Sunday, May 29, 2011

Old Chair Update


Look at my newly reupholstered chair! Isn't it beautiful? I L.O.V.E. it! Of course, I can't take credit for this DIY. My hubz did it for me! I bought this really great material, but of course, had a million things to get done. Andre was super sweet, and took care of it for me. YAY! One more thing I can scratch off my list.

Background on chair for those who care... :) The first year we were married, I found this chair at a yardsale, and it looked ROUGH! I brought it home anyway. Andre saw potential, as I did, so we sanded it down and varnished it. For some insane reason we bought the material shown below to cover it. WHAT WERE WE THINKING??



Before: UGLY!!


Now: SOPHISTICATED!!


It adds another little POP of blue to my living room.

Thanks, love, for helping me out!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Colorful Summer Tray...for SUPER CHEAP!

Ok, so like most "crafters", I am in love with presentation. (Admit it....come on...do it.) I love making things look pretty, colorful, cool, different. I love taking the most unusual suspects, and repurposing them for good. :) Having said all of that...you now understand why it makes me so very happy to take a cheap glass candlestick, purchased from the Dollar Tree, and turn it into something I proudly display in my kitchen. This fun little tray took no time at all, and just about as much money to make. MY. KIND. OF. DEAL.
A couple of months ago, I was browsing Target, aka...my "go-to" store, and I ran across these plates in the new spring stuff. Now, you all know I am a sucker for color, and I knew right then that I totally NEEDED these plates. However, regardless of cute factor or cheap factor, (the plates were only a buck or two apiece.) my hubz would really not be pleased if I brought home an entire new set of unneeded plates. (He's becoming quite the minimalist.) Then after remembering this tray idea, I snagged one dinner plate, and one salad plate.
I was actually planning a trip to the Dollar Store to buy a couple of candle sticks, but while doing laundry in the basement I discovered an old box holding decor from my big 30th "Pink Party." I found candlesticks in the box! SCORE!
Pleased as punch, I sprayed a couple of coats of primer, then a couple of coats of my current favorite shade of blue, then topped it all off with a coat of shine sealant. I used E-6000 glue to adhere the plates to the candlestick, and let it sit overnight. That's it. SEE??? Super easy!
I really wanted to glue two candlesticks together between the plates, but my kitchen is running out of storage space. I wasn't quite sure where I would put it, being that height, so I stuck to one stick.
Didn't it turn out cute? I have been using it as a fruit tray on my kitchen table, and I cant wait to use it at my next party.


Hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend, and soaking up this beautiful weather!
~Tracy

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Fabric/Bead Necklace


Wow. I know I say this all the time, but seriously...IT. HAS. BEEN. CRAZY. I have literally had NO time, what-so-ever, to post! I have projects piled up, ready to go out, but haven't had a moment. The end of May is a ridiculously busy time of year for me. As a 5th grade teacher, by day, my team has had to plan a promotion ceremony and promotion dance. Plus, Cash's birthday is coming up, so I had to whip up some invites to send out, AND the hubz and I have been attacking that "honey do" list for the house. Yikes. The dance was last night (pics to come) and promotion will be Monday. Hopefully, I will be able to relax a bit and enjoy this late spring weather.

Ok, so on to today's post. I have been eying these types of necklaces since last summer/fall. It's about time I take action. :) Here we go.

What you need:
* Strips of material, about 2 inches wide. Fold in half and iron, so it's about 1 inch. (Or 1 inch ribbon.)
* beads (need to be about the width of your folded fabric.) I had this old necklace I picked up at a yard sale years ago. I took it apart, and used the creamy beads.
*string/ needle
*scissors

What to do:
Ok, so you have your fabric cut into a long strip, folded, and ironed. ( You may need to have a second strip to attach later if your original fabric strip isn't super long....I did.)

*Leaving a few inches at the end, fold strip into two pleats and stitch through.

*Feed bead onto needle, and stitch through.


*Add two more pleats to the other end of the bead and stitch through. Then stitch back through both sets of pleats and the bead.

*Continue until you have the length you desire.


*If you have a super long strip, then you just tie off your ends. I had to cut another strip in half, then use those two pieces to knot my ends.
I wore my necklace this week, and my students complimented me on it. That's a good sign. :)

PS
********GIVEAWAY COMING SOON!!!!!********

Friday, May 13, 2011





Family Film Festival!!!

YAY!! This is one of my fav. things about summer!

FREE ADMISSION TO EVERYONE!

Starts May 31st, 2011
Every Tuesday and Wednesday at 10am
Doors open at 9:30am

5/31- 6/1

6/7- 6/8

6/14-6/15

6/21-6/22

6/28-6/29

7/5-7/6

7/12-7/13

7/19-7/20

Festival ends July 20th.

Great movies this year! I can't wait to tell the boys!

ENJOY-
Tracy








Special:
$1.00 OFF Movie MEAL
Available for film festival movies

EAST RIDGE- THE RAVE
5080 South Terrace
Chattanooga, TN 37412
P: (423) 855- 9652

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Canning Party? YES, PLEASE!!

** I thought this sounded pretty cool, and wanted to share it!! Thanks Freebies4Moms for posting!!**

Apply to host a Jarden Home Brand “Discover You Can” House Party on Saturday, June 25 and have your friends over to learn some canning tips. If selected as a host you will receive a free party pack containing: the Ball Discovery Kit, RealFruit Classic Pectin and Instant Pectin, coupons, Ball Collapsible Funnels and Dissolvable Labels, Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving, Berry mashers, a canning flipchart with instructions, and gift bags. Remember to complete the application honestly, because they aren’t necessarily looking for hosts who can throw the biggest parties. Each party uses different criteria to select the hosts and not everyone who applies will be selected. This is a word-of-mouth marketing campaign where companies give customers an opportunity to do some advertising for them.

Sunday Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sunday seemed like as good of a day as any to whip up some chocolate chip cookies....they were gone by Monday. YUM.
This recipe is from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons hot water
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
  3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Handy Word Family Game

Cash will be starting Kindergarten this fall, and he has already started reading. (yay!) I wanted to make a little game that would be fun for him, and help him review common words. I remember seeing this idea a couple of times, and since paint chips are free....it sounded perfect! Ok, so you have to go into Lowe's, Home Depot, or Wal-Mart and take a LOT of paint chips...DONT feel guilty! They are free! You aren't stealing! ( I had to tell myself this over and over.)

What you need:
*sharpie marker
*aprox. 13 "long cards" for consonants, blends, and diagraphs
*34 cards that have the hole cut out
(I got a few extra, just in case.)
*1' punch (if you don't have a punch, you can just cut out a rectangle using scissors or exacto knife)
The "long cards" are the cards that have multiple blocks of color.
The cards you cut a hole out of are just one solid color.
I used my 1' punch on the solid colored cards, and punched a hole on the left side of each card.
Then, you just write the common word families on the cards to the right of the hole.
Here are the ones I used:
  • ag
  • ab
  • ail
  • ain
  • ack
  • ake
  • am
  • an
  • ank
  • ap
  • all
  • at
  • ay
  • eed
  • ell
  • est
  • ew
  • ick
  • ight
  • ill
  • ine
  • ing
  • ink
  • ip
  • ob
  • og
  • ore
  • ot
  • out
  • ow
  • uck
  • um
  • unk
  • y
Then I took the long cards with multiple blocks of color, and wrote consonants, blends, and diagraphs on them.

Consonants:
  • b
  • c
  • d
  • f
  • g
  • h
  • j
  • k
  • l
  • m
  • n
  • p
  • q
  • r
  • s
  • t
  • v
  • w
  • x
  • y
  • z
Blends:
  • bl
  • cl
  • fl
  • gl
  • pl
  • sl
  • br
  • cr
  • dr
  • fr
  • gr
  • pr
  • tr
  • sc
  • sk
  • sp
  • st
  • sm
  • sn
  • sw
  • spl
  • spr
  • str
  • squ
Diagraphs:
  • ch
  • wh
  • th
  • sh
  • ph
  • thr
  • shr
ps- I kept the same kind of diagraphs and blends on the same card to make it easier for Cash.

There are tons and tons of words you can make!

--ab cab, lab, blab, crab, flab, grab, scab, slab, stab

--ack back, pack, quack, rack, black, crack, shack, snack, stack, track

--ag bag, rag, tag, brag, flag

--ail fail, mail, jail, nail, pail, rail, sail, tail, snail, trail

--ain main, pain, rain, brain, chain, drain, grain, plain, Spain, sprain, stain, train

--ake bake, cake, fake, lake, make, quake, rake, take, wake, brake, flake, shake, snake

--am ham, Sam, clam, slam, swam

--an can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van, bran, plan, than

--ank bank, sank, yank, blank, crank, drank, thank

--ap cap, lap, map, nap, rap, tap, clap, flap, scrap, slap, snap, strap, trap, wrap

--at bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, rat, sat, brat, chat, flat, spat, that

--ay day, may, pay, say, clay, play, pray, spray, stay, tray

--eed feed, need, seed, weed, bleed, freed, greed, speed

--ell bell, fell, sell, tell, well, yell, shell, smell, spell, swell

--est best, guest, nest, pest, rest, test, vest, west, chest, crest

--ew dew, few, knew, new, blew, chew

--ick kick, lick, pick, quick, sick, brick, chick, click, stick, thick, trick

--ight knight, light, might, night, right, sight, tight, bright, flight, fright, slight

--ill fill, hill, pill, will, chill, drill, grill, skill, spill, thrill
--in bin, fin, pin, sin, win, chin, grin, shin, skin, spin, thin, twin

--ine fine, line, mine, nine, pine, vine, wine, shine, spine, whine

--ing king, ring, sing, wing, bring, cling, spring, sting, string, swing, thing

--ink link, pink, sink, wink, blink, drink, shrink, stink, think

--ip dip, hip, lip, rip, sip, tip, chip, clip, drip, flip, grip, ship, skip, strip, trip, whip

--ob knob, mob, rob, blob, slob, snob

--ock knock, lock, dock, rock, sock, block, clock, frock, shock, stock

--op cop, hop, mop, pop, top, chop, crop, drop, flop, plop, shop, stop

--ore bore, more, sore, tore, wore, chore, score, shore, snore, store

--ot got, dot, hot, knot, lot, not, plot, shot, spot

--out grout, scout, shout, spout, sprout

--ow cow, how, now, brow, chow, plow

--uck buck, duck, luck, cluck, stuck, truck

--um gum, hum, drum, plum, slum

--unk junk, chunk, drunk, shrunk, stunk, trunk

-y by, my, cry, dry, fly, fry, shy, sky, spy, try, why

(word list taken from http://www.literacyconnections.com/Phonograms.html)

**The Phonogram Page is a great site where you can hear the sounds. Also, All About Spelling has a list of Phonograms and how to teach them.**

Cash loves the game, and really likes the idea of "word families." It makes him laugh. :) This is super easy, so make one today for your little guys!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!!

It's plain and simple.
I love my mama. She is an amazing woman of God, and means more to me than I can put into words.
Happy Mother's Day!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Easy Appreciation Gifts with FREE PRINTABLE!

Cash is in Pre-K this year, so I really haven't made too many teacher appreciation gifts. I did make some last year for the other teachers on my grade level. They were inspired by Eighteen25, and you can see them here. I am excited to show Cash's teachers (in super cute ways) how I DO APPRECIATE THEM taking on my speeding bullet...aka...CASH. :)

Anyway, I made these cute little treats for his teachers and for my grade level teachers. As I sit here, I am thinking...wonder if I could make enough for the entire faculty?? They all deserve much more than some chocolate, but I dare say....chocolate is a good way to start!!

Best part about these treats is that they are, as I always say, SUPER CUTE AND SUPER EASY. Oh!! Can't forget SUPER ECONOMICAL! :)
Here's what you need:
toilet paper rolls
hot glue
scrapbook
paper ribbon
mod podge
small candies
ruler
label/printable
scissors

Ok, so first thing you have to measure the width of the tube.
I just recently broke my paper cutter, so I had to go old school on this one. I measured out the width of the tube on the back of my paper, then drew a straight line.
Then cut on the line, and you have yourself enough for two treats. Cut this column of paper in half.
Now you are ready for the first layer of Mod Podge. Slap some on the back of your paper...
Then place the tube on the paper. Make sure it's straight, so the paper doesn't end up crooked.
Roll the tube until it's covered with your paper.
After this, you may have to wait a few minutes and let it dry completely. Once it's dry, it will be time for the second coat of Mod Podge on the covered tube (coat the picture side) and let dry.
Take the dried tube and bend one end of the tube down like this...
Then fold the other side down like this....
Now you are ready to flip tube over and fill with candy goodness! I used Hershey Kisses. A yummy classic, AND Easter colors (that match my spring-y scrapbook paper) on sale! Whoop Whoop!
Repeat same folding on open side of tube. Use a dab of hot glue in the middle of container to place ribbon, then wrap it around to back of container. Hot glue ribbon down. On the front, you can make your own label or you can use mine. You can download it here.

FOOT NOTE: When you click on link, it will show you the labels, and they won't look right. Go ahead and click download. It will give you an option to choose Adobe, Word, or Txt. PICK "WORD"!! Then it will download the proper label. Sorry to make it such a hassle. I am working out the kinks here. :)



















Now, go out and whip up some treats, and show those hard working teachers that you appreciate all that they do!!

Tracy