One Bulletin Board... all year long!

There is one common thing a lot of teachers seem to dread about their classroom.... BULLETIN BOARDS.

Now, I may be crazy... okay, okay, I AM CRAZY. But I don't mind bulletin boards one bit. I LOVE decorating them, finding fun colors and items to use, and thinking of a creative play on words for the title.

I think the one thing teachers get hung up on is hanging the paper and border every time. (you see what I did there!? #punnerd)  and for me, I only dislike it because I have a GIGANTIC bulletin board and an affinity for patterned wrapping paper. So recovering it every time takes about 2 rolls of paper and seems wasteful.


So this year, I decided to try putting up my paper and border ONCE and leaving it up all year, no matter what I changed it to for the season. I did this last year too, and it seemed to work well, so I thought I would document it for you and see what you think about it. It miiiight just make the task a tad less daunting for you... hopefully!


Here's some tips for how I did it...

Choosing a neutral background is the most important.. which is why I listed it first. Something neutral is going to be able to go with a variety of themes, colors, and seasons. I chose this navy blue striped wrapping paper from Target. It's simple with clean lines and has the potential to match a lot of things.

The year started with a super hero theme, so I matched it accordingly with my borders and other decor::

This went up in August and stayed until November-ish.

I use white thumb tacks to put up my borders. This makes it easier for me to change them down the road if I want to, because removing staples is a pain. It is also super easy to hide them in the border and then they aren't really even seen then! Like the polka dot border above... I just put a tack right on top of a dot and boom.. camouflaged.

Bonus: less holes in your border when you take it down compared to staples.
Double Bonus: you don't need to use a staple remover, so you're less likely to rip it!

..and then change ONE of them. I changed the bulletin board a tad late into the year... and when it started to snow I used this idea I found on Pinterest. I left up the red polka dot border that I had used before and just changed the yellow chevron to gray chevron.... same background but a much softer look for winter with the gray. I changed one piece at at time and it was so simple, compared to taking it allll down and putting something new up.

This stayed up November-ish until March. Winter is long in Ohio!
Click the picture to download the writing prompt paper for FREE!

To make the snowglobe, I traced the clear plastic plates I bought at a party store and drew on the bottom part for the globe freehand. I traced them on cardstock and the students cut them out.

I took their pictures all bundled up in their winter gear in the hallway. By taking them horizontally so that my students' entire bodies were in the picture and printing them as a 4x6" photo, they were able to JUST fit perfectly inside the plate!

I let my students decorate the inside to MATCH their story (so we did the writing process and activity first) and then we made the snow globe.

I mixed white glue and shaving cream for puffy paint for the snow and we broke out the glitter to decorate the bottoms of the snow globes (if they wanted... which they all did, of course!)

After they were completely dry (this took a few days) I hot glued the edge of the plate the cardstock snow globe. It's important to leave a small edge beyond what you trace so that there is room for the plate and paper to attach well. Beware: this uses a LOT of hot glue!

To hang them, I attached a small loop of yarn to the back of the globe with hot glue as well, but that is completely optional, depending on how you want to display them!  This has been one of my most favorite craftivities to date! I highly recommend it!

It's not always easy... so think about it. I had to kind of plan before I could make this bulletin board. I needed something to keep the blue. It reminded me of the sky so that idea led to finding something with clouds, and a Pinterest search led me to the balloon idea, which inspired the title. A little planning goes a long way, if you take a bit of time to do it. So don't rush the bulletin board change. It's okay if you don't change it immediately. Your board is still cute if you wait a week!

Here, you can see I just changed the inside border but left the gray. I went from red polka dots to hot pink on the inside. A few white thumb tacks stand out, but still look cute.

This bulletin board stayed up from late March and into May.

 Don't try to overdue it. I let the borders and background colors speak for the design the most and add just a few touches. A few fun fonts for the title and that's all I needed. The bright yellow pops against the blue and the cloud from the last board stayed up.. then I just added in my students' writing craftivity and that was that. I put this up in May and it stayed up until the end of the year.

and that was that. I made it last all year. I bought those two rolls of wrapping paper for about $6 at Target and made it last all year. I strategically covered any tears or worn out spots with the other items I put up and it didn't look bad through all 9 months... and I didn't have the headache of putting up new paper every time I did a new one.


What do you think? Would this solve your frustration with bulletin boards? Would you try it!?
Let me know in the comments below!

Long Overdue!

Oh dear is this post looonnggg overdue! About a month overdue, if not more.. but who's counting??

On May 1st I had the amazing privilege to attend the Northeastern Regional TpT Meet-Up in Binghamton, New York, hosted by the Western New York TpT Team. I was invited by the sweet and talented Literary Sherri, and honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into! I Googled Binghamton when I got the invite and when I discovered it was only a 5 hour drive away, I asked my husband what he thought. He said he would drive me and was up for it if I wanted to go... so (of course) we went!

I discovered about a week before we went that the genius herself, JEN JONES, was going to be presenting and I was flabbergasted!! I immediately knew I truly had NO CLUE what to expect from this meet up and the butterflies started to flutter the more I thought about it! A few days before we left I received my shiny new business cards and matching pen & notebook from VistaPrint, so I was all ready to go in that department. But mentally, I still had no clue what to expect. I was actually still reeling, at that point, from an unexpected shout out on Instagram and Facebook from TpT for my Healthy Test Treat Notes.  It's still surreal to me to think about that... they hand-picked my IG photos of the healthy snacks and notes I left for my students all week and turned it into a collage photo they posted on IG. It was super cool..

.....until they posted it on their FACEBOOK PAGE the next day and I about died. You can check it out here if you want. It went a tad viral. Well, in my eyes it was viral. Nearly 3,200 likes, 1,500 shares... that's insane. I'm NOT Deanna Jump, or Moffatt Girls, or Babbling Abby, or Amy Lemons., or Jen Jones... that's expected for any of the top sellers. I'm just little ol' seller me with 500 followers on TpT and minimal sales to feed my shopping addiction. It even circled back around to my friends. Someone in our area shared it and tagged her in it and she commented that she's a good friend of mine and tagged me in her comment. I mean, seriously...that doesn't happen.

SO, needless to say my mind was already BLOWN after those two days of insanity. Then, we hopped in the car and drove to New York... and my mind exploded AGAIN!

The meet-up was a mini version of the awesomeness and mind-blowingness to come in Vegas next month. It was fantastic. I learned so much, met so many AMAZING people, and networked a lot. I learned a lot about myself as a teacher and a seller, and had an all-around blast. The only thing I can say about it in a negative way is that it was too short. I could have stayed there so much longer. We all felt that way - it was THAT great.

We started the morning off with breakfast, meet & greets with fellow sellers through a selfie challenge...

 Look at the awesomeness of this greeting when I walked in the door... just adorable.

I met this sweetheart, Connie...

and hung out with Shelly, from Appletastic: Blossoming in 5th Grade

and we got some pretty amazing SWAG too!

unbelievable... this doesn't include the Google Drive link with over 3,000+ pages of donated resources. WHAT!?

THEN... JEN JONES (yeah, THAT Jen Jones of Hello, Literacy!) presented...

She taught us so much about being a better seller and providing great customer service to our buyers. I am forever grateful for her willingness to share her expertise!

.....AND A HELLO LITERACY SHIRT!

I'll be sporting that proudly like a dork in Vegas! ;)

We had our own photo booth and photo sesh..

I could totally rock a stache...

We spent time collaborating in a variety of groups throughout the day. We talked about social media, marketing, collaboration, blogging, and so much more. My favorite session of the day was when we talked with other sellers in small groups about key components to a good product. We passed around a product of our own we had brought and commented on what we liked about them. It was so encouraging. I loved it! That is something I would love to do with other sellers more often. I guess I could organize that....

I couldn't resist spicing up our poster with fun fonts and colors... #nerd


There were also giveaways... and EVERYONE won something. How sweet is that?! I won some Blair Turner Paper goodness and $10 to Teaching in the Tongass. That was cool. Her clip art rocks. So does Blair Turner.

And we did a Teacher Tool Exchange. Susan from The Math Spot is my Flair Pen soulmate. As soon as I spotted that chevron cup and the pens.. I was done.

Don't let this picture fool you. I took pictures much too late. This table was PACKED.

My tool was some Creative Paper goodness, and Ticonderoga neon pencils. Because, duh!?

Every detail was impeccable.

I also got to meet AMY from TEAM TpT!

 She was in my collaboration group all day.. so we're basically besties now.

I got to ask her who orchestrated that insane shout out I mentioned above... she told me the gal's name and I can't wait to hunt track her down in Vegas and give her a giant thank you hug!

Overall.. it was wonderful. It was inspiring. It was encouraging. I was blown away... and it was only a fraction of the size of Vegas... so can you imagine what THAT will be like!?!

Just one more reason my blog/store is named the way it is.. I am truly O-H SO BLESSED!

Vegas Prep! {part one}

I am SOOOO excited to be going to VEGAS this summer! in 22 days, to be more exact!!

I will be attending the SDE Differentiated Instruction Conference on Tuesday & Wednesday {July  7th & 8th} and then the TpT Seller's Conference on Thursday & Friday {July 9th & 10th} WOO HOOO!! I booked and reserved my spots starting in January and have been anticipating it ever since! Well, more like since last year because I was KiCkiNg myself for not being there last year when I saw IG and FB eXpLoDe with awesome pictures and I was stuck at home! But now, my wait is only 3 weeks long and I know that time will just flllyyyy by!

Soo, in the mean time, I have been prepping myself for the fabulous events surrounding that week, and I just HAVE to share about this awesome goodie I scored for FREE!! I will most definitely be sporting in Vegas at some point and want to make sure allllll of my blogging buddies know about it so they can score one for free too! Yes, that's right... FREE!

A+ Images/TeacherShirts.com has an AWESOME giveaway promotion going on right now! Our TpT stores/blog logos can represented in REAL LIFE on a shirt! I was tempted to order one when I got my business cards from VistaPrint, but I just couldn't justify spending the money. So I passed on it, but wished I had a shirt to represent myself in Vegas.

Then, there was post floating around on Facebook that a company was offering them for FREE and I just had to check it out!
When I went to their website, the design tool was SO simple to use! I've used another shirt design website before and this was basically the same... very user friendly!
The first thing I did was select the shirt style and color I wanted. It already had a simple unisex style t-shirt selected for me. I browsed a few other styles (like a 3/4 sleeve baseball tee) first, but nothing was catching my eye and a plain white shirt is what I had envisioned before, so I selected a white color shirt and left it at that. Then, I selected the "Upload Image" option, picked my blog button .jpeg that is saved on my computer, and BOOM! there it was on the screen exactly how it would appear on the shirt!

I added a comment to the design just to be *certain* it would turn out alright (my logo is a white square and I didn't want it to show up on the shirt and look silly) and submitted the quote with the size I wanted. I got a confirmation email shortly thereafter, and about 3 days later, the shirt arrived in the mail EXACTLY like I had pictured it!

I JUST LOVE IT!
What I also love is that the company included a slip of paper with care instructions so that I can properly wash and care for my shirt in the weeks and months to come! I followed the first set and you can see above that it still looks awesome! (My picture taking skills aren't professional my any means - I can reassure you that the colors are just a bright and vibrant as they are on the top of my blog here!) I just want to give it a quick ironing before I wear it and then I'll be SURE to post a picture as I sport it about town in VEGAS!!

What's great about this company, too, is that they offer SO many design options! They seem to have something for everyone! If you like bling, they have rhinestone & glitter designs! If you're a guy, of course they have manly designs! If you want to feature your WHOLE CLASS, they can do that too! They have a variety of grade levels and specialties. And not just one design for each one, but multiple designs and colors. Plus, the above CUSTOM design tool for anyone to use. Like I mentioned above, they will send you a quote too so when you design it, you get a price quote and aren't ordering blindly on price. I think that's great customer service.

So, if you've been thinking about getting a shirt for your blog, your classroom, your child's teacher, your grade level, your principal, your school, or whomever.. check them out! I'm sure you'll find something you love!

If you want to know more, comment below! I've added links all over my post above that will take you to their website! :)

Giant Multiplication Chart!

Thanks to the amazingly creative Mr. Greg over at Kindergarten Smorgasboard, I have such a fun activity to share with you today!

I saw him posting all over his Facebook and Instagram about completing a giant 100s charts with his 'staches, and instantly wanted to do something fun like this with my class. Since we are in 3rd grade, a 100s chart was too easy, so I made a multiplication chart instead. It took a lot of paper, ink, & cutting, but the result and student excitement was well worth it!

Here's a look at how we put it all together and how it ended up!

I printed the main header numbers 1-12 twice on the green paper from Astrobrights. I printed the rest of the rest of the numbers on pink, yellow, orange, and purple paper that I just put in random order. I recommend using cardstock for durability over the years, but I used what I had and for now it was fine. Hopefully it will hold up for a least another few years!

I laid out the 1-12 headers myself on the floor and explained the activity. I gave every student several number cards and then let them work. I didn't do anything the rest of the time but take pictures. The students took charge and did everything and I was SO proud of how they worked together AND KNEW THEIR FACTS! It was SO much fun - we will definitely be doing this again soon!

I also had to show my colleague (who taught 3rd with me last year and is in Kinder this year) the pictures of the activity because it was so much fun. We decided to try the 100s chart with our Kinder Reading Buddies (which is her class) and we can't wait to try it out!

If you want to try this with your class, CLICK HERE FOR THE MULTIPLICATION CHART! I included the picture and printing tips for you in the file too :) ENJOY!

1K YAY GIVEAWAY!

IT'S GIVEAWAY TIME!!

I am SO excited to be celebrating 1000 Instagram followers and 400 TpT followers!

I am giving away a pack of teacher awesomeness to say THANK YOU!

The prize pack includes a 10 pack of Papermate Flair Pens, a 5 pack of neon Sharpies, a 10 pack of neon Ticonderoga pencils, a 30 pack of brand new Creative Paper post cards (only available in the Creative Paper Box from Creative Clips!) PLUS a $10 Starbucks gift card to help fuel you through the remainder of the school year!

Giveaway ends Saturday, April 25 at 6:00pm and I'll announce the winner by 8:00pm/ET. GoooOOooD LuuUUuCCcckK!!

You can enter 3 places: here on my blog, on my Instagram, and on my Facebook page!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check this out!

Hey friends!

I am so excited to tell you that the Erin Condren Teacher Planner that I love and have showed you on my YouTube tutorial is on sale for teachers for 25% off for all of May!! It's the perfect time to save some money and get a jump start for next school year!

BUT, you can also CLICK HERE and save $10 off your first purchase of one!! It's such a great deal for an amazing planner!

THEN... you can transform and streamline your lessons with sticky notes with my FREE template from TpT here.

Your lessons plans can look just like this, and shopping now can save you some moolah!

It is too good of a deal not to share it with you! I am heading over to snag some deals now! 

Happy shopping!

1K YAY GIVEAWAY! + a face lift!

After waiting for what seems like AAGGGGEEEESS! I have finally hit 1000 followers on IG! I am also suuupper close to 400 followers on TpT, and hit over 1000 views on my Erin Condren Post-It Planner video on YouTube in just 2 months - whoa! So of course I am saying YAY! and having a 1K giveaway!!

But before I announce it, I have to know....what do YOU WANT to win?? Instead of giving away something I love (been there, done that... several times) I want to YOU to win something YOU love! So tell me what you would love to see and stay tuned, because I'll be back in a jiff with details on how to enter! Be sure to follow me here, on Facebook, and on Instagram to be entered as much as you can! If it's something YOU would want to win, I'm sure you'll want to enter, right!!?

I also gave my blog a bit of a face lift with a slight design change and new color scheme... what do you think?! I am currently loving it! But am a big fan of change, so don't be surprised if it doesn't last long...ha!