My FIRST Monday-Made-It of the Summer!

Where has the summer gone?  I get really depressed when I think about all of the Monday-Made-Its I completed last year and realize that I haven't completed even ONE this year!

*sigh*

Well, seeing that yesterday I realized that I go back to work NEXT WEEK, I have been in frenzy mode today!

And, in all of that bustle, I finally have a Monday-Made-It....not saying how great it is, but I did "make" it! ;)

I've been wondering what to use for my hall display this year.  Last year, I bought canvases and had a "painting party" on the first day of school where each of my little Mon-STARS created their very own monster display.  What was I thinking??!?

The paintings turned out adorable, but...a PAINTING PARTY on the FIRST DAY of SCHOOL????

I wanted to go a different route this year. ;)

I found these wooden frames at Michael's.

You know, I'm the worst at pictures, right?  This is the only "before" pic I have.  They were wooden and came in a pack of 2.  They had little stickers all over them.  The front frame had this purple sticker (above) on it and the back frame had a black sticker and the white barcode sticker. 

They were stubborn.  After spending about 10 minutes trying to get the first sticker off and being left with 1,589 itty-bitty pieces of sticker, I remembered a trick I had seen on pinterest!

I used the hairdryer to heat up each sticker (10-20 seconds) and then they peeled right off without leaving any residue!  Holla!  I LOVE that pinterest!  The hairdryer "melts" the adhesive and stickers or labels come right off after being heated!  Woot!

Then, I my hubby spray painted them red and turquoise to match my room.

Meanwhile, I used washi tape to cover some clothespins.

Here is the final product.

 I used 3M hooks and ribbon to hang them in the hall.

I plan to have each student draw his/her own monster on the first day of school and will use glue dots to attach them to the back.  Their work will be attached with the clothespins.

I think it will still be a cute display (that I can use over and over) and save the sanity of a teacher on the first day of school. ;)

I also REmade my center signs and rotation cards....

Maybe a post on those later??  Looks like I'll be heading back to school tomorrow! So much to do and so little time - but, I don't have to tell you that do I?  :)