DIY: A Crayola Sweater and a Giveaway!

Because I'm nothing short of an epic genius, I've come up with a desirable scent that will most assuredly be all the rage once it hits department store counters. I've decided to call it Eau de Art Class (which, upon googling, I've found means "water of art class". Like, ew.) or perhaps Parfume de Back-to-School. Regardless, it's gonna be a Big Fat Hairy hit and I'm bound to become so rich my bling's bling will have bling. 

So just what is this Super Smelly Special Sauce I speak of?

Das right, y'all. Scent de Crayola. Just dab a lil behind your ears and let the good times roll. I hear this is how baby crayons are made. 

Oh, snap! Blue Crayon Babe, you's busted!

In other non-related/I'm-a-secret-super-genius news, I made a new sweater! As if you hadn't figured that out already. Sorry to underestimate your intelligence. We geniuses (genii?) do that a lot. 

Now I totes can't take credit for the idea behind this here felted sweater creation o' mine. In fact, I dunno if you know this about me but I rarely have an original thought. I blame Pinterest and too many years of drowning my sorrows in liters of Diet Coke (y'all. The hubs and I just watched a documentary on manufactured foods. I beg of you, step away from the aspartame!). I have this habit of googling such silliness as "art teacher clothes" and "palette dress" or "crayon sweater" into the wee hours of the night. One eve, this divine-ness popped up on my screen (it's still available, yous guyzzz). And I was all, "OMG, I have to have this!" which was promptly contradicted by "OMG, I have to make this!" 

And so I did. 

But, how?, you wanna know. 'Twas cake, I tell ya. Needle Felted Crayola-Goodness Cake. Lemme show ya.

I started by hitting the thrift store with the sole intent of just buying The Perfect canvas (aka a cream colored sweater) for my masterpiece. Which I totally found. Along with this here gem which I HAD to HAVE. Like, duh. 

I mean, a hat with glasses?! Are you kitten me? (ya see what I did there? Made a cat joke cuz I'm wearing a cat sweater, in case you didn't notice. Aw, don't be all peanut butter and jealous of my super rad sense of humor, y'all. No need to get catty. Ahem.)

So when I got home, my first order of biznatch was to sketch up my design. Which I promptly did and then pinned to my sweater. Now, y'all now I loves me some needle felting. Like, lurves. I mean, just check out Exhibit A, B, C, D, E, and, well, you get the idea. What first got me hooked was watching a youtube vid clip where some British lady spoke these magical words: You can needle felting on ANYTHING. 

That's right, kids. Any surface. Anytime. Anywheres. So, what's stopping you? 

I decided to approach this sweater the same way I had my Crazy Cat Lady number: outline with 100% wool yarn (it's gotta be wool, y'all. And it's gotta be 100%) and fill in the rest with wool roving. I happen to have been gifted a giant sack of wool yarn as it was abandoned in my art room one afternoon (do the rest of y'all art teachers receive art supply abandons? I gotta know, what's been your fave? Mine was this here wool. And your least fave? Um, that'd have to be the three garbage bags of toilet paper rolls. Gee, thanks but, um, no thanks.) 

'Kay, so I know I'm doing a lousy job of 'splaining how I felted this here number. So sorry. My bad. But if you follow this link, you'll find all the answers to life and needle felting. Yes, suriously. 

After needle felting in my outline, I was set to start using the wool roving to fill in the blanks. Or color in the lines. Whateves. 

And, BOOM, after power-watching two episodes of Project Runway, I had my box o' crayons complete. 

And then came the crayons. For that I used my wool yarn again and this here crayon template. I just needle-felted/outlined my crayon...

...like-a dis...

And then filled it in with two different values of roving per crayon (you see what I did there? I just threw in one of the Elements of Art. Because an Art-Teacherin' job is NEVER done, y'all.)

SPEAKING of ART TEACHERIN'...have I got a Crayola-tastic Giveaway for you, y'all! 

Whilst needle felting away, I got the idea to contact my buddy Barb Reinke who works for Crayola. She was kind enough to send some goodness my way to share with y'all in the form of this here giveaway! Cuz, really, who doesn't love Crayola?!

So just how do you enter to win? Well, lemme tell ya in the form of bullet points as they make me feel all organized and intelligent:

• Leave a comment in the comments (der) describing your FAVE CRAYOLA PRODUCT. Not cuz Crayola wants to know but I do. My fave are their Watercolor Paints called Mixing Colors. They're my jam.
• I'll enter your name into the drawing once. But if you want your name in the drawing twice, well, then you gots to follow me here. C'mon, let's be twits together!
• Winner will be announced Tuesday, November 25th. International friends, you may apply. Non-art teacher buddies, you know I loves you, apply as well. This here give away is for all y'all.

Lookin' forward to hearing from y'all and let the giveawayin' begin!

(P.S. in the meantime, do an google image search of "crayon poop". You won't regret it.)