Things I Love - August Edition and Giveaway Winners

Here are some of my latest loves for the month of August. Links will be at the end of the post!

Flip Flops

I adore these flip flops by Reef and I will miss wearing them dearly when I am back in school next month! Please excuse the sand on the silver ones, I had just gotten back from the beach!!


Rings
I have added a few new rings to my collection this summer! I found this adorable fox ring on Etsy. I needed a ring for my right hand that wouldn't be too cumbersome since I am a righty.
These are from a stacked ring set I got from Macy's. There were four rings in the set, but I am not feeling the fourth. It was way to pointy for me to wear daily!! I must admit I am totally infatuated with the zipper ring. It is beyond cute!

My new purse!! -
Back in July I blogged about handbags I dreamed of buying. I am really trying to stick to my budget - which is pretty much a no shopping at all budget!!! However the other day I was out at Marshalls and I saw it. It is one of the bags I blogged about last month!!

Originally it costs $70, the one I blogged was on sale for $44.95. But Marshalls had it for......$29.99!! However it gets better! I still had $15.01 leftover on a gift card my sister gave me for my birthday awhile back. So, I managed to snag the handbag I had adored for months for $14.98!!

For your shopping pleasure - links!
Reef flip flops
Fox ring - rose gold (it also comes in gold and silver.)
Material Girl - two-tone stackable rings
Urban Expressions - Le Petit Mini Satchel (mint)
Lastly I have the giveaway winners for the Ending Blends Games! Congratulations to Wendy and Lori! I will be emailing you ladies a copy of the game tonight!

So tell me, what are you loving this month?

Ending Blends Games


ending blends game boards - 7 games to help reinforce tricky ending blends


I have always noticed, that when working on blends with my students I tend to focus on the beginning ones the most, when the ending blends are just as tricky!

If I Wasn't On A Budget...Dresses & Winners

I adore dresses and these are the ones I have been coveting lately!! Click the dress names for links!
1.  Ellen Tracy - Sleeveless Pleather Tweed Sheath
2.  Trina Turk - The Birds Dress
3.  Calvin Klein - Sleeveless Faux Leather Trim
4.  Belted Houndstooth Dress
5.  Evan Picone - Cap Sleeve Printed Faux Wrap
6. Anne Klein - Short Sleeve Printed Sheath


Next up I have the Sight Word of the Day Pack Winners!! 


I will be sending the file off to you lovely ladies today!

Now, back to the fashion!

If I could choose any two I think it would be numbers 3 and 4. Though I do adore number 6 too! Which two (or more!) would you choose? Let me know in the comments below!




Nail Art - Feather Manicure and Last Day of BTS Sale!

I finally mustered up enough bravery to try a feather manicure before I went on vacation a few weeks ago! I bought these feathers from Michaels:
I chose a tiny striped and polka dot feather to start with. I knew I was only going to do one nail on each hand since it was my first attempt!

Here we have my left and right hands!
For this manicure I used: (Click the name for links!)
Maybelline Color Show - Canary Cool
OPI - Mauve-Lous Memories

I like the way the pink compliments the brown in the feathers a lot!

Now for the feathering. I painted my nails and let them dry completely. Then I applied a clear topcoat and placed my feather on top. Next came the tricky part, trimming off the excess feather. This is incredibly difficult to do to yourself, especially if you are a right-handed person cutting left hand!!


I could not get my feathers trimmed as close to my nails as I preferred them to be, at least not with scissors. I attempted to use nail clippers but was a bit scared about wrecking my manicure. The feathers were just too soft and fluffy to cut!

I gave up temporarily and applied a topcoat. That made the bit of feathers at the tip of my nail harder, so I was able to cut and file them away later.

Overall I love how they looked, but I think next time I will cut my feathers to nail size before I start. Even if it means that they will be a bit small for my nail, I think it will be better than having all that excess!!


Don't forget tonight is the last night of TpT's Back to School Sale! My entire shop is 28% off when you use the promo code: BTS13
Tomorrow I will be picking a winner for the Pre-Primer Sight Word of the Day giveaway! Click here if you would like to enter!
 Have a great night!

Sight Word of the Day Pre-Primer Set

All sight word poster sets have been updated with a new look - click here to see more!


I love using the Word of the Day with my 2nd - 5th graders. It is a great way to build vocabulary and explore new words! I wanted to incorporate a daily word challenge into my first graders routine too, but I decided sight words would fit their needs the best!

This set has all 40 of the pre-primer words with context sentences. The sight word is green in each sentence to allow students to isolate the word in each sentence.

Each day I will choose a new sight word to hang underneath the display sign. I like to use these words in the opening when my students are settling into Intervention.
I wanted to include a challenge portion as well to increase sight word exposure. There are two ways to complete this challenge. The first is the whole group tally chart. I am going to laminate these two charts and hang them next to the daily sight word.

Each day I will write the new word on the line. I think I will velcro a dry erase marker on the wall, so it will be easy to access when they find a word. Each time the students find the word they may add a mark to the tally chart. During the closing we will count up how many words they found!
If a whole group chart does not work well for your students, I also included individual tally books. These books are 41 pages including the cover and measure 3.8 x 5 inches. Each word has its own page so students can conduct their own search. I wanted to make it small for several reasons; it will not be in the way on their desks, and it will fit easily into book bags or bins!

We send our Intervention groups back to their classroom teachers with a bag that has books we have been reading together. This tally book is small enough for them to carry in the bag as well, and then they can continue the search throughout the day!

I think this increased exposure to these words will help to familiarize my students with these tricky sight words!

This set is available in my TpT shop!

Digraph Games with Short Vowels




Digraphs are always a tricky thing for my little ones, especially when they appear at the end of the words! Then there is the dreaded ch and sh confusion! I wanted to isolate individual digraphs in this set, allowing my students to focus on the sound each digraph makes.
This set has 7 game boards:

The 1st game board has ch beginning words: (ex: chip, chat and chunk.)

The 2nd game board has sh beginning words: (ex: shred, shack and shop.)

The 3rd game board has th beginnings: (ex: thing, thrill and thud.)

The 4th game board has wh beginnings: (ex: when, whiz and whack.)

The 5th game board has ch endings: (ex: lunch, switch and match.)

The 6th game board has sh endings: (ex: hush, dish and flash.)

The 7th game board has th endings: (ex: path, moth and filth.)
I included a score sheet and a sample score sheet that can be placed in the center to help students understand how to fill it in. I give my students 1 point for each word they use correctly in a sentence. This helps me to quickly see if they are understanding the words they are decoding.
Gray scale copies of all the game boards, rules of play, and score sheets are included as well!

This set is available in my TpT shop!

Nail Art - Needle Drag


Needle drag is one technique I have wanted to try for awhile, but I was never really sure how to go about it. Then I saw this photo on a nail website (click here to see her picture) and I was amazed at how easy it looked!

First you paint your base color and let it dry all the way. Then you choose your swirl colors. I went with a purple base then coral and green for my swirls. All the names and links will be at the end of this post!
After my purple was dry I place two big dots of each color on my nail, then I got my "needle."
I guess you could use a real needle, but I like this brush because of its long handle. You can't really tell from the picture but it has a long, skinny metal tip and no bristles. So basically a really long needle with a less pokey tip!

Then you drag the needle through the two drops of color until you get a pattern you like! I did have to add a bit extra polish on some of the nails if I didn't like how the pattern was going.
I kind of wish that I added a darker color into the mix - or maybe I should have swirled those three colors on a white basecoat. I think it may have helped it to pop a bit more!

I was surprised by how many days it lasted without chipping too! I was afraid the heavier layers might chip easily, but with the Insta-Dry and a topcoat it lasted for a long time!

For this manicure I used:
Rimmel Lasting Finish - Wild Orchid
Sally Hansen Insta Dri - Snappy Sorbet
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - Grass Slipper 

What's on your nails this week?