Google Reader....Gone? GASP!

So - 

I have been procrastinating ... a lot ... 

BUT

Google Reader is going away

(tears)

{So - all those little pictures on my sidebar of all my fab followers with google.. will be gone soon} Tho Thad. 

BUT there is hope!

BLOGLOVIN!

Go over to Bloglovin, open an account {join bloglovin}, import your blogs, and you won't miss a thing from any of your favorite blogs. 

Fact - I am following 237 blogs {wowza}

I did this earlier and it took me - seriously - a few minutes...

and I get a super little email everyday with the updates from all the blogs I follow. 

Here are a few tutorials to help you out, from some fabulous bloggy friends.

Common Core & So Much More: 

Bloglovin' Tutorial...It's Time To Make The Switch

iTeach....What's Your Super Power

Claim Your Blog On Bloglovin

And...

My friend over at The Extra Energetic Educator

Lovin' Bloglovin

AND

make sure to follow me on bloglovin....

I will try to get the widgit on my sidebar soon...

but I did mention... I am a procrastinator... right? ;)

Join Laura Candler as we go on a blog hunt to find some of our favorite blogs, and some new blogs as we switch over to blog lovin'! Click on the bear below to find links to many blogs! :)

Have a great weekend all!

AND

I AM OFFICIALLY ON SUMMER BREAK!

Yesterday was my last day of summer school... 

Guess who slept in this morning? This girl....

Does sleeping until 8 a.m. count as sleeping in? I mean, if we want to be all technical and such... 

:)

Kindness Of Our Hearts Donation Drive and Made It Monday

We have rallied around so many people lately.

Too many tragic events....

My friend at Learning is Something to Treasure has set up another amazing donation drive. 

I have donated some products in hopes that she can raise some money for a friend. This hits close to home for me since it happened in my home town. Please head over to her blog and we would love any help you have to offer. 

Click on the button below to go straight to the post. Thank you. 

I also wanted to link up with Ms. Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics for her Made it Monday....

I am linking my previous magnets post - 

it was a big hit and I wanted to share. :)

Click on the picture below to go to this post. :)

Tech Tip Tuesday

Let me start by saying....

THIS WILL ONLY WORK ON A MAC....

I tried it on my pc today, and no luck. :(

BUT.

IT.

IS.

Awesome. 

I create all my tpt products in PowerPoint. I started doing this about two years ago. It makes arranging everything SO easy. You can add tables and pictures, clip art and text boxes where ever you want. It doesn't get knocked down to the next page - or worse - disappear. (Maybe it's just me... MS Word and I don't get along). 

So anyway - back to my tip 

While in PowerPoint - usually to arrange my graphics and put my text boxes on top of my headers/borders - I always right click and move forward or backward.

Then right click and move backward again. 

and again. 

and again. 

{Get the picture :)}

BUT - if you right click and choose Reorder Overlapping Objects...

Your page magically spreads out like all those lovely covers in iTunes - and you can flip through them... like in the old days... at the jukebox...

Okay.. I'm back. 

Check this out!

I don't know about you - but it might be one of the most beautiful things I've seen while creating. 

Once your page is all laid out like this - You just grab the layer you want and move it between the other layers - and VOILA! 

No more right clicking 9 times to get your header behind your text and all your graphics. 

I hope you enjoy this and find it as useful as I have. If you have any other techy tips - leave it in the comments! :) 

washi love

So .... I got some new washi tape... and I had to decorate. :) 

I mostly use washi tape in my planners.

But here are a few other things I've done lately. 

Head over to Christina Bainbridge's blog - my friend Stacy from funky fresh firsties did a guest post on washi tape! Then you can head over to my washi pinterest board if you are still itching for more ideas... 

:) 

Cork me Crazy....

Sitting in Panera (bread, bread), breakfast finished... thinking about how I will spend my day. 

(there is a conversation about purgatory going on next to me... I'm trying to focus and not bust into someone's conversation, being raised Catholic and all...)

FOCUS:

I spent most of my weekend being crafty. 

I have furniture coming today for little man's room (aka g2).

I need to finish my mammals unit.

I got a little sidetracked this weekend with my craft. I went into Hobby Lobby yesterday and went into craft overload. I hate when my brain goes into this craft-mode. It is a blessing and a curse.

A blessing - I end up with some super cool ideas

A curse - I can't concentrate on things, get inspiration at every turn, and spend way too much money. :) The best part for me has been knowing that I can decorate my house how I'd like...hehe, no battles, no compromise... yeah - I'm a little selfish... and I'm working on it after I get more stuff done. ;)

So - here is my project in pictures. :)

And the font I used - KG Be Still and Know...
and Lego House...
:)

pinterest inspired....behavior board and lunch count

In the past I have blogged about my behavior board. I love this little thing, and I made it all myself! 

Click on the picture below to take you to the original post

Here's how I did it...

I was inspired to create this from pinterest - what did I do before pinterest???

I used numbers to give my kids a little anonymity - I knew their numbers, they knew their numbers, but someone walking in... wouldn't know what color they were on.

I grabbed everything from my local craft store - EXCEPT the sun and moon craft glue. I found this on etsy. (they also have glass tiles, but I like to use the cheap glass bubbles from the aquarium section or floral design area of the craft store. 

I tried to take pictures as I went along this time... :) 

If you'd like to try to make some on your own - it takes some practice... but it was worth it. I picked a cute frame and font to make my first set. I printed them out on my laser printer and went through these same steps. 

 Here is another picture of my lunch board... I used my smart board every morning for morning work - so I had to find another way to do my lunch count. 

These were just some cute extras I made to use on my metal desk... (You can see that a few of them I used a little too much craft glue on - and I did these on my inkjet printer... they look a little smudged...) Some of them turned out better than others, I would suggest that if you are using an inkjet printer, go easy on the craft glue. ;)

Suggestion - if you are using an inkjet printer... Sun and Moon also carries Micro Glaze. Put a little of this on your printed image before you adhere it to the glass! :)

new button y'all!

I have been working on my blog ....

my button

my background

my everything...

So I found this really great tutorial at the teacher wife's other blog - 

I was so excited to find out that I could create things in powerpoint and save them as a .png - I'm  somewhat confident in my powerpoint skills, now... :) 

So I tried, and I was super happy with my result. Until - I added it to my page, and my button hung off the sides. So, I tried again... with no luck. I gave up last night, but I'm back at it today. 

Here is what I've figured out...

I had to change the page size! It had to be smaller than the tutorial stated, in order to fit on MY page - it might be different for you all - but - if you can't get it to work - try this!

Here's a picture of my pp screen and my settings. 

Anyway - I'm super excited about my new bloggy button (yes, I'm a dork...)

check me out!

Linked up to Fern Smith's Tech Tips Tuesday...


src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnHBm7l4-G3Nu2qem4ObtSVCJrkyButiyKcHzfrzh6enAD6G0ZOtzw5la2Cxlgj6_zf9j7q2M-8r0p4bHRLvofoAfspLYe7BFN97V5qPSaVXXIxEl-F4Us1H4USMY9LN07WEI5Sg3x3u8/s1600/FernSmithsThursdaysTechTipsforTeachers260.jpg"/>