My DIY Wedding Programs

Here's the programs we used for my wedding, I wanted pretty and cheap wedding programs. And I printed about 200 programs for about $10 total.

 

I got thick white card stock paper from Joann's with 40% off coupons. Then, I went to my college to print them off because my good friend Liz had extra prints left, and we didn't want those to go to waste! (we had 300 prints to use a year). I had to put them through the manual feed and print about 10 at a time - I think it took about an hour, but it was free! (and there was hardly anyone else in the computer lab since it was summer break!) Yes, I will do just about anything to save money where I can!!

I brought them back to my college house and my lucky roommate and bridesmaid Sarah was home so she had the privilege of folding the programs in half. I had a box of pink paper flowers that I had gotten at Michael's a few months back that I glued on each program, and then I added one of my jewels from my huge jewel bucket from Hobby Lobby! 

I love bejeweling things!!  

If you would like to use the template I used, just let me know and I will see if I can find it for you!

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6 Reasons Why Running is Bad for Your Health

Working out is bad for you. Specifically running.

I decided to compile my excuses reasons for not running and working out. Hopefully this helps un-motivate some of you, or at least feel better about your non-existent work out schedule!!

1. Running is bad for your heart. People who run often and for long amounts of time are more likely to have heart attack. Seriously, this just happened to a 29 year old man that went to my college.
2. Running is bad for your joints. Just about all of the runners I know have bad knees, have needed knee surgeries, or have serious foot problems! And this is even before they hit their thirties!
3.Running can make it more difficult to get pregnant. I have a friend who has stopped working out and is trying to gain some fat so she can get pregnant. I'm not making this up - read about it here.
4. Seriously, running makes you smell bad. Seriously - the smell of my college roommates when they would come in from a run...haha, enough said.
5. Running can make you sick. I was just talking to one of my teacher friends today, who told me she has gotten bronchitis almost every winter, but hasn't yet this year...she said probably because she's not out running in the cold!
6. You could slip and fall and hurt yourself. This one is specific to running on slippery areas - listen to your local lifeguards - no running!

So, feel good about yourself for not running, and yes, grab that bowl of cookies-n-cream ice cream instead - you deserve it!

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Let's get together, yeah yeah yeah...

So this is kinda a bittersweet moment.

First let me get excited: I have 95 followers via GFC!! YAY! Thank you everyone who is following my blog - you make me feel SO special and I love hearing from you all!
Now here's where I get kinda sad - so apparently GFC is going away in a couple of days...and that means I'm might lose some of you amazing people!

So...can we stay bloggy friends? Follow me some other way(s)!!!

Facebook

Twitter

Bloglovin 

Linky Tools

Email

RSS feed

So many options, hope you find one that works well for you! Thanks for re-following!

Oh, and let me know how else I can be following you!!! :) I hope we can stay connected!!!

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Teaching Multiplication and Division

Update 10/18/12: This post has been moved to my *NEW* special ed blog, Breezy Special Ed. Head on over to see this post on Teaching Multiplication and Division. 

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The Thumbtack Thief

Update 10/18/12: This post has been moved to my *NEW* special ed blog, Breezy Special Ed. Head on over to see this post on The Thumbtack Thief.

 

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My New and Beautiful Necklace Display

Finally, my necklaces have a nice home! Check it out!!!

 I showed you back in July how I was keeping my necklaces "organized." Well, here's what my necklaces (still looked like) until this week!

Not so pretty, I know. Well, I finally did something about it!

I had Monday off from school and used about an hour to create my new necklace holder! If only I knew it was going to be so easy! 

I had these frames given to me. I wasn't a fan of the artwork, so I had no problem covering it up! However, it was very time consuming to get the artwork out since it was stapled in...but I succeeded, with just a little broken glass.  

I wanted to use some cute scrapbook paper for the background but my frame was too large, so I used some extra contact paper that I had picked up from the dollar store! All I did was stick the contact paper on the back of the artwork - so easy!  

Then I had to pound the artwork - backwards - back in place, which was much easier than before since I didn't have to worry about breaking any glass! Now, I have my lovely framed contact paper and just needed to add a way to hold up the necklaces!

I had fun with this! I used my favorite bucket of jewels from Hobby Lobby and glued them onto the front of clear thumbtacks.

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And I did a few extra to bring some bling to my bulletin boards at school!

  

So back to holding my necklaces, I pushed the thumbtacks right in - and they went past the cardboard, but it all works out because it sits that far off the wall anyway. Sooo, what do you think?  

I'm loving my bling holders! And my necklaces - maybe now that they are displayed so pretty I'll wear them more often!

 

Let's break down the price:

• Frame: gifted (FREE!)
• Contact paper: from the Dollar Tree - leftover from a previous project (I used about 1/5 of a full roll - so $.20)
• Clear Thumbtacks: from Hobby Lobby $1.20
• Jewels: from Hobby Lobby - leftover from wedding projects (the amount I used - maybe $.30)
• Hot Glue: I didn't even have to put a new stick in (maybe $.05)

Total cost: $1.75!!!

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Our Craiglist Bedroom Furniture

For today's Thrifty Thursday post I would like to show you our bedroom set

My thrifty tip of the day: check out craigslist...and often! We searched craigslist for a couple of months before we found something we wanted that was also in our price range. Craigslist is really great for furniture, because you can get really high quality stuff while paying even less that you would in a store for pieces that are not as expensive!

You can see most of the items in these two pictures! It's a bit of a tight squeeze in our apartment right now, but it works! We got the queen sized cherry bed, the dresser and mirror, the armour, and two nightstands for $500, which is a lot less than what were we considering paying on cheaper (and fewer) items!

Oh, are you wondering why we have one nice night stand and the other is a dinky plastic one? Haha, the other nightstand is currently serving as an end / coffee table in our living room.

  

The comforter set, the bench, and the lamp were all wedding presents!

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Wedding Guestbook Sign and Poem

Last week I posted my photo/journal wedding guestbook - hope you had a chance to look at it!

Here's the Guestbook sign / poem that I created to put up at the table.

 So I was very creative the couple of nights before my wedding - I think it was because I didn't have a lot of time to think, I just had to do! Here's our little Wedding Guestbook Poem:

"Say something sweet

Or say something funny.

Give us advice...or give us some money

Make some predictions,

We'll see whose rings true.

We can't wait to read them

As soon as you're through!"

The frame is Mikasa - Love Story. And the font I used here is Fiolex Girls - I love those hearts!!!

And if you missed it - check out the pages our guests wrote on here!

So, it might be cheesy, but I wrote it and I used it - and you might like to as well! If you use my words (or even if I inspired you to write your own) please let me know, I'll feel so honored!!

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How to Save a Life - Give Up a Cup of Coffee - and Donate Water

Give Up Something + Donate Water = Save Lives

I was surprised to hear my pastor on Sunday preach on the same topic that I blogged about last week Tuesday, the same topic that has been on my heart. (You can listen to the sermon here - February 19th) God definitely knows how to make a point!

In case you missed it, last week I blogged about helping the poor. I challenged myself to buy something to donate to the food pantry each time I went shopping - I remembered one time this week and I will continue that challenge for myself!

This week I'm taking the challenge I received at church and passing it on to you as well! Sacrifice something this week that you usually get for yourself (ex. a movie ticket, Starbucks, ect.) and put that money to help provide clean water for those who need it. Do you know that every day, around 5,000 people—most of them children—die from dirty water? How sad is that! You can help by donating to Turn on the Tap (by Samaritan's Purse) to help give water...and life to someone who needs it!

Here's some encouragement for helping the poor: Proverbs 28:27 says that "He who gives to the poor will lack nothing."

Also, last week I talked about how it can be overwhelming, thinking of all those in need and it can be discouraging that we can only do so much. Well, here's another interested point: When Jesus was on earth, he could have decided to heal everyone in the world, but he didn't.

Jesus healed people ONE at a time. If Jesus started with helping one individual at a time, so can we!

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A Facebook "Wall" for my Classroom

Update 10/18/12: This post has been moved to my *NEW* special ed blog, Breezy Special Ed. Head on over to see this post on A Facebook Wall for my Classroom.

 

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Bears Bean Bag Boards - painting designs using an overhead!

This is actually a trick that I learned while student teaching with the teacher who is now across the hall from me. I wanted to paint some Chicago Bears symbols on our bean bag boards for my hubby for Christmas, but I'm not artistic at all - as much as I try to be! So, here's how I made it work.

I printed a Chicago Bears symbol and then placed a transparency on top of it. I then traced the design onto the transparency. Then I was able to project the image right onto the boards! That gave me a guideline to use while painting (and made it look like I knew what I was doing!)

For the first one I did I traced it in pencil first - which was stupid. You can see the pencil marks - and if you leave the projector on the entire time, there really is no need.

 

And one more hint if you are going to do something like this. Go slow. I rushed it and had to spend a lot of time fixing it up - which is really never that fun! But I'm happy with the way they turned out! And Kevin likes them as well!!

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Thrifty Thursday: Plato's Closet - $1 clearance event!

Welcome to thrifty Thursday! 

See all the items in the picture below? I only paid seven dollars for everything here! You can't even do that well at thrift stores! :)

Plato's Closet has a $1 clearance sale twice a year when all clearance items are only a dollar!

The items I got included 4 dresses, express jeans, lucky jeans, and a Columbia coat!

Check your Plato's Closet to see when they have their $1 sale! The Chicagoland Plato's Closets will have another $1 sale July 7th and 8th.

Here's my haul from this past summer sale- including express jeans, gap jeans, and seven jeans, express and forever 21 shirts, and - of course - more dresses!

And here I am wearing my $2 outfit for the night! Back in the summertime...

Have you ever been to a Plato's dollar clearance event? Be sure to mark your calendars for the summer!!

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Wedding Photo Guestbook

DIY Photo/Journal Wedding Guestbook

Today I'm going to share with you my Wedding Guestbook. It was awesome, and so not normal (I love not being normal!) I wanted something fun, something I would want to look through in the future. I loved the ones by the Guestbook Store...but didn't want to pay that much for one - and I wanted a place for our guests to put their own picture. Here's what the expensive one from the Guestbook Store looks like:

So, I created my own pages to be printed off on an 8x8 piece of paper that guests would fill out. They had a spot to write their name, how they knew us, and anything else that they wanted to say. There was also a place for their picture. Here's what mine looked like:

I printed my pages on colorful thick paper that I had gotten on clearance at Michael's because at the time, white just seemed so boring! White would have been a cheaper choice though, as all the refill page protectors came with white sheets in them anyway!

So guests stopped by the guestbook table at the reception and filled out a page! I love how it turned out! Our photographer had a booth set up later in the night where (most) guests got their picture taken to be added in the book later.

I got the scrapbook at Michael's with a 40% off coupon. I also got extra pages with 40% off coupons! I don't have an exact price, but I'll give you an estimate

Scrapbook with 40% off coupon - $8
3 packs of Fancy Colored Paper on clearance - $6
5 sets of 10 Refill pages w/ coupons - $13
Pictures - Free at Walgreens
Ink to print pictures - Free (used my Dad's printer! And it didn't take up too much ink)

Total estimated cost: $27

Here's what it looks like now that it is all complete! LOVE!

What did you use for your wedding guestbook? I'd love to hear about it!

Like my guestbook? Remember it! Pin it!

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Helping those around us

A few weeks ago I started a Bible study by Beth Moore on the book of James. It's called Mercy Triumphs.

I've really been hit hard about the part that talks about remembering the poor and caring for those in need.

It's actually pretty easy to start feeling guilty for everything that we have been blessed when we think of other people who were born into different situations where they might not be able to find food every day. I like how Beth Moore addresses these thoughts. She says, "Guilt is useless. Giving is priceless."

Take a look at James 1:27 - "Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world." (The Message)

Also check out James 2:14-17, "My friends, what good is it to say you have faith, when you don't do anything to show that you really do have faith? Can that kind of faith save you? If you know someone who doesn't have any clothes or food, you shouldn't just say, "I hope all goes well for you. I hope you will be warm and have plenty to eat." What good is it to say this, unless you do something to help? Faith that doesn't lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead!" (CEV)

So how can you reach out to the homeless or those in need this week? I'm challenging myself to buy something to donate to our local food pantry each time I shop for groceries for myself.

And Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!!

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Classroom Update - 6 months into the year!

Update 10/18/12: This post has been moved to my *NEW* special ed blog, Breezy Special Ed. Head on over to see this post on Classroom Update - 6 months into the year!.

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My Blogging Schedule

Alright...I admit I'm not a very good blogger, as I'm just noticing that my last post was almost a month ago, but I want to be! I have all of these ideas I want to share, I just need some motivation. So, I'm going to give myself a schedule. I teach special education - I'm really good at following schedules! Ooo, and maybe I'll treat myself to Starbucks if I follow my schedule :)

I was going to just start with 3 days...but you know what they say, "go big or go home!" So here's my 5 day weekly schedule!

Mondays - Teaching  - I'll show you around my classroom, and share all of the fun things we do! (I'm thinking of the song, "just another manic Monday...")
Tuesdays - Just Thinking - Randomly what's on my mind. I hope to share some things I learn from my Monday night Bible studies!
Wednesdays - Wedding Tips & Ideas - I love sharing what I did for my wedding, and hopefully I can help some of you brides out there with ideas.
Thursdays - Thriftiness - Ways I've saved money (and maybe ways you can too!)
Fridays - Crafty time - Obviously, when I get to show off fun crafty things!

Does that sound good to all of you? Let's see how this goes!!

(I think I need better titles for some of my days - let me know if you have any suggestions!)

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