Fall Painting Crafts

I was so excited to stumble upon this post from Sugar Bee Crafts.  I was looking for a fun, fall craft to do that would use some colorful paint and the mason jars I had bought.  What better than to create a cute little mason jar luminary?

Adorable graphic from Sugar Bee Crafts

I will say, mine did not come out as cute as Sugar Bee Crafts.  I did not have time to find the perfect leaf decals so I said hmm... what could I use that would be convenient and not break the bank?  I headed over to Michael's Craft Store and got some leaf stickers - perfect!  I used the leftover stickers for my second grader's work (a win, win!)

 The supplies I needed:

1. acrylic paint

2. mason jars

3. paint brushes

4. water / plate to put paint on

5. leaf stickers (or decals) 

After they are dry and finished you will need:

6. small stones/rocks for inside the mason jar

7. tealight candle :)

  Recommendations:

1. Put on lots of paint coats, especially with lighter colors.

2. Let fully dry in between and try to be as smooth as possible with your brush strokes.  

3. After it is dry, pull off the stickers as gently as possible (The photo below shows them still drying)

4. Applying an acrylic sealer will help for the paint to stay and last a long time!

I also painted pumpkins with my sweet friend and her sweet mom.  It's so great living in the same house as one of your best friends - you get to do lots of crafts and fun things together!

We used acrylic paint on these ceramic pumpkins.  They were only $3 each at the Target Dollar Spot (gotta love it!) Below are the two pumpkins that I did.  One of them was for her new baby boy, Parker :) 

The bottom two pumpkins are her moms and Rachel's.  Can you tell Rachel is quite the artist?! xo

What fun crafts have you been doing this fall? 

Happy October :)

Valentine's Day Coasters and Freebies

Hello, hello! I cannot believe how long it's been since I have blogged.. actually, I'll let you in on a little secret - I actually started another blog about my health.  I have written only a few posts, but it holds me accountable for making better choices.  If you want to check it out you can HERE :)

So Valentine's Day is right around the corner! My kiddos made these beautiful DIY coasters for their moms and dads.  We wrapped them in tissue paper and decorated with a few simple words and stickers.  To see how you can make coasters for your home or for a great gift, check out my post from a few years ago :)

 I am so proud of my kiddos for their hard work - they are true rock stars and some of the hardest working Kindergarteners and First graders I have ever known.  This year has been wonderful and I never want to le them go!  I can't wait for them to get my little goodie bags I made for them for Valentine's Day -they deserve it!

 

Check out these great Valentine's Day freebies I found on TPT:

 For the upper grades:

The wonderful Laura Candler's February Activities

 

For the lower grades:

 A Partner Play for Beginning Readers by the amazing A Teeny Tiny Teacher

For the clipart lovers:

Valentine's Graphics from the very talented 3AM Teacher

And something for every grade level:

Non-food Valentine Ideas and Cards from the very lovely Rachelle Smith

I wish you all a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Whimsy Tree Paintings

I wanted to show you the gifts that my students made for their parents this Christmas.  I am so proud of them.  I modeled on scratch paper what a whimsy tree would look like, and they did EVERYTHING themselves! Here are some of their beautiful canvases.  I hope their parents loved them as much as I do!

I am so proud of my K/1 kiddos!

 I love how each one is so unique, and completely done independently - if you would like to these with your own students on canvas or cardstock, or wood (the possibilities are endless)

Below I have listed the materials needed for the paintings - super easy! The kids learned to "blackline" from their art teacher, and the sharpie gave it just the right pop before they painted (just be careful with the sharpies!)  They use their finger prints for the leaves and flowers around the trees, and painted the hills using a medium size paintbrush.  Masterpieces! :)

DIY Pointers

During the summer when looking at my classroom I said to myself... "What do I need more of? What is missing?" And one of the things that I came up with was... pointers! Many of us are on a budget so I went to my good friend Kindergarten Smorgasboard, and he had this fabulous blog post and idea....

I am so glad that I am able to collaborate and bounce off ideas with such amazing teachers like him! Check out his post HERE to find out how to create these cute easy-to-make pointers for a great price!

Michael's craft store is the place to be ;)

 

I hope you are all having a wonderful back-to-school experience... I wish you a great year, and I will be putting up pictures of my classroom very soon!

Student Monday Made It

My boyfriend of 3 1/2 years (Michael) and I just got back from Lake George, NY.  We had so much fun even if it was only for a night... and I treated myself a little to the outlets :] I never spend money on myself, so it was worth it!!

I am linking up with the wonderful, amazing Tara for her Monday Made It linky : ) But today.... it's my KIDS that "Made It"!

My last and final reading project was due a few weeks ago with my kids... Thanks to Krista from Stellar Students, my kids had a ball with her Book Report Projects. Look below of a classic favorite of The Lion, "The Witch, and the Wardrobe", "The Incredible Hulk", and a wonderful story about the military.  My kiddos did such a great job!!

 

After I took down my CAFE chart (which I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of it this year!) I decided it would be a great idea for my kids to decorate the wall... see below, boy did they love it :) So sweet and cute... each of the colored construction papers has their names and what they loved about school.  Then they got to draw all over it.  My favorite line says, "I never had so much fun ever :)" - How can my heart not melt?... What wonderful, amazing kids.

My last picture of what my kids made were remember my Sand paper t shirts?  They were from way back in November... well, I decided to try them again with my kids!! This is a collaborative picture of my kids using crayon on sandpaper again.. and I ironed them on. 

The only problem is that this sand paper project... ONLY works with white tees... don't do red tees like we did ;)

What you need:

white tee shirt(s)

crayons (crayola preferably!)

sand paper

iron

Make sure you iron on the sand paper back and forth for about a minute... you want the color to stick as much as possible.  Machine wash cold like normal, and it stays!!

Thank you so much for stopping by!! I am in the process of making "I Can" statements for 3rd grade... half page statements.... Hope you can check them out soon when they are finished ;)