Heidi's Crafting Mecca

I can't believe that I am about to start my 14th year of teaching. Although I have a few years under my belt, this is only the beginning of my 3rd year teaching in New York City. I taught the last two years at PS2X in the South Bronx. What an adventure it has been! This year, I am teaching 1st Grade. We officially get underway on Thursday with Professional Development but Marty and I went into school today to start setting up the room. I emailed my fabulous principal, Alexei Nichols, this morning and told her I was SCARED of all of the boxes that I knew I would encounter. She wrote back, "ha ha be in set up mode"...I knew I was in BIG trouble!


This is what my classroom looked like when Marty and I walked in the room. It wasn't quite as bad as I had imagined! Definitely LOTS to do!

This was after a lot of work. Mart and I pulled the big furniture out of the mix of stuff in the middle of the room. Things are starting to take shape.

This is the Writing Center and the Art Center (must have one of those)! Our school is covered in scaffolding right now. You can see it out of the windows!

This area will be a Math Center and the Science/Social Studies Area. I was really lucky to have lots of furniture to move around. I like using it to define areas in the classroom.

Another view...the windows are now behind me. I will update my blog each day to show you the progress of the room. I am making lots of great papercrafts to decorate this space and make it amazing for the kids. I will post those, too...after I take a nap! ha ha

These are 3 cards that I made today with some fun and funky techniques.
I guess when I look at them, they are a bit edgy!

Stamping with
Vellum and Pastels (Chalks)
Stamp the image on vellum in black ink.
Color the design on the back of the vellum using Stampin’ Pastels.
When you mount your vellum on dark cardstock, it helps to chalk with bright colors on the back of the vellum. This way the colors will POP!

Mosaic Tile
Taken from http://www.rubberstampsclub.com

Mosaic Tile - Swipe a piece of resistant (laser or photocopy) transparency with embossing, pigment or heat set ink. Add UTEE and heat, repeat 3 - 4 times. For added interest, sprinkle in glass beads, Ultra Effects, Mini Mosaics and a variety of UTEE colors in the last layers. When totally cooled, bend the transparency to crack off pieces of UTEE. These pieces can be added to another surface and collaged together into a mosaic using Wonder Tape™ , Liquid Pearls™ or Stickles™. For best results, lay down pieces of Wonder Tape and fill in between the pieces (mortor) with our Liquid Pearls dimensional paint or Stickles dimensional glittery glue.

Salted Background
Taken from www.splitcoaststampers.com

Press the lid of your dye ink into the pad OR squirt a few drops of re-inker into the lids of your stamp pads.Spritz the glossy cardstock with water using your spray bottle.Using the Aqua Painter™, pick up some color and smear it on the cardstock. Repeat with other colors. You can do squiggles, lines, swirls, or spots of color.
Sprinkle the cardstock with salt, then spritz again with water. The colors will blend a little more now.
Allow your background to set up, either by air drying or by using a heat tool.
Next, use your fingers or a paper towel to brush off the salt crystals. A slight haze of salty water will still remain on the cardstock, which you can now use as a fun background!