Easter

I kept this year's Easter Card pretty simple. I added some simple patterned paper to a cream base, tied a knot with some More Mustard ribbon, crumpled some kraft paper, and stamped a simple cross with Close to Cocoa. And! While I was making these cards, the boyfriend was studying, so I enlisted his crumbling expertise... He crumpled all the craft paper for me! Isn't he the best? Happy Easter and happy crafting all!

Easter Decor

This year's Easter Decor Theme: Carrots! And not only is it Easter, but it is also my cousin's birthday. Happy Birthday, Alex! So I promised her I'd make some cupcakes for her birthday... of course, I didn't stop at the cupcakes. I created a banner by sewing together a string of orange paper triangles, addes Alex's name, as well as some green ribbon to make the two on the end look like carrots.

I went shopping with my aunt, Alex's mama, in order to find bright green and orange napkins, plates, and silverware. We'll be eating outside this year and we don't want to do dishes (and by we, I mean me!). And because I just can't stop at festive banners and cupcakes, I also made carrots out of the napkins and silverware... so smart, I know! I googled "carrot napkin folds", thinking I'd find a fancy way to fold just a napkin into a carrot (sort of like oragami) and found this idea instead.. I rolled a medium-sized orange napkin around bright green silverware, tied with a bright green ribbon, and viola! Haha. We could use our carrot to eat our carrots! (I'm practically rolling on the floor laughing right now!)

And my pride and joy... carrot patch cupcakes! I made basic chocolate cupcakes and frosted them with my fabulous cream cheese frosting (thanks for the idea, Francheska!). I then sprinked some crushed graham crackers on top to represent dirt and wrapped cupcake liners made from kraft paper around the base. Now for the tough part... I molded orange starburst into the shape of carrots and cut green sour strings to represent the stalk. As simple as this sound, and it was, I made 3 per cupcake times 20 cupcakes to equal 60 candy carrots! Needless to say, my hands started to hurt after a while... it was so worth it, though!

I can't wait for Alex to see all of my carrot decorations! And I can't wait to eat all those carrot patch cupcakes! Have a happy Easter and happy crafting all!

Ashley

Crocheted Bows

Yay! I finally finished those crocheted bows I was telling you all about... I think they're super cute and I totally wish that I could wear them. Unfortunately, with a bow in my hair, I look even more like a 12-year-old than I already do without the bow... I can't wait until I'm 40 and I look it! Anyway, all I did to create the cuties was crochet a rectangle, tie a knot in the center, and wrap. Viola! I then attached the bows to headbands, hair elastics, and clips to be worn as hair bows. Cute, right? Oh, I'm not done...

So what was I to do with all of these cute bows that I made, but can't wear? Give them away, of course! Yay! I love presents (probably as much as I love puns)! And since Easter is this Sunday, I decided to "wrap" the bows in Easter eggs! I know, I know, too cute! Below are the finished eggs. However, I cannot seem to find a basket to put them in. What?!?! (For those of you who don't know my mom... we used to have baskets hanging ALL over the house!)! Oh, well. Happy crafting all!

Ashley

Cookies!

Today I took a break from crafts and baked some cookies... Below you'll find pictures (they look sort of like poop, but I swear they're good!) of my first attempt at Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Oats Cookies. And by first attempt, I mean, apparently rolled oats, quick-cook oats, steel-cut oats, and quick-cook steel-cut oats are all quite different. You see, the recipe called for quick-cook oats... okay, I can do that. At the store, I found quick-cook oats. Done. At home, I continued to read the label (I really need to learn to read all instructions before I start!) and found that I had purchased quick-cook steel-cut oats. Eh, same difference. So I bake... Then I try... Hmmm.

Apparently, there actually is a difference between all these types of oats. It gets complicated from here... Rolled oats are slightly steamed and rolled flat. Quick-cook oats are rolled oats that are cut into smaller pieces in order to cook faster. Okay, makes sense. Steel-cut oats are cut into smaller pieces when the oats are still raw and therefore actually take longer to cook than regular rolled oats. And finally, quick-cook steel-cut oats (the kind I purchased) are entirely made up because steel-cut oats are not quick cook. So to make a long story short, the oats in my Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Oats Cookies did not cook. I still think they're good, though!

And when I found the cookie below, I got really excited... Doesn't it look like a heart? This one is definitely be saved for the boyfriend! Happy baking all!

 

Ashley

Music Note Magnets

I know I said the planned craft for today was Sheet Music Flowers, but it turns out they were much harder than I thought and I did not finish them. I did, however, get to meet up with my friend Andrea and make the fabulous craft that she planned... Music Note Magnets! I absolutely love them (we seemed to be on a music theme today)! Anyway, she had breakfast and tea all set up for us when I arrived (YUM!). We ate and visited for a bit, then got down to business... crafting, duh! To make these magnets, you'll want use those clear pebbles that are used at the base of a flower vases, sheet music, tacky glue, and round magnets. All we did was trace the magnets on the sheet music, cut, trim, and glue with tacky glue... one layer of glue between the magnet and the sheet music and one layer of glue between the sheet music and the pebble. However, we did find that the sheet music was a little thin and it therefore turned a bit grey as the glue dried (this actually worked out really well for our music notes, but maybe not so much if you used other designs). In order to prevent the discoloration from happening, she said you just want to include a piece of cardstock under your design (easy fix!). Thanks for crafting with me, Andrea! And happy crafting to the rest of you!

Crocheted Flowers

Spring Break is finally here! Now that I have some time away from my classroom, I can finally get to that stack of craft ideas that's been piling up. Below is my first project... crocheted flowers. I made several colors and attached them to hair ties and headbands. I never (seriously, never) actually do my hair, just sort of twirl my fingers through it and hope for the best. Hopefully these cute flowers will at least add some distraction from the tangled mess!

My Spring Break Crafting Plans:

Saturday: Easter Cards - I'll post this one on Easter... I'm pretty particular about dates, ask the boyfriend.

Sunday: Crocheted Bows - These are done, but I need to attach them to some hair accessories.

Monday: Crocheted Flowers - I'm wearing the purple one now!

Tuesday: Sheet Music Flowers

Wednesday: Fabric Flowers

Thursday: Birthday Cards

Friday: Easter Decorations

Saturday: Easter Decorations

Used Utensils Can

So one pet peeve I have with my students is that they leave their belongings in my classroom on a daily basis. At least one student per period leaves their writing utensil on or under the table. Normally, at the end of the day, I toss the used writing utensils (I know! I know! It's aweful!). Today I decided to do something more productive with these ditched belongings... I made a "Used Utensils" Can! Now, whenever my irresponsible forgetful students leave writing utensils (pens, pencils, erasers, highlighters, colored pencils) in my classroom, I can add them to this can. Then, when my equally irresponsible forgetful students don't have a writing utensil, they can borrow a used one! It's a win, win!

And! On an even happier note... Spring Break starts tomorrow! Yay! All my students keep asking what I plan to do over Spring Break... my response: "sleep and craft!" Happy crafting all!

Things I Love...

It's true... I love chocolate, new shoes, and shopping... like a lot... but more than I love those things, and more than I love many other things... I love my amazing boyfriend, Daniel... I am such a lucky girl... like really, really lucky... he's the man of my dreams, only better because he's real (okay, so I totally stole that from a movie, but it's so well said!)... so as today marks two and a half years together, of course I made a card... I love you lots, Daniel!

Chic Boutique Birthday

For the month of April, I felt like making an ultra girly birthday card... Below is the product. I used my Chic Boutique stamp set from Stampin' Up! I absolutely love the punny phrase (here I go, another pun) "It seems only fitting... to wish you a happy day!" Ha! Too fun! I also used my girly scallop punch and my swirly background stamp (I know, my vocabulary is pretty pathetic). I also can't wait to move so that I can make cards that say "A Change of A Dress." Ha! Too cute! So to all those with an April birthday, Happy Birthday! And happy crafting to the rest of you!

Another Countdown

For the past 2 weeks, I have come home each day and flipped a number on my school coundown (I'm now down to 51 days!)... This has become something that I REALLY look forward to... Yes, it reminds me that summer is almost here and I will once again have the time to do all the things I enjoy... But more than that, it reminds me that I've made it this far... I started at 176 days and am now down to 51... I feel accomplished, I feel productive... And for those of you who know me well, you know that those two words probably describe me and what I strive for best.

So now I've made another countdown (51 is still a lot of days, I needed a quicker ending point)... The countdown shown below is counting the days until Spring Break (yay!!!)... I  used my super cute new font from Lettering Delights, PC Garden... I think I might actually take this one to school... I know my kids are all counting down the days, too... I had several students walk into my classroom today and say "Ms. Deslatte, I counted the days we have left until Spring Br--" and I very enthusiastically interupt them and say "15!"... But now the day is over and we have only 14 days until Spring Break... Happy crafting, all!

School Countdown

So after having a bit of a rough week at work (doesn't it always seem like a rough week?), I decided to make a countdown... a countdown until summer! I threw this one together in less than 5 minutes, just something to remind myself "you're almost done!" I really can't wait to sleep in until the sun comes up, exercise on a more than monthly basis, cook one meal at a time, run errands in daylight, and read something other than a science textbook! Wow! That sounds so good I may not go back in September! Eh, who am I kidding, I'll be bored and back in my classroom getting ready by July. The joys of teaching.

To make the countdown, I printed out a paper that said, "Days Left". Then I printed pages with 2 each of numbers 0-9. I layered those numbers, whole punched, and clipped them in binder rings. I also used a red file folder as a stand... like I said, I put this together in less than 5 minutes! But hey, it works! Happy crafting!

Composition Book

So today is one of my good friend's birthday... Happy Birthday, Heather! She just got married last November so it's still really fun to put her new name on everything. Below is her birthday present... I used a store-bought composition book then glued some patterned paper on the cover along with her name... three black buttons and a pink ribbon later... viola! She runs a preschool, so I figure she'd be able to find a good use for it. Happy crafting all!

Bookmark

I was experimenting over the weekend and somehow ended up with this bookmark. It's double sided - patterned fabric on one side and brown grosgrain ribbon on the other. I stitched an outline of the beige flowers in the fabric with beige string (super suttle). I then sewed the fabric and ribbon together... Of course, I only pinned one side as I passed the bookmark through the sewing machine and ended up attempting to pin the other side while it was still attached. Don't try that at home! So my new bookmark has already been put to work, holding my place in the book I started over winter break and haven't picked up since... Oh how I can't wait for summer! Happy crafting!

Create a Cupcake II

As I mentioned in my last post, I got new stamps! Thanks again, Jan! My new Create a Cupcake stamp set from Stampin' Up! is now officially one of my favorites. I made the cards below for two little cuties I know... Lily is turning 2 and Nathaniel is turning 1. Happy Birthday, Lily and Nathaniel! I think they turned out pretty cute, don't you? Happy crafting!

Create a Cupcake

YAY! New stamps! I received the new Create a Cupcake stamp set from Stampin' Up! for my birthday from the boyfriend's mom, Jan. Thank you, Jan! As you can see, I'm really excited! This stamp set is absolute perfect... I can make adult cards and kid cards all with the same stamp set. And! I can finally retire the one "happy birthday" stamp I do own which looks like a kid wrote it in crayon. The card below is my first experiment. I created this one for my dad. Happy Birthday, Dad! It very appropriately says "It's not about how many candles you blow out but how many cupcakes you get!". Needless to say, I made this card for the older men in my life. :D Happy crafting!

Valentine's Day III

It's finally Valentine's Day! Happy Valentine's Day to my very special valentine, Daniel. I love you lots! As I said before, I have the day off (YAY!) and I plan to spend every moment possible with my absolutely awesome and superbly sweet boyfriend. Normally we only get to spend weekends (late Friday through early Sunday) together, so a Monday off is a real treat! In the plans for today: straberries dipped in chocolate. Below is my Valentine's Day card for this year which I made using one of the heart stamps from my Simply Said stamp set from Stampin' Up!. Also pictured is a matching milk carton filled with goodies. I love that an absurd amount of chocolate is totally okay on Valentine's Day! I also love (as I mentioned before) that on this day each year it is totally okay for me to want to cuddle and say "I love you" every moment of the day! Yay for oversharing love! Happy Valentine's Day and happy crafting!

Valentine's Day II

Below is my Valentine's Day card from last year. I was really into using torn paper (who am I kidding? I still am!). Anyway, I used one of the stamps from my A Little Bit of Happiness stamp set from Stampin' Up! (see my Thanksgiving II post for a card made with another stamp from the same stamp set). I love how lovey dovey everything and everyone is around Valentine's Day... It makes me seem a bit more normally for just a couple weeks! Happy Valentine's Day and happy crafting!

Valentine's Day I

Valentine's Day is fast approaching and I can't wait to spend my day off (YES! I totally get the day off!) with my super sweet valentine. I'm thinking strawberries dipped in chocolate (my favorite) and pajamas all day (my other favorite)! Below is my Valentine's Day card from two years ago. I used my Cricut to cut the heart-like flower. And I will admit, this card is probably one of my favorites... simple and sweet. Happy Valentine's Day and happy crafting!

Student Sticks

Okay. So I don't know what most teachers would call them, but I FINALLY made student sticks. My definition of student sticks: sticks in a can used by a teacher to call randomly on students, preferrably those not paying attention or participating. I decorated my can (which previously housed artichoke hearts, yum) with black grosgrain ribbon. I had to make it cute somehow! Anyway, I had avoided making them all year thinking it was too elementary, but it made a world of difference today in class! It forced me to call on the students I KNOW don't have the answer, which I definitely did not do before. Below is a really bad picture, but you get the idea. Happy crafting!