Summer

I called my husband the other day to let him know that I was really good at Summer :)  I love sleeping in, drinking coffee at home, working out, and having no real schedule.  I am so thankful for my time off but I promise the summer is not as long as it felt when I was in 2nd grade or college even.  By the time you catch up on your sleep, take a trip to the beach, and teach a camp you are right back to pre-planning at school for the next year.  To kick off the summer at my house I changed out my frames in the entry way.

This is not the table runner I used last year but I felt like it fit better this year.

My garden....

Rosemary

Mint

Basil

Love my herb tags that I ordered from Etsy last year...they make great gifts!

Two of my hydrangea bushes came back blue this year and two are white

My lambs ear has gone crazy this year

My front porch pot :)

Each year I grow sunflowers in the back of our house.  Please excused the weeds and grass in the bed, it is an intense work in progress.  The weeds are taking over my life!

To Etsy or not to Etsy....

Now that the school year is over and post planning is finished and my classroom is quiet and calm I have time to create things.  We had planned on having a Spring craft sale at school for the teachers to buy things at but everyone was really busy and it didn't happen.  I did bring a few things that I had been working on over the past couple of months to try and sell.  I (messily) set them up in my classroom in between meetings and hoped that I would sell things :) People were busy so I was left with a lot at the end of the day.  I have been trying to decide if I should open an Etsy.  I would love opinions on Etsy shops; are they easy?  expensive?  I think my hesitation is what if I spend all this time putting my things online and then no one buys them?  I guess I need to get over that if I want to keep creating things and make something out of my hobby.  Please excuse these pictures- I did not have a cute set up that day, just school desks pushed together!  I will label which things I have left if anyone is interested.

I loved, loved, LOVED making these little kid aprons.

Riley Grace has the dog one....

and Mary Peyton has the bunny.

So adorable :) I love making things for little ones.

Gift tags (1 pack left)

Cooking labels (available)

More gift tags (available)

I love making these message bags. Inside each bag are 10 card stock cut outs that you can write little notes on for someone special.  I have given them as gifts. (Birthday wishes is available)

(All of these are available and can also make custom ones)

I couldn't sell things without having owls. They are pin cushions or could be something else if you take the pins out. (The little one and big one with a heart are available)

Loved the birds nest frame.  Secretly I didn't want it to sell so that it could live in my house.

This one also sold which made me sad/happy at the same time.

Now to decide on whether or not to make the leap and open an Etsy.

I've gone crazy.

I can't get enough owls.  They are popping up everywhere in my house.  Even my students knew about my love for owls.  I was given so many owl gifts this year and MANY hand drawn owls- so precious.  A few weeks ago I went to Canvas By U for the first time.  It was so fun!  I was a little intimidated in the beginning and had no idea if it would even look like an animal when I was finished.  The instructor was great and I would totally go back again.  Of course it was super fun because I was painting next to Blake.

We outlined everything in yellow first so that it would cover easily with darker colors.

I was really excited that the owl would get to be pink!

The finished owl. 

Mine was named Harvy and Blake's was Herby, I think....

Another year down!

It is hard to believe that I just finished my third year of teaching.  I am so blessed to teach at a wonderful Christian school that is full of support and encouragement.  I am so thankful for the kids and parents I built relationships with this year.  It was sad to see my sweet kids move on but I am very ready for a summer break!  I have high hopes of new projects, vacations, time spent reading on my porch, and cooking! I also may stay up later than 9pm and sleep in past 5am!
This year I did something new for my kids end of the year gift.  I wanted to make them something that they could use from year to year.  I had so many wonderful parents take pictures this year that I knew I wanted to do something with a picture. 

I had ordered these plain picture holders two years ago and never knew what to do with them.

I decided to spray paint them.  I used painters tape to cover the wire picture holder.

I did 7 pink, 7 brown, and 7 blue. They took a few coats to really cover well.

I then added their initial from scrapbook paper.  I put chip board behind the letters to give it some depth and then used a hot glue gun to attach to the block.

I put a class picture from the first week of school to show them how much they have grown up.

For the boys I added stickers that talked about the school year.

The girls had flowers!

I wrote each of them a note on the bottom with the date.

It was a fun and easy project.  The kids were excited that they could change out the picture! 

Now onto relaxing and sleeping in.....

Muffins with Mom and more!

The school year is winding down (woo hoo!) and we just had our Muffins with Mom celebration at school.  Each year I create a gift that starts with the kids, involves my mom and I working together, and then back to the kids to present to their moms.  This is always a special day for everyone!

This year Mom and I started the project at the lake over Easter weekend because I had to sew 21 gifts and hand embroider 21 gifts, we were busy!

The gift this year was a pillow.  

We stamped the hand prints in pink and made various bugs out of fingerprints.

The first step was to sew the four borders around the front of the pillow.

Next we hand embroidered the lady bugs...

butterflies....

and bees....

This process was a bit tedious with 21 to accomplish.  

Then we added ribbon and glued beads in the center of the hand (flower).

The finished pillow!  (This is actually last years pillow so the fabric is different)

Once they were made we had to decide how to package them:

I used my Cricut and cut out tags for each pillow.

We rolled the pillow cases up and tied a ribbon around them with the tag and they went to 2nd grade for Muffins with Mom!

Today I spent a lovely day with my mom.

We started off seeing this movie.

It was one of my favorite books to read and the movie was amazing as well.

Then we went to the new Alpine Bakery.  If you live anywhere near Alpharetta you must go there.  The food was delicious but the real reason everyone goes there is for this:

Their cakes are incredible.  I cannot go there without getting an enormous piece of White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse.  Mmmmm....