Writing Process Pencil Chart

A teacher friend of mine saw a Writing Process Pencil Chart on Pinterest and asked if I would be able to make one for her classroom. 

Any chance to craft is good enough for me. I wanted to make it as much like a real pencil as possible. So off to Michael's I went...found some great supplies:

   - Veneer Craft Sheet
   - Black "Graphite" Craft Paper
   - Yellow Card Stock (poster size)
   - Silver Foil Craft Paper (with lines)
   - Red Foam Sheet (adhesive backed)
   - Label Templates
   - Black and White Striped Paper (Martha Stewart - Elegant Witch Collection)
   - Permanent Double Sided Tape, Scissors, etc...

I started out by stretching the templates to elongate them. I found a great free font online (My Own Topher). Nice format, big and readable. Put them together for a streamlined look. Although I thought the Free Write section just screamed for a start burst! 

The labels for each of the processes was printed out and I cut out the black and white paper just a tad larger in the same shape, that gives it a border to stand out from the all yellow back ground. 

I decided that cutting the poster paper to and 11' width, to match the width of all the other standard paper, would be easier than cutting down every other sheet. 

The sparkly lined foil paper, wood veneer sheet, graphite-esqe craft paper tip, foam "rubber eraser". Everything was all "pencil-y" and ready to be laminated. I didn't know how the foam sheet would react in the laminator, so I left it off and cut/attached a template in it's stead, so she could adhere it to the base later. 

Now put it all together and what have you got? An great looking writing process chart ready for her class room! (if I do say so myself :))

Mural Mural on the Wall

I took on a big task recently. Painting a friend of a friends nursery for their upcoming baby girl. Really excited about the project, I put all my resources together, dusted off the cobwebs of my mind and put on my thinking cap. We were able to get together and work on some ideas. Ribbon, fabric samples, other murals she'd seen. Mom to be even had a look-book. Pregnancy can be so cute. We started off on the beachy theme.

This was the first idea I came up with, we were going with dots and tropical flowers, something uber-girly. 

Pardon the blurry iPhone photos.

A couple more embellishments and we really had a theme going, until inspiration hit...she wanted preppy/beachy. Here's what we came up with.

 Everything has to start somewhere, with crisp lines and just the right amount of tropical flourishes, we had a template. Now to the fun part, taking it from paper to product. Results... Let me know what you think! 

*Be prepared for some bold color choices*

Ta-Dah! After two weekends of hard work, measuring, painting and "fluffing". We had one cute nursery, one happy mommy-to-be, and one tuckered painter. But it was all worth it.