Olaf the other reindeer

Well internet world, do you want to know what I love most about being in a classroom with 2 doors?!?! Decorating both of those doors for Christmas of course. The first door (and the one that is most frequently used), was decorated with a chain link Christmas tree. That left me to ponder what to do with the other door...

I will admit, I was not feeling the energy to spend hours prepping my door last year like I did for this door (which has become some what of a Pinterest sensation with well over 1500 pins the last time I checked). After perusing Pinterest and not finding much, I was feeling a little punny. I realized that reusing Olaf was going to be my best bet to save on time. And so, another reindeer for Santa was born!

In case you can't read it, the pun on my door reads, "Olaf the other reindeer."

Making this little guy was quite simple. I had saved Olaf from last year, so all I needed to do was create antlers and a new nose with a red pompom glued to it, cut out some new snowflakes and snowballs using our die-cut machine and put it all together. 

Not surprisingly, my students did not quite get the pun, but my co-workers and I got it and the students were just happy that Olaf came back. 

Even though this was not necessarily Pinspired, I would say this classroom door decor was definitely a pinspired treat. 

Oh Christmas Tree

It's that time of year again. The presents are wrapped, the stockings are hung, and the festive holiday door has been created. A new classroom this year meant the need for a new holiday door idea. This idea came courtesy of Debbie's Resource Cupboard.  The best part about this door? It was SUPER easy. I mean, honestly, the most difficult/time consuming part was cutting all the paper strips.

Step 1: Cutting a bazillion green paper strips to make paper chains. Okay... maybe not a bazillion, but rather 162 to be more precise. The strips were 1 inch wide by 12 inches long.

Step 2: Create 9 paper chains that are each 18 links long. **Disclaimer** The adorable yorkie is not required, but who doesn't need a helper?

Step 3: Attach the paper chains to the door, staggering their heights slightly at the top. I used stikki-clips to attach each chain to the door, which work well since the chains are not very heavy. 

Step 4: Attach the red bow to the top of the tree. Most bows come with a twisty-tie attached to them. Use this to attach the bow to the top of your tree.

Step 5: Use brown paper to create a brown rectangle as the tree trunk.

Step 6: Put presents under the tree. I used several different colors of construction paper and our die-cut machine to create these presents.

Check out the finished product!

This Pinspired door decoration was definitely a treat!

Merry Christmas from room 137!

Classroom Door Decor - same Olaf, different holiday

My original Olaf door received quite the buzz once everyone at school saw it. He was cute, festive, friendly, and definitely started a few earworms or too. After taking FAR too long to remove him from the door (honestly, he didn't come down until the first week of February), many of the students were devastated to see him go. What they didn't realize was that Olaf has not gone forever. He returned the next morning as this...

Happy Valentine's Day from room 124. 

Creating this little guy was quite simple. Since Olaf was already created (steps and directions are available through the link above), all I needed to do was create heart garland using a paper punch and some yarn, colorful heart decorations using our die-cut machine, and a new saying. This project was a quick one, and although it was not technically a pinspired project this time (I came up with the Valentine's themed option on my own), it was definitely a PINSPIRED TREAT.

***Note: It is almost Christmas and I have a new plan for Olaf this year. My students just realized today that Olaf was not in fact lost in our classroom's move over the summer when they saw him in the cupboard with our holiday decorations. Stay tuned for Olaf's latest appearance...

Arm Knitting... or knot

A MUCH over due blog post here (this project was completed nearly a year ago).

After a few crafting successes, I decided to try my luck at arm knitting a scarf. I mean, it is a pretty popular trend and I would say that in terms of crafting ability I have above average skills, so why knot... I mean not. Well, one giant KNOT is why. The following pictures demonstrate the struggle that was the arm-knitted scarf.

I did my homework on this project before I began. I watched a view YouTube videos, checked out a variety of pins to get the most detailed information. I felt like I was setting myself up for real success on this one. While attempting to complete this forsaken project, I had to watch, pause, rewatch and pause that darn YouTube tutorial at least 50 times. I tried, I really did. This just didn't work out well.

** These directions are not nearly detailed enough to allow you to do this, mainly because my struggle of an attempt through this project is NOT the example you should follow if you want to attempt the Everest that is arm-knitted scarves.

Step 1: Unravel the skein of yarn. This step was okay. 

Step 2: Tie a slip-knot. After a few tries, I had this one down too. 

Step 3: Knit the first set of stitches onto one arm. It took a few tries, but I got there. 

Step 4: Transfer the scarf to your other arm. Again, took a few tries, but I got there. 

Step 5: Continue knitting back and forth from one arm to the other. 

Step 6: Recognize that the scarf you have above looks like poo (at least on the bottom with the super loose stitches) and start over.

*** This photo was taken after I had restarted 4 times. At that point, I stopped taking photo documentation of this hot mess. 

Even after my many attempts to make this work, I would say the arm-knitted scarf was DEFINITELY a pinspired trick.