Haaave you met, Martha?

Are you fan of How I Met Your Mother? Or HIMYM as I like to call it. (I didn't coin this nickname!)

If you're not, you should be.

That's all I have to say about that.

Last year, as I was preparing to teach second grade I began brainstorming ways to spice up my classroom. My dear friend Scarlet and her (now husband) Derek came to visit Andy and I in Columbia. While talking about our schools, she showed me pictures of her classroom and introduced me to Martha Stewart's Tissue Paper Pom Poms. She gave me the how-to and we made tons! Okay, I'm lying. We only made a few, but you can crank these puppies out pretty quickly.

Parties - Martha Style

All you need to create this paper wonders are:

Tissue paper (heavy duty paper works best!)
Floral wire
Fingers
Scissors
More fingers

As usual Martha gives a pretty great step by step sequence for completing this project. Last year, my poms made a debut in my classroom and outside in the hallway. These photos were taken prior to the school year so excuse the mess. Oh, why am I explaining this? You're teachers! You understand.

Today, my fellow former Fellow (nice alliteration, eh?) Emily and I started folding away creating poms once again.  Emily decided to make a few in her school colors while I went with crazy colors (I'm exaggerating again, they aren't crazy!)

Go Eagles!

sky, plants, and sun!

You can make your poms look differently by cutting the edges. They can be spikey or scalloped. This year, I went for the spike. Last year it was a scallop. Who knows where next year will take me? Perhaps a spikey-scallop.

Well, isn't that convenient for you? And the clock.

Name that movie! 

Give up? It's the legendary White Goodman in Dodge Ball. 

If you've got a whole lot of time to kill - read the first half of my post. 

If you're short on time and want to stay sane - read the second half of my post. 

Once again, Pinterest has made me do crazy things. While on a pinning spree, I found myself in awe of this photo:

This craft was geared towards the following events: weddings and/or baby showers. Well, I've got neither coming up but I still felt compelled to create these little gems. I thought (and still think while I'm staring at them completed) these poms would like delightful in my bedroom. 

I gathered my supplies: 

paper lanterns (use the small ones!!)

glue gun

fabric

As the beautiful hand model on Once Wed demonstrates below. I started gluing away. Little did I know I would be gluing and cutting circles for-ev-er (Sandlot, anyone?)

Warning: you will lose a lot of fabric. The end result is worth it! But don't say I didn't warn you.

Her hands are prettier than mine. 

glue glue glue -- cut cut cut -- repeat

I ended up making two poms. I have a yellow and pink fabric delight hanging in my bedroom. While I was completing this project, I managed to talk to a friend during rush hour traffic in San Diego and chat with another friend while we were both Keeping Up with the Kardashians. My advice: multi-task while gluing!

maybe someday I'll make a triplet. Maybe.

Now, are you short on time and want to whip something up? Ahhhh I've got the craft for you.

Meet Tater Tots and Jello's Summer Wreath!

Using a small wreath from Dollar Tree, fabric, and glue... you can crank out this wreath in no time. 

Although, of course I had issues. It's probably because I made my wreath at 12:00 AM. My sleeping patterns are all out of whack. Anyway that's another story!

The directions say to make "pleats" with the folded fabric. I tried this and was unsuccessful. My so-called flower looked like a pile of fabric trying to be fancy. I googled "pleats" and was given very strange images. Clearly, nothing was successful. After burning my fingers one to many times on my glue gun and cursing fabric.. I switched gears. 

I will refer to this as "Fabric Flower Plan B":

I went for the good 'ol Rosette Flower. 

As I'm looking at my wreath next to my bed, I realize it needs a little something ... but I haven't quite figured out what it is. I would love suggestions!