Monday Made-it: Whisper phones, magnets, and my new lanai!

Welcome to another Monday Made-it!

 

 

 

I can't believe it is July already! Last week was pretty busy here. I babysat my parent's yorkie, Gidget. She is a very sweet and loving dog, but she is also quite neurotic (some neighbors have been known to call her the Yorkshire terror!)

 

 She was with me for about 7 hours... it certainly reminded me why I am a cat person! Poor Maggie had to stay in my office all day, she is twice Gidget's size and not the friendliest cat when it comes to other animals. Needless to say, none of us were thrilled with the arrangement!

 

 

I did get to spend my fourth of July in a very relaxed setting though, so that helped me to de-stress after a day of barking yorkie!

 

Now on to the made-its!

 

 

My first made-it this week was something I have been wanting to do for a long time... whisper phones!

 

I actually ended up getting the wrong pieces (oops!) and they didn't fit together, so I used a combination of hot glue, e-6000, packing tape, and duck tape. Maybe a bit overboard, but I didn't want to take any chances of them falling apart!

 

Naturally, the duck tape had to be the flamingo kind... :)

 

I plan on keeping these in the library so my students can take one when they get books.

 

 

So my next made-it is something that I already had in my classroom. I made myself some number magnets a few years ago, but some have gotten misplaced or broken and I figured I could use a few new sets.

 

I use them on my behavior chart and a few boards around my room (center groups, guided reading groups, data chats, etc.) The boards are all made out of cookie sheets from the dollar store, so the magnets work really well and the boards don't take up too much space.

 

I started by tracing the glass stones onto the scrapbook paper and cutting them out (very time-consuming, but they fit better than when I tried just winging it!)

 

I wrote the numbers with a sharpie and used the mod podge to attach the scrapbook to the back of the marbles.

Once the mod podge had dried, I used E-6000 to attach magnets to the back of the stones. I used to use hot glue, but I find that the magnets usually pop off if they get dropped, so I am hoping that E-6000 will hold up a little better.

 



 

Here they are! I ended up making one set this way, them I found these solid white glass stones and decided it would be much faster to just write on the front with a sharpie!

 

Not as colorful, but a lot of my classroom has white polka dots, so I figure they will fit right in!

 

 

And now for the project that I am most excited about, my new lanai!

 

 

I am very into turquoise and green lately, so my lanai ended up matching my new classroom colors!

 

 

I got most of the new furniture from Pier 1 and Target, but there are a few things from Wayfair and Amazon as well.

 

 

It actually all started with this papasan chair. I have always wanted one and it was impossible to resist when I saw that they had the outdoor cushion in turquoise!

 

 

I got that little planter and planted some flowers, ornamental grass, and catnip. Unfortunately, I do not have a green thumb and only the catnip has survived! I think I might have to replace the real plants with silk ones.

 

 

 

The door to the storage closet looked a little bare, so I made this wreath. The flowers are supposed to be for indoor use, but they get very little sun and don't get wet when it rains, so I am hoping they will last.

 

 

Maggie and I are loving the new lanai, and she even lets me sit in the papasan chair sometimes!

 

 

As always, make sure you head on over to Fourth Grade Frolics and check out all of the other great made-its!