Monday Made it! First time trying spray paint!

I am SO excited I can actually link up with Tara this week for Monday Made-It, and I can finally focus on SCHOOL projects, now that my summer has started!

I don't know about you, but I am not the craftiest person. The thought of painting something is scary enough, but when you add paint in a can that sprays many feet away, I am pretty petrified and certain of a disaster. If you remember pictures from my classroom for the past few years, it has been hot pink and zebra. Although my room couldn't have been brighter, I was ready for a change. I decided to change up all of my bulletin board borders to teal and white chevron. I love teal and hot pink together, so that became my new theme. I am excited to finally be starting some projects for my classroom (now that summer school is finally over).

Up first was #1 of many Sterilite paper sorters.

I struggle with organization and this year I will have 75 students, I need to be on top of things. I came across some free labels that I feel in love with on TPT.

They inspired me to try to make a pretty paper sorter. I decided to label the three trays, Morning Work, Home Work, and Lined Paper. I will only have 24 students for ELA so this will work out perfectly. I have and am SO excited to use our new weekly morning work for the WHOLE year that is given out every week in a packet. I also have homework in packet form for the whole year. Every Monday, I plan on stocking this bin and leaving it up to the students to get their materials for the week. I think this will be a great responsibility for the students to take on and develop into a routine. The bottom drawer for lined paper will just be a helpful and neat place to keep paper for every day projects. So how did I do this...well that is the fun part of this post.

• I picked up the spray paint at Walmart for $3 a can. I made sure it was special paint to apply onto plastic.  I bought hot pink and teal, but only have used the teal so far. 
• I grabbed an old plastic table cloth and put it on the grass outside. I placed the Sterilite container on the table cloth, shook the spray paint a few times and started to spray. 
• A freak rainstorm came out of no where and soaked me, my container full of wet paint, and my table cloth...so I ran in the house. 
• Five minutes later I tried again...When I started to spray the container, some flying bugs jumped on the pretty container and got stuck! Every time I tried to brush them off, I ruined my paint job. 
• A big gust of wind came and blew the table cloth right on top on the wet container and I actually had to PEAL it off... 
• At this point, I gave up and brought it into the house to dry. Later on I tried a second coat and it covered everything (included the dead bugs) up. 

Because of that crazy experience I have learned some tips! 

1. Check the weather before painting outside. 
2. Paint in the sun where bugs won't bother you. 
3. Use a plastic table cloth, piece of material, or old sheet to protect the ground, BUT use weights to hold down each side. 
4. Shake the can (like the directions say) for a good two minutes and while spraying.
5. Spray 6-8 inches away from the object and keep your hand moving. 
6. Light and thin coats work best. 

 I think my first project of the summer was pretty successful. I was not scared away by the spray paint and will definitely be using it on future projects. I already started making over my teacher tool box because I found matching labels! I will post more about that...when I finish!

I hope this will help you and inspire you to brighten up your classroom with a little paint!