April: Earth Day Tree Display

For our Earth Day display this year I created a tree that spans across our bookcase. I created the trunk of the tree by laying full sheets of construction paper on the display and tracing a trunk design, cutting it out piece by piece so it matched. I made the trunk months before the display was put up, so I numbered each piece and took a picture of it up, to use as a guide when it was time to put up the actual display.

For the leaves I created several different variations and cut them out using the Silhouette Cameo. It took a lot of time to cut out all these leaves, in various colors, so I began several months ahead of time and did a sheet of leaves whenever I had a bit of time.

For the books I pulled all out Earth Day themed books to complete the display.

October: Halloween Bat Crazy Display

Bats, bats, bats!! Our second Halloween display this years features almost a hundred bats!

I cut out each bat using templates I found online. There are five sizes of bats. I taped the smallest ones up the right side of the display, gradually moving to the larger ones as I got towards the top of the display. I then spread the bats out over the top three shelves and had them "flying" towards the left side of the display.

I then had the bats "fly" off the left side of the display onto the wall.

From there they "flew" to the opening and I used fishing line to have the bats "flying" in the open air next to the display.

October: Halloween Slime Display

It's Halloween time and the library has some awesome displays this year! Our first display is covered in slime! I got this idea from Pinterest, it was easy to make and looks great in person.

I started off by getting a stack of lime green paper. I cut out five different variations of slime and then used those as templates to cut out approx 40 pieces of slime.

For the top three shelves I taped the slime of the inside top of the bookcase along with the outside edge. The bottom four shelves you couldn't see the inside well so I only did the outside.

I made a sign for the display saying "It came from the library." and I made a second sign for our website.

Bulletin Board: Dive Into Reading!

Dive into reading this summer! Over the summer I am working as a teacher/librarian for a K-5 private school. For the library's bulletin board I came up with "Dive into Reading." Using ocean/diving/swimming themed books that the library had, I created this cute bulletin board.

For the fish/ sea creatures I googled "baby fish" "ocean nursery" "sea creatures" and I also looked at examples on Pinterest and Etsy. I drew some of the creatures myself like the octopus and crab. You might notice that a few of the fish are from Dr. Seuss books. I cut out all the fish and drew on faces using a sharpie. Then I cut out starfish, seaweed and rocks. I chose to cut out larger letters than the 4" punches that the school had available.

I used the following books, I found the cover images online and printed them out and then added a colors piece of craft paper behind each one:

Samson the Hot Tub Bear by Wendy Tokuda

                                                       Sea of Dreams by Dennis Nolan

Samantha the Swimming Fairy by Daisy Meadows

                                                   The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Dark Day in the Deep Sea by Mary Pope Osborne

                                                The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

Fish for Jimmy by Katie Yamasaki

                              Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha! by Barbara Park

Ladybug Girl at the Beach by David Soman and Jacky Davis

                                      The Seals That Wouldn't Swim by Steve Brezenoff

The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler

  The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen