Christian Valentines from teacher to students

In the Christian classroom we try to always bring every holiday back to God is the reason for the season.

My first year teaching in a christian preschool, I was caught off guard by Valentine’s day. The stores did not have the right kind of valentine that I wanted to give to my students.

There were some very creative moms in my class and they inspired me to make up my own Christian Valentines for my students. Using the shape and size of a standard Hershey bar, I created a wrapper that said, “HE IS LOVE.”

The kids loved. One precious little boy lite up with excitement, ” A big candy bar, all for me.” He was overwhelmed by the large size in his small hand.

His wonderful mom said, he needs to eat lunch first and it might be nice to share it that big candy bar.

In the Christian classroom we try to always bring every holiday back to God is the reason for the season. Valentine’s day is no different. One of our memory verse is:

God is Love.

1 John 4:16.

So the phrase “He is Love, ” makes sense, for his holiday gift.

I put other verses on the back, and left a space for me to write their names. The original master copy is signed by me, which saves me time each year.

I have put this item on Tpt, if your interested in this download printable check it out HERE!

Blessings.

Be sure to check out: Answers in Genesis website. It has lots of free video for kids and adults. It is a valuable resource for parents and teachers. My family loves it.

Purchase excellent resources from the Answers in Genesis Bookstore

The NEW Answers Book 1

Small Bible Journaling Travel Case

Small Supply Case

This was the perfect size for my small colored pencils, eraser, Pen, mechanical pencil, and Post-it Notes.

At first I used this hinged clear toothbrush case for just for pens, pencils & high lighters that were standard size.

On one of my trips, the eraser on the mechanical pencil wore down to nothing. On that same trip I also was tearing off pieces of scrap paper to make notes of the bible study ideas that I wanted to remember. That is when I decided, that I needed to fit in post-it notes, & an eraser into my small case.

The eraser fits perfectly right where the toothbrush head would be, pencils and post-it’s fits snuggly in line.

Mini Post-it Notes are a great solution.

A hard sunglass case might work too, if you can’t find this size toothbrush case. This was a bit larger than the other thin cases I normal find.too

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Knife Safety

There are many times we need a knife outside of the kitchen. It can be dangerous to travel with a unprotected knife. They are sharp and have a pointy edge. If someone unexpectedly reaches into a bag or box, they could be cut on the knife. There are lots of reasons to put it in a case.

Cleanliness

I like the idea of having a clean knife on hand, in place of a pocket knife. Pocket knifes are univerisal useful & rarely cleaned.

Prefect Case

This tooth brush case is prefect.
It fits my small pairing knife just right.
It is bright yellow that stands out, easy to find.
Divided in middle – which is safer than long lid styles that open from the top cause the knife can fall unexpectedly.

I keep this case in my kitchen utensil drawer, so I can grab it quickly if we need take a knife outside the house. It is a good design.

This clear top loading case, I don’t use. It does fit the knife, but it is harder to safely open it without the knife falling.

Make sure to put the shape edge in first. It is safer this way.

I have taken this case into the school to use for special recipes. Always making sure to keep it far away from the students. It is used by my adult volunteers & myself only. I should mark the outside with the word “KNIFE”. I know what it is, but one of my parent volunteers did not hear me correctly and they were trying to cut apples with a plastic knife. Bless her heart, she did very well with the plastic knife.

Check out my Guacamole Recipe

Be safe with knifes in the home and outsidee of the home.
Know the laws for your area, there are some places that your are not allowed to carry a knife – even if it is safe in a case.
It could considered as weapon.

Avocado Seed Growing from Seed

Avocado seed finally

Finally got one avocado seed to grow. We now have a tree that is over 3 feet high. This is a huge success after years of trying and only getting mold.

As a teacher, growing things in the classroom is super fun. The kids love it. They measure & image fast results. We grow beans, flower bulbs & try avocado seeds every year. Most years the avocado seed is forgotten about cause is does not grow.

During circle time, I present the large fruit and ask them if they can guess with their hands: How big is the seed inside? Some kids know it is huge. It is fun to have an apple there too & cutting both open to compare the size of the seed inside is a fun lesson.

Toothpick method

Every year, we clean the seed off, stick 4 toothpicks in, balance it over a cup of water & set it in the sunny window. We usually grow only mold.

The outer layer of skin

This year we peeled off the outer layer of the skin on the avocado. The Seedcoat.

The Seed coat should peel off easily, if you let it dry out for a few hours.

Put the toothpicks in and balance over a cup of water with rounded bottom down & pointed end up.

The water was also replaced with clean water every few days. The only other difference was possible a warmer room & more sunny maybe. I really think that peeling the skin off helped the most.

Root growth

Root growth felt like a huge success, the tap-root grew a few inches before it branched out and looked more root like. It took months before the top finally spilt open and this tender little branch popped out.

Tree growth

We waited for this large amount of growth before we planted it in the dirt. Four leaves and a healthy steam to support the tree. It worked, and the tree looks healthy after almost a year.

We did plant one in the dirt too soon. The root had branched a little but the top branch never popped out.

Try this easy Guacamole recipe!

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Watercolor Decorative Book Edge Test Tape Masking

Decorative Book Edge Test

I have a few ideas to create a beautiful edge on my bible. Testing the idea on a sample book that I got for free seemed like a good idea.

Stickers

I have lots of letter stickers. I thought that using letters stickers would create a well spaced image. Easier than trying to free hand the text on the edge. Before I use up my letters, I wanted to test the idea.

The sample stickers were old, and they did not stick very well to the book edge. Which worried me, so I changed plans to try tape instead. This would be a good comparison.

Packing tape

The clear packing tape, I tried to cut it into a shape before placing it on the book. Cutting tape with scissors does not work well, but we can still use the odd shape for the test. It stuck to the book better than the stickers.

Duck Tape

I placed a rectangle piece of duck tape on the book edge, then used an xacto knife to cut it into shape of the letter T, and left one extra square on for good measure. Cutting the tape while on the book worked much better. It also created a good seal too. This is just a test, so I didn’t get fancy.

Watercolor

Carefully I painted from the center of the stickers toward the edge. I did not want the brush to lift the sticker and let paint go under it.

On the tape I was less careful with my brush cause the seal was good.

Looks, good. I think it worked. The little yellow spots are not paint, they were on the book before.

Note: 3 Rubber bands were used to hold the book edge stiff

Cake Stand DIY Kitchen stand

Create Counter Space

A thrift store find helped create more counter space in my kitchen.

After moving into a new place, & we needed stuff. I went to the thrift store looking for candle sticks or something that I could balance together to make a larger pedestal for 3 inch candles. There were no candle sticks.

Fortunately, the thrift shop was having a huge 10 cent sale. It was very picked over & only a few odd pieces were left. Surprisingly those odd things fit together perfectly. New project: Cake stand or Kitchen stand.

This wide stemmed plastic wine glass is the best part of the whole design.

A normal thin stemmed wine glass might be to fragle to hold up a full size dinner plate. This one looked super think at the base, solid and a great shape!

Next treasures I found were plates:

The top is two plates glued on to the wine glass. A full size dinner plate on top, under that is small plastic plate that fit perfectly in the groves & created a nice shape.

* Note: I did paint the inside of the plastic wine glass & the outside as well, before it was glued together.

Bottom base

The bottom saucer of a terra-cotta pot & flipped up side down.

After everything was glued together with strong glue, from the dollar store. The whole thing was painted with acrylic paint & sealed.

Normally, I would have used spray paint but today I used a brush. Turned out great after a few coats.

Perfect! Lifts my stuff up higher & I see more counter space.

Prefect for the corner of the kitchen, keeps the onions away from the potatoes & a nice fake plant for the POP! of color.

Elastic Shoe laces Slip on comfort

Easy no tie shoe laces

Shoe laces

I have a love – hate relationship with them. Comfortable shoes are my goal, I spend a lot of time on my feet. I like slip-on easy shoes, but I need something with a little more stability and cushion. While shoe shopping, I came up with clever idea.

Elastic Cord

At the store each pair of shoes were hooked together with long elastic cord, that gave me an idea. Normally I would just cut the elastic cord off, with all the other tags, and throw it away. This time, I took out one of the shoe laces and replaced it with the thin elastic cord. It worked! Problem: there was only one cord & I have 2 shoes.

Finding Elastic Cord

In my craft box, I have elastic cord for beading, but that was too thin. My elastic hair bands are the right width but too short. Possibly, I could cut them and tie after lacing through, but that looked time consuming.

At the dollar stores, I have seen longer elastic head bands. So, off to the dollar store I went. Lucky, this dollar store also had a sewing section.

Found this cord, with this package of colorful long elastic cords. Perfect colors for my shoes, and extra colors for my family.

Decorated ends

After trying a few different styles of lacing, I settled on this line pattern.

Tied it in a double knot from back side, & tucked under out of sight.

Before cutting:

Wrapped a bit of clear packing tape on each cord, then cut the through the tape. Leaving a nice clean edge.

These are working great. They slip on & off easily, without being re-tied. The elastic is comfortable for active wear.

Microwave Paint Peeling Off Fix Microwave

Can My Microwave be Saved ?

The paint inside my microwave started to peel off. I’m embarrassed to say that I cleaned it too hard. Moisture must have built up in the bottom of my microwave after cooking potatoes.

While cooking breakfast I noticed a small clump of build up under the tray of the microwave. I had a minute, while I was waiting for the toast to pop, so I tried to clean it.

Microwave Applicance paint — Look close, very small amount of paint missing.

That was a mistake! I rubbed it too hard and paint came off. I quickly called my husband and asked him, if it was still safe to use. We knew that you can not put metal into the microwave, but this was different. Different internet sources gave us different opinions of saving it and tossing it. I searched for appliance paint on our local hardware website, and found this stuff by Selleys.

Read the instructions, Simple! Paint it, let it dry for one hour.

First coat of paint went on, no problem. Wait an hour. This looks worse. The moisture of the paint must have caused the surround paint to lift up and away from the surface.

Maybe I should have sanded the area? Lots of questions were going through my head. So I tryed sanding the crusted mess of peeling paint.

Bigger Problem Now

Sanding did not work, it was not the problem.

After cleaning the area, I reapplying the paint. I had the same result. More paint lifted and peeled away again. It looked fine at first, paint coverage was good. About 30 minutes into drying time the paint begins to lift up and peel away again.

more paint peel microwave — Paint Still lifting!

Still peeling

I was worried. It felt like an endless cycle making backward progress. After the third time of reapplying and peeling, I changed tactics. The next time I painted, I watched to carefully. When it started to lift away, I pushed it back down with the back of my fingernail. IT WORKED!!! It stayed down. It was not perfect, but it had stopped peeling away with the help of some applied pressure. I continued to watch for bubbles in the surrounding paint & pushed them down.

Fixed microwave paint — Four coats of paint

Each coat of paint was given a full hour to dry, to make sure they did not peel away. I wasted my day, watching paint dry, but my microwave was fixed. I did not have to replace it. There where no sparks inside when we turned it on for it’s test run.

It might not have needed the extra coats of paint but I wanted to make sure that in was fully sealed.

In hind sight, I clean the outside of the microwave and the tray a lot. I usually do not lift the tray and clean under. Moisture is created in the microwave when I cook potatoes and stream other veggies. Now I know to look closer under the tray for condensation build up.

I hope this helps you. It was a first for me in our new apartment with a microwave that was barely a year old.