Throwback to the Archives Furday and Teachers Take Vegas Giveaway!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th! We are in for a quiet night after a busy day.
My kids never make it to fireworks on the 4th, so, at this point in our lives, we stay in at night.
I spent the morning with my daughter marching and performing with her cheer team in the county parade. We were #97 in the lineup, so waited around from 9:00-11:15 and marched from 11:15-12:30. I was thankful that it was a cool day with a high of 70.

I am late to the party but wanted to link up with my friend Nick from Sweet Rhyme & Pure Reason for his Back to the Archive linky.

I am also linking up with my friend Angela at The Teacher's Desk 6 for her Throwback Thursday linky.

I chose a post from the summer of 2012 because it was my first Monday Made It and I am STILL LOVING the stool I made for my classroom! It has held up beautifully!! Many teachers are in the crafting, creative mode right now, so I think this will be a good post to throwback! :)

Here it is...

Well, I did it!  I am linking up with Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics for my first-ever Monday Made It and I completed TWO projects!!  For both projects I used scrapbook paper.  I love, love to scrapbook in my spare time.  Why?  It lets me be creative even though I am not artistic in the least!  I cannot draw to save my life (it is actually a joke with my students when I try to draw anything and they love laughing at me)........but I can use scrapbook paper, glue, and COPY borrow other people's ideas:)

So, I have recently started pinning two weeks ago when I first entered the blogging world (shocking, I know!).  I started seeing all these stools on pinterest that people paint and thought, I could NEVER do that!  This is from Laurie Cole Designs on pinterest....AMAZING!

Then, I saw this one on I Heart Elementary using scrapbook paper and I began to think I could redo my stool too!

So, I am extremely embarrassed to say that this is what my stool looked like for 12 years:

I started with my supplies (scrapbook paper, acrylic paint, mod podge, spray glitter, and foam brushes):

First, I lightly sanded the stool with 220 sandpaper.  Then, I painted the stool's legs and seat.  The legs took FOUR coats.  I didn't prime first though and I hope that doesn't come back to haunt me.

I used my Cricut Expression to cut a scalloped circled for the stool top, a center circle in a coordinating paper, and a black monogram "S".  My last name begins with S but I am also going to call this the Sharing Stool where students can share book reviews and adventures with Lilly, the classroom pet.  

I glue the S on the red circle and then mod podged each piece in place.  I mod podged the whole seat and as other people had stated in directions I read, the mod podge dries clear!  I had never used mod podge before and this stuff is amazing!

I sprayed the legs with glitter and then starting cutting scrapbook paper to wrap around the 8 rungs on the sides.  I made sure the seam was on the under side and held each piece in place tightly for 20-40 seconds.  It held firm!  Then I mod podged the whole stool 2x and the seat a total of 4x.  I also bought a clear varnish because I thought the mod podge might be tacky, but it really isn't!  I may still add it anyway.  Here is the finished project:

I love how the one piece of scrapbook paper says, "4th Grade". It makes me happy.  Can you see the glitter on the legs?

My next project was originally inspired by Tara at 4th Grade Frolics and she gives her inspiration credit to Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten.  This was Mrs. Lee's sister's picture:

I just love the WELCOME sign idea and Tara's is super cute too!!  So, I set to work cutting circles on my cricut.  I used the circle on the "Going Places" cartridge and "Ashlyn's Alphabet" for the font.

Note to Self:  See picture below with letters too large.  When using "base shadow" on the Cricut, the letters come out larger than the dimensions set!  I wasted a whole piece of paper...ugh!

Then, I got it right.  I used my two favorite adhesives-Beacon's 3-in1 advanced craft glue for the letters and Scotch's advanced tape glider to glue the circles together.

I still have to laminate them and string them together.  I love how they turned out and they will go with my owl themed door.  It will be eerily similar to Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten's picture (remember I said I can COPY borrow?).

Next, I wanted to share this post by Kristin at Easy Teaching Tools about a Vegas Giveaway!! This time next week I will be in Vegas...Wahoo!!!

Las Vegas is just 1 week away and I'm beyond excited to meet so many other teacher bloggers who I've stalked, admired, and become friends with!

If you haven't heard, some of my bloggy friends and I are meeting up after the big Teachers Pay Teachers conference. Over 50 of us will be meeting {let's hope The Bellini Bar is ready for us}.  If you haven't RSVPd, there's still time here.

Not only are we meeting up for drinks and getting to know each other in real life…we're throwing a HUGE giveaway at the meet up.  Don't worry friends who won't be in Vegas, we're having a HUGE GIVEAWAY for you too!!!  So you won't have a fear of missing out, we're giving away amazing resources that will make teaching even better!

As most of you know, Erin Condren is the goddess of amazing planners and organization.  Plus, she wears adorable teal glasses and always looks to be having so much fun!  I bet she'd be a blast in Vegas!

She creates the prettiest teacher and life planners, calendars, and stationary.

Erin and her team have graciously offered 2 $50.00 gift cards to shop at her online store.

Her teacher planner is amazing because everything is in one place.  No more carrying separate folders back and forth.

The planner comes in gorgeous box.

The planner is so sturdy and well put together.  The book mark is great to keep your place.

 All of the divider tabs are easy to read {this planner covers everything}!

 The "Year at a Glance" section will make any teacher's heart happy.  Teachers are such planners and this just may be my most favorite section!

No more need for a desk calendar because you've got one here!  Like I said, I love having everything in one place.

The check list is great for keeping track of permission slips, important notes sent home, and anything else you need to keep track of.

 How precious is this little folder.  When you turn the page, there's one on the back as well to store your important papers.

 It's a bit blurry {silly iphone}, but you get the point!  There's a clear pouch to keep pens and pencils and a laminated calendar to use as a reference.

I can't wait until I get my school calendar to start filling this in.  Here's a full look into the planner. 

The amazing team at Erin Condren has offered to giveaway 1 $50.00 gift card to the teachers attending the Bellini Bar Meet up and 1 $50.00 gift card for those of you who won't be in Vegas.  How amazing is that!  We've also teamed up with these amazing teachers to bring you some amazing products as well.

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