Photo of the Week: Week 32

This last week, I spent the week at a math training. It is a really cool student-centered program, with discourse and collaboration built in.

So this is, literally, what I looked at all week long.... 

Adventures in DIY: Personalized Pyrex Dishware

My cousin in Oregon is getting married next month! Her bridal shower was Saturday, and while my mom, sister and I could not attend the out-of-state celebration we wanted to send her something special.  After seeing a few ideas on Pinterest, I thought it would be cool to send her a personalized bridal shower gift.

As much as we love desserts and baking in our family, we decided a personalized Pyrex dish would be just the right thing. Here's how I did it:

Using my Silhouette Cameo, I made vinyl negatives of cousin's new last name with a few cute hearts to etch on the sides of the dish, and I made a vinyl negative of these cute lovey owls on a tree for the bottom of the dish!

I simply placed the vinyl negatives directly onto the Pyrex, paying close attention to really making sure it was stuck on there pretty well. Just to be safe, all  of our stencils were placed on the outside of the dish, so no foodstuffs would touch the etched areas.

The Silhouette store sells etchAll etching creme to use for an etching craft, but I got my Armour Etch, at our local Michael's with my 40% off coupon.

Following the directions on the bottle of the Armour Etch, I donned thick protective gloves, and applied the etching creme directly onto the Pyrex dish. (We were a little worried as the bottle does say that the creme doesn't work with all Pyrex dishware.) I applied it with a Q-tip because I was anxious and didn't want to go get a paint brush. I recommend you use a paint brush. :) We let the mixture sit for a few minutes before we wiped most of it off with a paper towel. Then we washed the glass dish thoroughly.

It turned out great!  (Sorry the pictures are not great, I was a little excited.) There are a few imperfections, but I consider that to be part of the charm. 

We added a cute oven glove, and a few other baking utensils, and mailed it off in style. A classy gift for a beautiful bride-to-be.

Adventures in Teaching: Classroom Décor

With a new job, comes a new classroom. This time around, I have decided to go Classroom Couture with my decor.

If you are a teacher on Pinterest, you have no doubt seen the remarkable classroom stylings of School Girl Style. She created Classroom Couture… literally. She sells a variety of wonderful classroom decoration packets. It was from these lines, that I found inspiration.

I really wanted a more uniform and cohesive look this year. After a quick look in the local Lakeshore Learning, I was able to find a few things to build inspiration on. I knew that my new classroom was going to be a bit on the dark side (not very many windows), so I wanted nice bright colors. And, if you know me, you know I love polka dots. It might be a bit much — but here is my inspiration so far.

The current plan: black and white polka dots with splashes of yellow, hot pink, tealy blue, and a little pop of lime green.

Note from the author: this was my first attempt at making a layered collage. There are some issues. But, hey, it's a start! I used GIMP. Each one of those pieces is a separate layer. Everything but the polka dot background needed to be tweaked. It was wild. :)