Heidi's Crafting Mecca

TOO CUTE for words! I am loving this brand new stamp set SWEET CENTERS from Stampin' Up! Here, I used the hot air balloon images and filled the plastic sweet treat cup with SKITTLES! I have two young nieces and I am sure they would love a card that is full of candy treats. Imagine the possibilities of what you can do with this! I teach second grade at a school which promotes very healthy eating--trying to think of what I could put in here that is yummy and healthy. Or some sort of school supplies...any ideas? Post them in the comments section of this blog. I would love to hear them!
Stay tuned for another card using this set--so cute! And check out the blog of the amazing,Carolyn Serviss and remember to leave tons of comments. We LOVE hearing them!

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la...
Here is another Christmas card using amazing products from the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini. I was inspired by a card that I saw online and decided to embrace the design.
I LOVE the new Delightful Decorations Stamp Set and the Ornament Punch! I was able to stamp the ornaments and use the punch to quickly punch them out. The picture looks like I may have done a masking technique to get the ornaments to look like one is on top of the other. BUT, I punched them out and used dimensionals to layer the top ornament on top of the other two ornaments.
My friend and downline, Pat, told me that she saw how someone used the punch online to make a flower. They cut out five ornaments and glued them together like flower petals. How cool and very versatile!
I would LOVE to hear your comments and remember to check out the rest of my blog! Once you finish, please check out Carolyn's Blog by clicking Carolyn Serviss

I am so excited to be able to introduce this elegant and SIMPLE card as my first project of the RemARKables Blog Tour! This card uses the Textured Impressions Folder called Petals-a-Plenty and the GORGEOUS Sleigh Bells Ribbon! Both of these items can be found in the BRAND NEW (drool-worthy) HOLIDAY MINI CATALOG!

The stamp set is one of the stamps found in the Level One Hostess Set called Holiday Best! I love the elegant lines and really enjoyed coloring the stamp with our markers!

I would love to hear from you so please take a moment and leave a comment. You can do this by clicking on COMMENTS up near the title of this particular blog posting! After visiting me, please check out the amazing blog of Carolyn Serviss. I had the opportunity to meet Carolyn recently--she is not only extremely creative but a really kind and genuine person. Click this link to check out her blog! Carolyn Serviss

Many of you have written to me excited to see the "after" pictures of our classroom! After many, many hours of work (I would actually be afraid to add it all up)--here is our new DREAM Charter School Classroom!

This is a view of our Science/Social Studies area as well as our Writing Center. This will all take form as the year begins and we hang more around it on the walls. Notice the nice, calm curtians! I love adding curtains to a classroom to take away that very institutional look of the windows. Curtains and plants can really make a classroom look more homey!

This is our MATH CENTER. We saw pictures of it from yesterday. Things were all over the place just a week before this picture was taken. This center is next to lots of board space for many charts, kids work and photos of us doing math.

Our classroom door is covered with cute, colorful animal cutouts. YES! That IS how many kids will be entering through that door in less than 48 hours from now...now, THAT is a reality check!

This picture is an overview of our classroom. You can't see some of it because it's on the other side of the room. This picture is taken from the classroom door! What a nice way to enter your school day.

The children will sit here for much of their instruction. Sometimes, we will be on the squares and other times we will be in a circle. LOTS of time will be spent here!

This is another picture of the rug area with some great visuals that Brooke made. She is really quite an artist which is so amazing for our kids.

This is a look at the entrance of our room. Everything has it's place and the colors are very relaxing. You will notice lots of open bulletin board space just waiting for charts, visual and kids' work! I envision tons of artwork and projects all over the space.

We used a very calming color scheme--mostly purple, blue, orange and green. This back meeting area (for smaller group work) is on a sage green rug. We think these are great colors to surround the kids.

This is our library-the nucleus of our classroom. Inside is a couch where you can visit our PEACE CORNER. This is great for kids that might be having a rough moment and need some "cool down" time. Our Director of Instruction said that when she walks into our room she sees it as a calm place where books are very important! PERFECT! That is exactly what we had in mind! I would love to hear comments about our room! If you are a teacher, be sure to check back as I will be blogging throughout the year about projects and changes to our room. You don't want to miss it!

This school year, I am starting a brand new adventure at DREAM Charter School in East Harlem, New York City. If you click here, you can actually read my staff bio on the website. There are some really amazing, talented and creative people working at this school. It is a new situation where I will have 25 students and a full-time co-teacher. I am so lucky to be working with Brooke in our classroom. She is amazing and many of the same interests--one being that she is very artist! FABULOUS! Let me walk you through our journey so far...

When I moved to DREAM from my last school, about 50 boxes of books and teaching materials came with me. They were stored in the basement for the summer and needed to come from the basement to the fifth floor! We have no elevator! Marty took on the task (by himself) of bringing up all of the boxes--it took him 13 hours and many blisters. BUT, everything is now upstairs! This is Marty and Brooke putting together shelves that would eventually turn into our classroom library--the nucleus of our classroom.

This is a picture of just the beginning of the "stuff" as it was coming up. There were moments when none of us were sure it would come together. We stuck together and worked as a team to make it happen.

This is the very early stages of our Math Center. We moved that stuff around so many times to make it feel "just right". Brooke and I have the same philosophy regarding the classroom environment: calmness, structure, organized and full of art and books!

This is one storage closet which no longer has those books in it. It makes me laugh to look at this pictures as so much has changed from these photos to the end results!

This picure makes me shake a little! This was at one of the heights of having things all around us. We kept saying "maybe if we JUST clear off the tables"...if only we knew how many times we would clear off those tables...