Uncategorized – Butterbees and Bumbleflies

The Thankful Tree

A while back, while thumbing thru Pinterest, I kept coming across different ways to use paint samples. The various shades on each sheet are just beautiful. So I asked Cody to pick some up for me the next time we went to Lowe’s. I wanted fall colors, which was the only perameter I gave him.

He came back with a whole handful of beautiful shades, but each on single sheets. He said they didn’t have the variagated long bookmarks there. So they sat for a few days, and then I decided to make leaves out of them. I used this template, and printed at 50% so the leaves would fit perfectly onto a paint chip.

I traced. And traced. And cut. And cut. And then the leaves sat. And sat. And sat. Because I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with them.

One day it hit me- a Thankful Tree! I got a canvas out of the closet (yes, I’m one of THOSE people who has canvases and paint ready to go at a moment’s notice… but you can purchase them at your local craft store, Walmart, Dollar General, or of course, Amazon) and started painting! At first, I was disappointed that I didn’t have brown acryllic for the tree, but I ended up being super happy with how the black stands out.

Having a great brush makes all the difference for a tree, especially. I recommend a medium camel hair that almost looks like troll hair- broad at the base and thin at the tip.

So, while the tree dried, I grabbed a pen and “interviewed” each person in our family, recording three things they were thankful for, including myself.

Later in the day, I went outside with my Modge Podge, figured out where I wanted all the leaves, and started gluing them down. Then, I made an even layer over the top of the whole entire canvas (the satin finish modge podge just makes the whole thing look nice). I definitely recommend doing this step OUTSIDE, because Modge Podge isn’t something you want to be inhaling inside your home.

Now that it is completely dry, I’ll use a couple of command strips to hang it in the entry way, where guests can see what we are thankful for! One of the kids asked if this will become an annual Thanskgiving tradition. I’m not sure that I’ll do it EVERY year, but I do have plenty more paint samples, and the leaf template, so who knows?

I love how the paint chips curled a bit after being cut, so it has an actual 3d affect!

I would love to know if you create a Thankful Tree with your family! Please comment below! I am thankful for YOU- my readers! Have a blessed holiday as you think about all we have to be thankful for.

Giving Thanks- Part two

Writing a handwritten thank you note is often something we forget to do. It’s quicker to send a text, or even just think it’s enough to SAY “thank you” when someone does something nice. But how often do we teach our kids the importance of WRITING “thank you,” and then follow up to make it actually happen?

My mom loves making cards, so when she showed me a new die cut she got for her Big Shot that went perfectly with our school mascot, I had to think of some way to use it… and immediately thought of making thank you cards for the kids’ teachers. I had planned on each of the three writing to each of their teachers, but Elle (my five year old) just didn’t have the stamina nor attention span for writing on that many cards, so I took the time to write to each of her electives teachers, and she wrote to her classroom teacher.

How we did it? It was all made possible thanks to my partners over at Clear Path Paper, who provided some of their fabulous paper to make them “extra.” We used the 65lb Royal Blue (around here we call it “La Vernia Blue”) and 65lb Silk White as well as their 80lb White Linen and 83lb Deluxe Rhino Gray.

Mom made the die cuts for the fronts from the blue, and posted on white and gray. The bear paw and word “thanks” were cut on the Big Shot with metal dies. Then, she took a picture of the die cut and imported it into Design Space and created an offset for it, which was then cut on her Cricut Maker 3.

She also folded all the card bases made from the White Linen, and cut the Silk White paper for the kids to write on as inserts and attach… in case they made mistakes. She then put the royal blue inside for a stunning back layer. She attached double-sided photo splits to the Silk White inserts so that after the kids wrote their notes, they could easily attach to the inside of the card on top of the blue.

She also put double-stick 3d stickers on the die cuts. The kids enjoyed attaching them to the front and feeling like they had a part in “making” the cards, as well as the writing.

We inserted a special leaf into each card after it was written, and they are ready to deliver to their teachers on Monday! How is it that it’s already the week before Thanksgiving break?! I am beyond thankful for each of the teachers who is pouring their time and efforts into my kiddos this year, and I hope they feel that gratitude from receiving these special cards!

Giving Thanks Project – Part One

November is one of my favorite times of year, and Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday ever since I was a little kid. We shared so many special traditions with my grandparents, and now our family has new special traditions we’re building with our kids. One of the most important things we as parents can teach our kids is to be thankful, and to SAY “thank you” to those who do special things for us. This year, to help reinforce this concept, I decided to do a couple of projects with the kids for their teachers as a special Thanksgiving gift to help them know how thankful we are for each of them!

My partners over at Clear Path Paper were excited to get involved, and my mom pitched in a lot of help with her Cricut machine and card making skills to help get it all just perfect! Part two of this post will talk about the card portion.

Today I want to share with you how we made our special fall leaves. There’s a couple ways you can do this- either by painting full sheets of paper and then cutting, or by cutting your leaf shapes first before painting. We did a few each way, and I think the leaves that were pre-cut before painting were better- mainly because it felt so wrong to throw away scraps of the painted paper when we didn’t end up using it all. (Looking for free leaf shape templates? I used these.)

Over the years, we’ve done painting with shaving cream several times, and the kids always love it. (And so do I!) The results are always epic and the whole dining room smells good from the shaving cream, too! Here’s what you’ll need:

-can of shaving cream

-food coloring

-toothpicks (or we used an old pencil about halfway thru this time and it worked WAY better!)

-an activity tray or otherwise large surface with edges- could use a metal sheet pan (for mixing your shaving cream paint)

-another tray or even layered newspapers (for scraping off the paint)

-cake frosting scraper or large popsicle stick

–Clear Path Silk White 100lb Coverstock (precut into leaf shapes)

Once you have gathered your materials, squirt a generous amount of shaving cream onto your tray or sheet pan, and drip orange, red, and yellow food coloring all over. Use the toothpick or old pencil to gently swirl your colors.

After swirling, start laying your leaf down into the cream, gently pushing it down about halway into the foam so that all areas get covered. Gently pull it up, and scrape the excess foam off of the leaf, revealing your painted masterpiece!

It is SUPER important to use the heavy Cover Stock paper from my partners at Clear Path Paper, because regular card stock can’t handle the amount of moisture you’re soaking up with all of the shaving cream and food coloring. Their paper is PERFECT for all your painting needs!

If you decide to color the entire sheets of paper, you can dip them the same way, OR you can dab bits of the colored shaving cream to the top of the page and then scrape it down the paper for some beautiful results! Please note- the food coloring WILL stain your finger tips for a couple of days. Use gloves if this is a problem!!

Once the colors get too mixed for your liking, feel free to add little blobs of fresh shaving cream to add in more white, and then adding specific areas of more red or more yellow adds more definition to your color once it becomes mostly orange.

I then hand-lettered each leaf, but it would be adorable to have young children write their own messages on the leaves as well.

Each teacher who receives a thank you card will have a special leaf “fall” out of it when they open it! Be sure to check back next weekend for part two of the project- our epic bear designed thank you cards made by my mom, and written by the kids! This project was just too special to be all one post! 🥰

While I was writing on the leaves, the kids had fun playing in their own little batches of shaving cream… never forget to let them be kids!!!!

Go be blessed… and be thankful!!! ❤️

Coffee Bar Themed Computer Lab

When I found out I’d be teaching in the portable building, I had mixed feelings… until I went into it the first time. It’s beautiful, and the newest, nicest room I’ve ever taught in. I absolutely love it. And I was able to transform the two white boards into bulletin boards to give even more space for displaying relevant information that I pieced together from various things I found online.

For example, I took a blank computer keyboard I had printed out, and ran it through the poster maker machine in our library, then colored it. I also took blank hands, ran thru the poster maker, and used coordinating colors to show which fingers should be used for proper keyboarding use.

“Where Do My Fingers Go?” Bulletin board is attached to the white board using adhesive on the metal edge so it doesn’t ruin the whiteboard itself.

I also created a “THINK” bulletin board to encourage kids to make positive choices online, and have made the printables available for purchase here.

The large poster is 8.5×11 size on the file, and I ran it thru the poster maker in our school library.

But my favorite part of my decorating is all of my coffee bar themed materials. I had purchased some sets online in the past, and added a couple of pieces to the theme for this year. I also created several of my own posters using the Canva for teachers software. You can purchase your own copy of my Calming Corner posters here and here on my Teachers Pay Teachers page. My goal was to make the computer lab seem like a fun Coffee Bar-type environment, and the kids LOVE the theme. I can’t begin to tell you how many times each day a student will ask me if I can make them some coffee, or will call their own water bottle their “coffee.” I love to make learning fun, and this environment definitely puts them at ease and makes them smile. One sweet boy can never remember my name, but calls me “hey, teacher who likes coffee.”

One poster I made that is totally custom, and NOT available for sale on my page is this one:

The fine print: “Unlike at an actual coffee bar. Sadly, you must drink your water AWAY from the Chromebooks- for their safety, and yours.”

I originally started the year with numbers on pieces of paper taped to coffee cups I had purchased and run through the laminator to label each computer. But, the cups were printed off the side/not all centered (because that happens when you buy pre-printed products), and adding a number to the top of them made them too thick for the lamination to stick very well… and then there was the OTHER idea I had tried… I had wanted to put velcro on the front as well as by the screen, so the kids could move the coffee cup to stick up on the screen when they needed help, instead of raising their hands. Little did I know how much the sound of the velcro would DRIVE. ME. CRAZY. and how the kids (esp the third graders) would PLAY with the coffee cups and make them fall apart. So, by the time the first month was done, I was looking for another option.

Enter my partners at Clear Path Paper, and my mom with her Cricut machine! Using their 65lb 12×12 Royal Blue and 65lb 12×12 Silk White to fit with our school colors, she made coffee cups with numbers printed on them for me. (Note the bear paw numbers that fit perfectly with our school mascot!!) I laminated them, and attached them to the Chromebooks with glue dots for a permanent attachment. No more velcro for me! HA! The kids immediately saw them and said “Hey! LaVernia coffee cups!” Go bears! 😉 Using the nice thick paper from Clear Path and mom’s Cricut, these numbers will LAST. Very grateful to Clear Path and also to mom for making these possible! They certainly MAKE the theme complete!

I thought about attaching with book tape, but it peeled off the textured top…

Now my coffee bar themed room is complete! I definitely love how it has turned out, and so do my students!

Boats, Siphons, and Snorkels, oh my!

We’re entering the dog days of summer. God has turned up the heater in South Texas, and it’s still three weeks til school. The kids are fried. I’m sick of hearing the word “bored.” So…

We turned some veggie containers and straws into a lot of fun in the pool this week!! Don’t have a pool? You could also do this in the bathtub!!

It’s simple- give them some containers, straws, tape, and some of that 100lb cardstock from Clear Path Paper that I mentioned in my last post, and let them make some boats! The super thick cardstock will survive getting wet a couple of times before you need a new sail, too! Let your little engineers have a blast! A boat race is sure to ensue!

When you’re done, take the tape and paper off and they can learn a little about siphons using their containers and straws! Thanks to Pappy’s kiddie pool last summer, Grayson already knew how to set up a siphon, and he got to be the teacher of this lesson! He set it up on the edge of the pool and showed the girls how cool it was! We also discovered that the black mushroom containers get nice and warm, and the water coming back into the pool was really warm!

The straws also make really fun snorkels… and work as a fabulous “spoon” for some pretend cooking play! Who needs to buy pool toys?? Try giving them a few containers to reuse and you’ll be amazed with all their imaginations will do! 🙂