Thank a Teacher Week

I know I'm biased, but I really do mean it when I say "thank a teacher this next week." The week of May 6th marks the beginning of teacher appreciation week. I think teaching is one of the most under-appreciated professions in the US today. We are constantly getting blamed by parents and students for something we did wrong (even though it's typically the student who forgot to turn it in),  hit with new standards and more tests each year, and are the brunt of many jokes such as "you work so hard until 3 pm everyday 9 months a year." Let me say that I could work hard 24/7 and always have something left to do in my classroom, grade more papers, or make more lesson plans.

While those are some of the pet peeves of mine as a teacher, it is things like I got today in my inbox that make me realize why I am doing what I am doing. If you had asked me 5 years ago what my job would be, I don't think I ever would have told you that I would be teaching. I don't know why it never occurred to me, considering I grew up coaching, tutoring, and helping others with math.... I even played "school" as a little girl with my baby dolls?! I like the way my principal put it a few short weeks ago-- she said that "it takes a special person to be a really great teacher, and you are definitely in the right career."

This all leads me to this email I got from a former student:

"I don't know if you remember me or not . But , I had your class third period last year. I found myself thinking about my experience at [name of school], & I never had the chance to thank you! You helped me more than you realize. Thank you for being such a GREAT math teacher , Thanks for taking the time to help me. I must say you were my favorite teacher there! Please keep up the good work. I remember Saying goodbye to you at graduation & having tears in my eyes. Thank you! your awesome , i just wanted to email you & tell you ! :) i hope your doing well ,& had a great school year."

It made me smile and really made the rest of my day today! I just wanted to share and encourage you to thank a teacher that truly made a difference in your life. You really don't know how much it means to us, just to know that we have made an impact on one person's life.

Catching up- Spring Break

It's long overdue, but I thought I'd finally get something written about Spring Break! It was an unusually cold spring break week. We had highs in the low 50s and lows in the upper 30s!? It didn't get warm until the last three days of the week. We had a busy spring break with visitors! I don't mind though, I love entertaining.

The first guest to arrive was my friend Sara! I got to know Sara though a small group bible study when I lived in Tennessee, and since then, she has come to visit a few times now! I am always surprised she leaves t go back to TN- she is a beach bum by heart, so it's awesome to get to see her here! The next day, my brother and his girlfriend drove in from southern-central FL! Ben and Kristy stayed the week, but was awesome to get to see them for an extended amount of time. Ben and I had never really had a vacation by ourselves, since we always have parents with us, so it was fun and different to be alone. We did miss the parents though! We had a lot of fun beach bumming it in full clothing, playing frisbee golf, and eating good gulf seafood! The last day they were here we went to Pensacola to eat at Flounder's. This is a restaurant we grew up eating at. It is right on the bay, so the ambiance is great! During family vacations, we probably ate at Flounder's 80% of the time we went out. Of course, we had to get the seafood nachos like old times and we were all about to pop when we left. :) Enjoy a few snapshots of the fun week!

DIY: Diaper Clutch and Carseat Cover

Like I said a couple posts ago, I have many friends having babies this year! I want to make many things handmade because I know it means a little bit more than store bought.

Last weekend I made this diaper and wipe clutch for a friend. I would do my own tutorial, but I didn't snap as many pictures all the way through, and this tutorial does a great job. It's easy to follow and has pictures as well. I will include a few of mine throughout this post. I don't know if it's really a practical gift, but as much as I know, I figure that it would sometimes be nice to just grab diapers and wipes and go. Toss the clutch in the stroller, a purse or backpack, or even the car! All you moms out there, what do you think, would you use it??

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the clutch. I figure it can hold a travel case of wipes and four-five diapers, depending on the size.

I sewed the wrong sides together and ironed on some fusible interfacing to give it some volume when folded.

Here is the clutch without my velcro. The diapers would go in the pocket below the onesies.

 The open clutch, with the wipes pocket shown.

 The wipes pocket. Excuse the pins, I hadn't quite finished the sewing part of the project. You can see though that I folded it once for the wipes pocket, and then folded it up again for the diaper pouch. So each side is finished and lined.

  The finished product!

I also made a car seat cover following this other tutorial. It was super easy to follow!!! Here are some of my photos of this project. Again, this is something I always see as a blanket draped over the carseat, so I figured it might be nice to have one that won't blow off or fall off!

I absolutely LOVE this fabric!

A view of the ties, placed about 6 inches apart to go on either side of the handle.

 Attach velcro!

 And finished! I obviously don't own a carseat, so it's hard for me to show the finished product! But I'm sure you all can imagine how this is supposed to work!

Until next time!

My Amaryllis and Backyard Birds

Just wanted to share the amaryllis that I bought this year and grew from a bulb. It was gorgeous! The blooms lasted about 1.5 weeks, and I am going to see if I can get it to bloom next year. My mom and I are competing to see whose bulb will bloom again!

The other thing my mom has passed on to me is a love of backyard birds! I don't know what it is, but I love the innocence of birds. I love watching them, where do they fly, what do they do, what are they thinking, why do they go to my dog's water bowl? I was working on some projects in the kitchen yesterday, and I looked up and saw a few yellow goldfinches!! I have never seen them at my feeder before, so I quickly grabbed my camera, and shot what I could. I wish the pictures were better, but they weren't there for long, so I got what I could. I saw two males and a few females.

My bird feeder had so many birds on it at once, that it was trying to close (protection from squirrels). Just thought it was funny!

DIY: Baby Boy Gift Onesies

So I am in that time in my life where most of my friends have gotten married and are onto that next phase in their lives. With that being said, I feel like every week another friend is announcing that a little bundle of joy is on the way, so I have decided that I want to make something personal for each of these friends to use when their little one gets here. I know that some of the best gifts are the handmade ones!



I couldn't resist sharing this fun onesie idea for a little boy. I feel like there are always cute girl gifts out there, and when I saw this, I couldn't pass it up. Enjoy the tutorial for Baby Boy Tie Onesies!

I got the idea from this website. You can also download the tie pattern here.

Step One: Print and cut out the pattern pieces for the tie. I bought a pack of onesies, washed them, and pre-ironed them. (Note: I had also washed the fabric I was attaching to them because I used it in other projects)

 Step Two: I just approximated with fabric scraps and fusible interfacing. It's easiest to cut the amount that you will need (plus a bit extra), so that you can cut the tie out once you have ironed the interfacing on. You will need as many pieces of fabric as onesies you are doing. Once I cut the fabric, I cut the fusible interfacing the same size.

Step Three: Iron the fusible interfacing rough side to the wrong side of your fabric. It shouldn't take more than 10 seconds with a hot iron, just make sure that the interfacing is attached to fabric once finished.

Step Four: Trace the pattern onto the interfacing (if doing letters or numbers, trace backwards) and then cut out the pattern. Once everything is cut out, carefully peel the interfacing paper back and off the fabric. If you ironed correctly, the fabric will seem rough, as if an adhesive is on it.

Step Five: Place the fabric onto the onesie, with right side facing up, and iron on wool setting for no more than 10 seconds, or until your fabric is attached on all edges. That's it, your're finished!

Enjoy making these! I think they are funny, but a cute little onesie for a little boy who will looking dashing in his tie!

Easy Pillow Covers!

So if you are like me, you like a change with decorations about every season. Last fall I bought a couple throw pillows and decided that instead of buying pillows, I would find the fabric I was feeling and change them periodically. I was surfing Pinterest today and found this easy tutorial, so I thought I would make my own tonight and highlight how easy it is! I have had this fabric for a while and knew I'd find the perfect project for it! The whole project literally took me less than 45 minutes start to finish (add in a bit more time because I figured out that a metal bobbin would work better in my machine, the bobbin kept spinning quickly) Anyway, I will tell you what I did as I go through the pictures :)

Step One: My pillows were 14" square, so I cut my fabric 14" x 37" (or the width of the fabric completely open- not the width from the remnant). Iron the fabric, then fold over the short end about 1/4", iron down, then one more 1/4". I wasn't very accurate about how much I folded over, I just wanted it to be straight and clean. (You might be wondering why I didn't leave extra inches when cutting.... I wanted the fabric to be snug around the pillow to ensure it wasn't floppy- you can always get a pillow into fabric that might not be as wide as the pillow) Fold over so that you see the wrong side of the fabric.

Step Two: Top Stitch as close to the folded open edge on the short side. Top Stitch the other side from top to bottom. Try to keep it as straight as possible, as you will see this on the back of the finished pillow.

Step Three: Lay on a flat surface and overlap the sewn edges enough so that your width and length measure the exact size of your pillow. For me, I made it 14 inches across, and the edges overlapped by about 6 inches. Pin in place on both edges and in the middle to ensure it doesn't get off when sewing. (Make sure right side of fabric is on the inside at this point)

Step Four: Sew down the open edges using a 1/4" seam allowance. Be sure that you get both top-stitched edges into this part.

 Step Five: Turn pillow cover inside out, make sure corners are pushed all the way out, and stuff, stuff, stuff the pillow in and enjoy! Yes, it's that easy, 5 simple steps!

Here is a view of what the folded side looks like when finished! Happy Sewing!