“Privacy Folders” (for $1.00!!)

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Becky

I’m weird. I’ll admit it. I’m one of those people that is allergic to everything. I could list all my known allergies, but honestly, do you care? Probably not. I’ll save myself a lot of typing and you a lot of yawning. Long story short, one of the things I’m allergic to is the glue that bonds the layers of cardboard together. So basically I can’t touch the corrugated part without breaking out in little blisters all over my hands.

Are you a teacher? Read on, because I came up with a fancy little hack for those expensive plastic privacy folders/desk screens our students use when they are taking tests!!!  I love the pricey ones like these from Really Good Stuff. However, I have two issues with them. One, they are bulky and I would have to have a special storage place for them in my classroom. (Insert sarcastic laugh, because I don’t have storage space I’m willing to give up.) Now, if I won the lottery, and could have my dream classroom (yes, I’d still work because I’d be bored out of my mind if I didn’t) with ample storage, I’d purchase these handy plastic dividers. They are awesome! But I am not going to win the lottery because I don’t play the lottery. So cost is my second issue with those beauties. I simply can’t afford them. They do make a less expensive version in cardboard, but remember I’m allergic to it. So that option is out for me.

The “privacy folders” I used last year were okay, but I really didn’t want to implement that exact system. (Two manila file folders stapled together. I was constantly re-stapling.) So I kept thinking what could I do to have sturdy privacy folders without giving in and ordering the cardboard dividers? Enter, my idea. The best part(s)? They are fairly sturdy AND they fold to fit in individual desks!

You will need two folders and Duck Tape for this project. I chose the sturdier laminated paper folders from Wal-Mart that are $0.37 each. I purchased 60 folders in all, and 2 rolls of Duck Tape @ $2.97/roll. So with tax, this project costs right about $1.00/student!

Step 1- Tear a strip of Duck Tape to be a tad bit longer than the folders. There is a flap of the folder (the pink edge in the first picture) that I used as my guideline for the tape.

Step 2-  Follow the edge and place the tape along the entire outer length of the folder. Line up the second folder back to back with the first folder with the taped edge. Lightly fold the tape over to the second folder and attach it in one small area just to help you line it up. Press down the entire outer length of the second folder once aligned. The folders WILL NOT TOUCH. This promotes the flexibility and ability to fold the folder to fit inside the students’ desks. (Notice the extra tape at the ends of the folders in the third picture.)

Step 3-  Fold the excess tape over onto the sticky side. Tear another strip of the tape and place sticky side to sticky side (this will be the outside of the folder) and fold the excess tape onto the other side. Now there will not be any sticky tape showing.

Step 4-  (Please excuse the dirty carpet, junk in the background, and pajama pants. This is my living room, and, well, we live in it! Plus it’s after midnight and I’m in comfy pants. So?) Now, you should have two folders taped together as one big “privacy folder.” The second picture shows you that you can individually fold the two folders, and the third picture shows how the two folders fold together into one “privacy folder.”

I am sure someone else has already come up with this technique somewhere in the world. But I can assure you, I didn’t purposely steal this idea from someone! I seriously stood in the school supply aisle tonight and figured this out. My husband can back me up, he was very bored while watching and waiting for me. But he never complained. 🙂

Hope this helps you AND saves you money! I’m excited about it! Now I have to figure out a way to keep my 2nd graders responsible for taking care of these folders…… 😉

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Witch’s Delight

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Becky

I started this wreath in August. Yes, August. I got the purple and black mesh on, then stopped. A couple weeks later, I added the green. Then I found the witch legs at Kirkland’s, but they didn’t quite “match” the “look” I was going for. So I made the hat, which led to cleaning all the purple glitter off my floor, which resulted in my disgust of the mess, so I put the hat and wreath aside for a couple weeks. All of this time I was thinking about how I could make all these colors “go” together, and I knew I had to have “the perfect” ribbon to accent the colors in the wreath. I looked wherever I could. I searched flower shops, craft stores, flea markets, garage sales, everything. Couldn’t find it. Then I found something similar to what I’d been looking for on eBay, so I ordered it. 🙂 Not too bad price-wise since it was what I was looking for, but more than I’d like to spend on ribbon. It came in, and I found an old broom craft thing (made of thin little sticks or twigs?) I’d purchased at a yard sale last year….so I painted it green with purple sparkles. It looked very, well, WRONG. So I put it aside again…. because I was tired of thinking about it. Fast forward to a couple weeks later, and I’m at one of my favorite little regional craft stores, Ellis Pottery.  Guess what I find? THE RIBBON. FOR LESS THAN I PAID. (Of course I did!) But there was some other ribbon along side it, that really coordinated well, so I bought it. I got home, added the two coordinating ribbons, the hat, the feet, and realized my broom just looked AWFUL. 😦 I set the wreath aside again. That weekend, I went to Hobby Lobby. They put their Halloween decor on sale, and out of nowhere I found this orange broom, for less than $3! Perfect! So I bought it. I got home, put the wreath all together, added some purple LED lights (That I found at Target last year 90% off!) and I was almost finished. It needed something else. I originally wanted to paint a sign similar to one I found on Pinterest… something like “Flying Lessons by Appointment Only” but didn’t really want that wording for this particular wreath. I then remembered I had this “Welcome” sign for another wreath I was making, so I used it! I think it turned out amazingly well! 🙂 It’s not for sale, not for hanging outside… just an inside wreath. I worked way too hard and way too long for this wreath to get damaged or go to another home! But if you like it, go ahead and copy my idea! Be on the lookout for all these specific pieces though, I picked them up here, and there, and everywhere…. but it was FUN creating it! Even with all the glitter….

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We’re Disney Fans.

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Becky

In the last 4 years, my husband and I have been to Walt Disney World 3 times. Last Christmas was our first time to take my kids. They were 5 and 7, and were perfect! My bonus son was 12, and he’s been 4 times, so he’s a pro. All of our kids (okay, and us) are already talking about our next trip. Do we go to WDW again, or try Disneyland? Disneyland involves a flight… where we are driving distance to WDW. Sort of. 17 hours of being-in-the-van-together-pure-*BLISS.*

Before we went to Disney last Christmas, I made a super cute Disney countdown. A little picture frame with a dry erase surface for easy erasing.

Well, while it was CUTE, I decided to go bigger and better when I saw the Mickey shape cutout at Canton Trade Days. So here is what I did:

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Guess WHAT? The WHOLE thing is a chalkboard surface! THE WHOLE THING! The only erasable part is the left ear, where it currently says “too many.” Other details are permanent paint.

I love this countdown, and it has a permanent place for display. I wonder if the kids will notice when we can finally erase “too many” and put the number of days……???? Too bad it will be a LONG time before we can do that! In the meantime, we are really enjoying it!

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Dusty, Dirty, Buggy and Webby.

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Becky

That’s exactly how I found THESE.

DSC01564 DSC01565I saw them in a picture a friend posted on Facebook…. that she was selling at a garage sale…. so, yes, I went.

I ended up buying those for $2 each, and two wagon wheel light fixture things for $5. (Those are still untouched.)

The spools sat in my garage for at least a month, maybe two, before I did anything with them.

Percolating, again.

The day I pulled them out, I knew what I wanted to do. But first, I had to CLEAN them.

Check.

I got all smart and hooked my Shop-Vac hose up to the other side, you know, the blowing side…. and blasted the dust, dirt, spiders, spiderwebs and other not so pretties right off the surface and out of the middle. (That blasting was really cool, BTW.)

Then I sanded them, and figured out how I was going to attach them together to make a table. They are too shallow to do much else. After I finally got them attached and leveled (that was not easy, and in the pictures, they don’t look level, but they ARE) I painted them white. Then I sanded again.

So far my cost for this project was $6.00. (White paint, nuts, and bolts.) Well, $14.00 if you count the clamp that I broke while trying to hold the two pieces together during the attachment stage. But I’m not counting that. So $6.00 in, and I need rope. The project is now at a stand still since I can’t just run to Lowe’s quickly. It’s a 55 minute drive. When I finally make it to Lowe’s a couple days later, I get two bags of rope. Yes, bags. 100 feet. Well, that wasn’t enough, so long story short, the table sat in the garage half completed for another two weeks until I found myself at Lowe’s again, to buy another bag of rope. I actually bought two, just in case. Well, at $9.00 a bag, that’s a total of $42.00 I now have invested in this project. To tell you the truth, I’m not even loving the project. It just doesn’t look right. Once I get the rope all the way attached, I find I didn’t even need the 4th bag. Yay! Cost back down to $33.00!! Here is what it looked like at this point:

IMG_20140818_121358_927Still not loving it. I was going to personalized the top with something, whether it was “Razorbacks, Scrappers, Family,” or whatever I thought might sell when I do sell it…. but then I got to thinking. I want it in my house, after all, I put all this work into it! 🙂 So I hauled it inside, put it in it’s new home, and I down right hated the look. It blended in too much. There is a spot at the end our our hallway that is so blah and boring… no color… and THIS didn’t help. I hauled it right back out to the garage just in case there were any creepy crawlies in there still.

What to do? THIS. THIS made it PERFECT!

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I LOVE IT. LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I hooked up the blowing hose on the Shop Vac… blew a bunch of dust and yuck off… wiped it down… took it inside… and here it is in it’s new home. I absolutely love what it’s done for the corner of the hallway. Blah and boring to a POP of color… and a great place to house even more cute pictures of my kiddos. 🙂 (The lighting is bad, the hall isn’t this yellow.)

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A total cost of $36.00 after all the paint, hardware and varnish were purchased, and I’m proud of it!

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4th of July…..

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Becky

….almost 50 days later. Found the firecracker idea on Pinterest, and then combined a few examples to make my own. Same thing goes for the other lumber projects, but the wreath is something I created and produced entirely on my own. Lol!

(I did type this exactly one month ago, but just now found it in my “drafts” section. Who knows.)

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I did say “Sometimes…….”

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Becky

Have you seen those “Sometimes being a sister/brother” wall hangings on Pinterest? I have. But they weren’t *quite* what I wanted. Close, but not perfect. So I percolated for awhile, and one day while the kids were at school, I made it happen. Well, I started the process. The whole project took 3 days with all the drying time and down time from a headache. Just outside my kids’ doors, there is enough wall space to make it “theirs.” But their doors are close enough I wanted to make it all mesh, you know? Kind of a little theme.

I started by SPRAY PAINTING (yes!!!!) 18×24″ canvas wrapped frames. I’ve hand painted the base color previously, but it just doesn’t turn out as bold as I’d like, ever… so I took the plunge! It worked! The brother board has an Oxford Blue base color, and the sister board is Periwinkle. Coordinating, but not matching. Love!

Then I used chalk to write out all the words.

Then I erased the chalk words that weren’t centered.

Then I wrote again.

Then I erased again.

Sometimes being OCD can be a real pain in the bootie, ‘ya know?

Then I wrote again, and it was good enough, so I painted over the letters. It kind of worked. But I was happy with it for the most part.

Then I painted another layer.

And another.

Finally had the words dark enough that I was happy, so I outlined in white.

Then I clear coated both of them.

After they were dry, (okay, the could have used a *little* more dry time, but I was ready to get them on the wall) I hung them up in the hallway, outside their doors…. and here they are!

I’m satisfied! Although this route was a lot harder than if I just did what I saw on Pinterest. That’s kind of how I roll.

So pretty much…. SOMETIMES being a Princess/Master Builder is better than being a sister/brother…. I know. My children agree. However, more often than not, it is the other way around. The best thing I did for my children is to give them each other! (Whether they agree or not….)

Please excuse the poor lighting in the pictures. In real life, it doesn’t look this yellow.

DSC01622 DSC01623 DSC01624(If you are asking what a “Master Builder” is… you obviously haven’t seen the LEGO movie. My son is Lego obsessed.)

 

 

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CHEAP Lamp Makeover!

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Becky

Our bedroom is changing, one baby step at a time. I’m going for the “Rustic Romantic/Colorado Cozy” feel. Even though I live in Arkansas. 😉 (Colorado is very special to me, as our family has cabins there, and I went almost every summer as a child.) Anyway, I’ve had these lamps that I actually transformed from black and boring (different lamp shades), to brown and a metallic pewter a few years ago. But they just weren’t making the grade for me any more. I knew what look I wanted to upgrade to, but I did not want to spend a lot of money! I figured the idea would percolate for awhile, and one day it would hit me. Then I would plan and react! Lol!  I already had the paint for the bases, so I was just waiting for the other accessories to pop into my brain.

Yesterday, while at Hobby Lobby looking at glass bottles for a different craft, I turned around in that aisle, and there it was. BOOM. The perfect “inspiration piece” I’ve been looking for. I couldn’t believe it! And there were TWO! (Not matching, but that makes it even better!) So I turned the corner over to the paper crafting/burlap aisle, and found some narrow trim…. and walked over to the ribbons and rolls area… and found some tassle-y trim, and then walked to the hair ribbon area and found the center ribbon…. oh my gosh I was excited. My kids weren’t though, I was making them walk all over the store. But when Momma is on a mission….

So here is the breakdown. BOTH of these shades, TOGETHER (!!!!!) cost less than $17.00!

Center flowers- $3.99 (x2), top narrow trim, $0.99, center ribbon $3.99 (50% off), and beaded trim $11.98 (50% off).

Please enjoy the pictures of my thrifty, Rustic Romantic/Colorado Cozy, ah-may-zing (yes, I know that’s not how it’s spelled!) lamp shades!!!! I love them! Boring BeforeLamp #1

Couldn't get great lighting~

Couldn’t get great lighting~

Light on... not great lighting in room.

Light on… not great lighting in room.

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Are YOU Ready to Rumble?

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Becky

I found these pre-cut unfinished footballs while shopping the other day. They were a bit on the pricey side for being what they are, but I went ahead and bought 2 for “practice.” I am now confident that I can cut and carve the same shape for MUCH less, and I’m excited to share my projects with you! If you are interested in a personalized football (ANY team from Pee Wee to Pro), any name, number, mascot, etc. is possible…. contact me! Prices start at $35, and that includes the name and/or number. Mascots and other details are extra. These are giant, about 24″ W x 14″ H. Shipping is extra. This is currently hanging on his bedroom door, but once football season hits, it will be on our porch!

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Good Grief!

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Becky

I hope you are following The Crafty Apple on Facebook, because I have not been keeping up with posting to this website! I hereby pledge to post more frequently to this site! I will not promise the exact frequency, just know I’ll do it. Haha!

I have been getting in as much crafting time as possible this summer, but between road trips to visit my grandparents in Kansas, and helping my mom post knee-replacement, I’ve been too tired to craft as much as I would have liked. I have had time to work on these projects, though!

A nice way to say “go away!” $15
$20 Counting down to, well, anything…
$20 Chalkboard aspect is cool!
$25 (frame included) First felting experience.
Not for sale, just cute!
Not for sale, just fun to make!
$85 Summer wreath, can make a similar one if interested.
Not for sale. But can make something similar. Contact me for ordering instructions.
$40. Teacher wreath
$30 Initial decor
$15 for THIS one, $20 for any orders placed. If you like it, buy it now!
Posted in Canvas, Christmas, Door Signs, Garden, Lumber, Outdoor-sy, Painting, Wreaths | Leave a comment

St. Louis Cardinals Garden

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Becky

That’s right. I am making a garden in my backyard as an ode to my favorite MLB baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals. I was raised a Missouri girl, and, well, am *kinda* a Cards fan. The kind that even while living in Milwaukee, would wear my Cardinals jersey and scream as loud as I could from the stands for MY team. Even though there were a whole lotta Brewers fans around me….. yes, I was *that* person.  😉

So now that I’m living in Arkansas, another “Cardinals Fans state” (and the Texas Rangers), I am ready to show my pride. Not that I wouldn’t in Wisconsin, I did, I flew my Cardinals flag every summer. But I wouldn’t make a garden! Only because the growing season is about 2 days and the other 363 days are pure bleck. Just kidding. But seriously, it’s too cold to get creative in the garden up there. Not worth the effort.

So here’s my creation, minus the flowers. We have another freeze warning tonight (wait, was I just dogging Wisconsin for being cold?!?!?!) but you know tomorrow I’ll be looking for the perfect flowers. I’ve seen them already, let’s just hope the nursery keeps them warm tonight. 🙂

Cardinals Garden

Posted in Cardinals, Ceramics, Garden, Outdoor-sy | Leave a comment