Reading Royalty: July 2013

Make your blog a little more YOU!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

I recently redid my blog and I think it looks a lot more clean and polished than it did before! All thanks to digital scrapbook kits, picmonkey, and the fabulous bloggers who have taken the time to explain step by step how to customize your own blog! I love a little DIY project and this one only took a few hours!

Before

After

If you're interested in sprucing up your blog, here are some of the things I used to do mine!

First, I chose a digital scrapbook kit. These are great! There are hundreds of them in different color patterns and themes, and I chose one that fit my personality. I wanted to keep my pink and green theme. They are so inexpensive too!

I'm sure there are lots of sites where you can buy scrapbook kits, but I used Just So Scrappy. I bought a couple of kits for $5 and ended up getting a really adorable kit free! Each kit comes with a variety of papers, borders, and fun elements. Check them out!

After I chose my kit, I scoured the internet for step by step info about how to completely customize my blog. These steps took some trial and error. I think it took me six or seven times each to get the background and header just how I wanted them! A little patience goes a long way!

Here's a tutorial on how to use Picmonkey!

Background
Something Swanky
The Cutest Blog on the Blog

Header
Something Swanky
Blog Guidebook
Blogging 101
Capital Carly

Pages (Navbar)
Something Swanky
Living, Laughing, and Loving

Social Media Icons
Image Maps (use this for the navbar too!)
My favorite FREE social media icons
More FREE social media icons

Signature
My Live Signature
Kevin and Amanda
Code it Pretty

Post Divider
Shabby Blogs

I hope these fabulous tutorials help you transform your blog! I know they helped me! I would love to see your transformations!

Monday, July 8, 2013

6 comments

I just received the best email from Rosie at Rosie Rambles! She nominated me for a Leibster Award! I've seen these on other blogs I read, but never knew what it was for. Turns out the Leibster award is for favorite blogs with fewer than 200 followers! I love blogging and the community of amazing teachers I have met through blogging! There are lots of newer blogs that deserve some recognition!

To accept the nomination I must:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me

2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers

3. Answer the questions posted for your by your nominator

4. Share 11 random facts about yourself

5. Create 11 questions for your nominees

6. Contact your nominees and let them know you nominated them

Blogs I have nominated:

Erin at Mrs. Beattie's Classroom

K. Almaraz at Our Future is Bright

Christy at Third Grade Theatrics

Kristin at Aspire to Inspire

Laura at First Grade Spies

Rosie's Questions to me:

1. What was your favorite subject in school? Reading! I was that kiddo who was secretly reading books in her desk during other subjects!

2. What was your favorite vacation? Our honeymoon in Punta Cana! It was so relaxing to sit on the beach, relax, read, and sip tropical drinks out of coconuts!

3. What is your favorite outdoor activity? Does reading outside count? I'm not much of an outdoorsy girl! If I had to pick I would say swimming!

4. What is your dream country to visit? I love Ireland, but I've already been there, so if I have to pick another country it would have to be Australia! I've always wanted to go there, but really don't want to deal with the 24 hour plane trip...

5. What is your favorite college memory? Meeting my husband! My friends and I were out for the night, when half of the city lost power. We found the nearest bar with it's lights on and there he was! We were much too shy to talk to each other, so my very bold ~~wingwoman~~ friend walked right up to him, started eating his popcorn, and broke the ice. The rest is history!

6. Who was your favorite college professor and what did they teach? Heidi Wojcik, she was also the reading specialist in my last school. She taught reading assessment and I learned SO much!

7. What is your favorite part about back to school? I LOVE new school supplies! Nothing makes me happier than brand new crayons, markers, and pencils!

8. What United States city have you spent the most time in? I guess Boston. I live about an hour from there and go a few times a year.

9. What is your favorite movie? The Devil Wears Prada! I could watch that movie a million times and still love it!

10. If you could be another profession, what would it be? I would still be involved in education in some way! I think it would be amazing to write curriculum or teach college. Maybe someday..

11. What is your favorite room in your house? My bedroom, I just love the colors!

11 Random Facts About Me:

I was born in September.
I do not like popcorn.. or French fries. I know that's weird.
I am slightly OCD.
I have a black belt.
My cheerleading team in high school won the national championship.
I did a semester abroad in Ireland.
My favorite color is pink.
My favorite food is pizza.
I am allergic to EVERYTHING! The regular stuff: cats, dogs, pollen, and dust. The weird stuff: toothpaste, shampoo, and deodorant.
I worked in three different ice cream shops in high school.
I can't smell skunk. People tell me this is a very good thing!

Questions to my nominees:

1. What is your favorite subject to teach?
2. What is your favorite book?
3. Do you have a piece of clothing or an accessory you can't live without?
4. Do you have any pets? If so what kind and what are their names?
5. What was your first job?
6. What is your favorite type of school supply?
7. What is the most played song on your iTunes?
8. What is the last movie you saw?
9. Have you ever been out of the country? Where did you visit?
10. What is your favorite hobby? (outside of blogging!)
11. If you weren't a teacher, what would you be?

Sunday, July 7, 2013

6 comments

I have been away from blogging for awhile. The last month was crazy! I have officially been on vacation for two weeks and after lots of fun reading (Gone Girl, anyone?! If you haven't read it.. you NEED to! Along with the other two novels by Gillian Flynn! They're all fabulous!) I finally feel like my brain has had a little bit of a break and I can start thinking about next year!

As some of you know, I am moving into a new grade at a new school next year! Very exciting and scary at the same time! I promised myself I wouldn't drive myself crazy all summer long, so I won't.. but at the same time the perfectionist inside me wants to get the ball rolling.

I really wanted to have a theme this year. I have never had a theme before and thought it would be fun. I couldn't decide though. I was stuck between Hollywood, camping, beach themed, and pretty much everything else I've seen on Schoolgirl Style - I LOVE her! Seriously, if you've never visited her site, you need to stop everything you're doing and check it out now!

Anyway, I had a dream last night. In that dream, I saw Scrabble tiles! As soon as I woke up, I knew what my classroom theme was going to be.. board games! It's perfect for me! I am constantly creating and playing games in the classroom. One of my kiddos even told me on the last day of school, "I had a lot of fun this year, because we played a lot of games!" I love tricking them into thinking multiplication baseball is just a "game"!

I know that there are tons of teachers who've done board gamed themed classrooms in the past, so I took to Pinterest to help me out! Here are a few of my Pinspirations: