Freebie Friday, Teacher Style

Today's first freebie, and the only thing our garden successfully produced this year...

 

these beautiful peppers! YUM, except for the chili peppers, which have proven to be good for nothing!

Note to self: Next year, no chili peppers and no visiting critters such as sweet corn loving raccoons and whatever small animal loves tomatoes!

On to today's crafted freebie.  After much searching, my sister-in-law finally found a school that not only noticed her incredible teacher potential, but also had a spot for her on their payroll!  Congratulations Brooke! She is super excited about her new career but not nearly as enthusiastic about her "jail cell" looking classroom.  So, to help her brighten things up a bit, I concocted this...

 

Here's what you need...

1) a flat piece of something. I found a piece of wood that is about 6x8 inches.  

2)something to trim the finished piece with.  I used some old wood trim.

3)white, green, and black craft paint

4)hot glue

5)collection of old broken crayons

 

I started by painting the piece of wood white, letting it dry, and then sanding it a bit to give it a worn look.  Next, I drew the giant L and her name onto the white board.  Don't be fooled, I didn't freehand this.  I printed it off the computer, which also gave me a nice font selection, placed the paper onto the board and traced the letters, pressing very hard with a dull pencil. This left a light indent on the board which became super easy to follow.  Then, using a fine paint brush and black craft paint I painted in the letters of her name. 

 

Once the name had dried I began gluing on the crayons using a paring knife and a cutting board to make them the size I needed them.  Finally, I used the spare trim to make a frame around the edge.  This is really nothing fancy.  I used a miter box to cut the corners at 45 degree angles and hot glue to fix the frame together and to the finished board.  Paint the frame green and presto, you are finished!

 

I also make a better constructed, not-so-free, customizable version of this project upon request:)

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!