[make] Quick and Easy Fall Hostess Gift

A quick post this late, Saturday evening!

Last weekend, we went to a church member's home to watch the UT football game (their son, our associate pastor of worship/outreach, played football for UT in the 80's). I wanted to bring a little fall-themed gift to say thank you for our invitation to dinner!

If you need a simple gift (to assemble in the car on your way to said event... because that's what I did!), this is the gift for you. And it all came from Family Dollar (quick, inexpensive, efficient on your way to a dinner)!

Scarecrow stand (I popped the bottom part off and it left just his stick stand)
Fall colored candy (candy corn, Reese's Pieces, chocolates, caramels)
Cellophane treat bag
Fall themed mug

Candy in bag. Tie top of bag with twisty tie provided and fluff. Put in mug. Use scarecrow's stand and poke it in the mug. Ta-da!

Quick. Inexpensive. Fall-y. Hooray! And it was very well received, so success!

Have a wonderful Sunday tomorrow! To quote my husband....   

"Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ: you are not "going to church" tomorrow, as if entering a building for a few hours can possibly change your life. You are going to corporately worship the God of the universe who is more incredible than we can ever imagine. Be prepared to engage in worship, in Spirit and in truth, through the lifting of voices and the preaching of His word! May tomorrow's worship be the beginning of an entire week of living our lives as living sacrifices of worship and praise." -Nathan Johnson

[make] Green Chevron Pillows

You may have seen a sneaky-peek at the fabric I purchased last Friday during my Photo a Day post... Well, here's what I made with the green chevron fabric!

Extra large throw pillows! Basically fold the fabric in a rectangle (wrong sides out), stitch up three and a half sides (leave a space big enough for your hand), flip it right side out, stuff with stuffing, stitch it shut! Easy peasy.

Aren't they beautiful? Chevron is such a fun fabric pattern, the green meshes well with the carpet we have in the dining room as well as the green we painted in the kitchen. Great pop of color!

(the navy and beige pillows are all from Target, of course: the navy pillows are actually outdoor pillows but who says you can't use them inside as well?)

Happy Thursday! We got out of school early this afternoon in order to complete our parent conferences (which they had to schedule with the office: 10 minutes a piece). I always get so nervous! But of course, they went fine as usual! I only had nine conferences and I have one more next week, then I'll be done. I am so blessed to work at a wonderful school where all of the parents are involved and many of the meetings I had were friendly conversations back and forth!

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6

[make] Scrapbook Letter Art

Happy Monday, everyone! This weekend, I finally was able to fit some crafting/sewing/new recipe-ing (?) into my schedule! That is my idea of a happy weekend.

Here is my crafty contribution from my weekend. Nate and I had these shadow boxes in our bedroom... nothing exciting at ALL. They actually started as sea-themed art for our guest bathroom... But I covered those pictures up with scrapbook paper (which silly me didn't even pay attention to the direction of the scrapbook paper... I am fully aware that the two papers are different directions, I'm just trying to not let my OCD self notice it)...

Before... and after, neither are too exciting.

The long shot of the back wall in our bedroom... Nothing too exciting (and yes, we have a new bed frame! still need to take updated pictures of that).

So on my journey to Hobby Lobby on Friday, I picked up two paper mache craft letters (a "C" for me and an "N" for Nate, of course), scrapbook paper that picked up some colors from our bedspread, along with a few other colors... just for fun :) And also some supplies I had on hand: Mod Podge, an Exacto knife, and foam brush.

Lay your letter right side up on the scrapbook paper...

Hold your letter firmly and cut the perimeter of it with your Exacto knife, carefullyyyy (those things are sharp!)

Pop out your letter...

Beautifully cut letters, perfectly sized for the paper mache letters!

Use Mod Podge on top of the paper mache letters: this will be the glue that adheres your scrapbook paper to your paper mache letter.

Apply the scrapbook paper letter, and then flip the entire thing over and trim any scrapbook paper peeking over the edge.

Apply Mod Podge to the front... this will add a glossy coating to your letter.

I used the little wooden stick that comes in bags of stuffing (that's supposed to shove the stuffing into the corners of pillows and whatnot) to smooth my scrapbook paper (with Mod Podge) and eliminate any bubbling.

I then used my Exacto knife to roughen up edges and take away any additional scrapbook paper tears, etc. You can also use sand paper but my Exacto knife was closer :)

Ta da! I used hot glue (of course) to add these to my shadow boxes in our bedroom. Just a colorful touch in an already-patterned shadow box. I asked Nate if it was too girly for him, but he said it was fine. Gotta love a husband who doesn't mind crafty projects!

Adds a fun pop of color; just a little something, doesn't it? It doesn't steal all the focus in the bedroom, but you do see that it is there. Much better than the before, don't you think?

Again, here's the before...


And after!

  

Who else crafts with paper mache letters from Hob Lob? There were also extra large wooden letters that I had my eye on... Anything with a C, N, or J is a-okay in my book! Love personalized touches and monograms!

I hope you all had a lovely Monday!

"He also says, 'In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.'" Hebrews 1: 10-12

See where I link up: Monday Made it @ 4th Grade Frolics, Blog Hop @ Naptime Review, Tips & Tricks @ Stringtown Home, What I Whipped Up Wednesday @ Sugar and Dots, Craft-O-Manic Monday @ Craft-O-Manic, Link Party @ Uncommon, Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts, Show Me What Ya Got Linky Party @ Not JUST A Housewife, {Wow Me Wednesday} @ Ginger Snap Crafts, Link Party @ Destination: Craft, The Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible, Before & After Party @ Thrifty Decor Chick, Weekend Wrap-Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello, What I Wore Wednesday @ The Pleated Poppy 

[photoaday] Week Forty Two

Bad blogger, bad blogger! Didn't post as much as I would have liked to this past week. However, surprise-surprise, I DID GET SICK. I jinxed myself and everything last week saying I haven't gotten sick in a while, and then boom: fever. So now I know to just keep my mouth shut! It only lasted for a day, but ugh, fevers just make you feel terrible, don't they? Glad to be up and at 'em!

[psst: if you take photos this week, use my button on your blog post and leave me a comment on THIS post with the link to YOUR blog post with your photos.... that's not confusing at all, is it? once you do that (and assuming you're a follower of mine), I will feature your blog one time with a few of your photos! remember, sharing is caring :)]

[monday] I was able to Skype with my mom and dad this evening! We do this weekly, but it is always so neat to actually see them while I talk to them. Living four hours away can be difficult at times (I know people live a lot further away from their family, but four hours is too far for this family girl)!

[tuesday] Someone got a bath tonight... Not too happy about it.

[wednesday] This is the day I left school sick (I didn't get to leave early: there was no one available to cover my class). Around 3pm, during our pep rally, is when I started feeling t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e. Glad to have a hubs who will leave Wednesday night church to buy and cook me soup while I'm in bed!

[thursday] In bed on a weekday morning (when the sun is up) is foreign to me during the school year. However, I had two excellent doctors who took care of me while Nate went to work!

[friday] Since I felt much better this day, I traveled 50 minutes to the nearest Hobby Lobby and Target (that would be a one-way trip, ladies... feel my pain, I know!!!) for some retail therapy. Hey- Nate was gone to the coast on a fishing trip with some men from our church for the day, so I needed something to preoccupy my time. This worked out quite nicely!

[saturday] Saturday afternoons equal projects and experiments from Pinterest... experiments in cooking! I had pinned this copy-cat recipe for Chili's queso from The Blonde Can Cook and it was pretty good. It uses Velveeta, which I am not that big of a fan of... but it was okay.

Did everyone have a good weekend? I hope no one was sick like I was! I have 21 Kindergarteners and at least half of them have been sick during the past two weeks: fever, vomiting, and/or coughing/sore throat symptoms. And every child that has been absent has missed at least two days of school. Gotta love teaching! I am excited though because tomorrow I am getting a new student: she visited our school a couple of weeks ago and my students are so excited to make a new friend!

Have a wonderful week!

One of the verses from Nate's sermon this week (we are doing a verse-by-verse study through Hebrews: awesome things from God's word)!

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone." Hebrews 2:9

[faith] James 1:2-3

Loving this verse lately.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." James 1:2-3

Amen and amen.

[teach] Pumpkin Seed Tasting Data Sheet

Last week, my class learned all about pumpkins. Pumpkin parts, how they grow, how they start as a seed: the whole nine yards. We (I) even carved a pumpkin and (they) pulled out its seeds!

Thursday night, I roasted the seeds in butter and seasoned salt so the kiddos could taste them the next day. Many were skeptical, but as soon as I told them it tasted like popcorn, they were all on board!

To extend our learning, I created a Pumpkin Seed Tasting Data sheet for the kiddos to fill out after our taste test. We fill out a weather graph each day charting the weather, so they are familiar with gathering data (information) and filling out a graph like this from bottom to top.

If you would like a copy of this page, just right click and "copy". Open a Word document and "paste" it in! Please let me know if you use it, I'd love to hear about it! Or for a higher quality version, please leave a comment with your e-mail address and I will send it to you.

We discussed that "yummy" meant you liked the seeds, while "yucky" signified you did not like the seeds. We went around the room and collected data from each student: they either said "yummy" or "yucky". Next, we filled in the corresponding sections on our graph for each child and counted our results! 19 kiddos (well, 18 plus me) thought the seeds were yummy, while one student voted "yucky" (he didn't even try it, he was just not about the seeds)!

Afterwards, the kiddos were able to personalize their data with an illustration of their face (reaction) to the tasting of the seeds (they were to draw a smiling/yummy face or frowning/yucky face).

The kids thought tasting the seeds were so fun and using this sheet to gather information furthered our learning even more. Yay for extensions!

Teachers: do you "experiment" with a class pumpkin during the fall season? Non-teachers: who roasts seeds at home? I never did it until I started teaching, but they really are delicious! Happy Tuesday!

"He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20

[photoaday] Week Forty One

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great start to your week. Unfortunately, three of my kiddos were out today... there is something going around my classroom! The downfalls of teaching... germs, germs, germs. Fortunately (and hopefully I don't have to take my words back later), I think I've built up my immunity from being around so many children. There was one week in February my first year of teaching where I was extremely sick... Other than that, I haven't really gotten SICK sick since (this is year four of teaching). Again, I hope I don't have to take my words back later!!!

[psst: if you take photos this week, use my button on your blog post and leave me a comment on THIS post with the link to YOUR blog post with your photos.... that's not confusing at all, is it? once you do that (and assuming you're a follower of mine), I will feature your blog one time with a few of your photos! remember, sharing is caring :)]

[last monday]: Look at this ADORABLE school jacket one of my students had on. Is it weird that I want to get one just like hers??? We have a printing shop in town that makes our spirit hoodies, jackets, and t-shirts for our school. I'm thinking Mrs. Johnson needs a zebra print jacket. Pronto.

[tuesday]: Another Kindergarten photo. We've been learning about plants and one of my adorable girls came up with this sentence (the kiddos aren't writing sentences on their own yet, but they are dictating sentences to me that match their illustration). Hilarious, yet true!

[wednesday]: Happy birthday to my dad!!! My absolute favorite photo of us :)

[thursday]: Teacher perks! The sweetest family brought me treats from a bakery in either Austin or San Antonio... I forget. An almond croissant and an apple turnover. YUM!!! I couldn't say thank you enough, delicious!

[friday]: Read a blog post from my friend Sam's mom (her name is Kelly: check out her blog here). She shared this verse which I have been clinging to lately: Satan is trying to drag me down, hmph. Hate when he does that! But this verse just reminds me to tell him, "bring it on".

[saturday]: A pretty exciting Saturday night at the Johnsons. We're crazy, we know.

[sunday]: Monthly luncheon at church! The "theme" was soups and salads, so I made this delicious salad with baby spinach, feta cheese, pears, apples, and poppyseed dressing. Sounds totally random but it is so good!

Have a wonderful week! Is anyone else watching Dancing with the Stars? Shawn and Derek are my favorites!!! Along with Melissa & Tony, Sabrina & Louie, and Gilles & Peta. That's a lot of favorites, but the show is just so fun!

"The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." John 12:25

[favorites] Pumpkin Style

For this week's Four Favorites for Friday, I have turned to the lovely season of Fall... more specifically, Halloween, to share four great ideas incorporating pumpkins. I haven't purchased any pumpkins yet for my front porch (I have a scarecrow out there, along with a plastic Jack-o-lantern and many gorgeous fall flowers... but no pumpkins!) so maybe this inspiration will get me in gear.

Click on the given link below to head to the original location. On one of the links, it is only a generic site given... so I included that link plus my Pinterest pin. Enjoy!

[one]: How fun is this? Instead of carving the generic Jack-o-lantern face, use your drill and make designs and/or patterns. Then pop your candle/light in and watch the fun begin without all of the tedious work! Genius. (photo link only: if you know its original source, let me know!)

[two]: These pumpkins are right up my alley. I painted polka dot pumpkins last year and "monogrammed" centipede pumpkins the year before, so painting pumpkins is my sign of a good time. Plus the added bonus of the gorgeous ribbon? Beautiful! Ramblings of a Southern Girl did such a great job on these pumpkins: so fun!

[three]: Anything with a "J" or "Johnson" on it is good with me. Using a Silhouette, you could cut out letters or designs on cardstock or scrapbook paper: the possibilities are endless! This would look super cute on a front porch for trick or treaters to see! (this is a generic link to a main site, not to a specific post... so here is the link to my Pinterest pin as well)

[four]: This is such a great idea for a table centerpiece: candles visible in the pumpkin tops! Use the drill bit thingy that has a rectangle... thingy on it... you know, instead of a straight drill piece, it has a rectangle on the end of it? And it can make wide circles? HA I sound ridiculous. Just click the link to see what I mean. And I am a carpenter's granddaughter... Don't tell Grandpa (Mom and Nate, I'm talking to you two)!

People are just so creative. That's one of the fun things about Pinterest! And blogging! Seeing everyone's creativity... wondering, duh- why didn't I think of that! Such fun!

Happy weekend! We are enjoying Nate's parents being in town- they get to stay for three nights!!! That's a big deal when it is a weekend AND you're a minister (Nate's dad is a music minister). Can't wait for the fun to commence this weekend!

"He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Luke 10:2

[love] Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is my daddy's birthday!

Happy birthday daddy! I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFULLLL day! Go drink some grape Kool-Aid and snack on some Fruit Loops. Not because you're feeling sick (because you're not, praise Jesus!) but just because they're delicious! Love you!!!

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." -Ephesians 6:1