Need a fun way to get kids reading???

I find with my younger kids that they like to check off their accomplishments. So I created a reading log for them where they can color an item for every 20 minutes they read. I made one for each month but they could be adapted for a weekly reading log. I can customize the forms for each teachers needs. Hope you like them :)

Grab my reading logs HERE

Halloween Bingo!!

I whipped up this Halloween Bingo game for my students to play at our Halloween 

celebration in school.

It is great for younger students or ELL students. Incorporate sounds, beginning letters, colors, or more. Includes 4 different bingo sheets, and call picture cards. Use fun Halloween chip markers or laminate to use with a dry erase marker. 

You can grab it in my store here!

Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

The Newsletter Bundle is Finally Done!!

Whew.....this was a big project for me. I created an editable newsletter template for each month of the school year for teachers to communicate with their student's parents. I kept it fairly simple as the information that goes home to parents varies from teacher to teacher. I finally have it up in the store and with a special savings if you buy the bundle instead of each individual newsletter. Head on over to the store HERE and grab it.

Teachers Pay Teachers Site - Amazing!

Wow! I am overwhelmed with how good things are going at my Teacher Pay Teacher store! Thank you, thank you to those of you who have made purchases from me. I really hope they are going to great use in your classrooms! Your purchases are motivating me to create and design more.  I am trying to create and add more products daily between juggling work, school, and family too. If there is a specific item you would like me to create please let me know.

Haven't heard about my store yet.....go take a peek. It's a work in progress but it is coming along! 

Casual Fridays @ Teachers Pay Teachers

Here are a few items I am selling at my store:

It's Official - TPT

I am now a Teachers Pay Teachers seller. I have had so many request from teacher to create organizational forms, and have been inspired by my awesome girlfriend Laura over at Crafty Bee Creations, that I decided to give it a go. I just started with a cute colorful calendar for 2014-2015. What do you think??

,

I have been asked to make cute newsletters, teacher planners, calendar sets, labels, classroom jobs and the list goes on. Please send me a suggestion as I would love to create something for you. I have a lot of work to do but I am having fun and learning the ropes as I go.

Head on over to my store and take a look.

Free printable 2014-2015 Calendar

I have had so many emails to make a new calendar for 2015. Some request were from teachers to start it with the school year, others asked for one that was colorful but didn't eat up to much ink, and others asked for a fun, colorful calendar. I am still working on the fun, colorful calendar, but thought I would share the more simple one with you today. It runs from September 2014 to December 2015.
Click on the link and you can download and use what you need. Please let me know if you love it in the comments, and any suggestion for future calendars/forms you would like to see me create. 

Grab the whole calendar HERE



Printable is for personal use only. You may not reproduce, sell, or market as your own. However, feel free to share with a link back to this post. Thanks!

New Calendar for 2015!

I have had a lot of request for a new calendar freebie for 2015. I was thinking about whipping one up but wanted to get some suggestion from my followers what you would like to see in terms of colors, layout, or themes. Leave me a comment and let me know what you would like to see in my next calendar!

If you didn't see last years you can find it here

A Thank You to the Best Teachers!!

First let me say.....I can't believe my baby is done with Kindergarten tomorrow!! My other baby is done with second grade on Thursday and moving on up to third.......where does the time go?? I always like to give my son's teachers something at the end of the year just to say thank you for all their hard work throughout the year.

This year my kids' teacher were awesome, especially my youngest son's Kindergarten teacher. Trace went into a special extended day program because at the beginning of the year he was not recognizing his letters or numbers. After taking him for his Kindergarten eye exam we found out he was blind as a bat and could not see anything close up! This was part of his problem but we knew he would still need some catching up. I am happy to say he is reading and writing and knows all his letters, numbers, sight words and more. 360 turn around!!

I think this is becoming my signature gift to the teachers at the end of the year as I keep giving it but they are just so stinking cute!!

Teacher Appreciation Week

Well hello there!! Long time no blog post!! Gosh being back in school full time has become quite the juggling act, but I had to post about some super easy, inexpensive teacher appreciation gifts!! 

Last week was teacher appreciation week at my kids school. The PTO at our school decided to have the kids write a note and give a $ donation to purchase a gift card for the teacher. At last nights PTO meeting I got to see first hand how much the teacher loved their notes and gift cards. I, of course, wanted to give my kids teacher just a bit more. It didn't sit right with me that it is teacher appreciation "week" but we did not have something planned for each day of the week for them. So I did a quick search on my favorite sight Pinterest and came up with a few ideas. I came up with five small gifts to give to my son's teachers each day last week (it was super hard to narrow down all the awesome, creative ideas to 5). The best part was I was able to whip all this up for under $10.00 per teacher!!

Glue Sticks - I bought a 6 pack, split it 3 and 3, found this super cute tag, printed, and washi tape it together.

 Source: Sweet Rose Studios

Gum - Extra Gum, cute saying, washi tape it all together

 Source: Sweet Metel Moments

Nail Polish - nail polish (any kind), cute saying, washi tape it all together!

 

Source: Teachers Pay Teachers

Crayons - 1 box of crayons, and super cute saying. Washi it all together!

Source: I Should Be Mopping the Floor

Berry Lotion: 1 small tube or bottle of any type of lotion that has the word berry in it. I found strawberry at Bath and Body Works (I really need to stay out of that store!), super duper cute saying and you got it......washi tape it together. 

  

Source: Three Little Monkeys Studio

So I hope you have found and idea or two for your children's teachers as I think they have a pretty tough job and could use some appreciation!

Box Card

Have you seen these box cards?? They are so cute!!! I really wanted to make one but was a little intimidated to try. Wow I wish I would have tried to make one of these a lot sooner. It was super simple and so much fun. I made one with a St. Patty theme but turned it into a good luck card. 

Here is how it came out:

 

Supplies:

Paper: The Paper Studios - All Seasons Three

Good Luck Title: Create a Critter 2 from Cricut

Shamrocks: Cute Shamrock from Miss Kate Cuttables

The instructions for how to make the card: Cardz TV - How to make a box card

Your My Lucky Charm

St. Patricks Day is just around the corner. So I jumped on the chance to make a St. Patrick's Day themed card. I just love this little leprechaun cut!

Supplies:

Paper: Green and white paper were border strips from Martha Stewart Crafts. Shamrock paper was a free digital paper from DBS Digi Scraps

Leprechaun: Freebie at Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons

Sediment: Typed and printed in Word and the font was Andalus

Happy Scrappin! 

Hello!

I love the card sketch challenge at Peachy Keen Stamps! This months sketch was so much fun!

Here is the sketch:

And here is what I did with it!

Supplies:
Paper: Studio G Owl 6x6 paper pack
Border: Dolly Border 2 from Birds Cards
Hello cut: Love, Friend, and Hello cut from Silhouette Store 

Head on over to Peach Keen Stamps to see how everyone else interpreted the sketch.

Happy Scrappin!

Card Sketch Challenge - A Little Cake!

Sketch -n- Scrap runs an awesome card sketch challenge. When I came across their blog I couldn't wait to play! I LOVED this sketch!! Here is the sketch............

.............and here is what I did with it:

The inside of the card completes the saying "A little cake......a lot of fun. Happy Birthday" I also stickled the frosting but it is hard to see in the picture. I also inked all the edges.

Supplies:

Paper: Ki Celebrate 6 x 6 paper pad
Cake cut: Miss Kate Cuttables Slice of Cake
Banner cut: Carta Bella Banners by Carta Bella
Flower Punch: Marvy Uchida Mini Flower Punch
Mat: I used  Cricut's Elegant Edges cartridge the swirl (shifted)
Stickles: Crystal
 Ink: My favorite - Tim Holtz Distress Ink in walnut stain

Happy Scrappin!

Photo/Color Inspiration Callenge - Happy Birthday Card

Peachy Keen's next challenge was a photo/color inspiration challenge. As soon as I saw the colors in the photo I knew I had the perfect paper with those exact colors in it. That was my inspiration that I took from the photo to my card. 

Here is the photo:

 

And here is the birthday card I created with it:

 

Supplies:

Designer Paper - Light Bright 6 x 6 paper pad

Banner - Silhouette cut - banner that came free with my silhouette

Font: Arial Rounded MT Bold

Cupcake: Have a stash of these laying around but I have no idea who made them - sorry. 

Stamps: General Statements wood block stamps

Happy Scrappin!

Choo Choo!!

I have been dying to make this train card. My youngest son loves trains so I thought this cut would be perfect for his birthday. But his birthday is not until June...boo! When I came across this challenge I knew I was going to make this card! It is hard to see but I added some smoke coming out of the stack and add some stickles to it! 

I used Boy's Train Card by Alaa K from Silhouette. You can get it here. I cut the train card twice. Once in green and once in blue so I could add more blue parts to the green train. I also embossed the card with Darice swirls. I used the clouds from Rainbow at Miss Kate Cuttables to make the smoke. You can get that here. This was so much fun! Thanks for the challenge!

Owl Be Your Valentine

I just got a Silhouette for Christmas and have been playing with it a lot this month! I wanted to learn how to use the print and cut feature. That is an awesome feature! I can see myself using this feature to make cards when I don't have a lot of time to put into them. Here is the card that I made for the kids to give to their teachers ( I made two of the same). 

Supplies

Pattern papers: Light Brights 6 x 6 paper pad by Designer Paper and The Basics 8 x 8 paper pad by The Paper Studio

Owl:  Pink Valentine Owl from Silhouette Store

Font: Cheri

Oval Cuts: George and Basic Cricut cartridge 

Embossing: Cuttlebug Love is in the air embossing folders  

Happy Scrappin'!!!

Happy Bee Day

Now that I have my Scrap Room all organized (you can see my space here) I have been playing in my room so much. I saw this SVG file and knew I had to make a birthday card with it!

Supplies:

Pattern papers: Light Brights 6 x 6 paper pad by Designer Paper and The Basics 8 x 8 paper pad by The Paper Studio

Bee:  Flying Valentine Bee from Miss Kate Cuttables

Font: Janda Scrapgirl Dots

Extras: I added some sticker googly eyes (left over from a kid project). I also added some diamond stickles to the antenna hearts, wing, and dots on the title paper.

Happy Scrappin'!!!!

Your One In a Melon!

I have been reading so many blog lately! There are so many talented people out there! I came across a card challenge and couldn't resist, as the sketch was right up my alley. It also has a chance to become a guest designer, and I would love a chance at that! I think it would be so much fun. 

So here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

I had so much making this card! I used Light Brights 6 x 6 paper pad by Designer Paper. The Basics 8 x 8 paper pad by The Paper Studio. The watermelon cut if from Miss Kate Cuttables and I used Janda Scrapgirl Dots for the font. I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine's Day Decor

I love Valentine's Day (no pun intended!). It amazes me that Halloween and Christmas has boat loads of decor items to purchase, and then Valentine's Day comes along and there is hardly any decor to buy. I have some "store bought" decor but I wanted to add more Valentine's decor this year. I ended up getting creative to make some of my own Valentine's Day decor. Most of my decorations are on my mantel.

I love my white lanterns (I will love them more when we paint our walls!). I made a bow and added a red candle to give them some Valentine's Day love. The heart topiary I found at Micheals. And the picture frame a score at Hobby Lobby.

My glass hurricanes are my favorite pieces in my home. I love that I can stuff the inside of them with items that go with the season or holiday. I used Valentine's Day garland this time. The love sign also came from Hobby Lobby.

On my tables I used other wood signs and a cute candy heart tree I found at Kohl's. 

Last year I found this subway art from the talented girls over at Eighteen 25!

I needed something for my breakfast bar in my kitchen but after combing the stores for a the perfect decor piece I came home empty handed (insert sad face here). On a run for scrapbooking supplies I stopped at the floral area at Michaels. I decided I would just make a flower arrangement using Valentine's Day colors. I think I got the red bucket at the Hot Spot at Target. 

 

I might have to cut a vinyl heart or something, to add to the bucket though - I will have to put that on the to do list! My house is always filled with love but now my decor has some love too!

Happy Valentine's Day!