What the Art Teacher Wore #150

 Monday Selfies: So several of my classes are still deep in self-portrait land. To celebrate the occasion of drawing the best looking kids we know (ahem, ourselves), I wore this lovely sweater that a sweet friend gifted to me several years ago. As crazy as it sounds I'd only mustered up the courage to wear this bad boy THIS WEEK.  After removing the shoulder pads, that is. And I have no idea why! The kids loved it and it was a great topic of discussion. Silly me. sweater: Michael Simon, thanks, Ann!; dress: vintage, Buffalo Exchange; blue tights and hot pink fishnets: Target; shoes: Clarks

Well, here 'tis. The 150th What the Art Teacher Wore post. I really thought y'all were gonna throw me a surprise party with cuppie-cakes and those cans of "beans" where snakes pop out. Because those get me every.time. Actually I contemplated for a hot minute about doing something extra special here on el bloggo but then I started thinking about cuppie-cakes and snake-bean-can-thingies and got all sorts of distracted. Big surprise, amirite?

In other news, don't hate, but I have exactly 4.5 days until Thanksgiving Break! Which, for me, means a whole freakin' week off! Thankful? You betcha! Like, when I was a kid, we got Thursday and Friday off and it usually entailed makin' the rounds to the grandparentals house for weird a## food like congealed salad and mystery stuffing covered in even more mysterious gravy. {Shivers}. I don't miss the culinary disasters of those days. I do miss my grandparentals thou, hold the gravy. Really, grandma, I'm full. I honestly don't think I can spit anymore into my napkin. 

On that delightful note, I hope y'all have a fab-o week! Be sure to pop back by on Tuesday as I FINALLY finished my Halloween costume (shuddup). If you follow me here, you've seen glimpses of the pencil-tasticness that I managed to wrap up this weekend. Also I'll be back with a quick video tutorial on how to teach 3-D lettering to your under-10 kiddos. Until then, stay away from that mystery gravy, y'all! NO ONE HAS SEEN GRANDPA FOR DAYS. Just.Sayin.

 In case you need a closer look at the awesomeness. The kids loved the different images and, of course, it was a great segue into Pop Art. My third graders are currently creating superhero selfies and learning all about Lichtenstein, Warhol and Pop Art. 

 Of course, there's always that one rando class that's a millennia behind. Case in point: this fourth grade class wrapping up their It's Okay to be Different selfies (so I can finally work on that mural, y'all!). This artist told me, "I wanted my self portrait to have those eye-thingies like you have!" Eye-thingies, cat-eyes, you say tomato, I say shuddup. 

 Mad Mod Tuesday: This dress was a super big hit, y'all! I'm so glad I procrastinated cleaning the house for yet another day (er, week) to bust out this number. I do have to say that the kids were even more curious about the boots (we learned the monkey and the mashed potato to celebrate the awesomeness that is The Boots) and my tights. Most asked question of the day: Where did you find two-toned tights? Answer: I didn't. I'm actually wearing two pairs of tights and awkwardly tucking one leg. You see? It's really best you don't ask. dress: made by me, more here; boots: thrifted vintage

 Most of my younger artists wrapped up these selfies this week and we started hanging them in the halls. Don't tell but this one is secretly my fave. Lesson details here. 

 Onomatopeia Wednesday: The first phase of my third graders super hero selfies is that they have to come up with an onomatopoeia, draw it in block letters, 3-D-ize it and add it to an action-packed background. Teaching the under-10 set how to draw in 3-D is a challenge but I think I figured it out. Stay tuned for a video clip all about the process later next week. sweater: Target, last year; dress: Buffalo Exchange; tights and fishnets: Target; Frye boots: Journeys

 Sew Happy Thursday: My Thursdays are my busiest days class-wise. But, no bother, I had a sewing class at Craft South with Miss Make that I was super stoked about! We're working on a circle skirt with a lapped zip and I'm thrilled with how easy it is. Which is only the case because Devon is an excellent teacher. I'll be sure to share my circle skirt with you once it's complete. sweater: felted by me! More here; dress: anthro; necklace: The Paper Source

 Happy Mixed Pattern Friday!: Okay, don't judge but this week, I totally busted out my Christmas decor. I'm just so excited! I'm slowly weeding out my non-vintage dec for vintage and I'm so happy with how everything is looking. I'll be sure to share with y'all soon. I NEVER decorate for the holidays before Thanksgiving, just so you know. But the level of excitement just was too much for me not to bust out the Kitsch-mas! dress: Plato's Closet with leopard print added by me; belt and crinoline: Amazon; scarf: Charleston market

 Turns out someone else was equally excited about the vintage decor. Asha immediately made a bed for herself in front of the color wheel as soon as I set up the tree skirt. 

Fingers crossed she doesn't take out any of my Shiny Brites like she did last year. Behave, kitty! 

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DIY: A Color Wheel Clock!

My dear moms was visiting this weekend and in between us hitting the local Farmer's Market, eating, shopping at a vintage fair, eating, visiting my long-lost aunt and uncle and, you guester-Chester, more eating, the topic of retirement came up. My mom is a nurse and has been for about a million years. I asked when she was going to stop sticking folks with needles and call it quits and she was all, "but if I didn't go to work, what would I do?" 

Like, whut?!  

Growing up an only child for the first 10 years of my life, I've always been super good at entertaining myself. I mean, I could craft, sew, color, paint and glue for dayz on end cuz my mental makerin' to-do list is so stinkin' long. For zample, this here color wheel clock idea is one I've been kicking around for-stinkin-everz. If I had endless amounts of time on my hands, I foresee that I'd spend weeks, neigh, months in my pajamas surrounded by empty coffee cups, dark chocolate wrappers and mountains of crafting mayhem. It sounds both glorious and horror film-esque all at once. So I suppose it's best I stick with the art teacherin'. 

But I suppose you didn't pop by here to hear all about my questionable dream-life, did you? Let's get to the craft at hand, ermkay? I thrifted this clock well over a year ago simply to take it apart and revamp in this colorful way. Only when I started redoing my art room, did I decide to buckle down and bust this bad boy out. I started by taking the clock apart and sliding the mountain of paint chip swatches I picked up at Home Depot under the hands of the clock. YES, I got permission to pinch all of those paint chips. And YES, I only asked permission after the suspicious sales person was all, "Um, can I help you?!" 

(By the way, if you follow me on Instagram-crackers, you've seen most of these snaps. If you don't follow me on insta, like, whuh? You totally should.)

Once I figured out how I wanted to lay out the colors, I created a template with one of the paint chips. This template was used to help me cut each chip to the correct size and slid it under the frame of the clock as you see here.

Good ole Aleene's Fast Drying Tacky Glue was used to adhere these into place. I opted out of using a hot glue gun. I thought that might make the paper chips stand up too much and prevent the hands of the clock from ticking. 

Bam, done. No time flat, really. And it looked pretty snappy with just the color on the inside, says moi.

But why stop there when you still have all of those pinched paint chips?! So I started to play with the idea of extending the rainbow of fruit flavor beyond the confines of the clock. 

 So I set my clock on some white matte board and proceeded to glue the rest of the chips with hot glue around the edge. I did have to cut a hole out of the center that was the size of the clock so that I could both hang the clock and change the battery when needed. So, without the clock, the background looks like a color wheel donut. Which, you gotta admit, sounds yummers. 

And, yay! The clock now hangs proudly in the art room. It makes me so happy every time I see it. Y'all best give a color wheel clock a go and lemme know how it works for you. And tell the kind folks at Home Depot I said, "haaaaayyy!"

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In the Art Room: Dot Day Ideas!

Hey, kids! September 15th-ish is International Dot Day in the art teacherin' world. In case you aren't familiar, Dot Day is a super fab-o artsy holiday based on the book The Dot by author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds. My young artists have celebrated Dot Day for the last couple of years and I thought I'd share their projects with you in one big ole fat blog post! It's always been a big hit with the kids and a great way to talk about what it means to be an artist. So, without further ado, let's get down to this Dot-making business! 

A new video created to show y'all how I teach line sculpture to kindergarten! 

Last year, each grade level created a different type of dot. For my kindergarten friends, I stuck with my unit on line (because I love this unit so!) but added a dot-tastic twist: the base for our paper sculpture was a dot! 

My first grade friends created this lovely dot-inspired landscape that still hangs outside of my art room (it's about to be replaced by our current jungle-themed masterpieces...I can't wait to share that with y'all!). Each child created a dot-flower and worked on the patterned papers seen in the background.  

At the start of the school year, our vocabulary words were: unique, unusual, creative, artistic and fun! I think these flowers definitely qualify, don't you?

Second grade artists learned all about Kandinsky who's work was on display at our local art museum. The kids created a reversible line painting on pizza rounds that I purchased via Amazon. 

I love hanging the kids' work in this large bank of windows we have in the hall. Do you guys do window displays? I'm always looking for more ideas so if you have any, please drop 'em in the comments!

Third grade was all about the metal relief sculptures with these styro plate/aluminum foil/Sharpie numbers. They were so pretty and reflective that they seemed to catch everyone's eye. 

 What a fun way to introduce line, shape, pattern, repetition, you name it!, to these young artists. 

But the biggest hit among the kids: these string stitched dots, y'all. Oh my. I can't wait to do this project again. All the kids loved it and were successful. Art teacher win!

For that, watching this video and sharing it with your students might make understanding the process a lil easier. 

I did string art in 5th grade and I loved every minute! I was so excited to share such a fun project with my students. 

 My first year hosting a Dot Day event, I had each child do the same project. We each created a coffee filter dot... 

 That were both displayed in windows and in the halls. 

Not only that, but students created large dot collaboratives on black paper in oil pastel that served as the backdrop to the words of the book. This was a great way for me to ease back into the school year: same project, each grade level and yet a powerful effect. AND ready for open house! 

So! How about you? Are you celebrating Dot Day this year? I'd love to hear about what your students are creating!

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DIY: A Scribble-Scrabble Back to Art Teacherin' Dress and a Contest!

So, what does one do when her art room isn't ready and her lessons aren't planned (um, I have a vague notion of what will go down that first day. It starts with something like, the kids will come to art...and that's pretty much all I got)? MAKE A BACK TO ART TEACHERIN' DRESS, OF COURSE. Yes, I'm shouting. Because, like, duuuuh. 

I decided a dress was in order because 1. I always make a Back to Art Teacherin' Dress (see exhibit A and B), it's tradition and 2. Cuz I was kinda feeling like this about the whole notion of heading back...

Staying up entirely too late and sleeping in til high noon, I will miss yooooooou!

But now that I've got a snappy outfit to wear on that very first day (which starts tomorrow with four daze, er, days of professional developementishness. But I don't really count that. The true blue first day is when the wee ones show up which is this Friday, eek!) I'm feeling much better about Back to Art Teacherin' land. In fact, I'm now feelin' a lil more like this...

I...Can....Do...It! 

By the way, I recently downloaded the giphy app and have henceforth been solely communicating with friends via gifs. It's like a super fun game for me tho I'm not quite sure they feel the same. 

WHUT, CHUCK NORRIS?!

But whateves, y'all. Forget about my gif obsession and let's talk CONTEST, shall we? 

HEEEEY, say what?! I just spent entirely too long making this fugly -n- difficult to read image. So lemme reiterate what that thar thingie says in all sorts of bulletpoints, words and sentences. 

* Snap a photo of your Back to Art Teacherin' style and share it on instagram tagging moi @cassiestephenz. If you wanna throw in a hashtag to boot, I quite fancy #whattheartteacherwore.

* No instagram? No problem! Email me your photo at cassieart75@gmail.com. 

* I'll share your amazing art teacherin' looks right here in a Back to School Fashion post! 

* You can enter more than once...and every time you do, I'll enter you to win a giveaway! (Yes, I know I'm currently doing ANOTHER giveaway. No, I've not announced the winner yet, stay tuned this week). I have NO IDEA WHAT I'M GIVING AWAY but I'm sure it will be something swell!

Oh, I so hope all y'all share with me your stylish ways! I can't wait to see what you be wearing! Now, on to that dress at hand...

Saturday, el hubbo and I decided to play tourist in our own town and hit the local antique and thrift shops. I was coming up pretty empty handed until I stopped in SMART: Scrap Made Art Supplies. It's a pretty magical place in the Berry Hill area of Nashville. It's completely stocked with just about every crafty making supply known to man for cheap. I stocked up on vintage patterns (a whooping 18 for $2) and this gem happened to be one of them. Bows on shoulders?! YES, PLEASE!

I used the pattern for the bodice only and just winged it for the skirt portion. I was having a fabric shortage (I scored this Lisette fabric from the sale bin at Joann's many moons ago) and managed to eek out this dress with a few scraps to spare. I love this print so much what with the wiggly marker-esque lines and the primary colors with a touch o' pink. It just screamed "Art Teacher" when I saw it. 

But those squiggles, y'all. Trying to match up those squiggles just about put me over the edge. At least the back skirt is matched up. The rest of it, meh. Not so much.

 The only thing left this dress needs: A Marker Hat! 

 Could I get it over that hair, tho? 

And there you have it, what Ima wearing to head back to school! Looking forward to seein' what all y'all are wearing. Til then!

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