Ta-da!

In lieu of curtains and replacing the old rainbow ones, I made Pom curtains with my theme colors. It's a nice way to add color without blocking the great view.

Coming soon...

Mystery poof decorating idea. Hope this won't turn out horrible...

Water colors DIY

 i tried that Pinterest idea for DIY watercolors, and it turned out pretty great! If you have dry markers, just soak them in water upside down for a while and ta-da! you can use the same markers for about 3 cups of paint. 

cardboard storage system. heart Pinterest .

and this is also finished! inspired by this image below on pinterest, i spent the last few weeks strategically raiding all of the FedEx stores in town (they never had very many and i got weird looks for taking so many). 

 so after acquiring so many, i set out on the task of assembling the storage system.

then i laid them all out on a long sheet of drawing paper and used spray adhesive to stick it down.

 and ta-done! one cubby for each class. the tubs on top hold supplies for each grade level. right now, they are full of first day sketch book supplies!

recipe for construction

so  got all the things i need to start the big projects in my room. right now, i can't use the gorgeous chalkboard in the back of the room or the bulletin board next to it because i have these giant plastic storage shelves. 

which are fine shelves. however, i want to use those boards. so i am constructing a long low shelf to go under the boards. this will do 3 things: 

allow me to use my boards. yay. 

provide better looking storage.

make a new surface on which to put things. yay things. 

so i finally got all the wood needed to make my shelves, got them home, all ready to start....but i have no room to make this. so i have to wait until the weekend to build in my classroom. sad. 

cat-approved wood.

we also finally got the paint for the room, which was a challenge. i have to use oil based paint, not latex, for my room. challenge 1: find a store that has oil in my colors. answer: Lowes.

challenge 2: relay to the paint department that i must have oil based. 

challenge 3: ensure that, although i have told them many many times that the paint needs to be oil, that they make it correctly.

challenge 4:  return non-refundable paint because the derp at the paint department still sold me latex after repeatedly confirming that it was oil. (husband confirmed what i had thought. yes it is latex. go return)

challenge 5: convince customer service dept. to refund me before i buy more paint.

and with all challenges completed, i finally got my paint. yay me. 

and with AC in the art room fixed and supplies in hand, the makeover of the art room will begin on 7/14/12.

how much do i love my Cricut?

so much. so very much. especially since i got it for cheaps from a discount store. i recently used it to make the sign for my classroom. i made it using letters cut from white card stock with the Cricut on a wooden paint palette. my mother bought the palette for me in high school, which was great for then, since i had a lot of painting projects to do. however, i am not that big of a painter now (which makes questions like "Oh you're an artist! Paint my portrait!" all the more fun.) so i used it to make my sign instead! for more on what kind of art i actually do, visit Eclectic Etc. 

simple process: cut letters. glue letters. done.

trash to texture

still working at Taco Bell the summer before i start my first year of teaching does have its advantages. 

one advantage is not, however, the fun of explaining what i do. no one at work can understand what i do. "My last day is coming up, I got a permanent teaching job"....."So you'll just be here on the weekends then?".....NO...."But the summer, you'll be here in the summer?"....NO....."So I bet it's hard teaching math to all the kindergarteners right?"....."Well considering I'm an art teacher...NO." ....no one there understands what I do. I am a real teacher. An art teacher. I teach k-5 ART. All year. and no, I won't ever be back. Seriously, what teacher do you know also works at a fast food place in their spare time?!

That aside, I do love all the freebies I can get, one of those being used glove boxes.

I lined each box with a kind of texture; rough, soft, bumpy. Then I used spray adhesive to cover the boxes with black butcher paper and cut a small line where the original openings were. Now the students can reach in and feel what's inside. The boxes are for a matching game, matching visual & tactile textures...but more on that later. 

I have 3 out of 6 complete. They still need labels and decorating, but the basic structures are finished. 

Just a reminder that you can collect any and all things to make something cool. 

door decor

i've never really thought about decorating my door before, but there is some pretty tough competition at my school. while wandering around, checking out things, i noticed that the teachers there really care about how their doors look....and now i feel pressured to decorate mine. however, i don't think i like the standard butcher paper happy colors (although many other teachers there use fabric and bulletin board borders, so smart), so i think i'll need to find something that is uniquely me, that also says "elementary art room". ideas?

chalkboard paint/cloth. easy change throughout the year. Creed.

definitely a fan of bunting. somehow i want that incorporated into the classroom, maybe changed with season? Little Things Bring Smiles.

perhaps a world map design, art all over the world? Ada's Interior Design.

and then the hipster in me is in love with wood grain, so maybe a painted wood grain design with your standard "Welcome to Art" things.

or a collage of old book pages. i could get pretty creative with that. Texturly. 

diy file folder

A very simple file folder made from empty cereal boxes & scrapbook paper. made these from the supplies below. it was free for me because i already had all of these things, but the spray glue alone is about $7....so it may be a project of convenience for me, others may be better off just buying some folders. However.

simple steps: cut box (as shown along the dotted lines). spray glue, add scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, etc. and ta da! something for "to file, to mail, to copy" and what have you.