Birthday Board

Update...Sadly, on February 3, 2013, my school was lost in a 3-alarm fire. Everything burned to the ground. I loved this birthday board, but have yet to remake it. Maybe this coming school year I will be able to recreate this. It was one of my favorite creations for my classroom.

Having time off work for Christmas gave me an opportunity to spend some much needed time perusing as many blogs as I could and Pintrest. Yeah, I know...I can't tear myself away from it either. My goal was to find an inspiration and boy did I! A Birthday Board that I just couldn't take my eyes off. Inspiration Birthday Board

Since it was Christmas time, I set out to create a Birthday Board of my own for as close to zero cost as possible. Where else to start than a dig through my supplies and garage. I hit the jackpot! A few years ago, when my girls went to a summer program, they each made a painted board. These boards have been in the garage for quite some time and I knew they wouldn't mind me repurposing one after they had already broken the boards into smaller pieces. The perfect scrap was 22 inches long by 4 inches wide. Perfect! Next, time to go through the cans of spray paint...I am loving spray paint lately have I mentioned that yet? I wanted the wood piece to be black and just so happened to have some black paint left over and found the can of primer as well. I was ready!

First, I sanded down the edges of the wood, primed and painted the wood black. It took a day or two for this process since I was spray painting in the wet, humid, winter temps and weather. While it was drying, I was able to start planning my next steps.

Normally, I don't care for primary color combinations. They feel to "primary" school to me. Just not my style. But, I was digging it for the project. Oh, yeah, this Birthday Board is for my classroom, which is a blue and green color palette. The fact that I did want to use primary colors this time surprised me a bit but just like all good design, too much of a good thing can be bad. There is already a lot of blue and green in my classroom and I don't want the color palette to start feeling "flat" so this pop of primary and black will fit beautifully.

A trip through my cardstock and I had 5 colors ready to cut into circles; red, blue, green, yellow, orange and purple. Using the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, I cut umpteen million, okay probably more like 100, 1.5 inch circles. These would be the pieces hanging below the board with a student name and date on it. Using the Cuttin' Up cartridge, I made 1 inch, lowecase letters for the month circles on the bottom of the board. I made 2 inch letters for "Birthdays" in the same font.

I love the fonts on the Cuttin' Up cartridge.

Once the paint was dry, it was time to start planning out placement. I strive to be as exact as possible...my mom taught me that perfection is not attainable so strive for excellence. Over the years, I've added to that with learning that the beauty in so many things is actually the imperfections. So, from here on out, you'll see how I strive for excellence and yet allow for imperfection to enhance my projects.

Adjusting placement before gluing things down.

I'm a planner, plain and simple. An extra piece of posterboard lying around served as a great planning guide. I measured out the size of the board and began placing the letters and month circles on the board using the posterboard as my measuring guide. On the posterboard is a line marking the 4 inch width as well as a line down the center of the 22 inch length. Since "Birthdays" is 9 letters long, the "h" needed to be in the center of the board. Then, I adjusted the placement of the other letters to the left and right until I had it just the way I wanted it. The month circles were placed the same way...from June and July on either side of the center line to January and December on either end. Once I was happy with their placement, I glued them in place.

While I was waiting for the glue to dry, I used a white gel pen to write names and the day of birth on the hanging circles. It turned out that it was too hard to see the white gel pen on the yellow circles so that color was eliminated from the hanging circles. I intentionally placed colors so there were not any same colors next to each other.

Playing with placement...and keeping the numbers in order from beginning of the month to the end.

Attaching the hanging circles to the board was my next challenge. I went with white ribbon. It is inexpensive and would be easy to get year after year so I can continue to use and update the board. Of course I planned this out too, lol! Using a month with only one birthday, I decided how far I wanted it to hang under the board. Then, I marked that length on the posterboard planning guide to ensure all the hanging circles would be about the same distance under the board....imperfection at its finest!

Sorry it's sideways....do you see the small - indicating where the top of the circle should be?

Each month was done this way. Months with more than one circle were done as follows. Place the last circle for the month at the end of the ribbon with hot glue. Then, place the next one on the ribbon, adjusting for distance and finally gluing down with hot glue.

Strings hanging circles

Once the string was done, I used the measuring guide to cut the length of the ribbon at the top. On the back of the board, I measured and marked where I wanted the top of the ribbon to be. Be careful here...you'll need to make sure you're lining up with the month letters on the front of the board. My strategy was to hold the board up looking at the front, put the ribbon piece behind and mark the top of the ribbon with the white gel pen on the back so I knew exactly where to line up the ribbon when gluing it down.

Okay, so I didn't totally wait for the paint to dry...that's primer you see but it's on the back, no one will see in the end.

Marks used to line up the ribbon for the correct length.

I kept doing this until all the circles were in place. I used 3M Picture Hanging strips to adhere it to my classroom wall.  I put it right by my desk too so I can easily see whose birthday is coming up. :)

Voila!! I love how it turned out!

Merry Christmas Banner

I've always loved making things with my hands but when I decided to go back to school and earn my degrees, my creative side took a back seat to textbooks, papers and reflections. Like many others, I returned to college when my children were young. My girls have been amazing and such wonderful supports as I pursued my educational dreams. In 2006, I started working on my bachelors degree full-time. In May 2008, I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor's in Elementary Education with a K-8 teaching certification. 11 days later, I was offered my first teaching job and began my adventures in the classroom that August. The state I live in requires teachers to obtain a Professional Certification...which means, back to school. I knew I wanted to get a Masters degree also so I decided to bite the bullet and do them at the same time. Why not!? As I've said in an earlier post, I'm a glutton for punishment.

August 2010, I started working on both, my Professional Certification and my Masters degree in Educational Leadership. One CRAZY BUSY year and I'd be done! Well, this meant every minute of my time was used for homework. I realized that I am capable of accomplishing  A LOT when I put my mind to it. While finishing my educational degrees, I worked full time, still had my daughters, husband, house and dog to take care of too. Ah-che-wa-wa, it was quite the journey!

I was completely done with all of this in August 2011. It took me awhile to realize I could relax and do stuff for my family and myself again. It would take until December before I truly started to believe and practice this fully.

I decided to start little when I came across a Christmas banner inspiration at Silver Boxes. I started planning it out in my brain right away. What Christmas paper do I have? What about coordinating ribbon? I have a new Cuttlebug, what embossing folder could I use to add texture and dimension to it? What about Cricut cartridges for cutting the shapes? Honestly, I couldn't answer these question in my mental planning. It had been so long since I had used any of my materials, I truly had no idea what I had or didn't have. So...a trip through my supply storage and a trip to the craft store. Then, a few hours with my Cricut, ATG gun, scissors, pop-dots and voila!

I love how it turned out! I can't believe I forgot to tell about the project that brought me back in touch with my creative side. A few weeks later, I decided to start blogging, which is why I do not have process pics but you get the idea. Tootles!

Survival Kit 101

We've all had those times in our life when we come to realize the power and truth in the statement, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." Most of us learn from these experiences and never want to repeat them, then, there are gluttons for punishment, like myself, who go back time and time again to see if it is true EVERY time. ;) My very dear Friend has just started nursing school and I wanted to do a little something to keep her spirits up as she learns just how strong she is.

When I started the Teaching Program, I was given a "Survival Kit." I knew this was exactly the type of thing I wanted to create for my Friend. So, I set off to brainstorm and get my bearings for the project. I don't know about you, but I do about 98% of project planning in my head, which makes putting together the project a "love/hate" type of experience. I knew I wanted to house the Survival Kit in a paper container that looked like a retro medical bag. First goal, figure out how to create a 3D medical bag out of paper. I scoured all my Cricut cartridges and found a 2D image but nothing 3D. I was beginning to regret not purchasing the Tags, Bags, and Boxes cartridge when I had the chance but knew that line of thinking would only derail my project. One night, the Fam and I went to the store and I decided I would just take a look at the craft supplies. Low and behold, they had the Cricut Sweet Tooth Boxes cartridge. I looked at the images and found this beauty.

Toolbox aka future medical bag

I swooped up the cartridge and rushed home to make a prototype. Bad pic, mediocre prototype at best but now I knew where I was going. I made the bag out of cardstock but it was still a bit too weak...when I put items in the bag, the bottom gave way. It's kind of boring just white with the traditional red so I knew I'd need to spruce it up.

If you use a Cricut machine, I highly recommend getting Cricut Design Studio Software. It is a lifesaver to me. I bought the software right after Hubbs gave me an Expression and it made using my machine so much simpler. On the screen, I am able to layout all the images I want to cut and can save entire projects for later. Take a look:

I love being able to see what will cut before hitting the button.

Just what I pictured! I used the "weld" function to create words instead of individual letters.

Design Studio lets you add pages to your project, allowing you to put all the cuts in one file. Love, love, love this feature! Here are the final cuts. 

Now, assembly! First, I put the decorative nurse patterned paper on the cardstock cut that will be the top of the bag and then finished putting the top together. 

Covered wagon? No, it's a lid!

Handle and "lock" attached.

Assembly is quite simple. There are tabs, scores, small holes, etc to help make this process as painless as possible. By making a prototype, I was able to figure out which order was best for putting the pieces together. So far, it's turning out great. Next, I put together the bottom half, the "box" and attached the lid. 

Lid is attached.

Back

Once the box/bag was assembled, it was time to adhere the words.

Loving it!

Still needs to be reinforced.

 I dug through my cardstock stash and found a great, complimenting color, sturdy cardstock. When I made these cuts, I decreased the size by 1/8" to ensure it would fit inside the existing box bottom.

Ready to reinforce.

Perfect fit!

With the box ready, it's time to fill it up! 

Much more sturdy and ready for goodies.

 My girls and I had a great time coming up with things to fill this kit with. The box if full of little things that I hope will bring a smile to Friend's face...if not, she can use the Smile-on-a-Stick. :) We included a letter describing the reasoning behind all of our choices.

Hmmm....what all is in there?

So many little goodies...

I'm sure you're wondering what exactly is in there and why. Here's what I wrote to Friend: 

Nursing School Survival Kit

I put together a little something to help you make it through the next few years. Allow me to explain…

·      Lifesavers, use them as a life preserver when you feel like you're going down but also remember, they are a symbol for what you will do time and time again.

·      The paperclip is to help you keep things together when it feels like they're going out of control.

·      This piece of string is for tying a knot in the end and hanging on when you're at the end of your rope.

·      The Band Aid protects those little hurts along the way, plus, sometimes, they just make you feel better.

·      A Tootsie Pop, to remind that you’ll lick your problems and enjoy the reward at the end.

·      A button- Just a friendly reminder to button up and listen, especially to upset family members, they just want to be heard.

·      Tissues-To dry your tears of joy, sorrow, and frustration

·      Gum- remember, just stick to it!

·      A license to ask a lot of questions…this is all for you, ask away Friend!

·      Hole punch—for when you want to PUNCH something!!!

·      Smile-on-a-stick—for those times when it’s the one you can put on.

I love you Friend and know you will be phenomenally successful in your endeavors; may you never lose sight of your goals. I’ll see you at the finish line!     ~Jeanette

We gave her the Survival Kit last night and she loved it!