Monday Made It and an Inspirational Giveaway

I've been busy around here!  I love summer because it gives me time to work on all the projects I want to.  During the school year, I don't have time to do all the things it takes to finish a project, which include:

1.  Look on Pinterest for hours
2.  Go to Hobby Lobby/Michael's/JoAnns/WalMart/Target/Lowes/Office Max for supplies
3.  Start project
4.  Mess Up
5.  Go back to Hobby Lobby/Michael's/JoAnns/WalMart/Target/Lowes/Office Max for more supplies
6.  Fix it
7.  Finish Project
8.  Clean Up
9.  Force my husband and children to admire my hard work.

All that in one weekend?  Dream on.  Hence my love for summer.

And now for the projects!

For my classroom, I had this really original idea to use a hardware organizer to store all my desk supplies.  Oh wait, it's all over teaching blogland.  Guess you're not buying that line.

You can download the labels here.

I may or may not walk by this once a day and pet it lovingly.  The only thing is, these organizers only come in shiny country blue.  A few sessions with a can of spray paint fixed it right up!  Because I'm completely OCD, I wanted my labels to coordinate with my classroom theme, so I made them myself.  But I'll share with you!  I attached the labels with Elmer's spray adhesive.  Tread lightly with this stuff.  A little goes a long way.  Think gentle misting, not spray.

**Sidenote** I was about 98% done making these in Photoshop when our neighborhood's power went out.  Had I saved them? No.  So, I got to start all over again the next morning.  This pales in comparison to the fact that when it happened it was 9:20 at night and still 90 degrees outside, I was home alone, and convinced that a murder was in my house who had cut the power so he could kill me and be unseen.  Nice.

I made a birthday present for my BTFF (best teaching friend forever!)  She pinned this on Pinterest:
Source: etsy.com via Diane on Pinterest

And now, my version:

I wrote about how much I was missing my sweet girl, here, when she left for camp and was forced to shop through my sadness.  Well, she came back Friday, and she needed a special welcome home banner.  I used a digital kit called Social Butterfly from Sweet Shoppe Designs.
And yes, she did deserve a banner.  What was one of the first things she did when she got home?  Walk by my teacher toolkit/labor of love and squeal.  

Last summer, I had time to begin sewing.  I can do anything that involves a straight line.  Other than that, I'm out of my league.  I'd read multiple tutorials on sewing curtains, and I finally did it!  Woohoo!


The fabric is a Premier Prints fabric.  You can find their fabric online for about $7.50 a yard.  Makes it a little less scary to buy a bunch of fabric for a project you're not even sure you can complete.


I made some pillows, too!  I use an "envelope style" pillow cover.  Which is code for I don't want to hand finish or buy new inserts every time I want to change pillows.

Now get on over to the Made it Monday Linky Party and find out what everyone else is busy with this summer!


Have fun!