My Tattoo

I'm 24 years old and I finally got my first tattoo! I knew I'd wanted one for a long time; I also knew my first tattoo would be influenced by Harry Potter.

Go ahead, you may think it's silly, but Harry Potter has been more than just a series of books to me. I will be forever grateful to JK Rowling for writing the books that carried me through my childhood and adolescence.

Harry Potter gave me my love for reading, something crucial to being a teacher. I used to dread reading anything unless it was a Nickelodeon Magazine, until my mom bought me that first Potter book. Since then, I've loved to read in my spare time which is something I'm proud of in this day and age of video games and electronics.

It's been even more than that, though. Adolescence is a crazy, confusing, scary, and sometimes terrible time in a person's life, especially for a person who doesn't have any older siblings to confide in. I can remember no matter what was going on, I could pick up one of the books and escape. I learned lessons from so many of the characters' experiences, examples, and choices that I'd like to share with you.

James Potter: Mistakes from your past do not define who you are.
Lily Potter: There is good in everyone, no matter how dark someone may seem.
Rubeus Hagrid: Love all creatures of the earth (Ron and I are still working on appreciating spiders...we're trying, Hagrid!)
Molly Weasley: You don't have to be a child's biological mother to give them the motherly love they need.
Dobby: Be loyal.
Ginny Weasley: The best things in life are worth waiting for.
Fred and George Weasley: There is always a reason to smile.
Sirius Black: It's okay, and sometimes even wonderful, to be different from your family.
Voldemort: Through his mistakes, I've seen that there is no life without love.
Severus Snape: Heroes don't always look like Superman.
Albus Dumbledore: "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." 
Neville Longbottom: Stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing up to your friends.
Luna Lovegood: She is my favorite character. Embrace yourself and all of your quirks. Never change for anyone.
Hermione Granger: Treat everyone with kindness, compassion, and respect.
Ron Weasley: No matter what, your true friends will always be there for you.
Harry Potter: More often than not, doing what is right is not what is easy.

 These characters have made me who I am today.

 Now to explain the chess pieces. I didn't want a tattoo that everyone else has...we all know the ones I'm talking about. I don't mean to be offensive because I love them all! However, like Luna, I take pride in my differences so I wanted an original idea. I began to think of how I could represent the Golden Trio when I remembered the chapter "Through the Trapdoor" in The Sorcerer's Stone.

 There you have it. Harry the Bishop, Ron the knight, and Hermione the castle.

 If you took the time to read this, I deeply appreciate it, and I'm happy to have shared this with you.

xoChristie

Scratch Ticket Bouquet

Hello my friends! Today I'm going to show you how to make a Scratch Ticket Bouquet! My mom looooves her scratch tickets and I end up getting her some for almost every holiday or occasion. I wanted to spice it up a little bit this year and made this:

My inspiration from this project came from this post of a Nip Bouquet (I also have a picture of one I made that I will put up at the end of this tutorial)

Here are your materials: 

- 2 bags of craft sand

- Small tin bucket (found mine at Michael's for about $3

- BBQ Skewers

- Clothes pins from the dollar store

- Acrylic paint (works best on the skewers and clothes pins)

- Glue gun

- Paint brush

- Ribbon

- Scissors

Fill the tin with as much sand as you see fit. I wanted to make sure the "stems" of the "flowers" would stay up so I put about a bag and a half

Not Shown/Optional: Break the skewers...this depends on the size of the bucket and how many scratch tickets you are putting in the bouquet. Just use your judgement. You could break them so they stagger in length, but I just bought different sizes of tickets.

Anyway, whether you broke the skewers or not, you hot glue the non-broken end to the side of the clothes pin that you would pinch to open or close it.

After you've glued them, recruit your boyfriend who is SUCH a good sport ;-) and have him paint the stems. Nice job, Tom!

Now you get to put them in!

I started with the biggest ones and put them toward the back of the bucket

Voila! 

Don't forget the finishing touch!

There you have it. Your own little Scratch Ticket Bouquet! Definitely better than flowers ;-)

Don't worry, I didn't forget! As promised, here are a couple of pictures from my sister's 21st Birthday Nip Bouquet I made for her this week!

If you decide to make one of these instead of the Scratch Tickets, MAKE SURE you use extra skewers! I DID stagger the length this time and I used 3 on each nip. Don't be stingy or your nips will fall over and they will not look good.

Uhh, this apple pie liquor is delicious, just saying.

Did you notice I just re-used the tin and ribbon from my mom's? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, people!!!

That's it for today! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading. I have a very special post coming within the next few days...and guess what? It is my long-awaited first post that has everything to do with Harry Potter! Very exciting stuff, folks, so stay tuned!!

xo Christie

Your New Favorite Dessert

I have always had a HUGE sweet tooth. One of my more recent Sweet Loves (past 5 years) is Nutella!! Seriously, who doesn't love Nutella? It's the perfect mixture of chocolate, hazelnut, and paradise in a little, tiny jar. I have a whole Nutella Board on Pinterest for crying out loud.

Nutella goes great with just about anything. I've tried it with bananas, pretzels, graham crackers, green apples, english muffins, Ritz crackers, a Nutella and jelly sandwich, in hot chocolate, on a crepe, I mean the list goes on and on. I have to admit, my favorite combination is with strawberries! I thought strawberries and chocolate were good, but Nutella beats it by a mile! I have a certain way I like to make my strawberries and Nutella, so here it is!

Chop the strawberries how ever you would like to eat them

Put the Nutella in a plastic bag, seal it, and let it sit in hot water. This picture was taken after it was already melted a little bit

When it's sitting you might need to mush it up, depending on how hard it was originally

Finally, cut a TINY piece of the corner of the bag, and drizzle it over your chopped strawberries.

Enjoy!! This is a pretty simple idea, but it's one of my favorites. Let me know how yours come out. I'd love to hear any of your Nutella creations, too!

xoChristie

Easy, Delicious Queso Recipe!

Okay, my friends. Since I love you so much, I'm going to share with you the recipe for the most wonderful queso I've ever had in my life. Found this recipe on Pinterest from this Blog Post. My family and friends be warned, from now on, this will be my contribution to potluck parties/get togethers/holidays...you name it.

Mmmm! Get in my belly!

*1 can of Rotel Cilantro and Lime tomatoes, blend them!
*16 oz of Velveeta Queso Blanco
*1/2 cup of Cheddar Cheese
*Fresh lime juice to taste.

I used half a lime and I couldn't really taste it so I might squeeze the whole lime next time.

Cut up the Velveeta into chunks, and combine everything in a microwave safe bowl and nuke it...mine took about 5 minutes maybe? I wasn't really keeping track of the time, I was just doing it 30 seconds at a time and stirring.

I'd cut the Velveeta into 1/2 inch chunks next time, I think since they were so big, it took longer.

Tom loved it, but he did say that he wished there was a little less of a kick. The only spice I added was from the tomatoes, so maybe if you don't like spicy, you would use a cup of cheddar? Just some suggestions.

If you have any questions or something to say, PLEASE leave a comment!

Don't forget to follow me on

xoChristie

Fun Winter Math Warm Up

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone's 2013 is off to a great start!

Today in class, one of my students asked, "How many snowflakes does it take to cover a car?" Instead of responding with a boring, "I don't know" or, "umm...A LOT" I said, "Let's figure it out!"

I wanted to share it with you because I think it would be a fun warm up for your older kids before the day starts, or if anyone finishes their work early. I put it on our SmartBoard and took screenshots so I could post them. I hope you like it!

(I realize that looks like "lestimate" but it's supposed to say "I estimate."

Belated Christmas Gift

My mom is a great person. She goes above and beyond to take care of everyone, but she doesn't really have anyone to take care of her. I wanted to get her something really special this Christmas: an Eden bracelet.

You might know them as "Cape Cod" bracelets...they're pretty widespread across the Cape, where we've lived for 20 years. The original ones, however, are handmade at a local jeweler's shop called Eden Hand Arts. I could have bought her one of the copycats but my mom is a very special person, and she deserves the best.


The only downside was that I didn't have enough money this Christmas as I originally planned. I was heartbroken because I've wanted to get her one for years...I REALLY thought this was the Christmas I'd be able to do it since I've been working my bum off with two jobs. Then I got an idea. I decided I would get her one as soon as I could after Christmas. I wrote her a letter from "Santa" and, well...I'll just let you read it :)

*Names omitted for privacy

I got so choked up writing that! I wanted to include a picture of the bracelet too, so here it is with the letter. She should be back from lunch any minute...I'm waiting on my sister, Courtney, to call or text me so I can find out her reaction!

This gift was my very favorite thing to give this Christmas, even though it was late. My mom deserves it more than anyone. I can't wait to hear from Courtney!

The main reason I wanted to post this was because it was a really fun surprise. For the record, I did get my mom a Christmas gift, so the best part is, she has NO IDEA what's coming!! Feel free to use this idea and any wording in my letter, I don't mind. I just want people to be happy, so if you could use something like this, USE IT! Happy Holidays! Don't forget to Follow me on Pinterest

xo Christie

UPDATE: Mom loved it :)

Make Up Magnet Board: Tutorial with Pictures!

Hello Friends! I haven't posted in almost a year :( But I'm really going to try to post more of my crafting adventures now that the holidays are over.

This year for Christmas, I made my sister, Courtney, a magnetic make up board. I couldn't post it until now because I didn't want the surprise to be ruined! Now that I'm sitting here with my feet soaking in my new foot massager, I feel it's a perfect time to write this tutorial. This one's for you, Jo!

First, here are the materials you'll need. A frame, fabric, a sheet of magnetic sheet metal (I got mine for $5 at Home Depot), some spray adhesive (make sure it works on metal!),  and magnets. Not pictured are scissors, an iron (optional), and your make up, of course!

I noticed my fabric had creases EVERY WHERE when I started, so I went back to my craft closet and dug out my iron. I'm really glad I didn't skip this step, wait till you see how smooth it turned out! ;) 

Next comes the glue! Just follow the directions on whatever glue you get. I highly recommend the spray adhesive because it doesn't get all gloopy and thick. It sprays a nice, even coat which is really important if you want any magnets to stick right. What I did was lay the fabric over the sheet metal and then fold it back (I hope you can see from the picture) so all I had to do was lift the fabric back up and over onto the sprayed metal.

Working quickly and still trying to hold my phone to take pictures (;-P) I smoothed out any wrinkles in the fabric over the metal. This was pretty easy and I attribute that to my method of "Up and Over" before gluing. 

See?? All glued :)

Next, I trimmed off the excess fabric. You should have seen it before...I had a whole YARD for this 12x18 piece of metal. Silly. As you can tell, the edges don't have to be pretty. No one will see them.

Fold and glue the sides over...

And again...

TA-DA! Pretty, clean, smooth Metal-Wrapped-in-Fabric.

If you're like me and get cheap frames to save a little cash, you might want to touch up yours. I left the glass on because, guess what, Genius? We're not using it! After you TAKE THE GLASS OUT, put your Metal-Wrapped-in-Fabric in the frame, and put the backing on, you end up with....

A BEAUTIFUL magnetic make-up (or whatever you want it to be) board! Yippee! It was super easy and probably only took a half an hour from start to finish.

I even went a little fancy and added my own picture hanging hardware. I'd always been really intimidated by it but trust me, it's SO easy! and it's easier to hang with a wire than with those stupid metal teeth things or the puny, dinky triangles that always smoosh back into the frame...ahhh yes. Definitely take the extra time and $5 to put the hardware on. If you're not sure which one to get, just ask the person in the frame shop at your local craft store.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my tutorial! I definitely had fun making this and Courtney loved it! Please feel free to add any comments or questions about this. I will do my best to reply ASAP! I hope you and yours have a very Happy New Year!

xo Christie