, this was a post that I actually wrote for when I was guest blogging and I think I may have also added it to Endless Pinabilities, but don't think I ever actually posted it here. So this may be new to some of yall familiar faces as well!

 

******Originally posted on May 27, 2012******



I'm not sure about you guys, but I am officially on summer break...yahoo! My goal for this summer is to create some of those awesome crafts I've been 'pinning.' It's going to be a crafty kind of summer, for sure!

How many of you have pinned the crayon wreaths?

It was one of the first things I pinned, and I desperately wanted to make one! So....I did!

It was really easy. Here are the materials needed:

*Crayons (I used a 64 pack of Crayolas)

*Hot glue

*2 different sized embroidery hoops. I can't remember the exact sizes I bought, but it doesn't really matter. You just need 2 different sized hoops, where one can fit inside the other.

*Ribbon

*Scissors
*White acrylic paint
*Paintbrush
*Wood letters
*Assorted colors acrylic paint

Ready for these easy steps???

1. Put the smaller hoop inside the larger hoop. Keep the spacing the same all the way around the hoop. I painted both of my hoops white, but you could definitely keep it the natural wood color.

2. Arrange the crayons on the hoop...have fun with it! I put mine all with the label facing up and did all the colors, but you could totally just pick your favorite colors or do some type of pattern.

3. Start gluing! Glue one crayon at a time, so that you can keep your spacing somewhat even. Also, don't use too much glue, or it will just melt the wax.

4. Wrap the ribbon around a couple of crayons at the top and glue.

5. Paint the wooden letters however you like, and glue them on.

Simple, right? I made these as gifts for a couple of teachers, and I love the way they turned out!

I used letters to represent their last names, and I found those little wooden apple cutouts at Hobby Lobby. I just painted them, then wrote their names inside with a sharpie.

Hope you guys are inspired to go make your own! I probably spent less than $20 on the materials for all 3 wreaths, so it was pretty inexpensive to make!

************************************

End of the Year Gifts and a freebie!

Hey yall! I have been one crafy girl today :)

I was trying to figure out what to get my littles for their end of the year gifts. Last year, my teamies and I made these.



We stayed up really late and worked for hours on these flower cookies. The little tag says "You have really bloomed in first grade!" They turned out really cute, and I think the kiddos enjoyed them.

But I just wanted to do something more permanent this year.

I had seen these tile pictures floating around Pinterest, so I decided to take a stab at it.

First, I gathered my materials.



*6 x 6 tile: Lowes $ .88

*2 sheets of scrapbook paper: Hobby Lobby $1.10

*Mod Podge: Hobby Lobby $4.99

*Foam paintbrushes: Hobby Lobby $1.33 for 6

*4 x 6 picture: Walgreens $ .33

Be sure to cut all of your paper and the picture beforehand, because the Mod Podge dries pretty quick. It would be super easy and helpful to have a paper cutter, but I just used paper as a straightedge.



Lay out all of your pieces first, to make sure they are cut to the right size and you know how you want them.

Using the foam brush, cover the tile with Mod Podge. Don't be afraid to use it liberally!

Then put the scrapbook paper down, smooth out all the bubbles, and brush with Mod Podge again.

If you are using 2 different types of paper like I did, put the other sheet down, smooth out the bubbles, and cover with another layer of Mod Podge. Be sure to do this quickly, because the glue dries pretty fast!

Lastly, put the picture on top, smooth out any bubbles, and cover with another layer of Mod Podge.

Let it dry for about 10-15 minutes. I decided to run out to Michaels at the last minute, and purchase this stand. It was on clearance for $1.49.

The final product!

I am sooo happy with how it turned out!

My plan is to do one of these for each of my students. I am going to take a picture of each of them doing a fun pose. Since I am planning to print them out at Walmart, I will also add some text at the bottom of the picture, probably "First Grade 2011-2012." I won't do the stands for each picture, because that would get too pricey. But these actually look just as great leaned up against the wall as they do on a stand.

My BFF and I are planning on having a sleepover to get these done for our littles before the year is out :)

You like?

I also made this using the same steps, but instead of a picture, I just covered a wooden letter with burlap and glued it to the front.

Before I go, I just posted a new unit in both my shops.

This fun unit correlates with the book "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell" by Lucille Colandro. It is perfect for those last few weeks of the year, and will get the littles excited for summer and the beach!

Click here to get it from my Teachers Notebook store, and here to get it from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

And, just because you made it allll the way through this entirely too long post, here is a freebie from the unit. Click on the picture to download.

First 2 to comment gets the unit free :)