Teacher Gift Idea

School is almost out for the summer here in GA.

With each end of the school year, we have Teacher Appreciation Week.

Each day of the week, the students (or parents rather) are supposed to do something for the teacher.

You know, to show their appreciation for all the time they have devoted to the classroom all year.

The week ends with a classroom gift for the teacher.

At the beginning of the year, the teachers are given a survey to fill out so the room moms can know a little more about them.  Some of the things they are asked are favorite places to eat, colors in their home, favorite books, favorite candy etc.  This helps greatly at the end of the year when you are trying to get a gift.

The parents are able to make a monetary donation towards this gift and the room moms go out and get the gift.  I was one of the room moms for my son's 5th grade class this year and this is what we came up with.

It was pretty easy to put together and we used a lot of the things she said she liked from her survey.

I started with all her favorite things.  The vases and straws were donated from the other room mom but we used money we received to purchase the rest.

I started by taping the straws to the back of the Twix.

I then dropped some Starburst into the bottom of the vase and arranged the sharpies around the edges.

After that I put all the Twix on straws into the container and arranged them so they looked good.  I continued to drop the Starburst into the base as fillers until they were all used.  The straws were bendy straws so I was able to bend some of them and hang them over the side of the vase.

Once I was done with all the Twix, I taped the gift cards to straws and put them in the top.

I love the way it turned out.  I hope our teacher will like it too.

I'm linking up to these parties......

Pantry Cleanup

A few weeks ago, I had decided to jump on the 40 bags in 40 days bandwagon with Ann Marie over at White House, Black Shutters.

I started off really good then life just got busy so I hadn't done anything in a while.

My daughter's softball team is having a garage sale to earn money this weekend.

I decided that I need to get busy coming up with things to put into the sale and it's a perfect time to get rid of stuff that I have been hanging onto forever.

This is my pantry/laundry room.

I hate this room.

Every time I walk into this room to get something, it gives me a headache.

We are supposed to one day move the washer and dryer to the basement but I seriously doubt that will ever happen.

One of my biggest problems with the room is that I can't reach the shelves.  Every time I need to get something, I have to get on a step stool to reach it.

It's just as difficult to put things away.

Everything just ends up shoved up there with no rhyme or reason.

Things get shoved to the backs of the corners and I can never find anything.

I have several small appliances that I don't use anymore, that need to be given for the garage sale.

At one point, for a reason that I don't understand, I put my spices and baking things on the 3rd shelf.

I think I did this to keep the bottom shelf for snacks and items for the kids.  They really aren't able to reach all the way up to the 3rd shelf.

So I just jumped in.  I got a box from the garage to put in the stuff for the garage sale.

I got a trash bag for things that have expired that need to be disposed of.

I wiped down the top shelf, it was really dusty up there.

Here is how it looks now.

I like to have all my food together so I know what I have and am able to find stuff.

I also moved my spices to the bottom shelf.  This right there will make my life so much easier.

I love how it turned out.  I love how all my cans and jars are lined up and facing forward.

We'll see how long it lasts.

Because it is also a laundry room, I do have to have laundry supplies in here.  I moved a stand up from the basement that works perfectly.  It also gets my detergent off the shelves with the food.

So, that's my pantry and laundry room all cleaned up.

I managed to get 1 bag of trash and 1 box of stuff to get rid of.

A big box.

 

I'm linking up with these parties...

Formal Living Room Ideas

This is my formal living room.

We've done a few things to it over the years like add the chair rail and paint.

We started out with white on the top and a green on the bottom.

It stayed like that for several years, too long actually because it wasn't even a pretty green.

When my hubby took a business trip to Germany for 2 weeks, I made it my mission to paint the room while he was gone.

We ended up with this.

It was a nice change but the huge credenza was taking up so much room.

We then cleared everything out and installed hardwood floors.

It was a weekend project and we were so glad to get the carpets out of there.

After we got the hardwoods installed and the furniture put back, I convinced hubby that the credenza needed to go to the basement.

It just didn't fit in this room.  When I think of a formal living room, I think it should look formal

.  Not be a combination living room/computer room/work room.  It's where you should sit when company comes over and have a nice cup of tea in the afternoon.

Oh, we also had hubby's stereo in there.  Yea, all of that had to go.

This is the room cleared out of all excess furniture.  We have so much more room and it's able to stay nice.

I've been tired of the dark paint for a while now.  I loved it when I first did it and that chocolate-brown was in at the time.  Now, it just seems dark and dreary to me.  I've been looking for ways to lighten it up.

I've seen people all over blog land doing board and batten in their rooms and that was what I originally wanted to do in here.  I thought it would look fabulous.

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I have been sick for the past 2 days and so I've had some time to hang out in my bedroom and do some thinking.  Pretty much what I came up with is if I want to make a change in that room, and soon, I was going to have to do cheap and easy.  I just don't have the resources or time to do the board and batten right now.  Not to mention, as soon as I get it finished, it'll be out and something new will be in. That's just the way it always goes.

So I have been spending some time at everyone's favorite site pinning ideas and fabric for this space.

I love this look.  It looks so clean and bright.

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Or even this one.

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I really want to reupholster the sofa and love seat in a white fabric.  I know that is a huge venture so I'm going to have to put some serious thought into it.  I'm tired of the big flowers and the white would brighten up the room like I'm envisioning.

I love this fabric.  I'm going to look for something similar locally and pull my paint colors from it.  I just can't decide if I should do the lighter paint on the top or the bottom.  I'll have to keep looking for inspiration.

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So, that's the plan.  I'm going to forgo the board and batten and just do a quick paint and maybe the sofa redo.

Wish me luck.  As soon as I get my energy back, I plan to start.