Monday 14 July 2014

MMI and a Scavenger Hunt

I've been obsessing this weekend about trying to get stuff done for MMI. Although I did achieve a few home made its, I was desperately wanting to share a school made it. But alas, with a car in the shop this morning and a late bus to school, I wasn't able to get myself organised. Hopefully I'll have something for next week.
If you want to link up, or are like me and want to spend a week reading EVERY link up, click the pic.

http://4thgradefrolics.blogspot.co.uk/
 
 
So if you read last week's post, you'll remember that I have just moved into my first home and have been attempting some DIY.
 
 
About 7 years ago, when my hubs and I first moved in together and had no furniture, I bought a table from a Border's (remember them) that was closing down. They were literally selling everything, in the shop. I snagged a small round table for the living room for £7 (about $12).
 
 
 
The table has been a practical item, but was not the prettiest. The yellowy varnish colour of the wood and the bright silver metal base weren't matching my idea of pastels/greys that I wanted for the house. So we unscrewed the base from the top and go spraying!
 
 
We sprayed the base (after giving it a sanding) with white spray paint. Unfortunately in typical British summer weather fashion, it started to rain. The next pic shows the table with the top painted with chalk paint on top of the spray painted base.


 
 
 
My second made it was so super-duper easy that I could kick myself for not doing it earlier. I'm kinda in love with the Art Nouveau period. In 2012 my hubs got me a lovely calendar with adverts from that time period. I've held on to that calendar since because I knew I wanted to do something with it.
 
 
I bought some super cheap frames (seriously, £1!) and then took the glass to trace around the pictures I wanted. I decided for yesterday's project, I would only choose 4 pics. I chopped the pictures and stuck them in the frame. Hung them up and voila!
 

 
Adding a bit of personality to the dining room if I do say so myself.
 
I'm also linking up with Blog Hoppin so read on below if you're interested.




I'm amazed at how many people have joined in the Blog Hoppin' Scavenger Hunt. It's been really fun trying to find the items and I'm sure that more than a few people might think I'm a bit crazy.
I'm linking up with them to show off some of my fave pics so far ...

http://imbloghoppin.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/a-scavenger-hunt-linky.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/deHub+(Blog+Hoppin')
 
 
BTW, no one I know in the UK reads teacher blogs, so again they don't understand anything I do, what TPT is, what task cards are and why I'm constantly whipping my phone out with a BLOG HOPPIN sign.
 
 
I chose this as one of my favourites because I had to pap the school secretary. Again, no one would understand if I asked them to hold this sign, so I tried to be sneaky and get the photo.

 I love this pic, mainly because I love that my kids love Go Noodle.
 
Another fave only because it's one of the only 'arty' good pics that I have taken.


Monday 7 July 2014

Monday Made It. Finally!

So I have been devouring the blog posts for Monday Made It this summer, as in literally spent a week reading through EVERY single link - up. But then last week ...
no internet connection yet in the house AND I used up all my data on my phone.
I have been desperate to link up and couldn't.
So finally this week, we are connected and I am ready.


So unlike the rest of you lucky people, I am still in school. As in I still have 2.5 more weeks! For the past two weeks my hubby and I have been moving into our first new home. My made its for this week are all house related, but hopefully I can get some school stuff sorted in the near future, not that I'm remotely busy or anything.

So our new house was in good condition and didn't really need anything doing to it when we moved in. That is why it kind of appealed to us. We put the offer in in FEB and have been patiently waiting for 4 months to actually be able to move in.
4 months AFTER we had our offer accepted and had seen the house we finally got our keys and the house was a mess, like literally filthy. I don't think it had been clean since we had last seen it. 
Thankfully we had a week to get ourselves sorted.

 We managed to rope in a few extra helper to get the living room and dining room painted. I'm loving grey at the moment and wanted to also go for a country/rustic theme in the house.
Living room with a new coat of paint. Really want to get a new couch but it's feeling more homey already.

My most favourite purchase was this, not sure what to call it, from a flea market/vintage shop. I love the veggie crates as drawers. It is now in the living room and has all my baking equipment/ingredients in it. 
My 2nd made it is actually one of our first DIY projects. I bought a lovely pine table and 4 chairs from the previously mentioned shop.


The appeal for these tables and chairs were that they were sturdy and they were already sanded down, ready to be painted/varnished. It took us two weekends, 4 coats of varnish and 2 coats of paint ...

I love it! We haven't full decided what to do about the chairs. I think we'll end up painting them with the same white, but haven't fully made up our minds.

I can't wait to link up again next week as well as read everyone else's post.

Cheers!