Monday Made It - Paint Stirrers Part 1

Bet you didn't think you would be hearing from me this Monday Made It did you seeing as it is almost midnight? I almost posted a picture on Instagram last night saying go ahead and cry yourselves to sleep tonight because you won't get to read all about my crafting fails tomorrow. However, I refrained because I knew I couldn't let you all down! I know my fails turn into laughs which make your week!

I worked long and hard after work today to finish up my Monday Made It's so I could link up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics! 

Last week, I posted this photo:

My goal was to transform these free paint stirrers into some amazing new creations. Well, after the jam packed 4th of July weekend, plans got changed. I was only able to accomplish part of what I had intended. Can you guess why? Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! Craft fails! 

I really had the best intentions! I wanted to give spray paint another go, but this time around I wasn't going to lay them down on a tarp. I knew better! The wind would take over, blow the tarp, and smudge all the paint. I decided to hang them on the clothesline so I could paint both sides unharmed. 

Genius idea, right? Wrong!  This was the end result...

When I turned the clothespins around to paint the other side, the paint wasn't completely dry I guess. When I took them off the line, the clips chipped off chunks of paint. Looking good!

In addition, the paint got all weird on some of them and turned powdery, guessing from all the wind blowing around. I thought I would just brush off the excess powder with a napkin. However, instead of just removing powder on top, it took off all the paint. 

Simple fix for both right? Just re-paint them with some more spray paint. Well, painting 20 of them used up all the spray paint. When did I buy this paint, over a year ago. Do you think I could find the same color in the store? Nope! I swear you cannot make these things up!

However, despite these craft fails, I did still turn out with some great products! Keep on reading to see that I am not a complete failure this week!

My first inspiration was this pin from Hands on Bible Teacher.

I knew that I had to create something similar for school! My school-themed inspiration came from Cheryl from Primary Graffiti's Sub Tubs. 

I just love the Old Lady book series and they are perfect for sequencing! I also know that come Winter, I will be doing a lot of substitute teaching! This will be such a simple little task to carry around! Combine the sub tubs with these sequencing sticks and you have a match made in heaven!

These strips can be changed up for any book in the series or any book in the world! All the pieces are interchangeable with velcro. They make sequence writing a piece of cake! I can see these being a favorite center in the classroom!

Next up, some word work! 

Hilary from Rockin' Teacher Materials posted these paint stirrer letter sound activities.

For back to school in kindergarten, I thought I would stick with something basic: children's first names. I turned these free paint stirrers into magnet strips to practice spelling their names. 

Really simple to make! I bought some $2 magnetic sheets at Walmart and cut them into strips and stuck them onto the paint stirrers. Since I don't know the names of the children yet, I just did a demo using my name. Very simple yet very effective! Can't wait to put them to good use!

Finally, the ever fabulous Teri at A Cupcake for the Teacher posted some fabulous ideas using paint stirrers. One that I loved and could definitely see being a huge help in the classroom were her library sticks. 

I just had to create these in my color scheme! They were so very simple to make and will be a huge lifesaver! I don't know how many I need so I just created one in each color to model.

Of course nothing would be complete with out a little washi tape! That stripe makes the perfect accent! Don't you just love them! 

So that wasn't a total failure right? Feel free to pin any of these ideas if you want to make them in the future! I promise they are not as complicated as my efforts make them appear!

So this weekend, I will be headed back to home depot to pick up more free paint stirrers and try and find some matching spray paint to tackle the remaining creations that I had planned. Leave some more comments if you have any other guesses as to what I have left to create for your chance to win! Stay tuned for part 2 next week where I will announce the winners for parts 1&2! I really am keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have any craft fails to show you but now that wouldn't be any fun would it? Good night!