Tag Archives: Decorations

Super Hero Shower

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This weekend I was able to throw a baby shower for none other than my busy brunette sister, Leslie! That’s right! Leslie is due with a baby boy in January!

Leslie’s husband, Jesse is crazy for Marvel, so it was a no brainer that we would do a super hero themed shower.

We began the shower with a prayer over the expecting couple led by my sweet husband. Then we helped ourselves to some yummy snacks before Leslie and Jesse opened presents.

One of the refreshments we enjoyed was some poppin’ punch! I kid you not! It really was popping! What’s the secret? Pop rocks!

If only you could hear this picture!

Here are the happy expecting parents in their super parent capes!

And we can’t have a 2 busy brunettes shower without a sister shot!

(I know, I chopped my hair off! It was time for a change!)

Here are some details about the shower:

  • Wreath: $1 wreath form from Target, painted red, wrapped in black tulle, glued onto round felt board (walmart), with felt cut out of city scape, and yellow fabric paint widows; cardstock “It’s a boy!” sign using font Wurper Regular Font.
  • Cupcake Toppers: stickers on cardstock
  • Capes: felt sticker letters in the font BadaBoom BB 
  • Pop! Straw Tags: I made them using photoshop and the BadaBoom BB font. Download your own sheet of straw labels by clicking the picture:

It’s always wonderful to gather with family- especially to celebrate a new life.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cute as a Button Baby Shower

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Yesterday turned out to be a lovely day for a baby shower- not a cloud in the sky!  (Although we would have probably welcomed one or two to provide some shade!) But I can’t complain at all.

The shower was a huge success and the baby herself was the star of the show. We enjoyed celebrating her birth and adoption with her at her own baby shower. I know she won’t remember it, but we sure enjoyed passing her around!

Here are some pictures of our September cute as a button vintage baby shower.

She really is as cute as a button isn’t she? Such a precious little miracle.

Thanks for stopping by!

*The baby photograph on the food table was done by Leap of Faith Photography.

Sew Cute!

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A dear friend of mine just adopted a baby girl. We’re ecstatic, and I’m honored to be able to host a shower for her. It’s next Sunday and my house is starting to look more like a flea market as I prepare for it. I don’t mind though (don’t tell my husband that!), because it is super fun to plan!

My friend has a primitive/antique taste, and her baby girl is as cute as a button! So I thought, “Why not mix the two and go with a vintage ‘cute as a button/sew cute!’ theme?” The wheels started turning…

Have you ever seen the show Junk Gypsies? Well you know how the first step to their room makeover is to “go junkin’?” Well I went junkin’! They always go to their favorite junkin’ spots, and well.. I went to one of my favorite resources too- my mom! She is always great at listening to my ideas and helping me get to the final product. Here’s a sneak peek at what we’ve got so far:

Come back early next week to see the final product!

Rounding Up More Western Classroom Pictures

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I recently posted about my western classroom. Since then I have noticed I left several detail pictures out. Here are more pictures from my western classroom for your enjoyment (or if you have a western classroom- inspiration).

I showed you my cabinets….

but not the clothespins that hold my anchor charts.

I showed you my library…

but not the labels I use to organize it.

I showed you my desks…

but not the name tags on them.

I also didn’t show you the bathroom passes…

Or the bulletin board outside my room (It wasn’t finished yet!).

Now that you’ve seen a bit more of my room, you may want more info on how I created my DIY room.

The Clothespins

  • I used blue bandana scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby.

The Library Labels

The Name Tags

The Bathroom Passes

  • I bought the wooden door hangers at Hobby Lobby.
  • I painted them with acrylic paint.
  • I cut out the vinyl letters on my cricut using this FREE font. 

The Bulletin Board

Now I think you’ve officially seen every western element in my classroom. Soon I’ll be posting on the non-western classroom management displays I have in my room.

Thanks for dropping by!

Thriller Thursday- A Rootin’ Tootin’ Classroom!

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Today’s post will double as a “Thriller Thursday Theme” and my classroom reveal!  And what is my classroom theme this year? Western! This is the second year in a row that I’ve done the western thing. Before that I didn’t have a theme-theme, I just used a color scheme. But when I moved from 4th grade to 2nd grade in a new school I decided to go all out. And that’s exactly what I did. Maybe a little too far actually! I chose western because as a child I loved horses (I still love them, just not obsessed like I was at 8), I also like patriotic colors, and I already had a few things that could work. Then when I announced my theme, western related items came out of the woodworks. My mother-in-law scavenged around in her parents barn for goodies, my mother went antiquing for more goodies, and of course I might have bought a few things too! So here it is! My western room:

The Back Wall

I made the bandana bunting by cutting bandanas in half and hot glueing the top edge to laundry rope.

Here are a few facts about my classroom library and listening center:

  • The blue bins I got a Fred’s on sale! I bought them a couple of years ago and they are holding up great.
  • The turning rack I bought at a Borders that was going out of business.
  • The headphones are hanging on a planter box. I also put the current book they are listening to  in the box along with the ipod or cassette player.

The Side Wall

The cabinets are bare now, but they will be covered with anchor charts before too long! I hang them using the clothes pins at the top.

Please ignore the pottery barn sticker that is still on the flower pot. I just can’t seem to get it off  am too lazy to get it off.

The Other Side Wall

This is my accelerated reading board and writing board. For the  ”Riding Across the AR Trail” board, I put numbers at the bottom for our monthly goal. Then the covered wagons move west toward their goal. How’s that for a little westward expansion lesson embedded in my incentive board? Currently on my writing board is a paper entitled, “Introducing Your Teacher” from my 2011-2012 class.

Hands down, my most favorite thing in my classroom is my super improvers board. It is new to the room, as this will be my first year implementing Whole Brain Teaching (super excited about that one). A (very) close second are the denim and bandana curtains I sewed this summer with my new sewing machine I got for my birthday! I also really like the “Howdy Partner” pillow in the rocking chair that I got at a thrift store. And of course I love my rocking chair that it sits in, that came from my dear sister-in-law (who also teaches 2nd) for christmas a few years ago. Basically, I just love my room! I guess that’s a good thing since I live work here!

I love how the white cards are sticking out from the cowboy hats. They remind me of little bandanas! That wasn’t planned, just a bonus! The cowboy hats (eventually, I’ll put the students’ names on them) are glued onto clothes pins. That way I can change the color cards easily.  And to hold the stickers for the SIW, I used a pocket from an old pair of my husband’s jeans.

This is my objectives board and classroom jobs board. I will assign the jobs by writing their names on the sheriff badges.

The Front Wall

Yes, that is horse wallpaper border around my desk/guided reading area. I first thought it was a bit over-the-top, but now I kind of like it. It makes it feel homey! Also you probably can’t see it too well, but I made the calendar month label. Here’s a close-up of the labels. They are available in red here at my TPT store for FREE!

That’s it! That’s my western classroom! This time last year I didn’t even have a job yet, and now I have my room essentially done! It feels good.

Now for the promised linky party:

Our First Ever Linky Party!

Classroom Theme Linky Party

Here are the rules:

    • Please post your classroom theme, old or new. It doesn’t have to be a theme-theme, it can be a color scheme too.
    • Please become a follower of our blog!
    • Please put our button on your blog post (or at least leave a link).
    • When you link up, in the “name” field put the name of your theme (ex: western). That way people will be able to browse through the themes. It would also be a great idea to use a picture of your room for the thumbnail!
    • Be sure to check out the other links and leave a comment for them too!
2 busy brunettes

One more thing, to be able to view and/or add a link you will have to click the button below. It will take you to a new page to view the links (this is because we use wordpress.com and not the other blog hosts out there).

Thanks and enjoy!



Thriller Thursday- Where the Wild Classrooms Are!

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Today’s Thriller Thursday Theme is going to be WILD!

Hopefully after you read this post and see the pictures from jungle/zoo themed classrooms, you’ll have some “GRReat” ideas!

I chose this theme for my 1st grade classroom for two reasons…#1 They had recently painted the giraffe in the hallway right above my door. #2 I really like my friend Jessi’s theme for her classroom: “Wild about Reading.” Then when I changed rooms and grades (to 2nd grade), I kept the jungle theme. So here are some pictures from those two classrooms that I hope “LEAF” you feeling inspired!

Class Entrance

The Ceiling

I twisted green butcher paper to make vines and stapled leaves and tissue paper flowers on them. Then I adorned them with rubber snakes and furry monkeys!

Bulletin Board Displays

Vocabulary Display: “On A Safari for Words”

Student Work Display: “Great Work Spotted!”

One of my favorite bulletin board borders was the leafy border I made with leftover artificial leaves from my wedding. You can see it in the two pictures below. To make it, I just hot-glued the leaves around the butcher paper.

Student of the Week Display: “King of the Wild Things”

I mentioned above that I got the inspiration for my classroom after seeing my friend Jessi’s room. We went to grad school together and I just loved her classroom theme. Here are a few pics from her room.

Here are some more zoo/safari/jungle inspired sayings for your classroom:

  • Roaring  Readers! (or fill in the blank) decorated with any animal that roars
  • We’re Wild about ___________!
  • Climbing to Excellence!  (or fill in the blank) decorated with monkeys
  • Behavior chart: Zoo Warning! Wild Behavior is NOT allowed!

Thanks for “hangin’ around” our blog! (Get it? Hanging like a monkey?)

Don’t forget, we’ll be hosting a linky party for you to share your own classroom themes in two weeks!

Oh, The Parties You’ll Throw!

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It’s the first post in May and it’s already the 15th? Oops! I guess you can call me busy. Oh yeah.. you already do- 2busybrunettes! (yeah, yeah. Stop rolling your eyes!) Well, let’s see… what have I been busy with? Well there was that baby shower at school I helped host last Thursday, the spa night I threw for our teen girls at church Friday night, my husbands and niece’s birthday celebration this weekend, and wrapping up the year at school. It may not sound like a lot, but just imagine bringing all the right things to the right places at the right times. You know how it is getting yourself out of the house without leaving anything behind! And please don’t imagine the way my house looks after getting ready for all those events!

So what is today’s post about?

The baby shower! And if you couldn’t tell already, the theme was Dr. Seuss. What better theme for a teacher’s baby shower?

Here’s some close-ups of the tables.

  
  
 

Those centerpieces are just butcher paper from the school. I painted Dr. Seuss-like shapes on the paper (trees from The Lorax, bowl from The Cat in the Hat, balloon from Oh, The Places You’ll Go) and cut them out. Then I used library books to create some height, and I borrowed those cute lil characters from other teachers. Oh, and did you know that you can’t find Dr. Seuss party stuff anywhere!? It’s true! At least I couldn’t! So I added to the Dr. Seuss theme by altering the wooden baby blocks (scroll down for more info). I also wrapped the plasticware in napkins and twisted pipe cleaners around them. That was lots of fun! I didn’t have to worry about how they looked, because after all, it’s a Dr. Seuss theme.. and how can you mess up Seuss?

Here are some more shower pictures!

  

  

How about those cakes? Well, this being a creativity blog and all, you might think I made them. Think again! The edible cake was from Wal-Mart!! The topper is one of the Christmas ornaments I use on my classroom tree. The diaper cake was made by another teacher at our school. But, she did share with me how she made it, so if you’re interested, here’s the scoop. (Oh yeah, just in case it’s hard to tell from the picture, those are blue table cloths with red and white striped wrapping paper down the center. Like I said, I had to get creative to do Seuss.)

Dr. Seuss Diaper Cake:

1. Start by gathering 3 containers in varying sizes- one for each tier (Large for the bottom, medium for the middle, and small for the top).
2. Roll up the diapers and place around the containers. Use an elastic band to hold them in place.
3. Wrap ribbon around the diapers and glue in place.
4. Cover three cake boards (one for the base, 2 for tiers) in coordinating fabric.
5. Glue the containers to the cake boards.
6. Decorate your cake with a book, rattle, stuffed animal, etc. (This cake has bulletin board cut outs popping out from behind- ordered from the internet).

*To get your decorations to stay in place on the top tier, cut out slits in the top container to stuff the goodies into.

Now for those adorable wooden baby  blocks that were tumbling down the books.. I did make those! So if you’re interested in those, here’s the lowdown.

  1. I used Island Blue (Anita’s Acrylic), Citron Green (American Acrylic), and Orange (Anita’s Acrylic) paint.
  2. I found that sanding the blocks helped the paint go on better.. go figure!
  3. Paint your blocks! FYI: I didn’t paint all the blocks. I left some red and some yellow.
  4. Finding a cheap Dr. Seuss book (yard sale? thrift store?) trace the pictures you would like to use on your blocks.
  5. Cut out the pictures!
  6. Paint a thin layer of modge podge over the block. I did this on one of the sides of the block with the picture. I left the number side and the letter side alone.
  7. Place your Dr. Seuss picture over the picture on the block.  I just turned my picture the same direction as theirs. Let dry.
  8. If you are like me, you will have some edges that are sticking out from the block. Cut those off. Then put another coat of modge podge over the picture.

For my blocks, I typed (using the font, “Mail Ray Stuff”) up Dr. Seuss words (green, eggs, ham, pop, hop, fox, socks, cat, hat, etc.) and printed them on bright blue paper. Then I followed steps 7 & 8 with the words. They looked great without them though. (Ok, I lied. My husband followed steps 7 & 8 for the words! Did I tell you I have the best husband ever? I was getting everything else ready for the shower and he volunteered his precious time. I love him!)

There you go! That’s the Dr. Seuss shower. And in a year, you can be sure I’ll be posting a Dr. Seuss first birthday party. I’ve already been asked to do the decorations!

Oh, the parties you’ll throw!

P.S. Remember that post about removing the labels from containers to reuse them for an Earth Day craft? Well here’s my kiddo’s repurposed creations.

Aren’t they cute? They had a blast making them. We had aliens, monsters, bug holders, clocks, Nerf gun bullet holders, lightning bug catchers, butterflies, and much more!

Yarn/Felt Flower Wreath

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Happy Easter everyone! Remember those felt flowers I made? Well, I told you that I used some to decorate a wreath, and here is the spring/summer wreath I came up with. (By the way, this is the first wreath I’ve ever made!)Materials
- 1 green styrofoam wreath from Michael’s
- 1 package of yarn
- felt flowers
- glue gun & glue sticks
- ribbon

 

Directions

1) Carefully cut the styrofoam wreath in half using a sharp knife. This takes a while and is pretty tedious, but is totally worth it, because now you can make 2 wreaths for the price of buying one! (And the wreath will lay flat against a wall or door!) I got this idea from That’s My Letter. A “poke & swivel” motion is the method I found to work the best. I used no directions or videos to help me, so I’m sure there is a better way to do it.2) Wrap the yarn around the wreath once, and tie it in a tight knot with no slack. Make sure the knot you tie is on the back.

3) Now, continue to pass the whole package of yarn through the wreath and wrap the string of yarn around and around the wreath. Lay each string next to the string before it, making sure to pull tight and leave no space to show.  (This is the most time-consuming step.)

(In between these steps you could use an additional yarn color to make a stripes, argyles, or another pattern for more interest.  I chose to leave mine plain.)

4)  Next, you are ready to decorate your wreath with whatever embellishments you choose.  I made and attached 3 types of felt flowers (rose, loopy, & carnation) for a simple springy, outdoorsy style.

5) Choose what ribbon, bow, or fabric you want to hang your wreath with. (Or you may want no hanger) I layered 2 different widths of ribbon and looped them through the wreath.  Depending on the size of your wreath & where you are hanging it, the length of your hanger will vary.  I didn’t even measure the length of my ribbon. I just “eyeballed” it.

6) Hang your wreath however you wish and adjust it to your liking. Now it is on display for all to enjoy!

FYI: I mostly followed a tutorial from thegluegungirl to make the wreath and the different felt flowers. I got different tips and tricks by looking through her tutorials and watching her videos on youtube. So, please refer to her if my steps weren’t clear enough. :) She is a wreath pro!

Well, I’m no longer a wreath rookie! I officially heart making wreaths! Seeing the finished product was the best part! (Isn’t it always?!) I can’t wait to make more, especially with felt! What other felt flowers are you interested in? Do you like the rose, loopy, or carnation one the best? Are there others I should try? What other felt creations have you tried or “pinned” lately?

I’m linking up at:

DIY projects and crafts
mop it up mondaysThe Southern Institute

Out with the old, in with the new!

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I think it is about time to replace my fall wreath with a spring one.

This was a “PINspired” project I did back in september. I got the idea from Sweet Passions on a Thrifty Dime.

While I couldn’t find red and orange accents for the wreath, I did find this bundle of grasses at Wal-Mart by Better Homes and Gardens.

I think it was less than $5. I got the grapevine wreath at Wal-Mart too, but kicked myself when I visited Goodwill later and found several grapevine wreaths for much cheaper. Remember that next time you need a grapevine wreath! The pearl letter I got on our honeymoon almost four years ago at The Paris Market in Savannah, Georgia. They actually still carry them on their website if you want one!

So today I hung up my spring wreath! And it wasn’t a “PINspired” wreath either. No, this one was inspired by my sister’s wedding.

See those beautiful hydrangeas? Those were used all throughout her wedding decorations. So after the wedding was over, and I had slaved away at cleaning and dismantling the décor, I decided to take some of those pretty flowers with me… and make a wreath! So for three years I’ve had this wreath, but after Leslie’s post on altered wooden letters, I decided to add an initial.

What do you think?

I got the letter from CraftCuts.com. It’s an amazing site with all sorts of wooden letters in different fonts, sizes, and materials. You can get letters that hang, or letters that stand up, or even letters that are connected! If you are interested in the letter I ordered, it is a ¾” thick, 6” tall, unpainted Baltic Burch letter in Poor Richards font. I painted the sides navy and the top pale blue using acrylic paint to match the flowers.

I just love my “new” wreath! Thanks for dropping by!

You used your cheese grater for what?

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It doesn’t take any crafter long to realize that kitchen tools double as crafting tools. I’ve been preparing for a sweetheart’s dinner/valentine’s banquet for the last couple of weeks and my kitchen tools were repurposed for this endeavor. One of the biggest tasks in decorating the fellowship hall at our church was creating a chandelier/lantern/globe/light thingumajig for the center of the room. We already put up white lights wrapped in tulle, but we needed something else. This is what I came up with.

Would you like to know how my kitchen tools helped me make this? Read on.

First, here’s the supplies I used.

1 Strand of Icicle Lights

2 Styrofoam blocks ($7ish each)

Spray Paint White (97¢)

Hairpins (not pictured)

Red Tinsel Garland ($1.00ish on Christmas Clearance)

I also used red picks from Target (purchased several years ago) that you use for dressing up napkins.

Ok, here’s the details if you want ‘em.

Step one: Spray paint your hairpins.

Step two: Cut the center out of both of your styrofoam blocks (measure your blocks to find the center) using (kitchen gadget #1) a serrated steak knife or bread knife. (This is when my husband said, “You know that really dulls our knives.” And I wanted to say, “You know, when you cut your steak, it really dulls my crafting knives.” No, I didn’t really want to say that, or I probably would’ve said it. I was sweet.)

Step three: Put the blocks together!

Step four: Use (kitchen gadget #2) a grater to round off the edges so it looks less like a square and more like a cylinder. Just file it like you file your nails- back and forth, back and forth- until you get the look you want.

Step five: Use your hairpins to secure lights to the styrofoam. It’s easier if you start at the bottom and work your way up because if you start at the top (like I did!) then you will be adjusting the icicles frequently to get them out of your way.

Step six: I guess this step could be placed somewhere else in the process (maybe after step 3) but this is where I did it and it worked fine for me. Using your knife again, cut the styrofoam to resemble an arrow, cutting out triangle-like pieces. You’ll have to use your grater again to smooth out the edges and level the surfaces.

Step seven: Hang it up and decorate it with tinsel! I stuck the sprigs in then cut off tiny pieces of the tinsel and wrapped them around the cords.

Another project I took on was decorating the tables. The first thing I did was hit up the after Christmas sales in January. Here’s what I got, and how it turned out.

The gold and red floral stems were from (if you can’t tell) Big Lot’s. They were 50¢ a piece!! They were originally $5.oo, but they were 90% off. I taped over several of the blooms and my (wonderful) husband spray painted them black. You should have heard him last night at the dinner. He said, “Boy this is is a great spray paint job,” while tenderly examining the stems. Everyone at our table was like, “Yeah, they look great! I wonder who did them?” (Rolling eyes while still admiring my husbands sense of humor) Also included in the centerpiece were red glittery pine cone stems, silver tinsel (both on clearance) and LED Branches (not on sale).

Here’s more pictures of the finished product.

The night was more fun than I could have imagined. There was a four course meal complete with two salad choices, two entrée choices, and four desert choices. And actually it was a five course meal if you count the coffee and tea served later. Every aspect of the meal was thought through. The butter was shaped in balls in the cutest red foil liners! I had ensalada Angelica (spring lettuce, strawberries, grapes, almond crunch, and poppy-seed dressing), lasagna, and tiramisu. It was all DELICIOUS!

The food was in tough competition with our entertainment though. We had the Black Diamond. Basically he’s a black Neal Diamond. He sounds just like him! He was so energetic and the crowd was too. He might become a household name soon because he’s auditioned for America’s Got Talent and has already been seen on Jimmy Kimmel Live. He’s good friends with our minister, so hopefully he will come back next year!

We had an awesome time, but I’m a little bit glad it’s over!