The Back to School Shirt

Hello Readers. It is "Back-to-School" time in most of the U.S. Do other countries start the school year in late August or early September? I'm not sure.....but I have a fun project for you! This is a great shirt with a school theme. It's perfect for teachers, school kids, homeschoolers, parents really excited about school... and no sewing is required.

 

You need any white cotton t-shirt. The thicker the fabric, the easier this project will be. 

(I learned this the hard way.) You also need a blue and pink fabric markers. Regular markers will not work well for this project.

 

 I put something inside of the shirt in case the marker went through to the back of the shirt. I tried to draw straight horizontal blue lines across the front of the shirt. My shirt was very thin and stretchy. The shirt stretched when I wrote on it. It would have been better if the shirt was not stretchy, it would have been easier to draw my lines. It's OK, it doesn't need to be perfect. This project is supposed to be fun. Don't stress about it. The mistakes are all part of the fun.

 

I drew one pink vertical line on the left. I let the lines dry over night. The next day I searched around for something round and found this bottle. I wanted to make the 3 holes on the left that notebook paper has. I painted the top of the bottle and used it as a giant stamp. 

 

I made 3 big gray dots and let that dry over night too. I kept something inside the shirt so the paint wouldn't go through to the back. Newspaper or cardboard will work for this. 

 

You can wear this shirt to school. Or to shop for school supplies. Or to meet the teacher. Or at home while you homeschool your kids. Or anywhere! 

 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End update-  This shirt was so useful. It was part of a "Rock, Paper, Scissors" costume at Halloween. I wore white jeans with it and my costume was ready.

The Pencil Dress

 Hello Readers. School is starting in the US. Sort of. If you have kids than you know it is a crazy situation right now. Some kids are going to the school building. Some kids are doing school on-line. And from what I hear, a lot of families are going to try homeschooling. I am going to homeschool my 5 year old this year for Kindergarten. I homeschooled my older kids so this isn't a new idea for me. I want it to be fun for my little guy so I have been organizing, decorating, preparing and generally trying to hype him up. That includes school clothes.

I decided to paint pencils all over this dress. It was kind of an old comfy dress. It will be perfect for being comfy at home doing school but also fun. I tried stamping pencil shapes on the dress. I had to paint over them several times to make them bright enough. It would have been easier to do this project on white or a light color.

 

 I added pink eraser shapes to the pencils.

 

 I added pencil leads and another coat of paint.

 

 A touch of gold paint between the pencil and eraser and my pencils were done. I added a little yellow trim to the neck line of the dress for a touch of color. This yellow rick-rack has been sitting in the sewing stash for a long time. Let's use it.

 

 My first day of school outfit was ready. I am wishing all you other parents and students a good school year as well.

 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.  

And have a good day at school.

Kids Chalkboard Top Table

 Hello Readers. I like to make things fun for my kids when I can. Even school and study things. When I came across this decorator table, I thought it could be a fun kids table. Let me show you. 

Fun kids table!

A neighbor of mine was moving out and she left some items for us to to have if we wanted. I saw this decorator table. I know they usually have a long table cloth over them. You usually never see the actual table. But what if I did some decorating and I actually did show the table?

I got out the acrylic paint (Similar here.) I had on hand and started mixing to make enough of a fun shade to paint the table. I wanted a color my youngest child would like. This table is going in the study/school room. Let's make it fun. 

I wanted a slate blue color. This was as close as I could get with the acrylic paint I had on hand. I wanted to paint the lower part of the table with this. I put out some newspapers and got to work.

I had a little helper that helped me paint all these shelves and the outside of the table too. 

 

 I was on hand to supervise and go over all of the paint and make sure it was all evenly covered and smooth. 

 

 I even painted the underside of the table with this slate blue paint. I wanted to cover all the plywood. The plywood wasn't cute or fun. I pained everything and let this paint dry over night. 

 

I wanted to make the top of the table a little different. I used this chalkboard paint (Similar here.) for the top of the table. It was gray but the color wasn't the important part. Any color chalkboard paint would be fine. I wanted my son to be able to write and draw with chalk on top of the table. 

 

My young helper painted the table top with the chalkboard paint. I went over this paint to make sure it covered the table evenly and let it dry overnight again.

 

 The next day the paint was dry and we could draw or...

Write on the top of the table. Summer is here and school is out for a few months but this table is perfect!

This table is great for our study. It is holding our globe next to the little desk. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Year End Update***-This is a fun kid table. 5 stars. Would recommend.

 

 

 

 

Creating a Helpful Study Spot

 Hello Readers. Fall is right around the corner and that means school is starting. No matter if you are in elementary school, high school, college or just working from home, it can really help to prepare a spot to study/work in. It can be for online classes or just a needed schoolwork area. 

Before and after a little work and planning.

This little desk is built in my kitchen. It is off to the side and perfect for schoolwork while I make dinner. All summer it has collected odds and ends and has been used for projects and crafts. It is a real mess, I let it go all summer. It's time to get it in shape.

I started by clearing the surface and wiping it down. I threw out the dried up markers, broken crayons, and old papers.  I moved all the toys, Lego bricks and  random items.

We needed new some new supplies. I want to be prepared for projects and assignments that are going to come up. I don't want to run out to the store last minute, at night, in my pajamas because we don't have what we need for school. I can't be prepared for everything in life but I can prepare for this.

I used little cans to organize our supplies. These were from a hot cocoa obsession we had last winter. They are cute and kid safe so that is what we went with. I wanted all our supplies to be visible and easily available. Use whatever containers appeal to you.

My son is young so we still need things like crayons. I made sure to have extra pencils, scissors, glue, tape, markers, a ruler ... all easy to see and reach. 

 

Consider having a clock and/or a calendar in the area. Young kids need to learn to tell time and older kids need to learn time management. They can't do either without seeing the time and the schedule. This is right in our line of vision so we don't forget to look at it. Everyone has a calendar on their phone but if you or your child doesn't remember to open that app, it won't help them. Use whatever method works for you and/or your student.

Make sure the lighting is adequate. Winter is coming and it will start to get dark earlier.  No one can study in the dark. Add a lamp to the area if it gets dim in the evening.

I made sure to get the laptop, the charging cord, the headphones and that charging cord. I wanted to make sure I had everything and didn't need to replace anything. It's better to know now if anything is missing or damaged, before any online classes or meetings are scheduled.

I don't know what your student will need. I do know that getting every school related item in the house and putting it all in one place will make it easier to find when we do need it. Will we need calculators this year? I'm not sure but if we need one, I know it is in the study area along with extra paper, folders, a protractor and our trusty kids dictionary and atlas. If I get it all together now, I won't have to hunt for it later. 

 

Thanks for reading along, I hope all the students have a great year. 

 

 ***Year End Update- This was helpful for school work but kids are kids and they all try to avoid school work at times.