Budget crunch gift idea

I was in a serious budget crunch at Christmas time. We had some MAJOR car bills (we're talking multiple thousands) come up right before Christmas which ate into our Christmas fund. So I was on the hunt for BARGAINS. And when I say bargains, I mean...what can I make for next to nothing?

So here was one solution...a Christmas decoration for my sister. I think it turned out really cute. In these pictures, it still needs an "M" (for Meyer) as the tree trunk. I decided not to put a star on the top, but you could if you wanted. I couldn't find any that weren't cheesy.

 

 

I made this out of fence post wood slats. About $2.50 from Home Depot for a 5 or 6 foot post. I already had the three pieces as left-overs from a fireplace project, but you only need one board, cut into 12 inch strips. Here are the steps I took:

1-cut the angled edges off (and cut into 12 in. pieces if you need to)
2-stain

3-cover with painters tape to make the chevron
4-stain again with the tape on, to make the pattern
5-screw on a piece of bracket on the back to keep the pieces together

6-glue on the ornaments
7-screw in eyelets on top and insert wire

 

8-add twine bows or accents to the eyelets if you want

Now, I had most of these items at home, so I only had to buy the ornaments for $3 at Michaels. But if you had to buy everything, it would still cost you less than about $15.

I want to make another one, but with the next one, I plan to make the pieces longer, and add an arrow with the word "Permberly". There are a TON of ideas you could use. A heart for Valentines, Eggs for Easter, a simple initial, a plain arrow, an ampersand, (what is it about ampersands that are so cool?) vinyl letters,  you name it.

Thanks for reading!

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Easy long range planning

Do you know Linda Kamp? She is awesome. I love her products and her blog posts. Helpful, to the point, engaging. I read her latest, and it taught me a new Pinterest tip. Organize the school year pins by month!  You can't do that for all of your teaching pins, but it's great for those that work! I think it will really make planning my year easier.

Also, being Jan. 2nd, with school a mere 2 days away, it's time to start planning. I'll be honest, I HATE writing lesson plans. Mine are pretty involved, and that's important to me but I need to find a way to enjoy writing them and find passion in my planning! I'm not sure that's possible, but today I came across Linda's January Pinterest board, and a new way to use Planbook.com that I think might help. I've written before about Planbook.com, but my new way to use it: Planning units!  It allows me to create units in any class, date them, add lessons, assessments, objectives, standards, and more.

I just finished Social Studies for the rest of the year. Now I'll just need to add to each individual unit as I go. For example, I purchased 2 MLK projects at TPT, and I added them to the unit. And at Planbook.com, I can upload the unit right to my lesson plan page. So I can plan my unit, go to my weekly lesson plan, attach the items I purchased, along with the unit plan I created, and boom! My week is done. And saved for the next year to tweak as I go. I can also add a link to my monthly Pinterest board (or any Pinterest board) and anything pinned is right there, ready to use!

If you need planning to be a little easier, or you need to do some long term planning, Planbook.com is the way to go.


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