Delightfully Random: school projects

Friday, January 13, 2012

Desk makeovers, bulletin boards and homeschool fun!

So, remember back in September of last year, I posted about finding this beauty here? =)

Well, then we had to move across the country before I could put everything together that I had envisioned but finally it's finished and looks more like this:

After a good paint job and hardware from Anthropologie, the desk was finished. Then I bought a $10 dollar bulletin board at Target and got the square shelves and chair from Ikea.
The bulletin board needed some help, though. I realized why it was so cheap...the cork came off very easily. My good friend LeAnn over at The Modest Homestead had a post last month about a fabric covered bulletin board that I thought was absolutely adorable. I tweaked it just a tad and instead of covering the whole bulletin board with fabric so the border didn't show I used upholstery tacs right up against the border.

I love the finished look! It's so easy to staple or tape things to her bulletin board now and I don't have to worry about the cork peeling off. =) Thanks LeAnn!

Now, the really fun part. It's January but Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I wanted to try to find a bulletin board idea that I could at least leave up til March or so. I found a cute idea at First Grade Blue Skies for a Snowology bulletin board. And the snowman or should I say...girl...was wearing red, so I thought it would be cute for Valentines as well. =)

Basically, 'snowology' is a term to describe anything that has to do with snow. So, I posted different facts about snow like their unique shapes and texture. I added a little history lesson about the worst blizzard that Colorado has seen...since (1913), cautions about the snow, and some fun facts, too.

Now when this school year started I did not own a laminator or a Cricut but now I see how useful these things are for creating bulletin boards. My free-hand abilities were not 'cutting' it. No pun intended. ;) I found a good deal on a mini Cricut and love it. It will cut any shape out for you and I liked this model because I only do occasional scrapbooking and school projects. I used it for making the letters in snowology and the informational flashcards.
Then I laminated everything so it would be sturdier and last longer. I used the laminator pictured below. You can find one on Amazon for about 20 bucks give or take.