In the Art Room: School-Wide Collaboratives!

Hey, kids! I'm comin' atcha with a mere two and some change weeks o' summer vacay left before The Return. Which means, if you are anything like me (and, Lordie help you if you are), you are dreaming up ideas for the new school year. One of my fave things to do to kick off the beginning of the year is have a big ole school-wide collaborative (or "scollab" as I like to call 'em). And lemme tell you why:

1. It gets the kids creating right at the start of the school year! If your kids are anything like mine, they spend their first full week learning rules -n- routines everywhere they go. The cafeteria. The classroom. The playground. The bus. WHICH I know is important BUT I'm dealing with the under-10 set. When they come to the art room they are soooo over that mess. Not only that, but I've had most of my students since kindergartenland. If they don't know my R-n-R's by now, well, when they see that we're gonna create on the first day o' art, they learn 'em real fast. Nothing like a big ole fun and messy carrot to get 'em behaved and ready to create, amirate?!

2. It makes the school look lovely! At the start of the school year, our school halls are empty and nuthin but wall to wall BLAH-eige (my friend Debbie coined this term: blah + beige = BLAH-eige). What better way to spice 'em up than with some kid-created masterpieces?!

3. It shines a spotlight on your art program! Let's face it, you ARE the Donna Summer of your school:

Sing it with me, "I work hard for the money. So hard for it, honey! I work hard for the money so you better treat me right!" However, you just can't run around tellin' folk how hard you and your young artists are working. You gotta show them. Put up a show stopper at the start of the year and you'll have everyone talkin' about your art program. 

Now, I know y'all are thinking, "That's all well -n- swell but what scollabs should I dooooo?!" Well, I'm here today to share with y'all some of my very faves with linky-loos to the blog posts that will walk you thru all of the steppies. Let's start with this fourth grade legacy mural! And, good news, if you are attending this Thursday's AOE conference...

You can hear me chat at length about each of these projects! As well as me questions live at the conference. AND take a tour of my school and get an even better view of these masterpieces. However, if you can't attend, don't you sweat it. I've got ya covered in this here blog post!

The mural is proudly displayed in the front lobby of our school and give a fair amount of fun -n- funk to our entrance way, doncha think?

Another fun scollab we did this year was our Village of Kindness mural/installation. 

Our theme for the school year was Be Nice and what better way to do so than with a village full of houses with kind messages to greet the viewer.

This also incorporated a fun backdrop that was painted by my rockin' second grade artists! More on that process here. 

This scollab is prolly one of my all time faves and it was purely by accident. Our school hosted a "street painter" or sidewalk chalk artist who introduced the kids to her trade. The kids were then supposed to try their hand at chalk art outside on our sidewalks but the weather decided against it. So we used the flip side of ceiling tiles instead! Full details here. 

Now we're thinking of doing this project every year because my administration loved it so much!

 If you want a scollab that will have EVERYONE feeling all warm and fuzzy at the start of the school year, have I got the one for you. The Gallery of Gratitude is an idea I played with forever...and I totes wish I had done it sooner. It meant so much to the faculty and staff to see their portraits and words of kindness written about them. 

Who doesn't love to feel appreciated?! This project def did the trick.

And, last but not least, the final scollab I've got for you here in this post is the Johnson Elementary has Heart mural! If you need a heart stopping show stopper (sorry, had to), this is it, kids!

So, what do you think? Are you ready to tackle a scollab to kick off the start of your school year? If so, what do you have in mind? I'd love to know. Leave me a lil sumpin sumpin in the comments, would ya? Til then...

Read more »

DIY: A Palette Dress, Purse and GIVEAWAY!

At one point, every summer vacation, I start to fall into a slacker-esque routine. I'll have my To-Do list all written down, my running shoes by the door, a big ole stack of projects to tackle and then I go all meh, not today. The list gets forgotten, the shoes collect dust and  the stacks of projects turn into towers of tasks I ain't never gonna touch. That was today. YESTERDAY, however, I finished off this number and stitched up that thar palette purse! So I can give myself one day o' estate sale shopping and Mad Men Marathon watching, right?!

I'm super stoked about this lil outfit y'all. But, let's be honest, the purse makes the thing. Amiright?

Let's talk about what inspired this outfit: that fab fabric, y'all. I have this habit: late at night, when I should be fast asleep, I scour the interwebs for fabric. I like to google things like "art supply fabric" or "color wheel fabric" OR, you guesser, Chester: palette fabric. The moment I saw this retro-inspired goodness, I tossed three yards in my virtual shopping cart and scooted on over to checkout faster than you can say "fabric hoarder" (although, why would you say such a thing? I like to think of myself as a Fabric Connoisseur, thank you vury much). The pattern I paired with the fabric is a vintage Simplicity 3877. I decided to go with the bodice of view 3 but I didn't love that skirt (flat front, gathered hips? Because I wanna look like a hippo?!) so I opted to use a regular ole gathered skirt from some rando pattern. I ain't trying to be vague. I'm just sayin, it's literally a big a## rectangle that I gathered and attached to the bodice. The.End.

Now, I'll be the first to admit, that this here fabric pattern is a wee bit overwhelming. That's a whole lotta palette action, you know what I mean? So I decided to break it up with that lil dotted cummerbund.  

I do love me a cummerbund. Or any waist-cinching, belt-esque thingie I can get my kitten mittens on. This one was a snap to make. I have a feeling I'll be busting out more o' these in the future. Magic Eight Ball says it's so (actually she said, "Ask Again" which I always take for a YES! WHATEVER YOU SAY! Magic Eight Ball is kinda like the original Siri but without the attitude.)

But can we fur realz just talk about the show stopper here? I mean, that purse, right?! 

RIIIIIIGHHHHHHT?!

It was pretty easy to make (with my sewing machine only having a hissy fit a mere three times during the making) and, if you are interested, ya outta pay close attention so you can make your own! BECAUSE Ima bout to give away the supplies to do it! But first...

I started with two straw placemats I found on Amazon. I then sketched out my plan and placed it on top, pinning it into place.

Then I snipped away. 

The handle proved to be the biggest beast for a multitude of reasons. The first being it was a drag to cut out. BUT I did it. WITH much complaining. TO the cat. BECAUSE no one else will listen. 

Using extra wide double fold bias tape, I pinned that business around the edge of the mat. Sadly, I didn't have enough for the handle so I had to use the smaller double fold tape I had on hand. That proved to be a real joy (insert sarcasm here) to stitch. But I muscled through. 

And then there was The Great Debate. If you follow me on Instagram and Facebook, I threw out a question because I was stumped how to proceed with the paint splotches. So my question was: round or blobby? I had so many sweet friends offer their advice that it was fab! The prob? Everyone was divided! So I took a closer look at the palette on my skirt and noticed that the paint splotches were ovals. That seemed to be a happy medium. Okay, so the Magic Eight Ball is actually the medium, but you know what I mean. 

This part actually went off without a hitch. I just set my machine to the appliqué stitch (all machines have it, it's just a zigzag stitch with the stitches set close together) and went to town.

Originally I was gonna stitch the two mats together on the black bias tape but it was just too thick. I ended up switching to a light brown thread and sewed the front and back of the bag together on the straw mat. Done and Done. 

BUT I'VE GOT THE SUPPLIES FOR YOU TO MAKE ONE TOOOOOOOO. Well, the purse, perhaps. And just a wee bit of palette fabric. And it can be ALLL YOOOOUURRZZZZ if y'all do the following:

* (If you wanna) follow me on Instagram, that'd be swell. 

* Leave me a message in the comments! I want to know...Who is your fave painter (ya know, since we're talking palettes and all) and why? Also! Don't forget to leave me your email addy so I can let you know if you won, you big winner, you!
 
AND, I'll see you soon! Artsy Sew Along friends, I'll be back shortly with more video clipp-ies of our next phase of skirt stitching. Toodles!

Read more »

DIY: The Oodles of Doodles Shower Curtain Skirt

Whilest I was on my decluttering bender (which I'm still on. So lemme know if any of y'all are interested in a broken coffee grinder,  a polyester school spirit shirt from 1982 [any Eisenhower Academy alum out there?!] or a Speak -n- Spell, holla at yer gurl!), I found this super awesome cotton shower curtain in my stash. I believe I thrifted it years ago. When I spied it amongst the clutter, it spoke to me and was all, "Hey! Girl! Put down that busted blender and make me into a circle skirt!" And, being prone to ADHD-fueled activities, I was all, "Okay, sure thing!" BTW, only if you are a sewer, crafter or artist of any kind do inanimate objects speak to you, amirite?

Because this skirt is so stinkin' big and awesome, there's hardly a photo that doesn't showcase me twirling around like a demented ballerina. Which is pretty much all I ever did in ballet as a kid anyway, twirl around and wear my little pink ballet slippers everywhere. So my apologies for all of these goofy twirly pics. However, can you believe the size of this thing? In a pinch, it could be used as a tent for a family of four. 

Have y'all ever made a circle skirt before? If you have, WHY HAVE NOT TOLD ME HOW INCREDIBLY EASY THEY ARE TO MAKE?! Hiding secrets from me, eh? I mean, all I did was cut out two big ole half circles, make room for a waist, add a waist band, stitch in a zipper and hem. Now, I will say, hemming took the longest as the bottom of that skirt is exactly the length of 3 football fields. But other than that, it was a snap! I used this pattern I picked up from etsy a coupla years back.

I didn't have enough shower curtain left to create the waistband to I used some heavy pink gingham from my stash. Which you can't see in these photos because I'm conveniently hiding it.

Who here thinks the kids are gonna flip out when they see this skirt come August? It's the perfect art teacherin' skirt, riiiight?! So glad it didn't get donated to the thrift with that busted blender. 

Coming off my Grainline Studio Scout Tee high, I busted out this bad boy in just a couple of hours to match (actually, it took a lot less time than that, these Scout Tees are a snap to make!). I used some Lotta Jansdotter (best name everrrr, btw) fabric found at Joanns. After some debate on my instagram, I decided to go with a pink gingham trim. Most all y'all were like, "don't do eeettttt!" but, eh, I did it anyway. Because I'm toooootally one of those people who asks your opinion and then promptly does the opposite. Nice. 

And now, let's talk about the Artsy Sew Along!

OMGGaaaaah, that face. You know you wanna sew along with this crazy, riiiiight? We're gonna be stitching a skirt from Simplicity 2226. Watch this crazy and I'll convince ya that you needs to do sew, er so.

Because, truly, the best part is FABRIC SHOPPING! Check out these beauties I found just after a short stroll through fabric.com. 

So much prettiness! If you watch the next clip, I'll chat with you about how to measure yourself (always a good time), what notions you'll need as well as how much fab fabric to buy. This is my fave part, the planning. I do hope you'll join the fun! Feel free to share your fabric choices on the Artsy Sew Along page or on instagram with the #artsysewalong! 

If a pattern envelope is Greek to you, lemme translate it for you! 

I'll be back later this week and show you just how to prep your fabric for sewing and start cutting into that pattern. I can't wait to stitch with y'all! Until then, Ima go twirl myself on back to declutterin'! 

Read more »

DIY: A(nother) Monet Dress

If y'all follow me here, then you've seen the snaps of this Monet dress in progress. It's my second tribute to ole Monet (that was more of my spring line and what you see here is from my summer collection [I'm hoping you read that in your most uppity voice as that's how I typed it]) and it seemed just the thing to stitch up on these 90 degree/boiling-inferno/hotter-than-the-underarm-of-a-construction-worker days we've been having here in lovely Tennessee. 

By the way, someone once asked me why I'm so smiley in my DIY photos. It's not so much a smile of happiness as it is surprise. Like, "Holy crap, y'all! Can you believe I made this?! Like, with a sewing machine and not a hot glue gun although, at times, I think that mightah been easier!" Therefore, I smile. 

I used my trusty vintage McCall's 6221 (which is available on etsy, y'all! It's a simple dress and so cute. Git yerself here and scoop it up!). This is my third time sewing with this pattern. You can see my other attempts here (OMG, I totes forgot about those cat shoes!) and here (that time I almost burned the house down with...banana bread. Sigh). I even lined this dress because, hey, I was feeling fancy. And the pattern makes it so simple and-and, I feel like a grown up sewer when the flip side of my dress looks as snazzy as the outside. The fabric, sigh, isn't it presh? I picked it up from Joann's a while back. I was just there the other day and they still had some. It's out on their website but I bet if you called their stores they could help ya out.   

I did a full 30 seconds of googling in an attempt to find what Monet painting the print was inspired by. The palette is closer to that Cliffs at Amont, 1885 painting on the left although the theme looks more like that dealio on the right. Maybe I should find out zactly before I wear this to school and introduce Monet to los kiddos.

 SooooOOOooo, in true Cassie-fashion, I got ALMOST done with this dress and was all, meh. I don't need no stinkin' bows. But I forced myself kicking and screaming to add them. I'm so "almost to the finish line, think I'll break for a Twinkie", it's kinda pathetic. But not this time! And I'm happy I did because, BOWS ARE ADORBS. 

Except these bows have this bad habit of tickling the back of my upper arm. They are in a weird place and I'm constantly swatting at myself. Which doesn't warrant weird looks from strangers AT.ALL.

Yeah, pretty much. 

I shared with Asha today my new dress as she's my only company. This was the reaction I got. And I wasn't even swatting at myself! Such a harsh critic. 

Meanwhile, in Asha-land, here's how she pictures herself in a Monet...

Reality is, that crotch-licker would prolly look more like this in a Monet (by the way, if you've not seen 17 Classic Works Improved by a Fat Ginger Cat THEN YOU'VE NOT LIVED, FRIEND). 

In other news...I starting filming some short clips for our Skirt Sew Along (you can join here for minute-by-minute updates [I kid. Try weekly.])! I'll be back later this week on how to read your pattern package in order to determine you size and what you need to purchase. I'm so excited about sewing with y'all! Until then!

Read more »