I love me some SONIC

Please go to www.limeadesforlearning.com and click on "pick a project" then click keyword and type in "flip". I have written a grant through donorschoose to get a flip video camera for my classroom. Sonic has a wonderful program that is in its 2nd year. They donate tons of money to all kinds of teacher written grants. Last year SONIC funded 2 projects for me! You can vote once a day, everyday until the 30th....they may extend it until October 7th depending on the voting numbers. You can vote once a day per email address you can use....I have 3 accounts therefore I am voting 3 times a day....I appreciate anyone and everyone that will do this AND my 4th graders will L-O-V-E you for it!!!!

M.I.A

Wow! Since school has started back I have not had the time to work on any projects! Boo!!! I think {hopefully} we should be getting into some kind of routine...we will be on week 3 Monday.

My mom is a 1st grade teacher. She rocks too! She has one of the cutest classrooms ever. She asked me to paint some of her classroom furniture this summer. So last weekend I painted her book cart lime green and black zebra. She has a jungle theme going on...but wanted to add some "POPS" of color!

This weekend I have been working on this little bookshelf for her room. Here is the before...

Such a cute little shelf...simple with a cute scallop edge...this piece was in my room as I was growing up...so it's truly vintage...lol! I sanded this beauty and primed it. Then painted it with a flat black spray paint. After the spray paint dried, I used strips of torn painters tape to make zebra stripes...this will work as a mask.

Then I sprayed Krylon's Ocean Breeze Blue {my favorite color right now} on the sides of the bookshelf.

Remove the tape when the spray paint is dry. And VIOLA~ instant zebra stripes!!!!

I decided she really needed a little more wow factor, so I used Krylon's Sun Yellow on the top and to pop that darling scalloped edge...and of course EVERYTHING needs a little polka dot action....I think she turned out precious....and MOM loves it!!!!!

Linking up:

First Day of School 2010-2011

We started back to school today! My baby started 3rd grade...and can you believe I am old enough to have a 5th grader??? How did that happen?

My sweet baby girl is a big 5th grader...

Always the ham...

How do you really feel about starting school today??? lol

My favorite...new shoes...the cleanliness...wonder how long it will last? bahahaha!

Hope you and yours have a great first day...whenever it may be:)

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!!!!!

Linking up here:

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.