Chevron Envelope Pillows

These pillows are super easy to make, they take about 5 minutes, and can totally make over a room! 

First, cut the fabric (I used duck cloth) so that it will wrap around the pillow, and still have 4 inches or so on each side.  

 Fold over the raw edges and sew. 

 Wrap around pillow for size, and then remove pillow and pin, with an overlap. 

 Sew the sides of the pillow. 

Turn right-side-out

 Stick the pillow in the "envelope"

I have also made these, using the same idea! This is especially great if you have ugly pillows that you want to cover up! You can make "new" pillows for about $5!

Back To School Activities

This year I tried a few new back to school activities and LOVE how they turned out! 

The first activity was a Wordle of descriptive words.  We talked about using colorful words, and adjectives to describe ourselves.  I really want my kids to stop using "boring" words! For this activity, they had to come up with the following adjectives: 

• 5 words that describe them physically
• 5 words that describe their personality 
• 10 words that others think about them (for this part they got to go around the room and get compliments from others)

After they had their list of 20 adjectives, they had to type them into Word.  Then they typed their name 5 times.  Next, they went to www.wordle.net to create their Wordle.  They copied and pasted their list into the text box.  I have them do this so they don't lose their words after they get them in Wordle.  

Wordle Hints: 

• use ~ between words for words that go together for example, brown~hair
• Type words many times to make the font larger

Wordle Activity Directions

The next activity was a bio poem and portrait with a fun frame! 

I got the idea from : Create-Teach-Share

She also had a great template for a bio poem. Autobiography Poem

I combined the two to make it one project.

Next, I had the kids work on a Guess Who activity.  I got this from Dots-n-Spots. They had to write 5 general and 5 specific clues about themselves. They had fun and got really creative! Inside, I put their pictures from the first day of school. They even stumped their parents at BTSN!

Guess Who Document

This next activity had to be the kids favorite! We read the story The Secret Knowledge of Grown Ups, This story even made me laugh out loud! Then, re-wrote our own reasons for rules. We even put them in a cute folder that we made! I got this idea from http://mrsrojasteaches.blogspot.com/2011/08/great-picture-book-find-w-printable.html Create-Teach-Share

All of these ideas, and more can be found on my Back To School Pinterest Board! 

Basil Pesto

I love fresh basil, and have about 6 plants of it growing in my garden. It did the best out of everything I planted this year.  So I would hate for my plants to go to waste, so I made some pesto!

Ingredients: 

Not pictured: 1/2 cup EVOO and salt and pepper to taste

Notes:

• The basil should be packed tight. 
• Pine nuts are EXPENSIVE! You can buy them in the health market at the grocery store in bulk.  They are $38 a pound, unless you don't know that you are supposed to put a sticker on the health market stuff, and weigh it back there, and you go to a dumb high school aged cashier.  Yes ladies and gentlemen, she didn't know how to put the code in so I told her they were expensive and her math calculated that .22 x $38 = $1.00.  I'm not complaining! You can sub walnuts if you want. 
• I like to used the garlic in a jar because it is quick and easy! 

Directions: 

In a food processor, chop up the basil and the pine nuts.  Next, add garlic, salt, and pepper. Pulse a few times.  Then drizzle in the olive oil, and pulse a few more times.  If you are going to use the pesto soon, you can add the cheese.  I read that if you would like to freeze it, don't put the cheese in, freeze it in ice cube trays, and then you can add the cheese later. I have always froze mine with the cheese, but I might try this next time! 

Serve with pasta, on a basil, tomato sandy, pizza, or with crackers and tomatoes. 

Mom's Table

I stole this little table from my Mom's house.  It was tucked away in a back bedroom. I had been needing something to put my cable box on in my back room.  I had leftover stain from my coffee table, so I decided I was going to sand it and stain it Kona.

The finish had already started to come off, so the sanding wasn't that bad. 

I sanded it, wiped it down, and then used a foam roller (much easier than a paint brush!) to apply the stain.  I let it sit for a few minutes and then wiped it off. 

Then I went back through and got all of the spots I missed, and hammered the nails in a little better.

The cords are still an issue... but it is better than before. I still think I want to add some words to the top, or something to make it stand out.

Dad's Easy Artichoke

When I was a kid my dad would always make us artichokes.  He would make them, and we would devour them in seconds, trying to get to the best part, the heart!  They are simple to make!

                                                                                                                                                             Ingredients:

• 1 whole artichoke 

For dipping sauces:

• 1/4 butter
• 1/4 mayo
• 1-2 cloves garlic

Directions:
Boil water in a pot, larger if you are going to do more than 1 artichoke.
Cut off the top and bottom of the artichoke.
Place in boiling water, for about 15 minutes, or until the leaves at the bottom start to fall off.
Using tongs, pick up the artichoke from the water, turn upside down to dump off any excess water.

For dipping sauces (This is the super simple, dad way):
Sauce 1: Melt butter in microwave and a clove of garlic
Sauce 2: Mix mayo and clove of garlic

Devour the artichoke.  When you get to the part where it is fuzzy, get a spoon and scoop out the fuzz. Chop up the heart, and place in remaining dipping sauces, and enjoy!

iPicky

I really wish I knew how to use Photoshop. I found a great little website that helps edit photos and do some of what Photoshop does.  iPicky is great for creating photo collages.  It is very user friendly and free!

I did this for my friend Emily, she had it printed on canvas and it looks great! It cost her 1/4 of what a professional would have charged to get it on canvas! If you are going to do canvas be sure to save it in the highest resolution possible!

I just made this one up for fun! I love the looks on the kids faces! Sometime we need to have a picture of what they are looking at! They probably think we are crazy!

Friday Funnies

We were reading about Galileo's thermometer I read this aloud "He filled a number of small glass BALLS (kids say, ewwww that's just wrong) partway with colored water and sealed them shut. The BALLS of colored water all floated in water. Galileo knew that water expands as it warms up......... Then he attached a weight to each BALL. The weights were adjusted to give each BALL a slightly different buoyancy. The result was that when the water was cold (at its densest) all of the BALLS floated. As water warmed up, becoming less dense, BALLS would sink. By placing the BALLS in a column of water in order of their buoyancy., with the least dense on top (BY THIS TIME I AM OMITTING BALLS because of the laughter that will not stop).... It is in the passage 4 more times!















Then in math that same day, we had to work a whole problem with MIXED NUTS ... again laughter and me screaming BE MATURE ABOUT IT! GET OVER IT!