The Joy of Decorating: A Back-to-School Theme Project

As I sit here surrounded by my newly decorated entryway, I am filled with excitement and nostalgia. It's hard to believe that just a few years ago, I was not much of a decorator. In fact, I only decorated for Halloween and Christmas, but after meeting one of my daughter's friends' mom, who was known for her impeccable decorating skills, I was inspired to take up the hobby.

I have to admit, I was enchanted by her enthusiasm and creativity. She had a way of making every occasion feel special, from birthdays to holidays, and even everyday events like back-to-school season. As she showed me around her beautifully decorated home, I knew right then and there that I wanted to create similar displays for my own home. And so, the journey began.

For this particular project, I decided to take on a back-to-school theme, perfect for the upcoming school year. I wanted to show my appreciation for teachers in a way that was both thoughtful and fun. I scoured local dollar stores, including Dollar Tree, to find affordable materials that would come together to create a unique and eye-catching display.

My first stop was Dollar Tree, where I purchased a glass vase, two boxes of the Giap brand pencils (16 count each), and some floral arrangements featuring yellow and white flowers. I also picked up a few berries, including glittery ones, to add a pop of color and whimsy to my design. With these materials in hand, I set out to create a stunning display that would make any teacher feel appreciated.

As I began arranging the pencils in the glass vase, I applied hot glue to each one, carefully turning them so that the brand logo or numbering wouldn't be visible. This process was time-consuming, but the end result was well worth it. I then moved on to gluing the flowers and berries around the vase, creating a beautiful arrangement that seemed almost too good to be true.

To add the finishing touch, I took an apple from Hobby Lobby (thanks to a 40% off coupon!) and applied hot glue to the back of it. Voila! My pencil base was complete, and my display was ready to be admired. As I stepped back to take in my handiwork, I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. This project had taken hours, but the end result was well worth it – a beautiful and unique back-to-school display that would bring joy to anyone who saw it.

The final product is indeed stunning, with its bright yellow and white flowers, glittery berries, and perfectly arranged pencils. I can already imagine it in my entryway, welcoming visitors and spreading a little bit of cheer. Whether or not I get to give this project to one of the teachers in my life remains to be seen, but I know that either way, I'll be thrilled to display it for all to see.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi guys so today I'm filming in my new makeover room I'm so excited it looks so gorgeous so if you are interested in how I did all of this there's there's actually a room makeover video so I will link it down below for you but today I'm gonna be doing a DIY from the Dollar Tree I absolutely love doing DIYs from the Dollar Tree because I love to challenge myself and I love to see how products from the Dollar Tree translates into something luxurious that I don't think that I would believe was from the Dollar Tree so today is August 1st it's almost time for back-to-school and fall is just around the corner and I love me some fall because I love plaid and it's an appropriate time to wear plaid so I'm really excited about it and today I wanted to do like a back-to-school DIY even though my daughter is in high school and these little gifts are probably more appropriate for preschool or elementary school but it's also very cute to decorate in your own home if you just love getting into the spirit of things so a little backstory before I get started this DIY I never really decorated for much I maybe decorated for Halloween and mostly Christmas but other than that I wasn't a big decorator in my 20s it wasn't until I met one of my daughter's friend's moms and she decorated for every single fricking thing and I was enchanted by it I just was and I was like duh why wouldn't I do this especially if you have children like they really do love that stuff I think I I know I would have appreciated it if I was younger so like I said even if you don't have a teacher to give this to maybe you know a teacher maybe you are a teacher maybe um you just want to decorate your house for them entire month of August with a back-to-school theme it's just such a great feeling seeing the school buses I absolutely love the movie you've got mail with meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and the part where it's like fall and she talks about a bouquet of sharpened pencils and I was like ding and that's kind of how I created this I've seen something like this on the internet but I gave it my own twist and of course I did it all Dollar Tree except for one little thing so but it was cheaper than Dollar Tree so let's go ahead and get started and I will share with you what it looks like tada I just can't I just can't handle this it's just and like I was saying my daughter is in high school I really do one of my friends is a teacher um but she's more of a middle school teacher so I'm not sure if I'm going to get this to her or not but I will tell you that if I don't this will look really cute in my entryway and that's where it's gonna go so I absolutely love this so if you guys want to see how I put this pencil face back to school from the Dollar Tree thank you watching all right so what I've done is I've purchased a glass vase from the Dollar Tree and I purchased the first time around only two boxes of the pencils Giap brand line from the Dollar Tree as well there's 16 count in each box but ultimately I ended up using three boxes total but there were a couple of pencils left from the third box so you'll see that later on so the first thing that I did with starting off with my very first pencil was I applied the hot glue to the pencil itself and then I laid the pencil down onto the glass from there on I just applied the hot glue to the glass itself so as you can see I'm just adding the pencils and I'm making sure to turn them so that you don't see the job brand line or that little number two indicator I just wanted the plain pencil look so I am just making sure that it's nice and tightly sitting next to each other but as I was going through this I noticed I was using a lot of glue sticks so I started to actually as you see here started to put little three little dots throughout and then eventually towards the end I only added hot glue to the bottom and then to the top so that is how I was trying to save on the glue sticks but I did go through about four or five sticks initially once I was done as you can see this was where I only had the two boxes on hand I did go back to the Dollar Tree and purchase a third box and then finished the project but I wanted to keep going on and so these are the florals that I picked from the Dollar Tree I love the florals from the Dollar Tree they're so beautiful and I've never actually used the petunias before so it was my very first time I knew I wanted like a yellow and white combination arrangement I felt like it would be the prettiest especially if you are gonna give this to a teacher yellow is what the sign of friendship so it's a very appropriate color to give so I put the white in first and then I went with the yellow flowers and then I decided to cut down the berries so that I could put them wherever I wanted throughout the floral arrangement I'm adding a little bit more of the yellow and then I'm gonna add the berries and honestly the glitter berries just makes this whole thing pop and super fun and super friendly like how could a teacher not love this honestly the very last thing that I did was I took this Apple it was 99 cents but you can take a 40% off coupon coupon and it will be even cheaper from Hobby Lobby so I just applied some hot glue to the back of that and added to my pencil base and voila you are done you guys I hope that you loved this project it was under $10 to make I hope it inspires you and I'll see you soon byehi guys so today I'm filming in my new makeover room I'm so excited it looks so gorgeous so if you are interested in how I did all of this there's there's actually a room makeover video so I will link it down below for you but today I'm gonna be doing a DIY from the Dollar Tree I absolutely love doing DIYs from the Dollar Tree because I love to challenge myself and I love to see how products from the Dollar Tree translates into something luxurious that I don't think that I would believe was from the Dollar Tree so today is August 1st it's almost time for back-to-school and fall is just around the corner and I love me some fall because I love plaid and it's an appropriate time to wear plaid so I'm really excited about it and today I wanted to do like a back-to-school DIY even though my daughter is in high school and these little gifts are probably more appropriate for preschool or elementary school but it's also very cute to decorate in your own home if you just love getting into the spirit of things so a little backstory before I get started this DIY I never really decorated for much I maybe decorated for Halloween and mostly Christmas but other than that I wasn't a big decorator in my 20s it wasn't until I met one of my daughter's friend's moms and she decorated for every single fricking thing and I was enchanted by it I just was and I was like duh why wouldn't I do this especially if you have children like they really do love that stuff I think I I know I would have appreciated it if I was younger so like I said even if you don't have a teacher to give this to maybe you know a teacher maybe you are a teacher maybe um you just want to decorate your house for them entire month of August with a back-to-school theme it's just such a great feeling seeing the school buses I absolutely love the movie you've got mail with meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and the part where it's like fall and she talks about a bouquet of sharpened pencils and I was like ding and that's kind of how I created this I've seen something like this on the internet but I gave it my own twist and of course I did it all Dollar Tree except for one little thing so but it was cheaper than Dollar Tree so let's go ahead and get started and I will share with you what it looks like tada I just can't I just can't handle this it's just and like I was saying my daughter is in high school I really do one of my friends is a teacher um but she's more of a middle school teacher so I'm not sure if I'm going to get this to her or not but I will tell you that if I don't this will look really cute in my entryway and that's where it's gonna go so I absolutely love this so if you guys want to see how I put this pencil face back to school from the Dollar Tree thank you watching all right so what I've done is I've purchased a glass vase from the Dollar Tree and I purchased the first time around only two boxes of the pencils Giap brand line from the Dollar Tree as well there's 16 count in each box but ultimately I ended up using three boxes total but there were a couple of pencils left from the third box so you'll see that later on so the first thing that I did with starting off with my very first pencil was I applied the hot glue to the pencil itself and then I laid the pencil down onto the glass from there on I just applied the hot glue to the glass itself so as you can see I'm just adding the pencils and I'm making sure to turn them so that you don't see the job brand line or that little number two indicator I just wanted the plain pencil look so I am just making sure that it's nice and tightly sitting next to each other but as I was going through this I noticed I was using a lot of glue sticks so I started to actually as you see here started to put little three little dots throughout and then eventually towards the end I only added hot glue to the bottom and then to the top so that is how I was trying to save on the glue sticks but I did go through about four or five sticks initially once I was done as you can see this was where I only had the two boxes on hand I did go back to the Dollar Tree and purchase a third box and then finished the project but I wanted to keep going on and so these are the florals that I picked from the Dollar Tree I love the florals from the Dollar Tree they're so beautiful and I've never actually used the petunias before so it was my very first time I knew I wanted like a yellow and white combination arrangement I felt like it would be the prettiest especially if you are gonna give this to a teacher yellow is what the sign of friendship so it's a very appropriate color to give so I put the white in first and then I went with the yellow flowers and then I decided to cut down the berries so that I could put them wherever I wanted throughout the floral arrangement I'm adding a little bit more of the yellow and then I'm gonna add the berries and honestly the glitter berries just makes this whole thing pop and super fun and super friendly like how could a teacher not love this honestly the very last thing that I did was I took this Apple it was 99 cents but you can take a 40% off coupon coupon and it will be even cheaper from Hobby Lobby so I just applied some hot glue to the back of that and added to my pencil base and voila you are done you guys I hope that you loved this project it was under $10 to make I hope it inspires you and I'll see you soon bye\n"