Back to School: Home Edition

It looks like Back to School at my house too! My husband just rolls his eyes, but I love decorating for everything! Decorating for back to school helps to get me pumped up for the new school year.

The whole mantle. I found the flash cards at an estate sale this summer. My sister-in-law found the tiny desk at Goodwill. I think it might be for an American Girl. The school birdhouse came from Joann's several years ago. 

 The Dr. Seuss books are from a garage sale. I found the little globe in the Michaels dollar section. It was cream so I "blue washed" it with a little craft paint to help it stand out a little more. 

I love these vintage letter blocks and ruler star.

We randomly found the G-man book at an antique shop when we were on vacation in Michigan a few years ago. The girls scout handbook is from a garage sale. I'm not afraid to admit that I was a girl scout through my senior year of high school (read: dork!), so I just had to get it!

 More garage sale finds.

I made the pencil vase for a back to school event at my previous school. I made them as center pieces for a luncheon and they were a big hit. I managed to keep one for myself and it has kept up pretty well over the past few years!

Finally, a cute quote from Dr. Seuss.

Back to School

Well, it's that time again... Faculty and staff came back to school last week and students arrived this past Monday. The first week of school is almost over and it is making me really excited for the rest of the year!

I was so excited about the start of school that I decorated my house in a "back to school" theme.

Here's the front door with a homemade back to school wreath.

And the mantle with some back to school accessories.

And I made these centerpieces for a faculty/staff workshop. Now one is sitting in my office.

New Camera and New Kitchen

So definitely new camera, but only a newly painted kitchen....

I spent part of spring break prepping, painting, and cleaning the kitchen. I thought it would be a good opportunity to reorganize some of the cabinets and get rid of some stuff.

The color is Ocean Tropic by Behr.

I got the curtains at Ikea. They come really long with iron on stitching... I'll probably sew them later, but I just wanted to get them up.

I would love to have a pantry so we didn't have to store cereal and other boxed food on top of the fridge, but I'll get over it.

Spring Break To-Dos Update

Half-way through Spring Break and here is what I have accomplished so far:

• plant an herb garden
• buy and fill planters of varying sizes to "hide" ugly heatpump on the patio
• take Sadie to the vet for Rx refills and checkup
• start on Christmas and birthday presents for nieces and sisters
• trim the unruly boxwood in front of the house
• take Sadie to the dog park

And here are the things I still need to accomplish:

• paint kitchen (we're thinking a light cornflower blue) -- my project for Friday
• go to the dentist (I'm currently on a wait list because I waited too long to make the appointment - bummer!) -- don't think this is going to happen
• create and stock up on birthday and holiday cards
• find a small table/chairs for the patio -- doing some serious searching on CraigsList
• come up with Cooperation lessons for grades PreK-8 for April -- gotta get those ready
• make school-themed goody bags for grades 1-5 lunch bunches (ideas: smarties, erasers, pencils, stickers, small toy for each group's theme: train engine for 1st grade "I think I can", race car for 3rd grade "study skills expressway") -- this can wait, still have 2 more sessions before the end

Oh, and I got a new camera!! A Nikon D3000 and I love it!! Here are some pictures of my projects taken with my new camera...

A tin full of goodies including homemade scavenger hunt cards for my niece's 7th birthday.

A jar full of "sunshine" to help my sister in Colorado make it through the last bit of winter. I got the idea from here.

Old Navy dress, homemade hair barrettes and a card for my niece's 1st birthday.

Paper-covered birds for Mother's Day. Idea found here.

Handmade Father's Day cards.

"Gourmet Girl" notes and cards set from Michaels, all wrapped up with a cute blue spatula for my best friend's birthday.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter (a day late)! We spent Easter with friends in DC and had a great time. The weather was phenomenal!

I have seen those orange candy in the shape of carrot treats a lot of places and wanted to try them out myself. They were a big hit and so easy to make!

I made three different kinds - orange jelly beans, orange M&Ms, and Annie's Cheddar Bunnies

To Do's for Spring Break

I am off from school next week for Spring Break and have a long list of things that I want to accomplish. I am going to give myself one day to be a bum and then after that it's full speed ahead!

Here is what I want to accomplish, in no particular order:

• paint kitchen (we're thinking a light cornflower blue)
• plant a vegetable/herb garden
• buy and fill planters of varying sizes to "hide" ugly heatpump on the patio
• go to the dentist (I'm currently on a wait list because I waited too long to make the appointment - bummer!)
• take Sadie to the vet for Rx refills and checkup
• start on Christmas and birthday presents for nieces and sisters (I'm thinking bead and ribbon necklaces and flower headbands)
• create and stock up on birthday and holiday cards
• find a small table/chairs for the patio
• trim the unruly boxwood in front of the house
• take Sadie to the dog park a couple times
  
• come up with Cooperation lessons for grades PreK-8 for April
• make school-themed goody bags for grades 1-5 lunch bunches (ideas: smarties, erasers, pencils, stickers, small toy for each group's theme: train engine for 1st grade "I think I can", race car for 3rd grade "study skills expressway")