Sophie and Sadie's Scholarly Site

For the past month or so, Pinterest has been inspiring me in both my home and my classroom.  The ideas for my classroom are tremendous: centers, boards, lesson plans, and arts and crafts. The ideas for my home have been helpful: recipes for the crockpot,  crafts, organization, and seasonal décor that is easy. Another great thing that I discovered  are all the great clothing ideas that I pin for work outfits that are teacher and budget-friendly. I will admit to a clothing slump of late. My usual school unofficial school uniform is a polo or a plain tee-shirt paired with a cardigan and khaki pants with good hearty teaching shoes that are not always pretty.  Pretty plain, boring stuff. Thanks to Pinterest, I’ve ventured into throwing  on a vintage scarf or costume jewelry and fallen in love with a pair or two of new, stylish, and comfortable Crocs- one pair in animal prints! Jewelry and scarves were not my thing until I saw the many ways I could use the  old pieces  which belonged to  my Mama who always seemed to be stylin’ especially before I came into her life .

My Mama had great style for the  librarian she became and was always looking for a bargain.

My Mama at UNC-Chapel Hill

The necklace she has on I now own. It was a present from her brother James when he was in England.

My parents on their honeymoon in Pinehurst, NC in 1956. Check out my Daddy’s shoes!

With style and thrift in mind,  I decided to try my hand at making some scarves using some old clothing or as it’s called “upcycling.” Very budget-friendly to a teacher’s salary while fun to create and more fun to wear.

Here are the results:

A skirt that easily converted to a circle scarf.

A trendy fringe scarf from a well-worn polo shirt

Another circle scarf made from a pair of shorts with very little sewing.

Proof of how easy it is to do this if I can do it! The plaid scarves I really like for everyday. The fringe scarf I would save for a jeans day or weekend although it would be very easy to make one of these for school colors or some other fun day.  Every time I look at this pink and green creation I am reminded of The Lorax!

You never know what you might see and be inspired by on Pinterest. Check out my boards here: http://pinterest.com/tabkatz/

Now that  my summer is winding down, and I will be back to school in another week, I have found TONS of crafts to make from “recycled” items on Pinterest, and   I am  busy trying  out some of these ideas as possible art projects in my social studies classes. For instance, I found directions for making beads made from old magazines and catalogs, and I created a  beaded bracelet. Because I am always looking for ways to make abstract ideas tangible, I am thinking of making “ friendship” bracelets  during our study of William Penn and the Quakers settling Pennsylvania. Did William Penn actually use old magazines to  make and trade beads with Native Americans? Uh-mmm, sources say  “No,” but one of my goals this year is to bring in more creativity into my lessons while making my lessons a bit more real, and so making and trading beads to create bonds of friendship  as a tangible reminder is a good thing.

Here’s how I created this simple project:  I  cut strips of an old catalog into thin triangles.  ( The wide part  or base was about an inch in this project). Then, I rolled the triangle from the wide end to the smaller  end.  I  added a  little dab of glue ( I used Elmer’s), took a finger and smoothed the glued end,  and voila- a bead. I let the beads dry.

After the beads were dry, I trimmed a few just to make the look a little more uniform. I used  twine to thread my beads and did a spritz of shellac to make it a little more permanent and give my creation a glossy finish.

And here’s my bracelet- nothing fancy but pretty nonetheless:

Thanks for taking a look, and I hope you’ll share some ideas with me on my Pinterest boards.

Because Christmas in July is here, the NEW SCHOOL YEAR can’t be too far behind so it’s time …

to avoid the television because the “back to school” ads like this classic are in full force!

Why not celebrate and think of happier times?  My memories of  Christmas in my classroom are all good ones, and by the time December 2011 rolls around, the nationwide heat wave will be in the past, and I’ll be dreaming of a White Christmas.

Actually the day after Christmas, we got SNOW here in SC. Nice to think about when the temperatures are 100-plus. All the more reason to stay indoors and check out some COOL ideas.

Charity over at The Organized Classroom Blog is celebrating Merry Christmas in July. Charity has put together some activities from several great blogs showcasing the BEST ideas, and let me mention  that they are all FREEBIES!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!