School is Just Around the Corner...

And I am looking forward to a new group of students!!! This is such a fun time of year...a fresh, new start. Last year I scored an old metal desk on Craigslist for $25 and redid it in a fun zebra stripe/polka dot combo. I love it and my students all thought "it rocked"! lol!

This summer at one of the garage sales I went to, I saw two of these beauties...

I looked at them for a minute...walked around the sale and kept thinking I would probably be buying those two old student desks. When I walked back over to where they were sitting the lady having the sale said, "I will sale you both of those desk for 5 dollars."....what???$5 bucks for the pair...SOLD!!!!!

I brought them home and they sat in my {hubby's} garage until yesterday...since I report for inservice a week from Monday, I decided I better get these lil guys ready for their first day of fourth grade! I scrubbed them down with hot soapy water...lightly sanded them...and then completely had a ball painting them. I used Krylon's Blue Ocean Breeze to replicate that old, vintage school desk feeling. Then I decided that the seats and back slats needed to pop a little more, so I used my FREE Glidden paint sample in Candy Apple Red on one of the desks, and decided to spray paint the other in Krylon's Ivy Leaf green....I used this color on my desk last summer too! Then I chalkboarded the tops...they will be writing stations so how much fun will it be to write ON the desks and not get in trouble?!?!?! Then I decided the needed something else...so I added my two favorite words...grow and learn...still needed something else....

Then it hit me....NUMBERS!!!! 4 on the learn and 2 on the grow desk.... "2 grow you must learn 4 ever"....yea!!!! I am super excited with how they turned out!!!!!!!!

I heart naptime w/chocolate sundaes

Out of this World....Classroom Message Globe

So after being completely blown away by Stephanie's {Under The Table and Dreaming} Globe makeover I knew I needed one for my classroom...I decided that I would look for a globe and figured it would take me a while to find one...believe me the one in my classroom did cross my mind, but we actually use that globe in Social Studies, so I quickly discarded that thought...hehehe!

Then low and behold...as I was going through some leftover stuff from a retiring teacher, I spotted this beat up, old, dusty globe stashed in a corner. Could it be???? Were my eyes playing tricks on me???

No...it really was there hidden among many other treasures. So I brought this little guy home and followed the tutorial given by Stephanie...except I didn't use spray on chalkboard paint because I still had some in a can, so I just brushed a few coats on. I did spray paint the base in a silver metallic Krylon brand spray paint...and after 24 hours....this is my new little message center for my classroom... I am in love!!!!

My students are going to love this!!!! I have a feeling we will go through quite a bit of chalk this year!!!! ;)

Thank you Stephanie for sharing your makeover....

and guess who else thinks this is a good idea???? Someone with the initials PB...hmmm...

Laundry Room Cuteness...

So when I saw these beauties at Craft-o-maniac last week, I had some serious laundry room decor envy...now recently I have made a deal with myself that I would not buy anymore items/supplies etc. until I use at least 60% of the stash that I have {hoarded}...ahem collected, BUT I NEEDED THESE!!!!! So I began thinking about what I had that I could use.....

Last summer I bought a ton of these plain, pine frames from Ikea...they came in 2 packs and I don't remember the exact price but they were CHEAP-O....I bought them with no idea what I might do with them, but knew eventually I would use them....

Well that day finally came...I painted three of them white...inked them with my black ink pad. Cut some cute scrapbook paper to fit the 5x7 frames and inked it too. Then I printed out the words "wash, dry and fold" using the font "I WISH I WERE TALLER" from Kevin and Amanda on white cardstock...inking the edges here too....I used some left over fabric from my pottery barn knock off lamp project to hang them from... I adore the way they turned out!!!! Thanks so much for the idea Craft-o-maniac!!!!!

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King of all King Ranch Chicken Recipes...

Or at least it is in my opinion...

Last night was my 3rd attempt (and 3rd recipe) for King Ranch Chicken Casserole...and it was DIVINE!!!!

I found this recipe in my church cookbook that I bought last year...and when I saw the name of the lady that submitted the recipe I was certain it would be delish. This lady can do it all, so I decided to make it!

But as it goes in my house I am always short one or two ingredients, so I improvised...and it was still GREAT!

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

2-3 large chicken breasts {I cooked mine in chicken broth in my crockpot all day}

1 c. chicken broth {I used the broth that I cooked my chicken in}

1 can cream of chicken soup {I used the 98% ff kind}

1 can cream of mushroom soup {98% ff here too}

1 can green chillies chopped {missing this ingredient at my house}

1 can of Rotel

1 sm. purple onion chopped

1 sm. green bell pepper chopped

6-8 corn tortillas { I didn't have these so I used On The Border tortilla chips crunched up...it was yummy}

16 oz. grated cheddar cheese {again I was out...can you tell I need to go grocery shopping?} I used about half of a 16 oz block of velveeta sliced into thin strips...really liked the creaminess of this too!

Cook chicken, shred or dice it up and set aside. In a mixing bowl combine all soups, chicken broth, chilies, rotel, onion, and pepper. Cut tortillas or crunch up chips. In a sprayed casserole dish layer half the chicken, half the tortillas/chips, half the soup mixture, and half the cheese. Repeat the layer a second time. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes.

My PB Teen Knockoff with a Twist...

Yesterday, I had just a few minutes between my Hobby Lobby run and going to Sam's {without kiddos} so I thought I would run into the Goodwill just to see if there was anything calling my name...I am soooo glad I did! I found this darling ugly lamp shade for a buck 99!!!! I have been waiting for just the right shade to come along so I could redo it for Chloe's room. I am in love with with the Dottie line from Pottery Barn teen, but the shade alone is $35!!! Whoa!!! Not this girl....

So I brought this jewel home and began tearing it apart...I did a search on lamp shade makeovers and realized that a lot are trial and error, so I decided to just go with it...my shade {unfortunately} did not have a lovely white lining on the inside, so the red stayed on. I started with spray adhesive to attach my polka dotted fabric to the outside of the shade. Next came out the big guns {HOT GLUE} I used it sparingly to tuck the fabric into the inside...when I thought it was done, I plugged it in a got glowing red dots??? What? No that isn't the look I was going for at all...ummmpppfff! So I decided that the inside had to be lined as well...now the inside is not as pretty as I am sure the PB one is, but once I got it all covered with the polka dot fabric I no longer had glowing chicken pox...

After it was all wrapped and glowing up nice and pretty, I decided that it could use a little more umph!!! So I added the three rolled flowers out of the white with tiny black polka dots material...they are actually on the seam line of the fabric lining the shade...and then the base just need a little bit of something...seeing as though I hadn't given it ANY attention...so I ripped another long strip of the flower fabric and tied a cute little bow...added a splash of hot glue to attach it and there she is....I heart her!!!!

See no glowing chicken pox!!!!

Here was my inspiration...

Photo from pottery barn



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Take Me Out to The Ballgame...Name Decor

So...I have had this idea floating around in my head ever since I saw this idea at Shanty2Chic. I loved the use of letters on top of boards...I already had some square boards from another project, but mine were quite a bit smaller than what the shanty sisters used. I also had the "S" that I had bought a long time ago...don't even remember what I was going to use it for...my mind tends to go on overdrive, crazy maniac mode when I search blog land, and I tend to think I NEED to make everything I see;) Does anyone else have the problem? HeHeHe!

Anyhow, I bought the last three letters of my son's name while the unfinished wood was 50% off at Hobby Lobby. Spray painted the scrap boards Heirloom White, sanded them and used some OLD faux glaze I had on hand. Then I spray painted the letters with Walmart brand red spray paint, sanded, and glazed them up too. I hot glued the letters on and then I needed something to hang it up with. I liked the chain idea, but wanted a little different feel to this name decor. I am going to be redoing Seth's room in a vintage baseball feel very soon, so I started scouring hobby lobby for something different to use...and found the jute upholstery stuff for .99 cents a yard!!!! Wow!!!! I am in love with this stuff...and must make something else with it. I also decided that I would hang it vertically so I used my staple gun to attach the jute to the back of the boards and hung it with upholstery nails...I love how it turned out and so did my super sweet Seth!

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