Look What I Made For Under $20!

My daughter's mother-in-law and my new friend (yes, they're the same person!) is being thrown a surprise birthday party by her children and I wanted to make something special for her. She's just the kind of person like me who appreciates a gift from the hands and heart...so I accepted Christina's Adventures' challenge ( go to http://christinasadventures.com/) to try to create something using less than $20.
Below 20 THURSDAYS
I recently saw a pin on Pinterest of a wedding thumbprint tree for guests to contribute their thumbprint as a memento of the day for the newlywed's wall.  I knew my friend would cherish such a thing...but instead of black and white I wanted to try to incorporate the idea into a sort of "watercolory"style for her newly redesigned bedroom.

So, thanks to a Michaels Craft store 20% off coupon ontop of a sale I used the following:
*11x16 stretched canvas (bought for buy-one-get-one at 9.99 less 20%)=$8
*4 greens-Ink pots set-Tsukineko Fade Resistant Memento Dye Inks (which I'll use over and over again in teaching (9.99 less 20%)=$8
*4 colors of acrylic paints I had (probably @89cents each new) I used a color wash technique so I really used very little.
I also repurposed an acrylic frame and printed directions for the party guests to use. (see below)

The finished product is

I know the lighting isn't great. You can see a light green "blob" in the middle of the blue on the right with a black squiggle above it. That's MY thumbprint using one of the lightest shades and my name written above it as an example for guests to see how it's done.  One the tree I lightly included her initials as if it were carved in the wood.

  The wording is from Psalm 1 in the Bible.  I'll take a new pic once the party's over and all the "thumbprint leaves" and signatures are in.  I was told to plan for 40+, which is why so many branches.  If you do this, just plan your branches to handle the amount of guests you may have. The leaves will cover some of the branches and I believe the end result will be charming.
Here is the direction frame:

Obviously I like to paint, but you could do this as a gift for someone's baby shower, wedding or even a big birthday commemoration like this one. It's a great art piece to treasure for years to come!
ENJOY!

Great Giveaways For Ya!

Third Grade Guru, Rebby over at   Classroom Compulsion has a great giveaway for those of us who just flipped the page on the calendar to August and froze in our tracks.  School is oh-so-close!  I've gotten LOTS of ideas from a few of these ladies who share and share galore through their blogs and pins and besides the giveaways I just want you to KNOW about the great stuff out there.  Teachers, we are NOT islands...we know collaboration is at the heart of Community!  Can you HEAR me?

So trek on over while you're frantically pinning today and check out Rebecca's wonderful Cupcake themes and the things she's generously offering. You will be so juiced to get off the sidelines and into the stream of preparing to go back to school!

Can anyone else cheer with me? (I can't hear you?)

:) Myra

Expanding my VISION

I would like to being to be a blogger connected...I mean isn't that the point?  To change from just a journaler to one who connects. The key is my teaching community. 

I DO need a bit of help here.  How to GET connected, be read, be relevant, and have time for it all while teaching????

I'm jumping in. I've loved how Pinterest has connected ME to many other wonderful teacher bloggers who just give so freely. I want to give back. 

Their freebies and giveaways that have blessed me make me want to give.

Soooo.....if this old dog can learn new tricks, count me in folks.

 Anyone with tips please leave some love. I'm GLAD for it all!

Hugs and only two and a half weeks till school starts for me...YIKES!

Myra

A Sigh After Hawaii

I've just come back from one of the most wonderful vacations a woman could go on with her husband--nearly two weeks in Hawaii (half in Maui, half on Kauai).  I've seen more turquoise water than I have a right to have seen, collected beach trinkets of driftwood, shell pieces and pods hoping to make a cool necklace with them.  I've shared a quiet underwater world in snorkeling with as many fishes as we saw in the Maui Aquarium and watched through my husband's eyes as he tried this for me and marveled at his own joy in it.

So why, today...the day after two totally free play days having my daughter, her husband and my two grandgirlies here to swim and relax do I feel so lonely and depressingly quiet?  Why does saying goodbye to things I've anticipated with SUCH joy leave me with such a hole? 

 I hate getting older.  I stand in between parents (both mine and Ken's) aging very gracefully into their 80s on the one end, and a daughter and son-in-law just beginning it all in wanting a home of their own some day soon but struggling to pay the bills, and budget, and clip coupons, and giggle on the other end.  I'm just stuck.  Not a senior citizen (despite what the AARP ads might say) but I'm past "those reproductive years." Just stuck. And sad.

I'm also sick today, so my walls are down.  Maybe I need some vitamin D. Better go float in the pool for a bit and count my blessings.  Remember the turquoise water and choose to focus away from what isn't anymore.

..Just "keep on swimming" as Dorie says.

An Aquarium for Maddie

I love fish. Watching their graceful ballet in water just relaxes me. Even when I'm dog tired and just stopping by the aquarium to turn off the light for the night, so often I ease into the big overstuffed living room chair, mesmerized by the multicolored water dancers for a few minutes of calm and serenity. Sometimes they even make me laugh at their antics.

My new grandaughter, Maddie is destined to share this love. At nearly ten months old, she is transfixed by this aquatic show each time I tenderly place her into the big chair with Gigi. We share an eternal moment there that will bind us for life to these delightful creatures called fish.

Maddie doesn't have her own aquarium...yet. But with the help of http://www.petsmart.com/ and a wonderful blogsite called TWO OF A KIND WORKING ON A FULL HOUSE at http://www.twoofakindworkingonafullhouse.com Miss Madison may just have a chance to win a bowfront ten gallon aquarium from petsmart for her play room. Oh how she would love that.

Then the dance would be part of her daily escape, instead of just an occasional moment at Gigi's.

Autumn Newness

Autumn has arrived in eastern PA. The wet leaves stuck on my deck have yellows and reds and the nights are getting colder. I'm in a new place. A grandmother. A new school. A new grade. I'm older.

I like where I am in some ways, but as with gains, losses mean farewell to past loves. I mean, leaves down mean the green canopy at my house that shields us from the highway is over for the year and we'll see those cars buzzing by. A new school means a longer drive...and familiar colleagues I don't see. A new grade fills file boxes with fourth grade materials I can't use anymore. And you know the losses of aging....THAT list is too long...

Being a grandmother (a Gigi, I prefer) has no downsides. I surrender being young and supple for the cozy feel of powder-smelling Maddie clutching my neck or shrieking her babbles in the next room. It's a trade-off I'm glad to make!

Yes, I miss my teacher friends across the river. Nothing will replace them. But like leaf piles and apple cider don't happen unless it's autumn...new friends don't come unless there's a little vacancy in your heart. New students' smiles remind me that the heart of a child is precious even if he isn't as needy as my former kiddos.

Autumn is tugging me to listen to it's value. I'm opening my sunroof tomorrow to let the leaves fill my car!

The Summer Buffer Season

As school ended in early June the financial chaos of the school district where I work scattered teachers to other buildings to fill in for retirements rather than lose positions. We expected it...I guess I was buckled and ready for the ride if it came. It has come. After 5 years teaching in an urban school among a classroom full of a wonderful rainbow of tans, chocolates, mochas and brown faces where my own pale drab stands out....I am being placed a grade lower at the other end of the academic and socioeconomic spectrum across town.

Tears dripped from the farewells of my deepest soul all to myself as I sat amid boxes of personal things in my cleaned out room where a day before hugs and autographs ended our year. Most other teachers were gone, the building hot and quiet. I locked the door of DO104 one last time and packed my car. No more a Southside teacher. What was I now?

The summer is my buffer between what was and what will be. A new granddaughter and a couple masters classes, a week at the beach will all help direct me to the newer me. But I'm a little lost.

Hopefully the time to garden, weed, water, listen to the birds and count the kinds of butterflies this year will slow me down enough to still the threat of fear that I won't be able to rise to the new occasion., to tackle the new mountain.

Is there advice to be had from those of you going /gone through a similar switch in the game? I need a bit of help in this buffer season when the thoughts of Fall drift in on a cloud. I'll be watching to see what you have to offer....in between marking down the butterflies.