I Wonder: Spring

Here is the 2nd grade I Wonder Board for our unit on habitats and life cycles. I used Cuttin' Up for the letters, and my dear sister curled the grass at the bottom :-D. Turned out cute, I think

Valerie's Selfish List

Several people in my dear family (and friends) have asked me what I wanted for my birthday coming up soon. I cannot even remember the last time I made a wishlist (probably Christmas when I was 10) but since I haven't actually been buying much lately, I figured it couldn't hurt to mention a few things I DO want. Now this is of course a completely random list, some cheap/some expensive things, and of course anything that's not on the list I would love, as well ;-). In fact, I feel bad for even implying that people should buy me something for my birthday... you don't have to :-p But, since you all asked, here goes:

1. I really really really want a new laptop case thing from thirty-one. I was going to buy it at my bff's party, but it's sold out until April 10. That was the ONLY thing in the new catalog that I really wanted!

2. Any of the imagine cartridges that I don't have (which is most all of them). I want to play with it more, but I'm sort of afraid of my Imagine. If I had more inspiration, I think I could use it more. I haven't bought a single I cartridge since I bought my I. I also have bought any mats for it, either. That's #3 on my list.

3. Imagine mats. And regular Cricut mats, too. I loved when they were on the rewards... my ACM's and Micheals are always sold out. Always.

4. I want every single one of the new full-size cricut cartridges that are coming out. They're all amazing.

5. I have spent only $56 in craft supplies this entire year so far. A gift card to a craft store (even online, like ohmycrafts) would be so great, so I could buy random stuff that I love! Crafting is my passion (obviously) so this would be the most perfect gift for me... so I could be selfish lol. Besides, anytime most of you buy me something, I feel bad because I could've gotten it elsewhere for a much cheaper price. If you just give me a giftcard I can be a smart shopper!

6. An Easter dress... Or better yet, take me shopping and let me pick out an Easter dress :-D

7. High-heel shoes in a nude/neutral color. I cannot find these things ANYWHERE and just can't purchase them for myself online. For some reason I can buy stuff in a store and not feel guilty, but I do if I buy it online. Sister, you have good taste... Convince mothership to get these for me! lol

8. I wish I could sew, but I can't, so the next best thing is buying stuff other people have made. I would love a beautiful, lightweight, handmade quilt (queen or king size) for spring/summer weather. As long as it's elegant, I don't care about the color. I probably have a set of sheets that would coordinate with anything.

9. I think the best Christmas gift I received last year was from one of my student's parents: small-servings of tons of frozen casseroles and desserts to cook/eat, then throw away the container afterwards. If any of you is a decent cook, I will open my freezer space for this wonderful gift! I hate to cook, since most of it ends up in the trash anyway.

10. During a winter storm right after Christmas the umbrella on our deck fell over and smashed into our beautiful table, crushing it to a million (or more) pieces. We still have the umbrella, and 6 deck chairs, but no table to eat outdoors with when the weather gets nice this spring. If you remember what the chairs look like, a table that coordinated would be an awesome birthday gift.

And that's all I can think of. I don't really like things that aren't craft-related, but I'm sure whatever you all get me (if anything at all) will be splendid. <3 bunches!

Walnut Dye

I've been working on a baby album for my friend Whitney since, like, August, and I'm slowly getting closer to finishing it. She has a baby boy (adorable, btw) but all of the packs of paper I've found always have girl pages thrown in. In the stack I'm using for the book, there are zoo animals with lots of bright and bold colors, and then there are two pages of PINK zebra print. Hello... please tell me who would use this!?! So since my dear friend Kymberlee sent me some Walnut Dye, I was anxious to try it out. You can see how I mixed and sprayed it in a little mister thingy to cover the print and give it an almost leathery look, which is perfect! I'm not taking any pictures of the pages until I'm completely finished, and then I'll post them all at once. Hopefully I'll be done by April!

Ancient China Bulletin Board

We finally finished studying matter in science (yay! I HATE teaching it!) and began our unit study on Ancient China. To fit in with our school's "I Wonder... Board" project for this theme, each second grade class made a craft and wrote their questions about Ancient China to show off outside the library. The lanterns are my favorite part of this board, I think. I used Lyrical Letters for the font, and Stand and Salute to make the fireworks. (My class made the fireworks down at the bottom with t.p. rolls and red construction paper.) I think the board turned out really cute! 

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Wednesday was Dr. Seuss's birthday, so kids all over America celebrated in style! My second grade class made tall Cat-in-the-Hat style hats to wear, we set a timer which went off every single hour to read a Dr. Seuss book, and after lunch, we had Dr. Seuss cupcakes while reading a short biography about him in Scholastic News. Quite a day! Here are a few pictures of some of the 60 cupcakes I made (with the help of my sisters, of course!) for second grade. The oranges ones are for Green Eggs and Ham, the yellow ones with green stars are for The Sneetches, the purple ones celebrate my personal favorite, Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now, the blue ones used cinnamon candies and white icing to make Dr. Seuss hats from The Cat in the Hat, and the green ones just had lots of sprinkles. Hey... I <3 sprinkles! There were also a few white ones in there for the teachers who didn't want bright-colored lips for the rest of the day. I can't believe I didn't get a better picture of the cupcakes... I'm sure I took a couple of better shots, but this was all I could find in my phone. Enjoy! 

March Gift from Kymberlee

As our schedules have gotten busy over the last couple of months, my dear friend Kymberlee and I haven't been able to talk as often as we'd like. She is still a sweetheart, though, and sent me this wonderful box of goodies last weekend. There was a ton of cool stuff in there (I reeeeeally wanted to try a waterbrush pen for my cake machine!) and two Martha Stewart cartridges I've had my eye on for awhile now. Sometimes I hate living in rural Virginia because there aren't cool places to buy cool stuff like she has, but I imagine my bank account appreciates that I've only got lame craft stores to shop at. Thanks so much, Kymberlee! I've already tried out the walnut dye... I'll post pictures of that soon!