Friday, June 14, 2013

classy cornhole.

Is that even a possibility? Classy cornhole? For Mr. Spouse, that answer is y-e-s. I purchased these cornhole boards for Mr. Spouse a while back and couldn't wait to bring a little sophisticated charm to this classic, southern game!

As I started planning for their new paint job, I couldn't decide if I wanted to paint the Mr's favorite baseball team (The Yankees, of course) logo like these:

Or go with a simple stain and a monogram:

Or go for ultimate simplicity and just paint a generic cornhole design:

In the end, I decided to go with all three: I was going to use the Yankee colors for my paint (navy and white), feature the Mr.'s monogram, and try to incorporate a simple stripe to add just a bit of class to the equation.

As these cornhole boards were made from particle board and fairly rough, I started by using a belt sander over the entire surface and edges to smooth out any knicks or bumps and remove those pesky splinters.

Using my fave Zinnser latex primer, I then applied two thin coats of primer to the boards:

After letting the primer dry for a full 24 hours, I began bringing in that Yankee pride with some fab navy exterior paint (I decided to go with exterior paint on these since they will be living outside and I wasn't sure how an interior paint and a sudden summer downpour would mix)! I applied 3 layers of navy to the boards in order to get the color nice, dark, and even.

Once the navy was completely dry and cured (another 24 hours), the fun began! Like I told you, I wanted to bring in a simple white stripe to the boards, so I decided to go with a bold white border around the boards. I taped off the border with Frog Tape:


...and after ensuring that the tape was firmly in place, began applying thin, even coats of my basic white paint!


While the first layer of white paint was drying, I began working on the monogram for the boards. Initially (pun intended), I thought I would use Mr. Spouse's full monogram with all three initials, so I started by cutting the middle "S" using my trusty Silhouette and placing it on the board!

I loved both the classic font of the S and the size of it, but quickly realized that if I wanted to do his full monogram, I would need to make the S much smaller. Boo. After a quick pow-wow with the Mr., we both decided that we liked the size of the S and liked the idea of the single letter for our last name, so we scrapped the other two initials (sorry, J and M), and went with just the S.

I spent a bit of time ensuring that the S was perfectly centered from all sides, and then traced the S using a pencil.

After removing the stencil, I then used a small brush to outline the traced S...

...then filled in the letter with a larger foam brush.


Now that both the S and the border had a good base coat, I let the first coat dry thoroughly before applying my second coat to ensure an even coverage. In no time at all, it was time to rip off the tape!

Due to the texture of the board, I did have to go back with a small brush and my navy paint to do some small touch-ups, but overall, the boards came out perfectly classy and streamlined!


After a quick, high-gloss, clear top coat, the boards were ready to be put to good use!


We are love, love, loving our classy cornhole boards! We may or may not be SO CLASSY that we leave our boards out permanently so as not to miss an opportunity for a quick game. Cheers to summer!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

gnarly name plates, part two...finally.

Remember how I told y'all in this post that I was going to have all of these fabulously grade-specific name plates up and going within a week? I should have probably said within a century, because that's how long it's taken me to get around to these little nuggets. Shame. But perhaps the wait was worth it folks, because the name plates are finished and they are zazzy.

I still have the name plate for the bitty kinders:

But I also have one for firsties!

I then upgraded shapes and kidlettes to be more age-appropriate for second graders...

...and third graders!

But if none of those are really what you're looking for, I've also created a name plate that gives the kiddies a couple of resourceful tools such as the printed alphabet, a number line from 0-15, and graphics of left and right hands!

Remember that all of these come with an editable text box that allows you to type in your kids' names and format the font, etc! Much easier for classroom prep and new students, don't you think?

Even though we just got out for summer break, it's never to early to start planning for next year! ....or is it....

Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

curriculum planning calendar {chiq chevron}.

I am so glad that y'all are enjoying the Curriculum Planning Calendar I posted here and here! Isn't organization grand?! Yes, being organized is dreamy, but it also needs to be pretty, amiright?! So, as some of you have been asking for a Curriculum Calendar in chevron to fit your pretty standard, I have created a 2013-2014 Curriculum Planning Calendar in a chevron background! Your wish is my command!


The Curriculum Calendar is still editable, customizable, and fabulous - it just happens to feature a chevron background instead of a Moroccan tile background!




The file also includes a customizable, editable cover page for your Curriculum Calendar!

Hop on over to TPT and grab up your copy of the 2013-2014 Editable Curriculum Calendar in the chic chevron print!

pillow fight.

Oh heavens, it's been forever y'all! But Mad May is over and I have so much to share with y'all. Let's not waste any time getting started, shall we? I know that this post might be a bit too late for some of y'all to use this year, but maybe it's one of those that you can file away for next year! After years of planning and dreaming about this project, I finally took the plunge and created sweet hand print pillowcases for my kids!

I think they turned out completely adorable, but I definitely can't take all of the credit! I actually got the idea for this project from MY second grade teacher who gave us the same thing for our end of the year gifts before those even existed. She was quite the genius! Here's me and my BFF showing off our pillowcases decades ago....looking good...so glad we recently celebrated 22 years of friendship with the birth of her sweet daughter!

For my kids' pillows, I tried to stay as cost-effective as possible (obvi) - it wasn't the cheapest project ever, but here's a list of what I grabbed:

All-in-all, I spent about $100 to make these babies, but I think they were totally worth it!

Now let's get to the fun part! Before the painting party, I created an iron-on transfer page for each student with a sweet poem about our friends and applied them to the pillowcases:

 The next day, I took one student at a time (yes, one student at a time), and with the help of a sweet parent, we helped them stamp their hand on each pillowcase. We discovered that their hands needed to have paint applied before every stamp for the best results! Then, after 24 hours, all of the kids went around and signed their hand print on each pillowcase, so that we soon had 21 perfectly painted pillowcases!

Since presentation is everything, I decided to tie a bit of raffia around each student's pillowcase with a little note to them about our year together and how to wash the pillowcase to preserve its colors.


My kids and I both love love love these gifts! I hope that they are something practical for the parents, but also special for the kids, and something that they will hold on to for several years!

I hope that many of you are celebrating summer, but those of you that are in the final countdown, press on! You can do it!