Tray Makeover

I am crushing on Chevron Patterns lately.

Here are some pictures of cool chevron patterns:

                                                                   source

                                                        
And here is a History Lesson because I am a teacher:

What is a Chevron?  Well, Wikipedia says this about it:

The chevron occurs in early art including designs on pottery and rock carvings. Examples can be found approximately 1800 BC in archaeological recovery of pottery designs from the palace of Knossos on Crete in the modern day country of Greece.^[1]
Sparta (Lacedaemonia (Λακεδαιμωνία)) used a capital lambda (Λ) on their shields.


Anyway, I had to have me some chevron!

Salvation Army, here I come!  I found all sorts of great things today.  One was this UGLY tray.  Outdated, with a blurry image on it. Yuck.... but with potential!

Step 1: Paint it white.  (I love rustolleum paint for this type of project.) I used semi-gloss white.


Step 2: Painter's tape. 3M makes a painters tape with "edge-lock."  It is worth the little bit of extra money to get the edge lock if you are doing something with a visible pattern.  Regular painters tape works fine if you are painting and dont want to paint the base-boards. Use edge-lock if you need stripes.

I sort of did my own way of folding and cutting paper to make a template and placing painters tape around it.  But if you want a tutorial from  Sunset Magazine click here.  Here, you can download a template pdf file to do your own.

Step 3: Paint the chevron pattern.  I used a sample of paint that I had laying around.  It's Behr and the color is "Ashwood."



Now if someone could help me figure out which camera to buy so that I can have better images that are not grainy.  It's driving me crazy.

How to Create Highly Educated Rich Kids- Rewards vs. Punishment

Classroom Management.  (((Cringe))) Everybody in education knows that you can't teach anyone anything without being able to get the kids to obey you.  I work in an urban setting where social norms of school behavior are, well, lets just say that they are not quite the same as I was used to as a child.  You can loose control of a group of students in seconds.  When I first started teaching, I had dreams that everyone was running around, crazy, screaming, climbing on desks, throwing things, etc... (That seems to actually happen when there is a sub, by the way.)  I see people in the store who can't control their school-aged children all the time.  So what do you do as a teacher, when you have TWENTY-FIVE or more kids, many of whom are those throwing temper tantrums in the stores?

For 95% of children, discipline is extremely simple and works on these tenets:
1. Reward for the behaviors you want to see.
2. Punish for the behaviors you don't want to see.
3.  Do WAAAAY more rewarding than you do punishing.
(Sound a bit like Pavlov to anyone?  Well, we are all mammals...)

Other things to keep in mind:
4. Tell the kids accepted social norms prior to any situation (assemblies, field trips, guest speakers....) If you didn't tell them, you can't be mad if they don't act the way you expected, as this is a new experience and they didn't know what you expected.
5.  Be consistent:  If you say something, do it.  "I'm calling your house on the second strike" means nothing anymore if you skip it once.  Also, don't run out of prizes.  Your corrective comments kind of don't mean anything, especially at the beginning of the year, if there is nothing to reinforce them.  And don't do prizes for a week and then stop- you will be right back to yelling at people.

Now there is a lot of research to back this up, but I'm sure you don't want to read it all.  I have had the pleasure of reading many many articles and books on the subject.  Even some research that indicates that children in houses with high levels of education and income have a higher ratio of positive to negative comments about behavior and households with lower incomes and lower levels of education tend to have a higher ratio of negative comments to positive. 

Well, I want to treat the kids like highly educated rich kids, and maybe they will rise to the occasion, right?

REWARDS: There are two types of effective rewards: A reward you know is coming if earned, and rewards that are a surprise for just simply getting "caught" being good. 
For the "caught being good" type of reward I use a lot of peppermint candy or little prizes like spider rings at the beginning of the year.  For instance, "Please take out your reading books and turn to page 12." And the first 5 people who get it done are given a peppermint without comment.  And wouldn't you know it, the other kids look at that and straighten up  and get their book out quickly.  After a week of that, I have them trained and no longer need to reward for that, as they are mostly accustomed to doing what I say in that area.  I do the same for students following along with the story as we read it together, and after a while they are trained on that too- or at least  95% of them are.  I do the same for training them on walking quietly in the hallway, sitting up straight and listening on the rug, etc...
The BEST PART is that while other teachers are saying (or shouting) "Stop that! Don't do that! Get back in line!  Don't touch him!" I, on the other hand, am saying "Thank you, Suzy" and backing it up with some reward, keeping most of my interactions with students positive.
The other type of reward I use as a back up reward system.  It's a system whereby you earn enough points by the end of the day and you are allowed to pick a prize out of the treasure chest.  This helps expose the children to the concept of consistent good behavior over a period of time.  If your name is on the board, that also cancels out any points you may have earned, giving me an option for punishment.  My treasure chest is filled with prizes from the Dollar Tree. I go to the section of party favors, and buy things that are 6 or 8 for a dollar.  (Like bouncy balls and whistles)  I used to think that "bribery" was bad as it did not create intrinsic motivation to behave.  Until I realized that I would pretty much be ill-behaved at work and tell people off and act a fool if my behavior was not linked closely to my pay-check, thus being extrinsic motivation.  (That was a bunch of education psychobabble in case you didn't know.)

PUNISHMENT:
There is always a struggle when it comes to punishment.  There is no recess at most Chicago Public Elementary Schools (are you shocked? call an alderman or Michelle Obama or something.)  So, we can not take away recess as a punishment.  We are not allowed to make the kids write lines, or write things over and over, such as "I will not spit on my neighbor." There is no such thing as detention.  Out of school suspensions are reserved for only the most severe fights and aren't really a punishment anyway, as they just stay home and play video games.  So what are the punishments?  I use a system of steps.  You get your name on the board (which automatically negates your earned prizes) and subsequent infractions earn you calls home, and removal from the classroom, usually to the other 3rd grade class to sit in the back of the room for a bit.  But guess what?!  If you do tons and tons of rewarding and positive reinforcement, you don't have to do too much punishment!

"Kristen" Louboutin Shoes- yep. I made-over shoes

I love shoes just like every other living, breathing woman.  I really love expensive shoes- I have Carrie Bradshaw to thank for the love of Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo.  There are two problems with that; 1. I can not see myself spending $600 on a pair of shoes. 2. I do not like really tall shoes because they hurt my feet and because I am already almost 5'10" and I don't like to tower over the menfolk.  So what is a girl to do?  Forgo rent for a pair of shoes?  Well, it might be funny in the movies but real girls can't roll like that. Nope. I crafted my own hot shoes. Take that, Christian Louboutin!

Here is my inspiration:

HOTTTTT!

Here is one of my least favorite celebrities, but you gotta admit that the shoes are cute:

And here is "Carrie" in the shoes in the movie, and Fergie in the shoes too:

Close-up of Ms. SJP's feet in the shoes:

Ahhhh. So pretty.  I totally want those!!!  Enter my crazy-crafting side.  There is almost nothing that can't be solved with a few trips to the craft store.  But first, I needed a pair of shoes. 

Have you heard of Chernin's Shoe outlet?  There is one on Roosevelt Road, one on 87th and the Dan Ryan and there are more in some of the suburbs.  Their claim to fame is that they have shoes for $9.99 and up.  PEOPLE! They have miles and miles of shoes.  Some of which are super gaudy and would only match with a bright yellow ensamble that an old lady might wear on Easter Sunday with a big huge yellow hat, but some of the shoes are cute, and some are hot.  I needed a pair with a low heel and I wanted a round toe, but it had to be a pair that glue would stick too.  I figured I could rough up the sheen of a pair of shiny shoes with 200 grit sandpaper if necessary, but I was on the lookout for a pair where this would not be necessary.  I scored these:

Brown Suede. (Well, fake suede anyway.) Low Heel.  $13.99!  Here is the proof:

Now onto Jo-Ann fabrics (I live right down the road from a superstore!)  I needed some tacky glue and glitter.  This is the glitter I found:  It is specially made for fabrics.  I think it was $7 after my coupon.

I didn't really want gold OR silver.  So I mixed them both together.  I decided to mix the white glitter in too, to soften up the look.  I applied a thick layer of tacky glue in sections and added the glitter.  I discovered the best technique was to put a bunch of glitter onto my hand and lightly "tap" it onto the glue, being careful not to smush the glue.  The glue seemed to stick very well to the fake suede.  I did the whole top of the shoe and left the heels alone so that I had something to hang onto.  After the shoe top dried I did the heel.

This is what I ended up with:

I decided to add modge-podge over the glitter so that it wouldn't come off.  I used outdoor so hopefully it is rain-resistant.  We will see.  I can't wait to wear them somewhere with a pair of jeans and a cute top.  Now If only mine had that signature red sole...... Oh well?  I love my "Kristen" Louboutin's.  And All I have to say is "Nah- Nah- Nah- Nah- Nah."

I will post a pic of me in the shoes later.  I need a new camera.

Artsy: Liam's Nursery

I spent my spring break this year in Atlanta helping my sister decorate the nursery for her little boy, born May 30th, Liam Brooks Wood.

Jen fell in love with this bedding from Dwell Studio, so this is where we got the theme and color scheme for the nursery.  Jen and husband Noah picked the paint colors and installed a chair rail before I got there. Here are some of the projects that we did:

Project 1: Mobile Branch

We took a branch from Jen's wedding centerpieces seen here with origami birds on them.

A bunch of felt (made from recycled water bottles, very eco-friendly) and some cute owls made by my mom and niece, Avery, and this is what we came up with.  Sorry I don't have a close-up, these are the only pictures I have right now.

Project #2: Baby's Name
We purchased white letters at Hobby Lobby and toyed around with designs to decorate them.  We actually used the left-over felt to make little polka-dots of different sizes and added them after using painters tape to add green stripes.  Here is a close-up:

Project #3: Tree Wall Decal
After seeing a bunch of really cute wall decals on Etsy for like $150, I decided not to buy one.  I wasn't even going to put anything on the closet doors but I had a last minute flash of creative genius where I bought 2 rolls of contact paper (one wood grain and the other white) for $6 a piece.  I painted green leaves on the white contact paper and cut them out.  I used two shades of green so it gave the leaves a cool Eric Carle (children's author, illustrator) effect.  Basically, I had an Edward Scissorhands moment and started cutting in a flurry, cutting out branches and sticking them to the closet doors.  The wood grain contact paper is actually really neat looking as the branches and trunk of the tree.  The closet doors slide on a track so I cut the branches to keep the doors mobile.

Project #4: Changing table/ dresser
This one was all Jen and Noah.  They took an old dresser that used to be my grandma's, sanded it and painted it white. (I don't have a before picture), added an Ikea shelf and some boxes for the diapers and things, and a changing pad, and voila: changing area! (Cute owls, courtesy of Jen's friend Katie, were made for the shower.)

Project #5: Reading and Snuggling Area
Jen covered an old recliner from Noah's bachelor pad days with a brown slip cover from Bed-Bath and Beyond.  The book shelves are Ikea spice racks that were $4 each (there are 4 in all).  The book titles facing forward are actually more enticing to children and make for some cute all art.  He will need more book pace when he gets older but this is okay for now.  Sorry the picture is blurry.  I will try to get a close-up of the bookshelf next time I am down there.

Project #6: Artwork
The students from my 3rd grade class made owls and I painted a canvas blue, added a branch, and I stuck the owls onto the painting with modge podge.  The quote is from a book called "The Little White Owl" which is the inspiration for the owl art.  I will try to get a better picture of this too.

There are a few other projects too, like the little owls I painted to match the bedding, but I may add those at a later date.

So there is the nursery!  So cute!  I am sure Liam and Mommy will love it.  Here is the little bundle of joy!  He hasn't seen his room yet, as he is only a day old and still isn't home from the hospital yet.