Sweet Bee Cottage: May 2011

Monday, May 30, 2011

Did You Know It's Time for ME Monday?

I used to wear watches every day.

I don't anymore,

do you?

I'm not sure why I quit wearing watches. Maybe it was my cellphone, maybe my computers, maybe it was the abundance of clocks in my car, my school, and my home......

I should really put a battery in this one - it's so pretty!

This was a gift from a student - I never could figure out how to wear this one.

Ahhh.....wearing my dream cottage on my wrist. (I might have worn this one too much - it has some interesting things going on with it.)

I think I just thought of how to use this one - hang it on the outside of my briefcase. What do you think?

But what better excuse for pulling out a few Mary E. treasures than M.E. Monday over at Vicki's Cherry Chick!

Do you wear a watch?

Or do you use something else to tell time?

Thanks for buzzin' by!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

______ Makes the World Go Round

So......

what........

for you?

No.....it's not honey although that was a good guess.

You are too funny......it's not coffee either! Although it does make my world a little better.

Give up?

Why it's...............

of course!

So where did this all come from?

Well my dear Worker Bee has a globe collection (his B.A. is in geography you know) and I allow (you all know exactly what I mean) him to display his collection in our living room. (That way I can make sure all the Green Bay Packers paraphernalia stays in the garage!)

After the sudden (BUZZ of) inspiration for the Teacher Breakfast at Baby Bee's school, those globes have been on my mind. Then yesterday another BUZZ hit (while I was at school - one can't help when the inspiration BUZZ hits). You see, I've been loving these mini pennant banners I have been seeing all over the place and I thought, "Sweet Bee, this is a project you can pull off in a matter of minutes and girl, you need a project!" I borrowed an old thesaurus from Sewing Bee (I'll just tell her she must have lost it in the move when she moves to the new little house - okay - not really - she gave me the thesaurus) and I cut out some isosceles triangles (California third grade standard) from pages I folded in half. Glued them to some baker's twine I already had and used a red sharpie to write LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND. Easy peasy! (yeah, I'm not sure where I dug out that old chestnut of a saying from, but I am apparently trying to revive it)

Well thanks for coming by!

I hope you get hit by the BUZZ of inspiration soon too!

I'll bet you'll find a lot of inspiration over at

Show and Tell Friday

hosted by the buzzingly creative Cindy!

I'd

for you to enter my giveaway too, since you're here. Just click on the giveaway button or here to leave a comment on the giveaway post.

P.S. Only 5 more days of school!!! Yipee!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Just a Quick Visit from the Grind Stone.....

Yep! My nose is definitely to the grind stone.

All are well here at Sweet Bee Cottage, but May is a crazy month. Crazy I tell you. Crazy!

Over the past week or so I have:

1. Taken Baby Bee to the doctor and she is splint free! Her broken wing has healed quite nicely. So now she can start swim practice for the summer rec league. Her big end of the year dance recital is coming up in about three weeks and her piano recital is in about two weeks. Honestly, how do parents with lots of kids get everybody to where they need to be? This is Baby Bee's current Tuesday schedule: 5-6 PM dance class, 6:15-6:45 piano lessons, 7-8 swim practice. I don't know if we'll be able to keep the pace up.

last year's recital

2. Held Open House at my school. One of my favorite third grade standards is learning about our patriotic symbols, so we write reports on the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, the U.S. Flag, the Star Spangled Banner, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Bald Eagle. We then make small groups to create a special project for each of these symbols.

a couple of my students working on their Bald Eagle

3. Went to an estate sale and picked up a few things to sell on my etsy shop. Do you know how long it takes for me to get a listing up on etsy? It usually takes about 15 minutes for me to enter all the computer information and before that about 10-15 minutes to take photos and record measurements and weight. Good thing I think it's fun. I think etsy might be my new obsession. Shhhhh......don't tell Worker Bee.

not listed yet, but will be soon

4. And finally, I have been giving Sewing Bee lots of advice on her new house. Most of it has been asked for, but some advice I have just volunteered of my own volition. Apparently I have a very opinionated side. Who knew? (Well Worker Bee knew and Baby Bee knew and Wood Bee and Sewing Bee and Singing Bee and More Creative Bee and I could go on and on I'm afraid.)

kitchen before - classic 1955

kitchen during

bathroom before - ewwwww gross

bathroom during - even more gross

Mom is gutting the bathroom and kitchen of her new little house and it is going to be so CUTE and cottagey when it is finished. I have some before pictures and some just getting started pictures. Can't wait to show you after pictures, but that's a few weeks off.

So thank you all for checking in on me and the Sweet Bees. I can't wait for summer vacation and the chance to fluff things up around here.

We'll sit back then and visit and sip on Blackberry Lemonade.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

A Cherrypalooza Cottage Charm Giveaway

Giveaway now closed.
Thank you for buzzin' by!
Winner is:
Carol of
The Roseberry Cottage

What says Cottage Style to you?

For me, cherries are part of that Sweet Vintage Cottage Style I love so much!

And to me, the kitchen is the heart of the Cottage Home.

So I combined the two into my first Cottage Charm Giveaway!

A set of cheery cherry measuring cups......

and a cheery cherry tray!

How can you enter?

1. Please leave a comment telling me what Cottage Style means to you.

2. Be sure to leave me a way to contact you.

3. That's it! Easy peasy!

4. Due to shipping costs, this giveaway is only open to residents of USA and Canada.

5. This giveaway ends midnight PDT on Saturday, May 28.

6. Winner will be announced on Sunday, May 29.

So?

Whatcha' waitin' for?

Leave your comment and go check out the other Cottage giveaways over

Twice Remembered Cottage

for the

And thank you so much for buzzing by!

I hope you know how much I enjoy seeing your bright and shiny face!

Friday, May 13, 2011

A Breakfast for Teacher Bees!

Some of you might already know that I'm a 3rd grade teacher, so I always enjoy celebrating the dedication and work of fellow teachers.

This past week we celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week at Baby Bee's school.

I am on the Parent Teacher Club at Baby Bee's school so I always want her teachers to know how much I appreciate the job that they do. So I usually take charge of their special breakfast we have. I try to decorate and let them know how special they are. However, this year, I have been super busy and the day snuck up on me with no ideas for decorating their staff room. For the last couple of years, I had variations on the same concept and I needed something fresh, but I was stumped!

Hmmmmm.........thinking...........thinking..............BUZZ!

Yep, that wonderful creative buzz struck!

Worker Bee has a collection of vintage globes that live on top of our entertainment armoire (yes, we still have one of those) and our bookcases.

So, at 9:30 at night I figured out that our theme would be............(drum roll please)...............

I found an image of a globe, skipped on over to picnik to add some text, and created cards, a menu, etc. and the globes were the centerpieces.

Do I have pictures of the tables? Of course not! I had to go to Baby Bee's school at about 6:50 and then scurry on over to my school for my work day. Just didn't have a chance!