CELEBRATIONS

I was so excited to be sent a copy of Danielle Walker's upcoming cookbook, "Celebrations." Her cookbooks are my absolute favorite, and I loove her blog "Against All Grain."

When my book arrived, my to-do list for the day went out the window! I instead spent the afternoon perusing the recipes and make lists of meal plans. There are sooo many great versions of the food usually found at parties and social events, that everyone can enjoy. I whipped up this easy skillet corn bread (page 131) with last night's soup, and it got thumbs up all around!

This book focuses on paleo-friendly meal plans for holidays throughout the year. Family and social gatherings are the most difficult for me when it comes to healthy eating. You don't want to be left out..but you don't want to feel yucky later. And guests are not often interested in your health food with ingredients they've never seen before. With these recipes, everyone is happy!

It comes out on September 27th, but preordering gets you *SEVEN EXCLUSIVE RECIPES* not found in the book!! Preorder now using the link on my sidebar! 
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. Check out a video preview of what's inside:

END OF SCHOOL YEAR BULLETIN {freebie}

I was in charge of decorating the office bulletin board for the month of May. This is what my kiddies and I came up with.

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My inspiration came, from all things, a party invitation I found on a blog. I just took it a step further. 

I created a letter template in Word to match the theme and assigned my 3rd graders to write to the upcoming third graders. 

• What do 2nd graders have to look forward to next year?
• What advice do you have to help them be successful in Mrs. Ashmore's class?

I wanted to make the candy wrappers/that's a wrap idea more obvious to viewers, so I handed paper plates to a handful of early finishers in my class with the instructions to paint giant candies.

They were happy to oblige. 

I wrapped the painted plates in cellophane and tied two ends with ribbon. 

Not bad for 5 minutes of my time. 

The 2nd graders had fun reading through the letters while they stood in line for lunch, my students got practice with letter writing and cursive, and it was a fun way to end the year. 

A free download of the template is yours below for teachers who are interested. 

That's A Wrap letter writing template

BEE-THEMED CLASSROOM {freebies!}

This year, I wanted to have a bit of a theme for my third graders. I didn't want to give up my September sunflower door, so I thought adding bees to the mix would mesh nicely.

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You may recognize the hanging beehive I made from THIS post.

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The kids made their own sunflowers and wrote things that make them happy on the leaves. THIS little gal wrote: "my hores make me happy," until I made her fix the spelling.

This is the display that greeted my new students by the door...each of their names written on a cartoon bee.

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FUN FACT: This phrase comes from the fact that bees actually have little sacs behind their knee to store pollen. That's where the good stuff is.

In the classroom, I added a bee themed sign above the birthday cupcakes.

And labeled the class jobs chart: Hive Helpers.

Here is where the "bee" happy bunting hangs above my desk. I made flags with scrapbook paper, color printed text, and an Internet found clip-art bee. Then, I strung ribbon through punched holes in the top corners. 
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Easy peasy.

And I revamped my writing center area with bee-patterned cloth, a sunflower border, and my favorite part: beehives for each phase in the writing process. Each child has a bee clothespin with their name on it that they move according to where they are on their project.

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I'll post more on this later with free downloads for my teacher followers who are interested.

I also made several variations of slips I can randomly place on desks looking especially neat and organized...a behavior I definitely want to encourage! Maybe I'll include a little treat too.

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(Drones are male honeybees that forage for pollen.)

Here is a similar one I made for a simple, quiet recognition of those especially kind acts I see around the classroom.

Desk Drone certificates for Bee-themed Classroom

You're welcome to a download if you could use them too. Just print and cut into strips.

Caught Being Nice

Print, cut, and enjoy.

CRAFTY GRADUATION GIFT {tutorial diy}

My sister recently graduated from BYU-I with her B.A. in English. The timing of her internship and the start of her master's program are such that she won't have an opportunity to walk across the stage when her name is called. No graduation cap, no hand shaking with university dignitaries, and no smiling photographs with family members. Poor Becca, right?

But graduating is kind of a big deal. Something to celebrate--something to be really proud of!
Being the wonderful sister that I am, I couldn't stand for this important event to slip by unrecognized.
So I made her a present--a special, personalized gift to commemorate all that she has accomplished, and all that she has yet to accomplish in that bright future of hers.

I bought the fattest letters I could find (greater surface area for maps) and painted just along the edges. The rest I would be covering up, anyway.

Then I pulled out my scissors and thrift store atlas and went to town! Our spare bedroom was--and still is--a wreck.
The hardest part of this project was cutting and piecing it all to fit properly on the wood letters.

I originally got my idea from HERE, but I wanted to make this more personalized.
So I included bits and pieces of everywhere she's lived or vacationed to that might mean something to her: Gilbert, Mesa, Flagstaff, Provo, Orem, California, Nauvoo,Washington D.C., Mt. Rushmore, Rocky Point in Mexico...

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...and many, many more. This girl has been busy!
I visually separated each destination with super thin, white strips of paper, and cut the Eiffel tower image from a vintage map of Europe I bought for $1.00.

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Then I decoupaged over everything several times, and it was ready to hang on a wall or display on a book shelf.

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Then, almost by accident, I came across THIS free printable that was a perfect fit in every way: Becca loves to read, the "knowing" and "learning" matched the occasion of graduation, the colors matched, and it even used the word "GO" in capital letters.

Divine intervention, I'm tellin' ya! I never could have come up with anything better myself.

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I printed it out on photo paper, mounted it on scrapbook paper, hole punched the corner, and tied everything together with raffia.

A picture perfect graduation gift that I even got to hand deliver when we visited her in New York last week!

And she loved it.

CRAFTINESS {freebie!}

With all this extra time on my hands lately, I have been a crafting maniac. I was inspired by this cheap, easy wreath over at Kiki Creates, and just had to make one for myself.

I bought the wreath form at the local thrift store.

Then I cut an old white T-shirt into strips to cover it with.

I just pushed straight pins deep into the wreath to hold it all in place. You can't even see 'em.

Then I made over a dozen rosettes with hot glue and scraps of clothes I had planned to donate anyway. I used Kiki's rosette tutorial HERE.

Then, I arranged the rosettes and pinned them in place. If I don't hot glue them, I have the freedom in the future to change the colors and style to match the seasons and my mood.

To fill in the empty spaces, I cut leaves from varying felt colors before adding quick details with needle and thread.

The felt cost me 25 cents a sheet.

Finally, I looped polka-dotted fabric through the finished wreath to hang it with.

Also, I thought that rather then scour the Internet for a summer subway art, I'd just make my own by typing words in different fonts and colors. It was fun.

After printing it, I trimmed the paper around the words and framed it with a backing of striped fabric I had on hand. Then, I pinned red ribbon around the edges of the white paper to clean up the look.

I'm no pro at this, but if you want a copy, go for it. Get it HERE.

P.S. Anyone else getting excited for the July 15th Harry Potter release? I totally had a dream that I was in a magic wand battle the other night. My friends and I tore through a hotel putting every bad guy around us to sleep with our spells. We were running down hallways and pushing people out of elevators. It was very exciting. =)

SPRING SUBWAY ART PRINTABLE--freebie!

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eighteen25 came out with their Easter version of my favorite subway printable!

It's already helping to make my living room look a little spring-y-er. =)

You can get it HERE.

VALENTINE KISSERS AND MUSTACHES

For Valentine's Day, I'm giving my kiddos suckers attached to felt lips and mustaches. Then, when they put the sucker in their mouths, they look like this:

Andrew and I should totally take up modeling.
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The felt cost me $1.50 and the suckers $1.79. A girl I grew up with posted about this on her blog, and I've been looking forward to trying it with my class ever since. She got her idea from HERE. 

The downloadable template made them kinda big, so I think the lips need some de-botox-ifying before I cut out the rest.
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But anyway, if you're looking for a last minute idea, this one is kinda fun. Send them with your kids for their school Valentine parties.

Don't Andrew's muttonchops look sexy?

A little bit, maybe?

HAPPY HEART MONTH--freebies!

Valentine's Day is probably my favorite holiday. (Next to Christmas.) It is simply so happy.
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Life has dished out some bummer deals the last few weeks, and so as a way to distract myself from the blues, I have been all about the cheerful Valentine trimmings in my house.

I feel kind of bad that Andrew has to live in such a froofy, girly household.

He'll live, though.

This was given to me by my sister-in-law as a gift a few years back. If you still can't see it...each picture represents a letter of the word "LOVE."
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You like? Grab a camera! Very easy to make!

This teddy bear is but one of many many knick knacks gifted by my students. To make it look "valentine-y," I hastily embroidered a little heart on its sweater.

I found these free downloads on the blog of Becky Higgins. Print them from your computer, put them in any ol' frame, and you've got yourself a quick, cost effective Valentine pretty for your house.

I printed this one out for me.

eighteen25 is offering this free subway art download.

They come in two color schemes. I printed this one.


Happy Heart Day from me to you!