Fairytale/Book-Themed Art Classroom Tour

 Hey guys, today I have a few photos to share of my easy fairytale book-aesthetic art classroom with an overview of how I made some of the decorations in case you want to make some, too. 

In the bathroom I hung a moss mirror, which I made by simply pulling moss out of our yard and hot-gluing it on. Surprisingly, it stayed green all semester. I used brown Dollar Tree packaging paper to cut out some of the banner and quote shapes, then drew on them with brown markers. The banner was made from old books and fabric strips I cut and tied into tassels (I had the fabric on hand). 

Behind my desk I hung up all of the papers and cards students gave me throughout the semester. On the opposite side by the white board, I created a "quote wall" where I hung up the wise words my students said. My students seemed to really enjoy contributing to the quote wall. I am definitely going to continue that next year. I was given vines for my birthday, so I pinned those around my whiteboard and stuck up golden cardboard stars I made for past events a long time. I have collected lots of fake plants over the years from gifts, sales, and such which I used in both the classroom and bathroom. The banner above my desk was made from thrift store yarn turned into tassels (you just wrap it around a book or something, tie the top and trim the bottom) and wooden Dollar Tree blocks I hot-glued between each tassel. I got pumpkins for later in the fall from a local store that sells new items for cheap, so they were like 10 cents each. I bought the string lights and lamp last year from Walmart and thrift stores. I originally decorated the window but ended up taking it all down. The sign on the door was a moss wreath from a thrift store I tied yellow fabric to. I cut out butterflies from an old book and hot glued them on, along with another brown paper banner. I did not make the bulletin board décor, a super creative and talented colleague designed and made that with a Cricut machine. 

I hope to share my Christmas décor soon (and yes, I already decorated on November 1st as is my routine). Thank you for stopping by! 

-Lauryn 

Jacob's Music-Themed Graduation Party

 Hello everyone, here is one of many, many events from a while back (this was from June) I am trying to get caught up on. This was a surprise graduation party for my brother themed around his passion, music. It was not as big and grand as I hoped, but I did what I could. I had tons of help from friends and family who deserve credit for many of the great puns, who helped with the photo display, favors, displays, balloons...actually everything. (Thank you Jessica, Bernice, Robert, Edwin, Mont, Lillie, Morgan and Hayden!) They did a great job of setting up. I was foolish and made the mistake of putting out a record to sign (and forgot the pen to sign it with) in the sun, so that melted into a weird,  crumpled shape. I also used candles as part of the party favors. Shockingly, they too melted in the approximately ninety-eight degree weather and ruined the favor bags. The beautiful cupcakes came from our local Cornelia Sugartopia (I don't remember if the toppers were from somewhere else, though). Despite some chaos and mistakes on my part, I think my brother had a great time. The color scheme was mainly gold, dark blue, with some added pops of dark red and black. 

Thank you for visiting! I hope this at least gives you some pun ideas for any music graduates you might know!

-Lauryn

"Reach for the Stars" Graduation Party

Hello, everyone! Today I am excited to share my cousin's graduation party. I wanted to do something original, like others on Pinterest have, such as the ones I found online, including "The World is Your Market" (Farmer's Market theme), "Donut Forget Me" (Donut theme), and "Down the Rabbit Hole" (my favorite!). For mine last year, I created a book-themed graduation party (see here). After a lot of brainstorming, I came up with a "Reach for the Stars" theme. The color scheme was pale purple, light pink, navy or sapphire blue, gold, and silver. I've always wanted to do an astronomy party, so I had fun with it. Every banner, sign, placecard, and hanging decoration was handmade. I watercolored everything with purple and pink hues. The stars were just recycled cardboard painted gold. The star balloons were from Amazon. I made the round wreath by wrapping a hula hoop with blue fabric shreds and gluing on a hand-painted poster cut into a banner. I embellished it with branches that I partly painted with gold or silver paint and a white rose. The moon was made with stick-on vinyl I had bought a long time back for $0.50 on cardboard. I used my tye-dyed fabric as a photo backdrop. My grandparents made the cake. If you're wondering, the cake was also celebrating her 18th birthday which was the same week she graduated. I made up the poem that goes with what I called her "Dream Jar", and it says: "We wish upon our star / as she prepares to shoot afar / Placed in the jar, each written line / is a wish that will help her shine." The guest would write wishes/advice and leave it in her jar. I painted constellations on the mini globe, and for the party favors I invented "Star Dust Sugar Scrub" which I will share in more detail in a future post. The flowers were beautiful and fresh on Saturday, but I left them out Sunday morning until late afternoon, so they sadly wilted. They were really pretty before though, and I bought them at the Clarkesville Farmer's Market from my favorite florist. The business is called Currahee Gardens, so if you ever need flowers, check it out. Since I had almost all of the supplies on hand, the total cost was maybe $2 plus the bouquet. 

I took as many photos as I could, but unfortunately I did not capture the main meal and side dishes. Anyway, I think the graduate enjoyed it and the weather was fair, so I would call it a success. I hope you enjoyed and look forward to sharing more with you soon!

-Lauryn