It's Fall Y'all

Beautiful Autumn Colors

I have been feeling crafty lately and with the chill in the air and the beautiful foliage surrounding me, I decided to spruce up the house. With dollar store pumpkins and pine cones I created a Pottery Bar inspired centerpiece. I just painted them and bedazzled with glitter. I added a bejeweled spider too! Total price= $6.25

This is my autumn mantel. I am taking inspiration from Sarah's upcoming wedding with our mercury glass ideas. It is a frivolously frugal look! From the very pricey Danforth pewter candlesticks to the mercury glass apothecary jar and gourd/pumpkin from the discount store Winners. Each $13! I added some dollar store candlesticks which I may try and paint to look like mercury glass. I printed and framed a cute Halloween subway art poster and added garland from Michaels. The two center mercury glass votive holders are from the clearance section from the grocery store.

Thinking of Summer

This Bahama Mama is ready for sipping Pina Coladas by the ocean!! In preparation for the trip I did a little shopping for Vacay 2012!

   Blue chevron ruffle dress

Hot pink V neck dress

Chevron pouch

easy, breezy lightweight scarf

 

gauzy yellow shirt

                               

                                 

                                    Lululemon headband and hair ties

What Did I Find Wednesday???

Dollarama Keator Style- Well I'm not sure why they call it a dollar store because many of my finds were $2 bucks. One was even $1.25??? Anyway...  here are some goodies. 

CARS flash cards for littles and this neat photo box to store them in.

Silicon tongs for fine motor skills or to get  bagels out of the toaster:)

Froggy finds for pond life: stretchy frogs, frog chip clips, fishing pole, flashing and floating frog

In thinking of the Pond unit, you could use the stretchy frogs as manipulatives when singing "5 Little Speckled Frogs." Who doesn't love Raffi! Just need a log and a pond/pool! The fishing pole is magnetic and would be great in the sensory bin. You could also add other pond related items with a magnet to be picked up. The fishing pole can also be used for other things like "going fishing for..."  letters, numbers, endless possibilities. The clips can be used to sort and "clip" alike things together.

Multiplication manipulatives

These pipe cleaners are to make multiplication bracelets. All you do is add plastic beads and make a multiplication sentence. The gems and foam stickers are also for groups of objects in cut-out hands for making sets in multiplication like I saw on a teacher blog.

                              

In KeatorKrafting news...

crafting scissors

 I made this spring wreath.

Brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things... made this birthday bag  filled with all of my favorites.

Easter ideas

How great would these eggs be for using with less than and greater than in math? The Dinosaur (kinda looks like an alligator) could chomp the numbers. Walmart!

Edible grass! This would be great for the "plains" on an edible map when studying geography. Walmart.

I saw this Target placemat on blogs. You can use it as a game board or program the eggs with different skills.

And while you are at Walmart  pick up some cute egg plates. Many creative ideas to use with these.

Zig Zag my Heart!

My latest fascination is with chevron patterns. I love all things chevron and have been trying to incorporate the design into my bedroom decorating ideas. I haven't had much luck in finding clothing with the pattern, but I am still hopeful! 

Great pillows 50% off!!

           

Baskets I got for $2 because they had a
 stain inside!

Perfect little purse in coral and turquoise for Bahamas!

Easter Finds

Easter goodies from the Dollar Spot! I plan on using the Hoppin' Bunnies and Wind-Up Rabbits for reviewing measurement. Students will discover how far the bunnies will hop and measure the distance in standard units as well as metric. Lessons on mean, median and mode could also be explored. I would wear the Princess Bunny ears during my small group meeting time. It would be a signal to others to not interrupt me during the group time. The spring erasers would be useful as counters, game pieces or for bingo.

Target=Love

Oh my gosh!  What great finds in the Target Dollar Spot this weekend, even though some things were $2.50. My family thinks I am a little obsessed.  I can't wait to think of clever ideas to use these purchases for!

I found many Valentine's Day craft items, decorations, erasers and plastic hearts to use as counters or game pieces. I also discovered magnetic poem words for the poetry or writing center.

They had these cute color books my daughter who teaches preschool can use in her classroom.

Math: I thought the ice cube tray could be used when teaching multiplication and the shopping list to use for money. 

And many musical instruments to gain students' attention for transitions!

I am slightly crazy about gray and yellow at the moment. Don't judge! They had these fab paper organizers, clipboard and file folders too.

I MAY just have to check out another Target to see what they have:) Happy shopping!