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June 25, 2013

Classroom Organization: Coffee Cans & Picture Frames

Happy Monday, friends.

Today has been a day of spackle and Kilz Wall Paint and spray paint. I hope your Monday has been as productive as mine. Today I’m sharing ways to turn ordinary things into eye-catching pieces for your classroom!
Last week I scavenged the attic for unused frames and then, wiped them all down with a wet rag (so the spray paint sticks.) I placed cardboard under the frames, so the grass would not attack the wet paint. You could also use a plastic trash bag, but it might blow in the wind and attack your wet frame – boo.

Then, I acquired flat spray paint from Walmart (I did not want the frames to shine) and gave the frames 3 coats of paint. The shiny inside of the larger frame was being difficult.

Lastly, I put Pinterest to work and found some quotes to put in the frames. I printed them and voila! The two lengths of my room are yellow portioned walls. They are not the accordion style walls, so I will be able to easily hang the pictures with small finishing nails!

The next project I worked on was Project Caffeine. Since I do not drink coffee, it involved my Mom drinking inordinate amounts of caffeine in a week. I joke. I have always know I wanted to be a teacher, so these are just of the few of the coffee cans Mom has been saving for the past 4 years.

First, I removed the outer plastic of the cans and washed all the remaining grounds out. Then, I gave the cans 2.5ish coats of flat black spray paint (again, I did not want them to shine).

Initially, I had planned on leaving the insides of the cans silver, BUT since I did not tape the inside of the cans, overspray defiled the inside of the cans. It looked not-so-hot to have random speckles of paint on the inside, so later I ended up giving the insides of the cans a coat of paint.

Now, the fun part. The wall partitions I mentioned earlier are yellow. Yes, yellow. And, my lockers? Red. Do I live in a McDonalds? Yes. Yes, I do.

Initially, it was terrible. Now, I am embracing the yellow, ignoring the red, and supplementing with black. I found this snazzy yellow ribbon at Michaels {for 25% off} and whipped up some labels with Kimberly Geswein’s Second Chances font {adorable}!

Using spray adhesive, I attached the ribbon and the labels. Again, voila! It was easy peasy.

Well friends, I hope I have given you some ideas or at minimum distracted you from doing a household chore. I need to let my computer rest or it’s going to die…for realz. Yesterday, I backed up my pictures/clip art for the first time in 18 months, and it took 12 HOURS. I started backing up my documents at 2 PM and IT’S STILL GOING. I fully expect my computer to burst into flames by midnight…

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Sweet! Thanks so much for joining me. Now check your email to confirm your address & snag your freebies. Happy Teaching! -Catherine

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Filed Under: Back to School, Organization

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Adventures in Room 204 says

    June 25, 2013 at 3:38 am

    I love your homemade cans! The labels are adorable. 🙂 I am your newest follower! 🙂

    -Allison
    Adventures in Room 204

    Reply
    • Kate says

      June 25, 2013 at 4:04 am

      Thanks, Allison! I am so glad you stopped by. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Sylvia Parker says

    June 25, 2013 at 3:44 am

    I love how the cans turned out. Great color scheme.

    Reply
  3. Kelly says

    June 25, 2013 at 3:45 am

    Oh the cans are precious! Where did you get the frames for the labels? Too cute, but so very sorry to hear your room looks like McDonalds! Eek!

    Kelly
    First Grade Fairytales

    Reply
    • Kate says

      June 25, 2013 at 4:02 am

      Thanks, friend. I do have the option of painting the lockers, but I really don't think it's the best idea….especially this year. The frames are actually just a shape I inserted from Powerpoint (I have no idea what the shape is called!). I inserted two of the shape, cleared out the middle, and did a black line color on one and yellow on the other! 🙂

      Reply
  4. D. Frideley says

    June 25, 2013 at 3:46 am

    I think if you go with yellow & black & maybe some grey (to tone down the red) then the red lockers will be more like the red door on the front of a house and accent rather than clash.

    I like the yellow it's cheery!

    Deniece

    Reply
    • Kate says

      June 25, 2013 at 4:03 am

      Thanks, Deniece! That is fantastic advice. I love the red door metaphor…it gives me hope. 🙂

      Reply
  5. Katie Prentice says

    June 25, 2013 at 5:01 am

    The cans and labels looks awesome!!

    Katie 🙂

    Reply
  6. Krystyn Richards says

    June 25, 2013 at 5:26 am

    I love the cans. What a great idea!

    Krystyn
    Ms Richards's Musings

    Reply
  7. Hoots and Hollers says

    June 25, 2013 at 11:49 am

    Your framed quotes and cans look great! Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful ideas…

    Smiles,
    Sarah @ Hoots N Hollers

    Reply
  8. Eclectic Educating says

    June 25, 2013 at 12:48 pm

    Those cans turned out beautifully! Love them! Thanks for sharing! I love that yellow ribbon!

    Amy
    Eclectic Educating

    Reply
  9. Megan says

    June 25, 2013 at 1:08 pm

    I did the same thing with the prints from that awesome website!! I just painted the frames gray.

    Reply
  10. Maria Eshman says

    June 25, 2013 at 1:16 pm

    I LOVE all your hard work!!!!! GREAT job! I guess I need to start drinking coffee. 🙂

    Maria

    Reply
  11. Bridget S says

    June 25, 2013 at 2:09 pm

    I love your Made It Monday projects!!! The black & yellow combination looks fabulous 🙂

    Bridget
    Literacy Without Worksheets

    Reply
  12. Liz says

    June 27, 2013 at 10:38 pm

    Those cans look amazing!

    Reply
  13. Jamie knefely says

    July 15, 2013 at 8:36 pm

    The cans look great I love the color of the labels. They would match my class room too 🙂 Thanks for sharing.

    Jamie
    Teaching Tidbits and More With Jamie

    Reply

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My name is Catherine Reed, and I am in my 8th year in elementary life, residing in small-town, Kentucky.  I student taught in 1st grade and never ...

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