Hello, Forsythia. It Must Be Spring.

Happy Spring!!!

Just thought I'd check in with some pretty spring pictures for a second between my grad school homework and parent teacher conferences at school this week. No Favorite Things Thursday. It will resume soon! 

When I noticed the forsythia in our neighborhood was starting to bloom, I rushed outside to get a few quick pics before it got dark after I got home from school the other night. There's just something about that in-your-face-intense yellow color that gets me so excited for spring. I know spring is all about the pastels, but most of the time I feel pretty ick about pastels. This crazy yellow, though, is great. I also love how forsythia grows. Crazy. My friend and I used to have some faux forsythia in a pot in our apartment back in the day. We donned it, "The monster plant". A lot of people trim their forsythia like bushes, but I like it when people let it grow free and wild: 

Source

Like this. Yes.

 Seeing that bright yellow bush starting to bloom was exciting.

I love how quick spring happens, too. I feel like the grass got greener and trees had burst into full bloom over night. 

Here's some forsythia-themed ideas I might be doing if I had any time whatsoever to do them. :) Enjoy.

Forsythia Easter Baskets by allyou.com

Forsythia Door Basket by Michelle at Sweet Something Design

Forsythia Love Frame found on Inspired By This

Spring Mantel by Four Generations One Roof

Love, love, love.

Are you sweating already? We are around here. Our temps don't say spring at all. They say summer. 

I'm not upset about it, but, I mean, open the pool already.

I hope all is well with you. Next week our Spring Break starts and I could not be more excited. 4 more school days! 

St. Patrick's Day Projects Round Up

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a quick round up of my St. Pat's Day projects of the past(from top left): 

Lucky Wreath, Leprechaun Pants, Embellished Frames, Button Covered Earrings, Scrappy No-Sew Flower 

I guess I could have maybe written this post earlier in the month, so you could actually make some of these great projects, but, well, shew. My life is too cray right now. Yep. Cray. As in cray cray. :) Report cards, grad school assignments, tutoring a student twice a week, grad school assignments, the distraction of beautiful weather, grad school assignments...see a pattern? I promise that once I'm done (in APRIL!!!), I will be better. Promise. I hope to have some good things for you this week...maybe an outfit post like I had discussed the possibility of here? We'll see. 

Hope you have a happy weekend!! Go have a green beer for me. 

I'll be on the couch, typing away. 

My Favorite Things Thursday-Spring Edition!

Happy Weekend, everyone!

 I hope you're doing something fun and exciting. We've got basketball on at our house (Go Cats!) and I'm taking a tiny break from grad school homework to write this post, but I'll have to devote my life to it again here very soon. Please tell me you're doing something more fun than homework. I'd like to live vicariously through you, please.

Well, as you can see My Favorite Things Thursday didn't go up on Thursday so here we are on Saturday. I had an assignment due Thursday night. I didn't wait til the last minute or anything. No, I would never do that....

Here's my St. Patrick's Day/Spring edition of My Favorite Things Thursday with a great kids idea thrown in at the end. 

I hope you enjoy! 

Be sure to click over and see more pictures and ideas from these talented ladies!!

And, just a friendly reminder, if you PIN anything from this post, PLEASE be sure to click on the original link and pin from there. It'll save you time in the future finding the project and it's the respectful thing to do!! 

St. Patrick's Day Party by Mindy and Crystal at Creative Juice

Wowee wow. LOVE this party. The streamer rainbow is SO fantastic. (Might have to make us a sweet little bulletin board at school sometime using that great idea!!) The fruit kebobs with the tiny ribbons on top are super fun. Just love. You really have got to go check out all these pictures. 

Leprechaun Crunch by Lindy at Itsy Bitsy Paper

Uhhhhh. Yum. Right? Look at all that goodness piled on there. Want some now. Go get that recipe, quick!

Framed Bunny Silhouette  by Bonnie and Trish at Uncommon

This little bunny frame is so sweet. I love it for Easter and how cute would it be in fun colors for a nursery? The cut out frame attached to the back is a nice touch. Go check out her tutorial!

Faux Chenille Bunny Turorial  by Abby at Sew Much Ado on U Create

Oh my I love this. What a great baby gift. And while it looks complicated, it really isn't. I just love faux chenille projects, too. Doesn't it look so comfy and cuddly?!! 

Spring Moss Wreath Vignette  by Jen at Tatertots and Jello

I saw this the other day and I knew I just had to include it this week. This picture is so happy and springy, it's crazy. Love the chevron yellow chair. LOVE the moss wreath on the re-purposed window. And, of course, the bunting in different sizes is too cute. I think I need to make some tiny triangle bunting soon. Her sweet pup makes the picture, too, I think. :)

Spring Hutch by Jen at CraftOManiac

I really love Jen's spring hutch. The colors are so great and I love the unique centerpiece idea and the chalkboard. Be sure to click over and see more great pics!

Console TV Makeover by Telisa and Sarah at Sugar Tot Designs

Found this gem on Pinterest. Pinned immediately. This used to be an old old console TV. What a great little nook for kids to play in. Can you tell they LOVE it?! What lucky girls they are to have a mom who can see the potential for endless fun in that old TV! 

If you were featured, grab a button if you like!!

<center><a href="http://missloviecreations.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g400/tankandtink2/featuredon-button1.png"/></a></center>

I hope you enjoyed this week's My Favorite Things Thursday!! 

Have a great weekend! 

Truffula Tree Kids Craft Tutorial and The Lorax Door Reveal!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! 

In this post you will find my Dr. Seuss classroom door decorations and a tutorial on a cute little Truffula Tree craft for kids! 

So I really really really love The Lorax book. 

source

It's such a great story. I was so surprised by how many people I've heard lately say they've never read it, too. Go read it! I am SO pumped for the movie to come out. I'm hoping to go see it soon! No, I don't have kids. Yes, I love animated movies. What?

When my hall at school decided to do a door decorating contest for Dr. Seuss' birthday I knew what book I had to do. the kids are actually supposed to pick their favorite....but, well, I kind of picked mine. Sorry kids. I knew they'd love my idea, though and since the movie was coming out, I thought they'd be at least a little more familiar with The Lorax, at least.  

So here's our door. The final product. :) 

I'm kind of in love. It's hard to see (1. because it's hard to take pictures of an entire door, and 2. I don't have permission to show you the kids' faces anyway) but the pictures are of all my students with a Lorax mustache and eyebrows I made, cut out, holding their own Truffula Tree they made. 

Here's a close up of me on the door with my Truffula Tree

Keep reading! At the bottom of this post is a tutorial on how to make your own cut out and Truffula Tree! 

So the kids' pictures are way cuter than mine. One of my kids could totally pass as the Lorax. Hilarious.

We are all sporting this fabulous mustache and eyebrows. I found this tutorial and whipped it up the morning before school the day we took all the pictures. Instead of using a stick to hold up the mustache I used elastic. I figured this would be easier for the kids. Especially since they had to hold their imaginary tree in the photoshoot. 

I made the eyebrows for fun too. I made both eyebrows and mustache using no-pill felt (on sale!) the same way the tutorial says except I placed some card stock in between the two layers when sewing so the mustache and eyebrows would have more stability. I just used regular tape to attach the eyebrows. We just needed them to stick for the picture so it worked fine.  

I just love that Lorax guy. :) 

I traced both the Lorax and Onceler below using a projector with a black magic marker on construction paper. Then I cut them out and glued them in their spots on the door. I simply backed our Lorax friend with a strip of cardboard so he would stand up and pop out of the Truffula Tree. 

 The Onceler's window is actually purple like it is in the book. Not sure why it's showing up pink here.

I free handed the large Truffula Tree, and free-cut the letters of "The Lorax". The 3rd and 4th graders voted and we'll find out next Friday who won the contest! I'll keep you updated!

I hope you love it as much as I do! 

Click on over to my teacher friend's kindergarten blog, Ketchen's Kindergarten, to see more Dr. Seuss Door ideas! 

Now. Want to make your own little Truffula Tree? 

I know Dr. Seuss' birthday is over, but this would make a fun craft at a Dr. Seuss themed birthday party or just a fun craft after you go see the movie! 

If you wanted to get really crazy, you could make the Lorax mask and eyebrows like we did and take pictures and send pictures with truffula trees home with kids at a birthday party. How fun! 

 This craft is definitely easy enough for 5 year olds to make. Some of my kids had trouble fluffing the "Truffula tuft" at the end, but they'd get the hang of it easy with a little help

 Materials:

bright colors of tulle (I bought half a yard of 5 colors and it was more than enough for 20 kids)

2 pipe cleaners (the stripey ones came from JoAnn's)

Twist the pipe cleaners together.  

 Cut a 6x6 or 8x8 (depending on  how big you want your Truffula tuft to be) square of tulle. In the picture above there are about 8 layers. This is the amount I used for my kids. For the one I made myself (in this post), I used double that-16.

 While keeping layers somewhat together (it doesn't have to be perfect at all), fold it like a fan and keep it pinched. 

Fold the twisted pipe cleaners around the fanned tulle.  

 And then twist it closed very close to the bottom of the fan. 

 Please don't judge my chipping nail polish! 

 To create the fluffy Truffula tuft, pull out the layers of tulle one by one and fluff it! 

This idea is adapted from this Mother's Day Flower tutorial and Martha's Tissue Paper Pom Poms tutorial.

 To make the fun picture of you holding the Truffula Tree, take a picture of you (or your child) holding a pretend tree and cut it out. 

 Place the tree behind your hand, and voila! 

 To adhere it to our door, I used a glue stick for the picture and hot glued the Truffula Tree. 

Yay! 

Have fun making Truffula Trees! 

and remember, 

Thanks for reading! 

Linking to the parties on my sidebar.

Decorate Your Door for Dr. Seuss-Sneak Peek

There will be no My Favorite Things Thursday this week.

There's just too much going on! Tomorrow, however, I will most definitely post about what my kindergarten class is doing to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, which is tomorrow. We have been reading Dr. Seuss books all week. And our class has entered a door decorating contest that highlights our favorite book. 

Can you guess which book we picked by what we have done so far?

It's not finished, of course, but I'm excited to show you the final project. 

And maybe even share a couple Dr. Seuss-themed crafts, too! :) 

What are you doing to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday with your kids? 

I'd love to hear! I'm always searching for new ideas!