O is for Oogling, P is for Present for mom, Q is for Quirky wine glass

O is for Oogling...

Oogling crafts online.  I'm plotting, planning, and preparing.  You should be, too.  I have the day off tomorrow and the house all to myself (and no masks to make). Be warned!!



P is for present for mom...

My mom's birthday was last week, so I got to make her some presents. The first one was this apron.  I made Tiffany an adorable apron last year for her birthday, so I was trying to go along the same lines but with a gator theme.  It didn't turn out quite as cute as Tiffany's, but I think I could re-make one and it would be a little cuter if I made a few changes.

Q is for Quirky Wine Glass...

I also made my mom a wine glass that says 'I teach, therefore I drink'.  Tiffany made me one of these for my birthday, and it was my absolute favorite wine glass.  It just made everything better at the end of a long day.  Then I was washing it one day and dropped it in the sink.  It broke.  Logan had to convince me it wasn't that big of a deal... but it was.
So I thought I would spread the love and make my mom one of these wine glasses, too.  Oh, and now that I know how I collected a stock of plain, large wine glasses so I can make all the glasses I want.  Hahahaha....

Ps. I made this with puffy paint (it doesn't wash off by hand) and a tutorial for glittering glass from http://inspiredesignandcreate.com/washableglitterglassware/.

L is for Lily, M is for Meet the Teacher, N is for New Mommy Cover

L is for Lily...

Of course, Lily the dog is still a great part of our lives, and we love spending time with her!!




M is for Meet the Teacher...

Here's some pictures from Meet the Teacher.  I found some great ideas from pinterest, including these apples that have a poem: "An apple for the teacher/ is really nothing new/ unless when you remember/ parents are teachers too!"  and a cute packet that talks all about the classroom and me as a teacher.





N is for New Mommy Cover...

Another baby shower gift cover... Tiffany asked me if I would be able to make a homemade 'udder cover' for her (a breastfeeding cover) so I took a crack at it! It wasn't that hard, just sewing some fabric in the right places and adding some boning.  I found a tutorial to follow at blisstree.

I is for iPad, J is for Japanese baby food, K is for Keeping up with schoolwork

I is for iPad...

GREAT NEWS!  About 2 weeks ago I finally finished my iPad challenge through the puzzling piece.  I sold my 60th piece and earned my ASD classroom an iPad! I can't tell you how much it's helped our class.  Not just on the big things, such as communication and scheduling, but on little things too like showing pictures, reading interactive books, and playing educational games.  I'm so excited that this really happened for us, and I'm so thankful for everyone who helped out.




J is for Japanese baby food...

My friend Tiffany is in her last two weeks of her pregnancy, which means her baby shower has come and gone.  And what's a baby shower without adorable homemade baby gifts? One of those gifts I made for Tiff and baby Carter was this baby sushi from creative1dollar.  It's made from baby socks, washcloths, and toys from target.  I love it because Tiffany is my sushi friend, and it was a perfect fit :)

K is for Keeping up with schoolwork...

Yup, I'm still able to do that too! School's going great, and I'm soaring in grad school.  I'll have my doctorate before long!

G is for Girl Angry Bird Masks, H is for Hamburgers (without the ham)

G is for Girl Angry Bird Masks...

In the many etsy orders I received from these masks, I got a request for the female angry bird masks.  Unfortunately, I'm not personally a big angry bird buff.  The game irritates me when I can't figure out how to kill the little characters, and I give up after about 5 minutes.  So, I didn't know there were female angry birds!  I googled them and created this female angry girl bird mask as a mock up for the customer.  I can't wait for her to order them so I can make the other females!

H is for Hamburgers, without the ham (or sweet potato burgers)...

I've been wanting to make these sweet potato burgers (from dyln) for some time.  Logan's been begging me to. Finally, I got around to the process of buying the ingredients and committing.

They were extremely filling and we could each only eat one burger before we were full.  They were... okay... but I'll take the meat ones over the bean/potato one any day!

D is for Delicious Cake Batter Pudding Cookies, E is for Europe, F is for Fudge (Cookie Dough Fudge!)

D is for Delicious Cake Batter Pudding Cookies...

It was my assistant's birthday right at the beginning of school, so I had an excuse to make these delicious-sounding cookies from chef-in-training.  They were very yummy and a nice easy-to-bring-to-school alternative to actual birthday cake!



E is for Europe...

What else have I been spending all my non-craft/blog time doing?

Planning for Europe! Logan and I finally bought our plane tickets to visit Europe this year. We are so excited!  We're doing London, Paris, and Bristol (where I used to live).  LOTS of planning lies ahead, but I can't wait.



F is for Fudge...

Another birthday, another baked good.  It was our neighbor's birthday last week, and I browsed through my board to find this perfect recipe I wanted to try... Cookie Dough Fudge!!!  The recipe is from pink-parsley.  Oh, and that's my 97th recipe!!! Wooop! Almost to 100! (Remember how I wanted to do 100 recipes by the end of 2011? HA!)

Sorry for no pictures this post!  I need to stay on top of those pictures :(

C is for Classroom

I'm a month into teaching, and I finally am getting around to showing off my fairy-tale classroom!! There will be more posts later into the alphabet update, but here are a few sneak peaks.

My desk: Fit for a queen (see my tiara?)  I just covered it in pink wrapping paper, added a bow, and stuck on my name.  It's so much prettier than the ugly grey desk it was before!  Surprisingly, that wrapping paper is still holding on, minus a few tears here and there.

My rules and consequences.  My rules banner (which I believe I  showed off before) is one of my favorite parts of the classroom.  Each 'flag' has a different rule, and they follow the acronym: HERO (Hands and feet to self, Everybody shows respect, Ready to learn, On-task).

Here's a view of my finished classroom right before meet the teacher!

This is another one of my favorite parts: On the back wall you'll see a dragon breathing fire.  The fire has six hooks to hang up student work, and the sign on the top says 'work on fire'.  Logan helped me out with this one :)

Update A-Z: Angry Bird Masks and Birthday Cake

So I've been MIA for some time, so I'm back to tell you all about where I've been!  I'll start at the beginning, or at: A.

A is for Angry Bird Masks.

Remember these cute little guys I made a while ago? Well, I thought I would list them on etsy, just for the fun of it.

You're lucky I'm able to make it back on the computer.

Apparently these masks are great for birthday parties, classroom pictures, and masquerades because I have been busy as a bee making orders and orders of these.  It makes me miss my crafts that I did just for fun, and I'm ready to move on to something else, but I'm so excited that I'm successful with something!

By request, I added a new blue bird, shown below.

I also added a lady bird and will be coming out with a few more soon... more on that later!

B is for Birthday cake.  It was my dad's birthday at the end of August, so I finally got to make him the Whopper's cake I've been saving for.  I simply made a chocolate cake, covered it in chocolate icing, and stuck whoppers on.

Chocolately goodness!