July Currently

Where has June gone? Ugh summer is going by way too fast. Linking up with Farley for July's currently.

I'm hoping our weather will be better this year for the 4th of July. Last summer it rained all week during the 4th. 

Don't forget to take lots of snapshots this week. I'd love for you to link up to Saturday Snapshots on Saturday. Can't wait to see some 4th of July pictures. 

Monday Made It plus a giveaway

Yay .. Monday Made It! Please excuse my tardiness to my favorite linky party of the summer. It's the first time I'm linking up because quite frankly I've been enjoying the time off.  Instead of crafting, I've been floating on the lazy river! I promise I made up for it this week.

First off, I finally tried the new craze ( well.. to me) chalk paint. I had a friend who has been painting up a storm. She's painted so many cool pieces that I couldn't help but to try. I was intrigued so I came over with some unfinished frames. Now I'm hooked.  I can't wait to keep painting. The cool thing about chalk paint is you don't need to prime. It rarely requires any preparation, such as sanding or priming, and can be used indoors or outside, on just about any surface.  It can revitalize old furniture, walls, ceilings and floors with ease. It's easy, fun and ADDICTING. 

This is what I've painted so far... 

I found the cute bows at Hobby Lobby

Hoping this will help if displayed right by the turn in basket. Probably NOT ! UGH

My next Monday Made It was made by a dear friend. My husband is too busy in the summer to cut and sand shower board so I had some help with this one. I have a class set of boards but I'm LOVING this size. I know the students will too. They were made by using a ping pong racket as a stencil. 

One of the trainings I attended this summer was classroom discussions.  We were given a book called Classroom Discussions in Math. It was actually a great training and I learned some great techniques to hold math meetings. It was all about accountable talk and math talk moves. To help me incorporate this on a daily basis, I created some math talk question cards. There are 64 questions in all.  It is a great way to engage all students in meaningful math talk.  They were created with the Common Core Mathematical Practice Standards in mind. 

My last Monday Made It was helping my brother in law bottle tupelo honey which is the best honey in the WORLD. It's the only honey I will eat. I will be giving away a bottle of tupelo honey to one lucky winner. All you have to do is leave a comment for a chance to win. 

I can't wait to see the other crafts this week. It feels good to be back crafting. Thanks Tara!

Ok I'm so excited about finding this next site. Will share all about it next Monday. I have some fun plans for using these awesome images.

In the meantime this site is great for making tpt products and the images are only $1. 

Check out Dollar Photo 

 

Saturday Snapshots

It is Saturday, very early Saturday, but surely it still counts! I still haven't been to sleep yet because that's how I roll in the summer time. Is everyone ready for Saturday Snapshots? If not you can always embed some instagram pictures. Remember any snapshot works!  I'm ready to showcase some pictures from this past week. I've been so busy with PD this week that I may not have tons! Don't forget I'll pick one photograph that really gets my attention to win a fun surprise. Winner will be announced July 4th so hurry and link up on the blog or instagram with the hashtag #Saturdaysnapshots. 

           I went on my first summer road trip for 2014.  Destination : Biloxi.  It was short but sweet!

We had some fun celebrating two birthdays on Saturday. We celebrated my nephew and niece! Can you tell what they are into these days?

Christian is in love with dragons. We saw How to Train Your Dragon 2. Oh my was it good but also sad... I might have cried just a little.

My sister has just gotten her real estate license so she's been trying her best to sell us a new home. 

Umm... I fell in love with this model home. It's perfect but not three minutes away from school like I am now.  How fun would it be to move in and not have to decorate????

Christian loves the jumper thing as he calls it. They are making a killing off of me this summer.

We had this human car wash at our end of the year party. I'm really wanting to try to make one. I know Christian and Isla would have a blast.

Have you all tried Chalk Paint? I have a friend that has me hooked. Chalk Paint is very easy to work with. It very rarely requires any preparation, such as sanding or priming, and can be used indoors or outside, on just about any surface.  It can revitalise old furniture, walls, ceilings and floors with ease. It's easy, fun and ADDICTING. You should see my friend. She's painting EVERYTHING. I'm just going to start with some wooden frames. Who knows... I might try some furniture. 

I'm loving this table. She has definitely inspired me and now I've ordered 6 sample colors.  Monday Made It here I come. 

An InLinkz Link-up

It's BACK....

Happy Saturday!!!!

Saturday Snapshots officially started back today.  It's been so long since I hosted this linky so let's talk about what it's ALL about.  Saturday Snapshots is about your remembering moments in your life. 

It is about capturing, documenting, and preserving all that is important to us. So start snapping so you can link up on Saturdays!!! Don't forget the small details of everyday life. Even though I haven't been posting on my blog you will always find my recent snapshots on my instagram account. I guess you can say I'm a little addicted. 

I'd love for you to link up pictures of your summer bucket lists, classroom makeovers, family vacations, etc. One way to be a better photographer is practice. I love shooting at different perspectives. Try not to only shoot at eye level.  I know it's the easiest perspective but everyone can get that shot. I would love to give you a challenge this week ...get down or get higher!  Link up on the blog or on instagram with the hashtag #saturdaysnapshots to be entered into a Saturday Snapshots giveaway. I'll be selecting a winner each month of a snapshot that really grabs my attention. You will get a special surprise box coming your way. June is almost over so I'll be selecting a winner on Monday June 30th. 

I hope you enjoy some of my recent snapshots. I can't wait to see yours!

I had the honor of being this girl's first babysitter. What a cutie!

These ladies knew how to party. Most of these sweet girls are family friends.

Don't be afraid to get down low when taking snapshots!

Sweet nieces!

I could spend all day with these cuties!

This was a wedding I shot last weekend.  I choose to get higher.

Stand UP for Autism. My nephew is on the spectrum so I can't wait to support this year's Autism Benefit at Angelo's Steak Pit.

Don't forget to snap shots of small scale details.

Yay ....it's summer! I'm so glad because now I can get my craft on! Monday Made It keeps me on track.

Be sure to link up here and or on instagram with #saturdaysnapshots

An InLinkz Link-up

Behind the Glass: End of Year Gifts, Slideshows, and Memory Books

I'm linking up with my sweet friend Tara for the kick off of the weekly Monday Made Its. It's my favorite time of the year because this linky is just my style. I'll definitely be getting my craft on this summer. Hopefully, you will join in on all of the fun. Best part???  ...it doesn't even have to be school related. I hope to have some recipes, photography tips and some home made its to share this summer. I'm so ready for summer... it's almost here. I have 5 more days of school so I'm in hustle mode right now to finish all the little details for our Royal Celebration. On Monday, we will be having our Royal Celebration to showcase our fairy tale plays we've been working extra hard on. I'll also be giving out royal awards, our ABC's of First Grade memory books and end of the year gifts.  This will also be our time to watch the end of the year slide show that turned out oh so cute.  I posted a sample slideshow with some snippets of imovie below because I'm in LOVE! It was super easy. I used the theme of ABC's of First Grade.

Monday Made It - Groovebook- Ok, teachers...this is my new FAVORITE find. It's called Groove Book. It will send you a photo book EACH MONTH with 100 of your latest photos for $2.99 and that includes shipping. Sound too good to be true???? I promise it's not! I just signed up and uploaded my first 100 photos last month. If you take lots of phone pics this is THE. BEST. THING. EVER!! Even the app is free. The best part is you can do duplicates of pictures. I could see using this in the classroom for sure. How great for parent volunteer gifts? When I need pictures at the beginning of the school year I'll upload to my phone so I can make a GrooveBook. I also like how the book tells you the time you took the photo. You can easily rip out pictures because the book is perforated. The possibilities are endless. For less than $3 you can't go wrong in my opinion. 

Monday Made It -The ABC's of First Grade- This would have been a really simple project if I would have started earlier and added pics each month or so. Instead, I created this custom book in one sitting. It took me about 5 hours to find all my pictures and insert them in Shutterfly. I used the custom path and found backgrounds I liked. Next year it will so much easier as I'll just switch out the pictures. I ended up spending $25 dollars on this precious book. The books were $40 but shutterfly always has awesome coupons. I sent the link out to my parents and they were able to get 50% and free shipping. If you want to learn more about this project check out Kindercraze. She has a little tutorial.

Next Monday Made it came from the fabulous Katie at Little Warriors

Of course I love anything that involves photographs. I know the parents will love this! 

For this project you simply take a picture of your students against a wall. Insert the picture in powerpoint and add some text boxes.

I used the fonts listed below. 

I then saved as a jpeg and printed them 5x7 to Wal-Mart. I found the frames for $1.00 at the Dollar Store. My pictures turned out fine but powerpoint to jpeg is not the best quality. Next year I'll try to increase the dpi. I found some tutorials here.

Here is a portion of our End of the Year Slideshow. I took out my powerpoint slides that had students names and shortened the video just so you could get an idea of how you can insert powerpoint slides into imovie or moviemaker.  I like having the theme of ABC's of First Grade or whatever grade because it helps me organize my pictures. 

On Friday we had our dress rehearsal for our fairy tales  The students are so excited to perform the plays for their families on Monday. We will be having cupcakes and refreshments after the performance. Here are the tables partly decorated for the Royal Celebration.