Where has the time gone?

Okay, friends, as you might have noticed, I have been MIA since August!  WHAT?!?  Where did the time go?!

Well, it went straight to paperwork and getting to know my students - academically and their personalities.  My beginning of the school year has been crazy hectic, but so great, too!

Part of this lost time went to creating File Folder games for my Fast Finishers to take to their desks instead of just sitting there getting bored or reading a book.  With last year being my 1st year in my own classroom, I was just trying to stay afloat and make it through the year.  Now that I've got a year under my belt, I am able to do a little bit more to get my classroom organized and fun-i-tized (yeah, I said it).

So, I'm creating File Folder games by Unit so that I don't have to do too much at once.  I'm slightly behind, but the biggest problem was getting the first few done - the logistics of it all.

I am proud to say I have TWO, count 'em 2 File Folder Games already made.  

 Observe:

       

aaaaaaand....

You can download them at my Teachers Pay Teachers store :)  

located HERE.

 Or, you can just click the images, and they will take you to my store for that specific file!

oh, yes. SUCCESS!

 

 

****UPDATE: I have edited these files to print clearer and give them a prettier look.  The links above are correct, but the files will just have a different look.****

Thank You!

We've hit 10,000 page views on the craft rookie!

I've been slowly watching that number creep up over the past few months, anxiously awaiting that nice round number :)

Thank you to all who view the blog!  I can't guarantee every idea I share will be awesome, but I'm glad you're sticking with me!

On another note...Teacher time has begun again - we worked Thursday and Friday last week, and I came home on Friday, power napped for 3 hours (yes...3 hours) with the intention of going out with friends afterwards, woke up for about an hour, and then could not keep my eyes open anymore, and by 9:30 I was out for the count. I didn't wake up again until 9:20 am on Saturday. So, if you're doing the Math...I slept for just under 12 hours. Can you say TIRED!?

I can definitely say my body was not ready to get back to work, but things are starting to get moving...classrooms are getting decorated...meetings are happening...I'm learning a lot with a new Principal and LOTS of new staff on our campus (almost 30 new teachers) who have a lot of great ideas for me to borrow :)

As I find time, I'll try to post all the Pinterest ideas I tackled this Summer and other pics of my classroom.  It is slowly but surely getting finalized and colorificated (I realize that's not a word). 

Happily Zappily (yep, that too),

the craft rookie

Are you a runner?? No? Do you want to be?

A friend of mine on facebook recently opened my eyes to this ingenious new running app for iPhone/Android called "Zombies Run."  

This app literally creates a world where zombies are chasing you as you blaze your trail in whatever terrain you choose to jog.

For those of us who run at night (yep, I'm guilty of that...) or who believe a zombie apocalypse is actually possible (nope...not guilty of that one), this is especially hilarious.

If you want to see a video promo for this app go to this website: https://www.zombiesrungame.com/

And, if you would like to see it in the app store, click HERE :)

happy running,

the craft rookie

workout shirt mash-up!

I am LOVING today's DIY project and the results, and I am super excited with the little twist that I decided would add a little of my personality to the project.  

What's the project?  A no-sew workout shirt from Rabbit Food For My Bunny Teeth.  If you click on that link, it will take you to the tutorial.  No need to reinvent the wheel and write the instructions here. This post is to just show you how I made the project my own :).

I went and bought some shirts from Wal Mart (specifically the MENS section) to do this project on.  They were about $3.50 each, which I loved because I'm not so great with scissors, and I was a little nervous that I would mess the shirt up.  

I bought 2 different sets of colors:

The BLUES...

 

...and the HIGHLIGHTERS!

I followed the tutorial, with only a few errors (which were easy to fix because I was able to just cut away more fabric).  

The twist/flare I added to the project was using the scraps from the sister-tees to add some color to the back wrap.  I chose to do that since these shirts are all PLAIN JANE!  No words. No pictures. NADA!  So, the little detail on the back really made me feel better :)

Here's the final product:

The BLUES...

The HIGHLIGHTERS...

 

It's hard to see with the terrible lighting, but I put pink on the orange, yellow on the pink, and orange on the yellow!  I'm LOVING these shirts :)

Here's what the yellow/orange one looks like on a not-so-professional model...aka me

fear my muscles!

i just love that orange flair!

clearly not a model :)

And now for some Before and After side-by-side photos...

**UPDATE** It's been almost a year since I made these shirts, and I still wear them for working out, doing yard-work, and when I just want to be comfy.  I LOVE these shirts!

get your sweat on,

the craft rookie

how to be a kind pinner...

I LOVE pinterest. Would I call it an obsession, no, BUT that doesn't mean that I don't care about it!  I see a bright future for us. Me and pinterest, that is.

One thing that has put a slight damper on my joy as I look at different pins from the creative people I admire is when I click on a pin thinking it will take me to the exact blog post for the picture that caught my eye, and all I find is the home page of the blog. Makes me so very sad :(

The backstory, with a little backstory of its own:

When you're on a blog, and you really like an idea.  DO NOT just pin that page - most likely you are on their home page (Page 1, if you will), and as those bloggers continue to post, that idea you liked so much will continue to get pushed back on to further pages.

I recently had an encounter of this kind when I saw a really cute idea for mini-cupcakes in ketchup bowls (the kind you see at fast food joints), but I wanted to know what temp to cook them on and how long.  So, I clicked on the pin and was taken to the website where it was originally found. I was taken to it's HOME PAGE. drats!  It took me 30 minutes (I was determined..) of searching through older posts to find the one I was looking for.  Thus...this post.

So, here's the quick tip:

Step 1: You're on a blog and you see an idea you like.  Scroll to the top of that specific blog post.  Click on the title.

Step 2: When you click the title, it will open up a new page with a web address that is specific to that post.

Step 3: Follow your normal pinning procedure.

Step 4: Enjoy going back to that pin, clicking it, and going STRAIGHT to the beloved idea.

Step 5: Repeat Step 4 ad nauseum.

wishing you all pinning happiness,

obligatory 4th of july post...

Okay, so let me start out by saying I'm not a big fan of holidays or days of celebration.  I do, however, like the 4th of July.  I like this holiday because, no matter what, every year, watching those fireworks makes me feel like a kid again.  The awe and wonder of watching those explosions in the sky just makes it all so fun.

This year, my friends and I went out to Kaboomtown in Addison, TX.  If you're not familiar, google it.  Here are the latest honors I've pulled from their website:

2012 Recognitions:
Forbes - Top 10 Best July 4th Fireworks Displays
Travel Channel - Top Five July 4th Displays
Bing - Ranked #11 World's Best Fireworks Displays


2011 Recognitions:
AOL - Ranked #3 Fireworks Show in the US
Dallas Observer - Best Fourth of July Fireworks Show in DFW

After having gone out there this year, I wonder what the #1-9 fireworks shows were like this year because this one was pretty stellar!

Here are some of my kid-like photo snaps:

The best part of the show, though? You're probably thinking I'm going to say the "Grand Finale," right?

NOPE!

The best part was BEFORE the show even started!  They had planes flying overhead and doing flips and turns above us!  It was awesome.  And not to leave the pilots out of the fireworks fun, they did THIS:

Yep, if you can't tell, that's a plane shooting off fireworks mid-air!

That one was a real crowd pleaser :)

KABLOWY!

the craft rookie

so, i've been doing all these projects...

It's Summer. 

I have my moments where I want to be super-productive, and I have these other moments where I want to be super-lazy.  They don't exactly balance each other out...but, hey - it's Summer. I'm allowed to ignore my work.

Anyways, I've been doing all these projects that I found on...yes, pinterest. I have a HUGE LONG LIST of things that I want to do in order to "update" my classroom for this school year.  I want it to run more efficiently, allow for my students to be more productive, and prevent myself from saying things repeatedly, and prevent myself from saying things repeatedly:) - i kid..

As part of my efforts to allow things to run more efficiently, I took THIS idea and ran with it.  This past school year being my first year, I had already spent SO much money (read that as more than I should have spent) stocking my classroom with supplies and other decorative items (i.e. border...).  

Because of this need to minimize the amount of money spent, I tweaked the M-F bins, and, instead, I used hanging file folders in my Teacher File Cabinet.  While this was nice, I found myself not using it as much, and generally saw it as a waste of space/materials. I dislike..I mean, I truly DISLIKE useless items in my classroom. If it doesn't serve a purpose, I don't want it in there. I realized that the reason I wasn't using it was because my Teacher File Cabinet was back behind my desk - a place I rarely ever go to when I'm teaching.  I prefer to stay in the middle of the classroom, able to monitor my students and answer their questions easily. Having to go back to my desk area to grab materials was just lost time every day...multiple times a day.

So, in an effort to stay organized, but continue to be something I like to look at AND use, I bought 2 of these black plastic drawers from Wal-Mart:

And then, I dug in to my stash of scrapbook paper....and I found a style I really liked - stripes with some pretty embellishments.

I measured the drawers and cut out strips of the paper - they ended up being 24 cm x 6 cm.

I printed out the days of the week (M-F) and "other" for the miscellaneous papers that like to accumulate on my desk. The font used was called "Marker Felt."

After the days of the week were cut out, I centered them on the strips and glued them in the middle. Something to note: glue them closer to the bottom of the strip so that you can clearly see the words underneath the drawer handle.

After the glue dried, it was off to the laminating machine, and then they got taped in to place in the drawers themselves.

 You like?

I decided to do create my own twist on these drawers, and I used the same paper for M-F, but I found a similar print for my "other" drawer.  Both stripes, just different colors.  

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the result.  This project definitely took a lot of time, but I know it will be so worth it!  

wooooooo-hooooo,

the craft rookie