School Crafts: ___ Day of School Frame and Dancing Ribbons

I've been working on a few projects for my new Pre-K classroom this year, and here's what I've made so far:

___ Day of School Frame from FirstGradeSchoolBox:

This was a fun project to make, especially because I got to paint!  To make this, I just found a large frame at Goodwill and spray-painted it blue.  I bought the wooden letters and decorations at Michael's and painted them as well.  I glued them all on the frame with hot glue.

I then printed off the words '1st' '100th' and 'Last' and laminated them. That way I can change out the number of day on the big star throughout the year (using velcro).

I can't wait to take first day of school pictures with the frame!

Get up and Dance Ribbons from Strings, Keys, and Melodies.

This was a super fun, fast, cheap, and easy project that I have a feeling will be a hit in my classroom.  These ribbons are made for the children to hold and dance around with. They are made with shower curtain rings from the dollar store and tulle (which I had lots of left over from previous projects). I just cut long strands of tulle, folded them in half and secured them on the ring. I put 2 of different colors on each ring. I love the tulle because it gives a floating feeling in the air when you dance with it.

More Braids (Yes, It's possible)!

Just when you think I've exhausted the number of braids I can include in my hairstyles, I [and pinterest] will prove you wrong!


This braid is a Bohemian Rope Twist from Locks and Locks of Hairstyles. It's a braid made by just twists and it's really cool! I had to do it wet for it to work, but it still didn't stay very well. It looks awesome thought.

 



This one is a side braid and ribbon from jointhemood

To do this, you just do a side braid then add it into a pony tail and cover with a ribbon.

The Fishtail Wraparound Pony: I'm not sure where I got this idea. I think I was just browsing hairstyles and meshed a few together to create it.  I've always done the wraparound pony where you do a ponytail and take a small section, wrap it around the elastic, and pin. It looks cute and professional.  This time, I decided I would fishtail braid that small section of hair and then wrap it.

I'll definitely have to play around with this more before I get it right... I think I need a smaller braid. But I love the idea!

Finally, there's the Rainbow Fish Braid from babble.  This is one of my new absolute favorite hairstyles, and it actually worked! You just take some yarn of a color you want to add to your hair (I used pink of course) and tie it into your roots.  Here, I only used three pieces of yarn and tied it halfway down the yarn to double it over.  Now that I've done it once and it worked, I would definitely use more pieces next time.

Then you do the regular fishtail braid, including the pink in the braid.

That's it for now. One day I will do a hairstyle that doesn't include a braid... maybe.

Healthier Recipes

Lately I've been trying out some new recipes that are on the healthier side, and I'm ready to share them with you!

I'll start with some not-so-healthy recipes I made for girl's night a few weeks ago.

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Recipe #135: Mississipi Sin Dip from Plain Chicken

This was a fun recipe that you bake inside a loaf of french bread and eat with chips.  It was delicious, and deliciously messy (sorry for the not-so-good-looking-pictures).

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Recipe #136: Sarasota Lemonade from The Pampered Jes

This 'Lemonade' is a summery wine spritzer with moscato, sprite, raspberries, and pink lemonade. It is absolutely delicious, and so sweet! I love it!

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Recipe # 137: Deviled Egg Dip from The Cutting Edge of Ordinary

This deviled egg dip is delicious and would be great for a party! Unfortunately, I didn't get to eat too much of it because I put it in the fridge and it was gone in two days...

Although this is marketed as Deviled Egg Dip, it's really just egg salad that you eat as a dip. It was a very interesting way to eat egg salad (one of our favorite foods!).

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Recipe #138: Sliced Banana Chips from pinterest

To make these chips, you just slice a banana really thin, dip the pieces in lemon juice, and bake on 250 degrees for 2 hours, flip, then bake for another 2 hours. They are supposed to turn nice and crisp like chips.  After 3.5 hours, mine were gummy-like and absolutely DELICIOUS! They were so sweet and tasted like fruit snacks. YUM!

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Recipe #139: Broccoli and Cheddar Quiche with a Brown Rice Crust from Crunch Rock 

This quiche was a healthy twist on another one of my favorite foods.  In this recipe, I used nonfat cheese, which made it so much healthier but also a little tasteless.  Once I added a little salt and pepper it was much better! I love that I can make a crust out of brown rice!!

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Recipe #140: Banana Applesauce Muffins from FromAway

These muffins were so moist and delicious! Made with mashed up bananas and applesauce, they are a little healthier than the average muffin (3wwp+each).  They do still have sugar and flour in them, but they are absolutely delicious!

I tried one with a little peanut butter on it... even more delicious!

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Recipe #141: Cucumber Tuna Fish Sandwich Sub inspired by SkinnyMob

I finally tried out a cucumber sub, which is a sandwich made with a cucumber instead of bread.  Mine was more of a cucumber boat, where I cut a cucumber in half and scooped out the inside, then filled it with tuna. It was so good and is most definitely one of my new favorite lunches! (3wwp+ with lite mayo).

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Recipe #142: Hummus-filled Deviled Eggs from fitsugar

Make hard-boiled eggs, scoop out the yolk, fill with hummus. Healthy deviled eggs! Doesn't sit well in fridge without top overnight. Yumm!