Made It Monday

Guys! Look...I'm blogging again in less than a week. Gold star for me, please.

I have been dying to share with ya'll my latest Made It Monday (which is like, a month overdue but let's just pretend...)

Ok, so around Christmas time, I decided to redo my bedroom decor. The hubs was thrilled. [not.]
Even though we have a walk-in closet, I needed more space for dresses and sweaters/jackets [can I get an Amen!??] so we bought a stand-alone wardrobe from Home Depot and I painted it turquoise.

Before

After 

THEN, I got two old screen doors from my Great-Grandmother's house in Clarksville, TX and after scrubbing those bad boys, I repainted them to match my turquoise closet. 

The doors after a scrubbing but before paint.
 Yikes. 

My Great Grandmother must've been fabulous because the doors
were very close in color BEFORE I painted them, to the after color :)



 

The finished product looks like this: 

I also made the baby. ;) He's my best work of art yet! :)

Monday Made It 8/24/14 ...and Happy First Day of School!

As you read this, I am greeting my 29 5th graders. Listen, I don't know if your state has a max number for the classroom, but in Texas, PreK-4th grade, 24 is the maximum number of students per class. Then you get to 5th grade and there is no cap. Which means I have large numbers of students. In classrooms that were made to house no more than 22 [when it was originally built]...so. We are packed in like sardines. BUT, we will survive. Maybe

On to my made it Monday :) I inherited this adorable red bookshelf from one of my besties who became an administrator this year. I have always loved this bookshelf... [It's been passed around at our school]...BUT red isn't my color. :) 

Some of you know my love for GREEN. I'm not sure when it started but I went to college at UNT and we were the Mean Green AND my classroom is UNT themed so I had to paint the shelf. 

Yes, I painted in my classroom. Please don't tell on me. I used green chalk paint and let it dry overnight before I went back and added a wax. 

How stinkin' cute is this?! I LOVE it. You are probably wondering "How did she know how to do that?" Well, my sweet friend, Mary Jo, took us to a little shop in Waxahachie, TX on her birthday to learn how to make shabby chic looking furniture. Mandy at Texas Pearls and Co is so ridiculously talented and she taught me everything I know :) 

Here is what my shelf looks like ready for this first day! 

My 2nd Made it Monday is a little sign I made with chalk and black butcher paper. I saw a wall painted on vacation at the Oklahoma City Science Museum that said "Here is where..." and was all about science. I loved the concept so I came home and wrote my own "Here is Where" poem. I am going to have my kids write poems about their favorite place. Anyway..here is mine: 

Can't wait to see what you guys have been making! 

Big Time Blogging Challenge: Day 7 AND Made it Monday

Hey ya'll! I'm being a good girl and continuing with the blogging challenge AND posting my very first Monday Made It. Whoo hoo! 

Ok, for Day 7 Michelle has asked about our favorite books as a child or as an adult. 

Man, that is a tough one! I was (and still am) a WILD READER. (Shout out, Donalyn Miller! :)) I LOVE to read and can be totally engrossed in whatever I'm reading, no matter what is going on around me. 

As a kid, I loved the Babysitter's Club books and most realistic fiction. However, my 3 most favorite books I ever read were probably The Giver, The Phantom Tollbooth and The Twenty One Balloons...all fantasy. Go figure. 

I loved these books. (Still do) I read The Phantom Tollbooth to my students EVERY SINGLE YEAR and I love when they fall in love with it too. It is also one of those perfect examples of "don't judge a book by it's cover" because, let's be honest, that is not the most engaging cover for a 5th grader. I love the play on words and the "smart" humor...it is a MUST READ. Seriously. Add it to your list of books right now. And before I leave my soapbox, let me put in a plug for the necessity of teachers who read. Not 'Reading Teachers', but all teachers who read. We can't expect our students to read if we have zero knowledge of books ourselves. 

And now I'll step off my soapbox to show you my...

I have been in love with the mesh wreaths for a while. And I'm pretty crafty, but I hadn't tried these little guys out yet and I finally made one! This one is for my classroom, which will be UNT themed next year.

  I am itching to make my own wreath for my house for Fall...and Winter...and Valentines Day...and St. Patricks. I mean, I'm obsessed now. 

And then, I did some "re-lovin'" on this trunk my aunt bought. I don't know if the rest of the country is as obsessed with "distressing" furniture as we are in the south, but the old antique-y look is totally in down here :) 

Before

After :) 

 Ok, before I wrap up this now super long post, I am going to advertise a few more Monday Made Its--items in my TpT store! My Reading Review folder in English and Spanish is finally up! AND I also created a Literature Circles bundle for anyone wanting to dive into Lit Circles. :) 

Or if you are looking for some cute organization for your classroom supplies check out my chalkboard themed labels: 

Library labels coming soon! :) 

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you are still reading after this marathon post! Have a happy Monday!