Monday Made It – June 29, 2015

I am excited to participate in Monday Made It today with Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics. 

I decided that this year, I would take a little time off from working on school stuff (gasp!) and work on a hobby instead.  So I dusted off my sewing machine, spent way too much money at JoAnn’s, and got going!  I am excited to share two completely non-school-related Made It projects today:

PJ Pants

I decided the best project to start with was something easy, but useful…like pj pants.  Since I live in these all summer long, I decided to get some lightweight cotton.  I made a pattern out of an old shopping bag, and used my favorite pjs as a guide.  

Next, I cut the fabric for each half of the pants.

Pinned them together, sewed them up, added an elastic waist…

 And finished!

iPad Case

I found a really cute pattern for an iPad case on Pinterest (here is the pin).  The pattern is for a vintage looking case that is super cute, but when I was at the fabric store, I found some awesome zebra felt, so I changed the pattern a little.  I didn’t take photos of the steps for this project because it was so quick and easy!

This is the finished project though:

(I used black embroidery floss to wind the buttons together, so it’s hard to see in the photo.)

Reusable Shopping Bag

Project 3 is actually project 2.5, since it’s not actually finished yet.  I found this awesome fabric at Hancock Fabrics over the weekend, and I wanted to use it, so I decided to make a reusable shopping bag.  I know you can buy them for significantly less than I’m spending on this project, but it’s about the creativity right now...

I decided to use the fabrics to make a quilted exterior for the bag, so I cut five of the fabrics into 5 x 5 inch squares.  (This took forever, and I was super glad to have a rotary cutter!)

Then, I laid out the pieces into a pattern I was happy with.  (I thought they would all fit on the towel.  They did not…)

Next I sewed all of the pieces together to make the quilt.  I took this picture before I finished, but I did actually sew the whole thing together.  

In fact, I sewed the entire bag together and ironed it into shape.

I even stitched up the lining.

But I haven’t added straps or sewn it together yet.  Hopefully by next Monday!

Monday Made It – September (blog button)

I am excited to be linking up with 4th GradeFrolics for Monday Made It again!  And I’m even more excited about my Made It itself!

Today, I decided that a good after school activity would be creating a button for my blog.  I’ve been meaning to make one, but just never took the time.  So this afternoon I sat down at my computer and turned my header image into a button image.

Then, I googled “Make a blog button for Blogger” and found a few sites for help:

1. This site was helpful in learning how to create the actual button, but it wasn’t very much help in creating the code I would need.

However, it helped me turn this…

….into this

 

2. This site was really helpful, but the code didn’t work.  It produced a cute button with an empty code box.

3. This AWESOME site has a code generator that turns your information into the HTML code you need to actually create the button.

So that is my Made It this month!  Check it out on the lower left side of the page!

Monday Made It - August 12

It’s Monday again – my last official day of summer, even though we have open house tonight – and time for another Monday Made It with Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics.

This week, I made two projects. The first was inspired by this post at Lessons with Laughter. It’s a Homework Club board. I’ve seen several bloggers posting about Homework Club boards and I’m excited to start one in my own room. I followed my blue and green with stars theme for my board by painting the pan blue and adding some green ribbon. I don’t have pictures of these steps, but here’s the finished board.

 

For the magnets, I bought a collection of wooden stars from Jo-Ann’s and painted them green. 

I painted by hand, which was silly. I totally should have used spray paint! Then I added numbers with a silver sharpie, glued the magnets to the back, and clear coated the final product.

Project number two was a sign for my classroom door. I’m not 100% thrilled with how it turned out, but it’s cuter than having nothing there.

Monday Made It – READ!

It’s Monday and time for Monday Made It at Fourth GradeFrolics!  I am super excited about my project for this week.  I have seen several bloggers featuring their READ signs and letters, and so I decided to make my own.  My classroom is all done in blue and green with stars as a decorating theme and while I searched for some awesome star paper to use, I didn’t find anything I fell in love with, so I decided to go with plain old paint.

First I went to Jo-Ann’s for my letters.  I LOVE these because they remind me of Dr. Seuss lettering.  (Of course the letters went on sale the day after I purchased them, so I’m in the process of buying new ones to return for a price adjustment, but they are all out of A’s!)

Then I painted the insides of the letters green,

 

the outside of the letters blue, and I finished them with some Mod Podge for a glossy (water resistant) finish.  I’m REALLY happy with how they turned out!

 

 



Monday Made It - Specials Signs

I love to draw and doodle and color and all of those creative type things.  So this week, I am featuring my specials signs for Tara’s Monday Made It feature.

In my school, we have five “special” classes: Art, Music, Gym (which the teacher insists on calling PE), Computer Lab, and Library.  To help the kids remember when each class is held, I put signs up in my classroom depicting the class name and the time it’s held.  Last year, I made these doodled signs and the kids really liked them.  I even saw them mimicking the style in their own drawings! (Pardon the glare...I laminated the signs, and they didn't photograph so well...) 

 

Unfortunately, I mounted the signs on green paper….which fit the theme I’ve had in my classroom for the last four years, but doesn’t fit my new theme idea.  I’m planning to redo my room in red, white, and blue with stars and stripes (because, I AM an American History geek, and I like the idea of carrying it into the room).  I’d still like to use these posters, so I may be remounting them in the two weeks before school starts this year…

On the blog, I also made something new....a feature called the Saturday Summary.  It will be a place for bloggers to link up a summary of their week.  It will let us get to know each other better and will introduce people to new blogs.  If you're interested, my first summary post is here so you can learn more!

Monday Made It – July 22, 2013

Today I’m linking up with 4^th Grade Frolics for the Monday Made It linky event.  This week, I spent some time on a puzzle (one of my favorite time wasters).  I’m addicted to Revolution era and Constitutional history, and my mom bought me the coolest puzzles for Christmas.  I’ve actually done these puzzles twice, but the most recent completion was this week, so I figured they count for a Monday Made It!

The first is a puzzle of the Constitution. (Yes, I know I’m a geek, but I’m ok with it!)  This one was incredibly complicated, but I had a ton of fun doing it.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture of this one, which is a shame, because some of the pieces are shaped like states and the very center piece is shaped like the Liberty Bell, which looks pretty cool.

The second puzzle does have a picture.  This one shows all of the important events and places from the Revolutionary War.  This one was easier than the Constitution puzzle, but still took some time.  It was a lot of fun though!