Fat Quarter Shop $40 Gift Card Giveaway - CLOSED!!

*This note that this giveaway is now closed!




Do you love fabric as much as I do?

Here's your chance to win a 

$40 Gift Card

to 

Fat Quarter Shop

Fat Quarter Shop is an online fabric store with a huge selection of fabrics from top manufactorers  including; Michael Miller, Moda Fabric, Riley Blake, Robert Kaufman, Timeless Treasures, Red Rooster, RJR Fabrics, Dear Stella, and many, many more.

You can choose from jelly rolls, patterns, fat quarter bundles, fabric by the yard, etc.

Who doesn't want the chance to win such fabulous quilting quality fabric?!

I would enter, if it wasn't my blog haha.

Just look at all these beautiful choices for Valentine's Day

and how about this absolutely gorgeous quilt kit by Holly Hill Designs and A Year of Love fabric.

simply gorgeous, right?

If you are a quilter or are interested in quilting, please check out 

Fat Quarter Shop's You Tube Channel

for lots of 'how to' videos.

This giveaway contest will run until January 24, 2015 (midnight est).

To enter just follow the instructions according to Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DIY Flannel Board

I made myself a flannel board.

Flannel boards are a handy teacher tool.

They can be used for a multitude of things.

Retelling Stories

Sequencing

Patterns

Math Concepts

Colors

&

much, much more.

I wanted to purchase one to use for awhile now, but they can be pretty pricey.

I thought the next best thing to buying one was to make one of my own.

I went to a few local thrift stores to look for old funky picture frames that I could either use just the frame itself with a particle board attached or something similar.

I ended up finding an old cork board instead.

I bought some flannel and some colorful buttons to decorate the frame to make it more appealing.

cork board = $2

flannel = $2.47/yard

buttons = 3 packs/$1.50 each

paint and extra buttons (already had)

glue gun

for a total of less than $10 I made my very own flannel board

(which is actually two sided, so it's even more versatile) 

I spray painted both sides of the cork board frame

I cut the flannel just slightly larger than the cork board

I sprayed a thin line of glue along the edges using my glue gun

Next, I used a screw driver to push the fabric underneath the frame

I used my glue gun to attach some bright colorful buttons all around the frame.

I actually did this on both sides of the cork board - so my flannel board is actually double sided.

awesome!

I made some fish out of felt.

I also found some printables on line from various sources.

I printed them out and then laminated them.

I glued a small piece of velcro to the back of the printables so that they would stick to the flannel

Do you like my handy dandy laminator?

It was a Christmas gift from the kids.

I know I will get a ton of use out of it.

The Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear printables can be used for 

sequencing events 

or for retelling the story.

Dogs, Numbers, Colors and Bones

can be used for a multitude of lessons

colors, patterns, math, etc.

  

Just like my new fancy little laminator, I'm sure I will get plenty of use out of this 

little flannel board for many years to come.

It is such a fun way for children to incorporate with learning. 

what's on my reading list....

In my spare time, before my life gets overrun by textbooks again, I've been

trying to catch up on some new books.

I'm almost finished reading Teaching Outside the Box by LouAnn Johnson.

I am really enjoying this book.  It's geared more towards teaching older students, but she does provide some tips for teaching younger students as well.  She shares her classroom management plan and other ideas to make teaching and learning an enjoyable experience for both teachers and students.

Overwhelmed by Perry Noble is a book that I'm really looking forward to reading.  It deals with anxiety, stress, and feeling overwhelmed and how we can manage life and see our way through the overwhelming feelings of just trying to get by.

How Full is Your Bucket?

Since I started subbing at the pre-k's and head starts I noticed that a lot of schools have been using this bucket filling/dumping program and I wanted to read and learn more about it.  I also bought a child's version of this book to read with my children.  This is probably a program that I will utilize in the future as a teacher, so I thought it would be nice to have the children's version on hand (for my future classroom).

The First Days of School is another book about classroom management.  I read reviews that this is a really excellent source for teachers, so I thought I would read it for myself.

The Power of a Praying Wife since I am continuing on my spiritual journey, I'm embracing my role as a wife and helpmate to my husband.  Hey, I didn't get this far in my marriage without a little (ok, a lot) of help from above....and even after 22 years of marriage, there is still a lot of things that I should know and do.

In my quest to exude happiness and positivity I also plan of reading The Power of a Positive Mom and also The Power of a Positive Woman.  I really do believe that there is power in words and in emotions.  I think if you walk around feeling down in the dumps and hopeless, then you will project those feelings to those around you.  I'd much rather be known as a super, happy, almost "too happy" person, than a depressed Debbie downer....know what I mean?

I'm sure I will add other books to this list....but for now I think I'm off to a great start.

What are you reading this year? Do you have any recommendations that you think I would like?

your life matters.

I know it's new year and all and everyone is all about new beginnings and resolutions...

I usually think of my birthday as my 'new' year.

so, I usually wait and think about what I really want to accomplish

and plan that around my day.

when I turned 40 a few years ago, I made some big, huge changes to my life.

I don't regret a single one of them.

I embarked on an incredible journey of discovering who I wanted to be.

the kind of wife

the kind of mother

the kind of person God was calling me to be

the kind of friend I needed to be

I wanted to feel like my life meant something.

I know I'm a pretty big important person to my family.

but, I needed to see that for myself.

I needed to step back and take a big ol' look at myself 

I kind of didn't like what I saw when I did.

I felt like I settled in my life.

so, I set out to make those big - huge changes.

I let go of so many, many fears that held me back in my life.

I let go of my fear of failure

I let go of my fear of fear itself.

I took a huge giant leap of faith....

I prayed that God would be there to catch me if I fell.

who knew when I jumped that I would actually fly?

certainly, not me.

I quit my job that I had for eight plus years

I went back to college, after twenty years

I started my own sewing business after re-teaching myself to sew

I lost over 30 pounds of weight

I discovered a love of nature

I got a new job that I totally love, one that makes me incredibly happy

I grabbed life by the horns and rode the ride...so to speak

I got in touch with my spirituality

I prayed that God would help me to understand how much pain and suffering my husband was going through.....and then, went through my own physical pain and endured it.

I prayed that God would help me to understand the feelings of anger, doubt, frustration and helplessness of dealing with someone who is going through a major life depression - just as my husband had done for me, many years ago in the earlier stages of our marriage and what an eye opening experience it has been.

to say that I became a stronger woman, through it all, is a drastic understatement.

No matter what life (or God) threw at me....I succeeded.

I did it.

was it always easy?

um, hell no.

did I still have feelings of doubt that I let creep in?

oh yeah.

is that fear still lingering?

um, yep, you bet.

but you know what I realized....I'm worth this life that God gave me

I'm worth the love He has shown me

I'm worth every damn, darn second.

my life may never be perfect...

and I'm totally okay with that.

but I will say this....I will never give up again

I will never let the devil beat me down and make me feel worthless

I will never, ever let fear steal anything more from me.

I'm just going to continue to climb this mountain of life that God placed before me

and know that I'm not alone

that I have nothing to fear

that I can do anything

as long as I believe in myself

Life matters,,,,

Life is worth it....

Make the most of it.

It's a gift that was hand made and planned just for you.

you can do with it what you want.

you can live in a bubble and not like it

you can live in fear and denial

or

you can take a step back and look at the big picture that was painted just for you.

that path that is just waiting to be explored

I'm planning on filling my life scrapbook with

love and grace

how about you?

and someday....when I'm old and gray and bedridden

and my children and their children and perhaps, even their children

look in my 'trunk' of life (so to speak),

I want them to see what a completely amazing person and woman I was

and be pretty darn proud of me.

and think my mom, nonna, great nonna played the game of life and 

she totally nailed it!!