Teacher Podium Makeover

I'm a first year teacher.  I know, I know.  I need to write a post explaining how all that came about.  I'll put that on my to-blog list. Back to this post - I am a first year teacher and I started in the middle of the school year so my classroom was/is full of stuff and I am doing my best to make it my own a little bit at a time.  This podium doesn't get a whole lot of use in my classroom but it has been a bit of an eye sore for me and I knew it needed some kind of makeover.  This is how it started out looking - yellow and black with a poor spray paint job.  So I loaded it up one day after school and brought it home where it sat for a week or two while I was deciding on colors. 

 

 

I really wanted to give it a pop of color but ultimately I decided to go with white.  It took several coats of spray paint to cover up the black.  Fun Fact: As my husband and I were spray painting the podium we noticed a name with class of '66 carved into it.  I knew this thing was old but wowzers! I added some vinyl to it and it looks like a totally different podium.  I am very happy with the end product and can't wait to take it to school tomorrow.  It will be making a little trip to the Engineering class first so they can fix the bottom of it - after all it is OLD! :) 

 

DIY Teacher Gift : Valentine's Day

Here's how these things usually go down.  I spend weeks thinking of what I want to do for a gift.  I spend lots of nights pinning away while my husband sleeps beside me.  I get ideas, I plan for them.  I usually even start them weeks in advance.  And then.........I stop.  I think about how much time I have and I tell myself I'll finish it up in a couple of days.  And then........I don't.  And then I spend the day (or night) before stressing to finish everything! That's just the way I operate with pretty much everything and it works for me, most of the time! :) 

Finding a gift for my sons' teachers followed this suit as well.  I decided about a month before Valentine's Day that I wanted to give their teachers flowers.  There's just something about little boys turning into gentlemen and giving out flowers that melts my heart.  So I headed straight to Pinterest and checked out my "One Day Projects" board and decided to make vases out of jars I had around the house.  I used Prego Spaghetti Sauce jars but you can use any jars.  I used Goo Gone to get all the sticky glue left after peeling the label off.  I washed the jars and dried them really well.  I wanted a super pale pink so I mixed lots of white into an already light pink to create the color I wanted and then I started painting.  I used a foam brush but quickly decided that a paint brush would be much better and it really was better.  I painted the outside of the jars, let them dry, and then put on a second coat.  I left the jars alone to dry overnight and after 24 hours I lightly sanded them until I was happy with how distressed they looked.  I sprayed them with a protective coating.  I only had a gloss protective spray on hand.  I recommend using a Matte spray over the gloss.  The gloss made the jars too shiny and that took away from the shabby look a bit.  I let them dry overnight outside to get rid of the strong smell.  As you can see, patience is key in this project! Once the smell had diminished and I was able to bring the jars inside I wrapped burlap around the jars and tied a bow.  I added some beautiful flowers, a yummy chocolate cupcake, and voila! A beautiful, homemade, Valentine gift that anyone would love to receive! I had all the supplies on hand to create the jars - jars, paint, sandpaper, protective coating, paintbrushes - so the only thing I had to buy for this project was the flowers and cupcakes.  Simple, easy, and beautiful! I will be making myself some of these beautiful jars just as soon as I can collect more. 

Class Valentines 2014

I absolutely love doing things like this for Walker and Wyatt's class and I have been looking for the perfect Valentines since last year.  I was so proud of the Valentines I did last year since I came up with that idea all on my own but this year I relied on Pinterest and that's where I found this idea.  I am a big fan of the candy-less Valentines since my little ones usually come home with bags full of candy that get added to the uneaten Halloween stash.  This was a cheap and easy project that I am sure the kids will love and more importantly, use.