Preschooler Art

We were given a stool for the kid to decorate for a local arts and crafts store, and we decided to make it the only one actually done completely by a kid.  It's friggin awesome.

She painted a good bit of it, then declared it done.  Her dad and I filled in the negative space with more paint, covered it with clear coat, and turned it in.  They didn't think it was the awesomest one ever, but I do. And that's what counts.

Melty Beads

In our house we have discovered melty beads, also known as Perler beads.  Somehow, we have three buckets of these things and they were all free.  Once someone knows you dig melty beads, they start coming in like crazy!

Gluten Free Bread is the SHIZ

My boyfriend's dad works at a bakery, and occasionally he brings me a treat.  This little baby cost $9.  I feel special!

Paper Bag Puppets

The kid asked me for some puppets one day, so I said, "Why don't we make some?" I had this project template from an old crayola magazine, so I copied it and cut it out for her.

I'd make it available for download, but I don't hold the copyright. Sorry guys, but don't like jail. :)

Here's the result (she tacked them up on her bulletin board, don't ask me why):

Origami Surprise

I homeschool the kid now, and as a surprise I busted out the origami my bestie Jen sent me a while ago. 

She did all her handwriting work right, so I whipped this up in less than 5 minutes.

Thanks, Jen!

I do this in my spare time because I'm a decent human being

D.I.Y. Necklace & Bracelet Holder

I have been looking for a necklace holder FOREVER. None of the ones I have come across seem to fit my needs. And they all require dresser space, which I don't have. So when I saw these embroidery hoops at the thrift store, my gears started turning....

** A lot of my photos have been un-hosted, so I have edited the posts to take them out. **

First I tore off that God-awful 80's lace trim that was hot glued on the wooden frames. Then I picked off the hot glue, but gave up after a while because it was damaging the wood. Never underestimate 80's hot glue.

The next step was to plan out where I wanted the necklaces to hang. I used a ruler and a sharpie.

I decided to use some S-hooks to loop through the mesh, and chose this plant hanging chain because it was easy to bend. 

These hoops with the hooks in them lay in my craft area for days, while I contemplated spray paint. Then I saw the most adorable duct tape EVER.

Can you even believe they make damask duct tape?? 

I had to line it all up correctly, and fold it over all weird because they were circles, after all.

I poked the S-hooks back through, mounted them on the wall, and fell in love!

Here they are loaded up with my dozes of unnecessary bracelets and necklaces.

But a girl can never have too many pretties, amirite?

:)

Felt Christmas Tree

I found this post on my feed reader, and just had to marvel at the genius and simplicity. A lot of things get pinned it to my Pinterest and never get completed, but this one got done right away! Here's the original project at Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio.

It only took me about 15 minutes to make my own! My preschoolers love it.

Pumpkins

My boss decided it would be a faaaahhbulous idea to have a pumpkin-decorating contest and then cancel it at the last minute without telling anybody. Well, I was really sick that weekend, but I think I did ok.

Project Estimate:

• Pumpkin ~ $1
• Red spray paint ~ on hand
• Ribbon ~ on hand
• Hot Glue ~ on hand

I took a smallish pumpkin and spray painted it red. I tied the gold glittery ribbon around the middle and hot glued it to the pumpkin. I covered the stem with brown ribbon and hot glued that. Then I called it good and passed out.

Good job for only $1 and 30 minutes, yes?

Preschool Classroom Makeover

When I started in the Preschool classroom in June, it was ugly. It was more than ugly. It was supremely horrible. Holes in the walls, splotchy paint, broken tiles, busted furniture, stains everywhere.

The first thing I did was to clean, clean, clean. Then I rearranged the furniture to better serve my classroom. Here's what it looked like before:

Yep, above that red chair is where the drywall has been peeled off.

Mint green on three walls and gray on the fourth. Ew.

Note the art easel next to the wall. What you can't see is the splotches of paint all around it. Also note the ugly as sin bookshelf. Someone took that poor thing and painted it blue with sponge painted white clouds. And they did a terrible job.

For some reason the bulletin board was sideways. The drywall on this side is peeling off on the bottom from water damage.

At last we see the door to this nightmare.

We started taking everything off of the walls and using joint compound to fill the holes. Here's a better shot of the fugly book shelf.

It took two coats of primer and three coats of paint, but now it is a nice, neutral beige. Thank goodness! That thing hurt my head just looking at it.

Now for the AFTER shots:

Muuuuuuuch better. After spending about 18 hours with another lady painting, here it is! The theme is "garden." Bugs and flowers. It's nifty.

I moved the cubbies, parent info boards, and file cabinet to this wall. On the door is a beehive with little bees with their names.

My boss found a TON of butterfly wall decals on clearance at Michael's, so that's what you see on the wall. I also hand painted some wooden bugs to hang around the room. In addition, I changed the posters and decor to match the garden theme.

The door to the room with clouds and trees is so much better!

That's the kitchen/dress-up center over there. All the art is at child height, because here it is all about them.

Here is the bookshelf, a nice neutral beige. Blends right in, as it should.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my new classroom! It's been four months since the makeover, and I just got around to photographing the new walls and decorations. Thanks for reading!