DIY: Needle Felted Masterpiece Hats

Hello, my most amazing artists! (this is how I greet my students every class to which I've taught them to reply "Hello, my most amazing art teacher!"...makes an art teacherin' type feel good. Y'all should try it, it's fab-u-lous!). I'm here today to share with y'all some masterpiece head-toppers I recently created. I've been plotting and planning my ensembles for ole NAEA 2016 and while I would just love to have the time to whip new 'fits, I'm just gonna have to go with some ole favorites. For that reason, I made hats to go with my wacky wardrobe! This one is for my Mondrian coat and dress.

Of course this bad boy with go along with my Warhol-inspired Campbell's soup can dress. 

And this one for my Lichtenstein pop art dress! I was inspired by my Target sweater for this one. In other news, I thought I was gonna POP a blood vessel while the 4th graders were painting their 3' long pencil and crayon sculptures today. I might have gotten impaled by a giant No. 2 pencil more than once...it wasn't pretty. 

Here's my lil mini-collection all complete. I've been dying to make more hats since making my donut hat last year. I know these lil guys aren't technically hats as they don't do much head-coverin'. They're more like headgear.

{shivers} Okay, not THAT kind of headgear, praise the Lord! That'd be what 12 year-old me wore whilst opening my birthday prezzies ('twas my birthday yesterday! I turned 41 which I was totes okay with until one of my students told me his grandma was the same age.) In other news, WHAT KIND OF PARENTS MAKE THEIR KID WEAR HEADGEAR ON THEIR BIRTHDAY?! AND get them an office chair?! Y'all better believe I was all about that office chair, I have one just like it in my art room. I mean, look at me all batting my baby bro Kris away from my seat. It's DELUXE, son! Back the funk off!

Oh how times haven't changed. I'm still wearing headgear. Thankfully this one doesn't make me look as sad and tweenie. Or maybe it do, I dunno!

So I created these hats with these hat-starter thingies I found on Amazon for like a buck each. They pretty much look like what I shoved inside my bra as a teen (okay, still do) with clips on the back. 

I busted out the Mondrian hat first. I began by using regular ole craft store felt cut to a larger size than my hat. 

 And commenced needle felting like crazy. 

Look, ma, I made an egg hat! Squares and rectangles were added in primary colors.

 And outlines in black. This hat came together super fast. 

From there, I hot glued the needle felted design to the hat/bra padding thingie. 

The can was done totes differently. I needle felted it as a flat label. Then I turned the needle felted label right sides together, stitched then flipped it right side out. I added a can lid to the top (as well as the peeled back lid) and stuffed it from the bottom before attaching it to the hat. 

Laziness prevented me from adding a plate under the can of soup. 

Here you can see how the top looks. I thought a flat can would be boring so I opted for the peeled back lid look.

 CAN you dig my SOUP-er hat? How 'bout my puns? 

 This one is my fave, can't wait to wear it out!

This hat is the biggest one and prolly my least fave because of it. I tried to make the letters smaller but they just didn't have the impact when I did. This hat really only looks good from the side tho I am thinking of trying a big ole beehive and putting it at the base. That should work, right?

Yarn really came in handy with this hat. I used it to outline the letters and the blue shape.

I've had so much fun making these (and spent so much less time than I do when I make clothing!) that I'm sure to make more. I've already got a sketchbook full of ideas...I just need me a spring break to bust 'em out. Till next time!

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DIY: A Mondrian Coat

So I'm currently reading this great self-help book called Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin. It's all about forming habits to help you become the person you wanna be (which, in my case, means less lazy and more do-y with a splash of grown-up like.) But before she gets into the habit-forming department, she explains that you gotta know what kind of tendencies you have to aide in developing habits best suited for you. She's decided (and I totes agree) that there are four kinds of habit-y folks in the universe: Upholders (who uphold both their own obligations and those they've made to others), Obligers (who uphold obligations to others but not to themselves), Quesioners (those who question what is being asked of them and follow through if they find it legit) and Rebels (those who can't be held accountable for internal or external obligations because they don't like being told what to do). 

So. With EXACTLY one million obligations to others (presentations, papers, writing, you name it) and EXACTLY one million new habits I've promised myself I'd form (exercising, eating better, getting more sleep), guess who decided to throw all that out the window and make this here needle-felted Mondrian coat?! 

That's right. This rebel. 

 Hey. It's all good. Draper approves. 

Did I mention that I'm currently on a Mad Men marathon bender? The hubs watched it all when it first came out and I kinda fell off the wagon when the show slipped into the mid-60's (let's be real, I was only in it for the fifties fashions). But with our onslaught of snow days, I'm now polyester-shift-dresses deep which is totes perfect cuz this coat is all kinds of Mad Mod 1960's. AND it also allows me to get all Mad Men gif-happy in this here post! 

Yep. I've already gotten this look when I wore the coat out today. I'm rather used to it. Joannie, don't hate. 

But before we go any further, I suppose we should give a big fat hairy shout out to the man who inspired my coat: Piet Mondrian. Born in 1906, this Dutch dude began fiddling with this grid style of painting with primary colors after the World War I while living in Paris. 

In 1940, Mondrian moved to New York City where he really seems to explore his ideas of simple abstraction. It's interesting to me that a little over 20 years later, his artwork became a part of the mod movement with it's strong lines and bold colors. His work looks every bit of arts and crafts movement as it does mid-century mod.

I love this dress by Yves Saint Laurent. Has anyone watched the movie about YSL's life? I think I'll have to check it out after I'm done drooling over Don Draper, er, watching Mad Men. You can find patterns for this dress in etsy-land and ebay-ville for a pretty penny. It's been on my dress-makerin' list for a while. Tho the closest I've gotten is this...

I found the fabric online and busted out this bad boy last year when it was Snow Day Central in these parts. I love the fabric but the styling is not mod. I mean, I'm no Marge, 'kay?

I suppose a girl can dream. BTW, I need those shoes, Marge. NEED. 

So I think I told you on Wednesday when I shared with you my needle-felted paint-splatter coat that I snagged this coat at the thrift store with the intent of artsifying it. Knowing that I'll be at an art teacherin' convention in Chicago in March (and knowing that I'm freakishly cold-natured), I can only assume I'll spend 99% of my time coat swaddled. When I realized that, I decided I'd better set to work on some super cute coat-ness. Because, again, I'm a rebel. All obligations were kicked, shoved and bootie-bumped out the window for this top-priority.  

Now I will confess that after the paint splatter coat, which was super fun with it's no-fuss organic shapes, doing these redundant vertical and horizontal lines and shapes was a little dry. There might have been some grown-up grape flavored drinking to help pass the time. Which got me very close to making the back of the coat look like a Pollock. 

Yes, Peg. Apparently so. 

But it's done now. And like all pain-in-the-arse crafts, I often forget the unpleasantries when I'm left with something I'm proud of.

Here's something I found interesting along the needle-felting way: I've never really had the hots for Mondrian or these paintings of his. But since working on this coat, I love those works of art! I don't know if it's the primary color palette or the vintage/Mod look to the work but I'm totes a convert. The back of the coat is my fave. 

Because I've shared so many needle felting DIY projects with y'all, I didn't think you'd wanna see one million how-to step photos. So I took exactly ONE. Sorry, y'all! If you follow this link, you'll find oodles of details along with how-to videos.  I've created many thingies via needle felting that, if I wasn't so stinkin' lazy, I'd create a link-able list for y'all. However, if you google my name and needle felting and hit image search, you'll see it all a whole lot faster. 

Oh, did I mention that this glamous 1980's coat came with white buttons and shoulder pads? I swapped out the buttons for red vintage ones from my stash. The shoulder pads stayed because they make me feel like this...

BAM. Shoulders of a quarterback, y'all. Deal with it. 

When I put on my finished coat and showed it to el hubbo, I got the usual response...

And there you have it! A Mad-Mod-Mondrian coat that gets a big ole thumbs up. I can't wait to wear it 'round the Windy City doin' my best Pegg-the-Boss impersonation. Hope to see y'all there! Now, lemme get back to better-habit-forming (bwhahaha, ahem). 

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What the Art Teacher Wore #154

Totes Tuesday: Well, we actually returned on Monday but that was kinda a rude awakening and I just couldn't seem to pull it together enough to snap a pic. You didn't miss much, lemme tell you. Just sitting-in-meeting 1950's vintage wear. You know, the ushe. But on Tuesday I was feeling a lil more up to form. Getting back into a routine of not staying up til midnight and beyond and rising late in the morn takes some easing into, y'all. sweater: thrifted vintage; skirt and boots: Anthro; scarf: gift from a student; tights: Target; bracelets: street market in Cali

Well, it happened. We went back to school. This year our district provided three glorious days of PD which I totes enjoyed. Not only was our art professional development fabulous (check it out here and here!) but it also helped us all ease back into the routine of things. I was stoked to have a couple of days to prepare my room for my Art Teacherin' Resolutions (part 2 coming next week!). In fact, so many things have changed/updated/whatevered that I decided to create a brand new Art Room Tour for y'all! 

There are still a TON of things I want to do to my magical art teacherin' space (like, A.TON. Is our job ever done?!) but until then, this is as good -n- groovy as it gets. By the way, many of the items you see me pan over in my artsy joint will be spoken about in detail at AOE's winter online conference where I'll be talking about how I attempt to Maximize my Minutes in the Art Room. And until next time, have a great week, kids!

 Wonderful Wednesday: We had the chance to work in our rooms and get caught up on teacherin' life on Wednesday. What a wonderful gift! Not surprisingly, I didn't manage to get everything done but do we ever? I sometimes wonder if/when the day will ever come when I leave my art room and think, "Welp! I got everything checked off my list, all's done!" Instead, I just close my door on the mess, shake my head and walk away super fast. I'm sure that makes me look like a nut on the security cam! sweater: made by me, DIY here; skirt, boots and belt: Anthro

 Bring 'em in, Thursday: The kids came back on Thursday and I was ready to throw all kinds of new things at them. You can read about some of those routines in my Art Teacherin' Resolution post (update this next week!) sweatshirt: Forever21; dress: made by me, DIY here; shoes: Payless with shoe clips made by me

One of my resolutions was to film myself instructing and play that for the kids. This allows me not to forget any details I need to share and frees me up to prepare supplies and drink my coffee (because, priorities). I was worried that the videos wouldn't be as effective and the kids' artwork wouldn't be as awesome as it usually is, but...

 Check out these cityscape printing plates! The kids and I were both thrilled! I have since created a video to walk them through the printing process which they'll see this week. Here's a peek: 

Feel free to use this lesson and these videos in your art room. And any feedback would be much appreciated. Third grade was my test pilot this week. Because it went over so well, I will be making more videos just like this. If you are interested, y'all can subscribe to my youtube channel to keep up. 

 Friday Already?!: That was fast! Teaching only two days a week will do that to you, I guess! It was a fun week and I'm looking forward to the next. I hope y'all have a super duper upcoming week as well! blouse and sweater: thrifted; palette belt: etsy; palette skirt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; tights: Target; shoes: Clarks

Oh! I have to share this sweet image with you! When my kindergarteners were finished with their paintings on Friday, I threw down this piece of fabric I purchased at IKEA and asked them to color it with my fabric markers. When I told them it was going to be sewn into a dress, they were thrilled! I overheard my sweet little friend in the blue on the right tell the other kids when they came to the floor, "Mrs. Stephens is going to make this into a dress and wear it! We will be famous!" They are so funny! 

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