Natalie's Nook: Tons of Monday Made-Its!! And A Mod Podge Helpful Hint!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Tons of Monday Made-Its!! And A Mod Podge Helpful Hint!

I could hardly wait for Monday so I could hook up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made-Its!!! So much deliciousness!! Before I get started I just want you to know that I didn't get out for vacation until June 29 and I have only been blogging for one week! Needless-to-say I had a lot of catching up to do! I've got a few things to share with you but lots of pictures so it will be quick ~ promise!

#1 ~ The amazing "Create" board that I saw at Clutter-Free Classroom. As soon as I saw this I knew I HAD to make one!

Now as beautiful as it is ~ I have to tell you ahead of time that it took me two tries to get it right!
So first I hit Michael's to get everything I needed.

Then you need to sort the crayons into the colours of the rainbow and lay them across the top of your board with the tips facing down. Use a hot glue gun to glue the crayons on to the board.

The tricky part is heating the crayons. Use your hairdryer to heat the crayons so that they will start to drip. This is very messy as the pressure from the hairdryer causes the crayon to spray. You need to move pretty quickly once the crayons start to melt. You will find that the blues and purples melt really well but the reds were more difficult to work with.

The only letters I could get at Michael's were white glitter but I didn't think they would show up on the white board. I scraped the sparkles off and then my wonderful daughter, Julia, painted them a beautiful turquoise colour.

Once everything had a chance to dry I used at hot glue gun to glue the letters on to the board.
PRESTO!

I am going to hang this sign in the middle of one of my black boards and then I am going to use these cute clips to hang the kids artwork on the board around the sign. I made the clips with regular clothespins from the dollar store. I painted them turquoise, glued the flowers on the front of the clip and then finished them off with gluing 2 magnets to the back of the clip. I got the flowers at Micheal's. They came in a set of 4 for $1.69. I think it's going to look really colourful!

#2 ~ READ sign for my classroom.
This will be quick because I only have a picture of the "after" picture. There are all over Pinterest so there is tons of inspiration out there!

I used scrapbook paper that I bought at Walmart. It was a huge paper pack that had a ton of co-ordinating papers for only $15.00. I bought the white letters at Michael's. I used the ever famous Mod Podge to attach the paper to the letters. The trick with Mod Podge is that you need to coat the letters with a layer of the glue and then put the paper on the letter. Let it dry before you put coats of Mod Podge on top of the paper. Once the top coat of Mod Podge is almost dry you can push down any bubbles that formed. I glued my ribbon down first and Mod Podged right over it, too.

MOD PODGE MUST DO!!!

Now I could be the only Mod Podge user that didn't know this trick but I had never read it anywhere {actually it's written on the bottle ~ but who reads the directions?!} so I am going to share it with you. Regardless of how many coats of Mod Podge you put on and no matter how long you let it dry it stays tacky. This is VERY frustrating because everything sticks together and your craft will be ruined. Yikes! Buy a can of Acrylic Sealer and spray your craft all over. PRESTO ~ your craft is safe now! Tust me it's worth doing.

#3 ~ Teacher Clipboards

I love MelonHeadz graphics and I use Nikki's graphics on everything I make. She is SUPER talented and her graphics have personality galore! They make me smile:) Make sure you visit her HERE!!!

The first clipboard is a "mini" clipboard that I got at the Dollar Tree for $1.00. I decorated the front and back the same way I did the letters (above). I am going to use this one for yard duty. I used MelonHeadz "Playground Pals" bundle and her "Monthly Book-Mark" bundle.

This is the front.

And this is the back:)

This is the second clipboard I made. It is a regular sized clipboard and I used scrapbook paper and graphics from MelonHeadz ~ of course!
Here's the front.

And here's the back!

I promise I'm almost done!
I just wanted to take a minute to let you in on ~~a little~~ an AMAZING secret!! Did you notice the graphic of the cutie-patootie standing on books? It's me! I won a draw at MelonHeadz! I sent her a photo and she drew me! YIPEE!! I love it! She made me look way better than I do in real-life! Nice! The best part is that you can get one, too! You can order one from Nikki at MelonHeadz. Isn't that awesome! A personalized graphic of you! There is nothing better so leave here and head right over to MelonHeadz and order yourself one! Go girl go!!

http://melonheadzillustrating.blogspot.ca/