DIY: Artsy Sew Along, Stitching // Gathering and a Winner!

Whut-whut?! Guess who finally decided to come back to her own sew-along party? Das right, kiddies! My bottom-of-the-heartest apologies for the delay. I always forget that July is pretty stinkin' busy in Cassie-town, what with laying on the couch, taking a shower (occasionally) and deciding whether or not to get dressed to get the mail or just shock the neighbors again and do it in a bathrobe with the backside accidentally tucked into my grannie panties (like that visual image? Yer welcome!). I know, right?! It's amazing I've even managed to find the time to put together these two short clippies for you! Here's what I'll be yappin' about today:

1. You've already got your pockets in, riiiiiight? And it was super simple, yeeeeeessss? If you've not done that yet, no worries! Just hop over here and come back in an hour.  Now we are ready to stitch the front of the skirt to the back two panels!

2. From there, I'll show you how to add your gathering stitches. 

And that's it for this post. Short and simple. My plan is to be bacattcha soon buuuuut we'll see how I feel after a couple more days of couch rollin' around and Mad Men power-watching. It's a rough life, summer livin', I tell ya.

OH!! The giveaway! Thank you so much to all y'all that entered to win the goods to make your own Palette Purse! I recently carried my purse to an art event and got so many stinkin' compliments, if I do say so (and I just did. So there.) My fave comment is always, "Oh! Where did you get that?!" which is way better than "ooOOoooooh, that's...cute. Did you make that?!" like I'm some five year old wearing a moldy macaroni necklace. All y'all crafters know what I'm talkin' about. Anyway! The winner is...Andie Anders! Congrats, buddy! And thanks all y'all for playing. I seem to give away stuffs pretty frequently around here so if you don't come here for my good looks and charm (whuuuuuut?!) then pop back by for the free shizz. 

Now, let's stitch!

Please ignore that crazy nonsense about entering to win the contest! We already have a winner, duh, me.

I dunno what you do when you need a sewing break but I fabric shop. It's most def a bad idea that I don't recommend. I mean, lookie what's currently in my slacker-shopping cart: kitties! 

Bananas! 

And back to werk. 

Next time, we'll work on that waistband and the zip. Hemming should be a snap and we're done! Yay! If you are stitching, please be sure to share on the Artsy Sew Along page and on instragramz with the #artsysewalong. Thanks, kids!

 I leave you with more eye candy from one of my fave fabric brands Cotton and Steel. Til next times!

Read more »

What the Art Teacher Wore #118 Whilst Fall Breakin'!

Fall Breakin': If they ever decide to take away my fall break, I don't know what I'll do. Aside from take a week-long sick leave, that is. totes ensemble: some thrifted, some new, all Target label 

Kids, I recently discovered some disturbing news: not all the world experiences the magic that is Fall Break. And my heart weeps for those peeps, y'all. With all my glorious days of freedom, I gotta admit, I've totes lost track of time. Therefore this outfit/vacay post will be random and nonsensical. Well, more so than the ushe, kids (yes, I linked you to Urban Dictionary. I'm tryin to keep you young -n- hip, yo). I kicked off my fall break by traveling to and presenting at Bowling Green State University. It was so much fun even if I was nervous/excited/happy/spazzy all at one time (again, just the ushe). 

I was SUPER stoked to (finally) meet Beth Sheets who orchestrated the whole affair and Laura of the fantastic art teacherin' blog Painted Paper (follow the link, Laura has all of her super fab fall projects up right now!) as well as the fabulous students, art educators and professors all linked to Bowling Green State University. Y'all. What a beautiful campus that is. Brought back so many happy (albeit super stressed) memories of college life. 

 Knott's Scary Farm: Which is a complete lie as Knott's was pretty stinkin' scary. They always manage to spook the hubs and I early in the night. But as the eve goes on, we're all, "yeah, you have a chainsaw and a mangled foot hanging out of your mouth but could you please pardon me, I'm on my way to the restroom. Cute third eye, btw." jacket: Modcloth, old; dress: picked up in Burbank at a cute shop called Audrey K. Click here for some cute Halloween attire on her website; crinoline: amazon; sandals: Chacos. My theme park footwear of choice. 

On Wednesday, hubs and I flew out to sunny So-Cal for our annual Halloweenin' adventure. I had my suitcase stuffed with every Halloween garment I've created (um, what'd they do multiply? Holy creepy clothes, Freddy Krueger, I have a ton!) and we were on our way. First stop: Knott's Scary Farm. 

If you've never been to Knott's Scary Farm and you are local, you should totes go. The "mazes" (what I call "haunted houses") are great fun with fantastical sets and atmosphere. There were close to a dozen mazes and each one had it's own unique theme and storyline.

The Trick or Treat house was one of my faves. Don't you love the outside? How fun was that set to create, right?

Our fave part was easily the Elvira show. You know that lady is like 63?! And every bit as hilarious, gorgeous and busty as ever. At one point she rapped a ditty about herself to the tune of Iggy Azalea's Fancy and nailed it. 

Olvera Street is My Jam: Suriously, y'all. I coulda spent all day there. The atmosphere was super fun what with el Dia de los Muertos approaching. Not only that but I absolutely love the style of traditional Mexican clothing: the embroidery, the bright colors, the vintage style. I managed to scoop up several fun pieces that I'll be sharing with y'all in outfit posts to come, I'm sure. sweater and dress: Halloween DIY by me

I hadn't been to Olvera Street in several years and since my students are currently learning about the culture of Latin America, I thought now would be the perfect time. I really loved every aspect of the street, especially the clothing.

 Oh, and the masks!

AND the Day of the Dead goods. There was so much to take in, I wish my students could field trip there! I snapped a ton of photos to create a prezi to share with them after break.

That night we went to Universal Studio's Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood. Y'all. I filmed a lil video of what they call the "Opening Scare-monies" just for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.

I'm not braggin' when I say I'm like a haunted house vet because we've gone for years. But, honestly, this scared the crapola outta me! Hence the shaky camera. We were at the front of the line with about 100 plus people behind us. Where the film ends is where we took off running away from the chain-saw wielding maniacs. 

The following day, whilst out hitting my fave vintage shops, I found this! WHAT?! There's a Mood in Hollywood?! Don't mind if I do!

I loved that the window featured dresses that had been painted on. Each one was incredible. 

Before you ask, I didn't buy a single thing. Not a stitch. Here's why: a buddy of mine and I always joke that IKEA gives us fits because it's just so overwhelming. Well, here's Exhibit A that Mood is just the same. There were aisles upon aisles just like this. And after the little dog tried to bite my hand, I was all THANK YOU, MOOD! and out the door.

That eve hubs and I hit Disneyland with our first stop at California Adventure to see our fave band The Mad T Party. They put on four separate shows, each with a Halloween theme. The final show featured an incredible rendition of Thriller complete with zombie dancers. 

And now it's all over. Back to the real world soon. I hope that y'all have had a fantastical week! I'll be back with ya soon. Until then!

Read more »

DIY: An Optical Illusion of Embroidery

Dontcha think it's pretty safe to say that the interests you had as a kid kinda-sorta shape your interests as an adult? Now, granted, not all the things you were fascinated with translate into adulthood (my super mad collection of Hot Wheels cars never resulted in my becoming a mechanic even if the grimy paint/clay combo under my nails kinda makes me look that way) but you gotta admit, some things leave their mark. For example, if you know me even a lil bit, would it surprise you that I loved my Fashion Plates growing up?

Gah, anyone else out there have these? My fave thing to do was to put together the most ridiculous outfits possible. Not at all like what I do on a daily basis. Not. At. All. 

There were some toys that I wanted with every ounce of my lil kid fiber which my parental units just flat out refused me. Take this Make Me Pretty Barbie, for instance. Just because I had this habit of hacking the hair off my dolls didn't mean I'd do the same to ole Babs. If Ida had this bad boy growin' up, I wonder how that woulda translated to adulthood. Would I have frosted my tips? Become tanorexic? The funny thing is, as I'm typing this post, I'm currently wearing a hot pink necklace, a side pony and a bow. So I guess some things stick with ya no matter whut. 

 What toy creator thought, "hey! Let's create a decapitated life-size Babs to make lil girls feel totes inadequate about their looks!" Sadly most of my buddy's Make Me Pretty Barbies ended up with Sharpie'ed faces and half burnt scalps. Which, with her edgy and punk-ish looks, always made her the Angsty Artsy Babs in my book. 

Naw, my parents couldn't be bothered with fun stuff like Decap Babs. Instead I was given educational and crafty stuff like my beloved calligraphy set and a never-ending latch hook kit. If you grew up in the 1980s, I wanna know what toys you had, yo. Take the wee quiz on the right and click on the toys you grew up with. Do you think stuff had anything to do with who you are now?

I spent weeks latch hookin' the crap outta that mushroom on my babysitters couch. I never did finish the thing...but I have always loved creating with fibers. So there's that.

Oh, my bad. They DID get me a Barbie (or twenty) along with an office chair (whuh?) and a 500 piece puzzle. To this very day I freaking hate puzzles. Why would anyone wanna put together 500 pieces of anything let alone a crappy 1980s landscape. These are the questions that haunt my sleepless nights. 

Often times, when I'm dreaming up lesson plans for the kids, I think to myself, "what did I love to do as a kid?" It's then that I think back to my Fashion Plates and my latch hookin' ways and retro fun-ness comes to mind. Like working with my spirograph for instance.

I'd totes forgotten about Spirograph until I discovered one in my art room a couple years back. Granted, it's missing some key pieces but I still had fun toying around with it. Over the summer, I found this very vintage version of a Spirograph called a Magic Designer. Did y'all have either of those growin' up?

When I first found that Spirograph in my room years ago, I spent a couple hours playing with the designs. I love the look of 'em -- they are so 1950s space-age-y. It was then that I decided to make several photos copies of them, trace them onto a piece of fabric and embroider a design. Hence the pillow. 

If only I'd had a Magic Designer in my life. Have y'all ever seen this bad boy? Check out what it can do.

Yeah. Magic. I don't think I'll be stitching up that anytime soon but I do love the look of the designs, don't you?

I really want like a half dozen of these in my art room for the kids to tinker around with. That's not too much ask, right? What I really like about the Magic Designer is that it's like a little self operating machine. You seriously just adjust the settings, insert your drawing tool and turn the crank. It's fascinating to watch. 

The only problemo? That little holder for your drawing tool is so narrow that I can't seem to get anything to fit. I tried to place the inside of an ink pen into the holder but it didn't work. The lovely artwork I showed above was left behind in the box from the previous owner. So now I'm in search of a wee pen. Along with the meaning of life. Wish me luck. 

But back to teaching. So you know I scored all those lovely embroidery hoops for my fourth grade kids. Now my brain is just in "embroidery project"mode. I dunno about having the kids stitch up this kind of optical illusion-ness as it took me forever but I do like the thought. So I'm working on it. Any and all advice/comments/here's-what-you-should-do's would be greatly appreciated. Purty puhlease and tank ew.

When I stitched this up a couple years ago, I really wanted to play around with a variety of stitches. My grandma taught me how to embroider one summer as a kid (see, back to my what-you-do-as-a-child theory). At the time, I really only learned the running stitch. It was fun creating this pillow because it forced me to learn add new stitches to my life.

For more of my embroidered madness you can visit this fall top, this floral dress, that stitching of Amsterdam that I've yet to do anything with (sigh), this embroidered necklace, some stitching by my students, and some stenciled embroidery. 

So, whuh about y'all? Where there interests/toys/things-you-learned-and-loved as a kid that hang with you to this day? Still going to therapy because you're freaked out at My Buddy going "anywhere I go, he goooooes" (gah, stalker much?) or at Jem and the Holograms [my bad, spelled her name wrong in my poll!] being so "truly truly truly outrageous" that you'll never measure up (really? I wanna know what crap songwriter came up with those lyrics, y'all!). Take the lil quiz and fill me in! Oh and if I've forgotten any of your fave 1980s toys, please do fill me in. 

Until then, hope your week is Truly Truly Truly Outrageous! 

Read more »

What the Art Teachers Wore #78

Dots and Stripes Monday: There was once this teacher poll that went around my school where we could vote for each other, senior year style. You know, like "Best Dressed" (which I'm still ticked I didn't get, some people just don't know style) and "Best Hair". Guess who was "Most Likely to Wear Dots and Stripes Together"? That's right...dress: vintage, thrifted; sweater: Betsy Johnson, Plato's Closet; sandals: Shoe Carnival

I know what you're thinking, "Didn't I just hear from this crazy yesterday?!" Well, you'll have to forgive me, but I've got a bit of a blog backlog I'm trying to catch up with. I've got oodles of DIY's, art lessons, an ear wax extraction story that's not to be missed and, believe it or not, a whole post full of advice-giving goodness. No, I'm not kidding about that last part. Yes, some folks have been asking me, me of all unsane people, for life-living tips.

 Stop. Laughing. And pointing. That's just rude and it hurts my feelings. Jerk.

In other news (ahem, changing the subject in hopes that you'll stop the heckling), this here's the final installment of all things dot-gasmic.  You might recall, I've managed to wear nuthing but dots for the last two weeks in honor of Peter H. Reynold's The Dot. More on that here and here. Turns out I had just enough clothes to make it until the very dotted end with one spotted skirt to spare. And to think I thought I just wouldn't make it. I underestimated my own hoarding powers.

To wrap up all this dotted'ness, I thought I'd share with you some of my fave dotted paintings. I hope you dig 'em. Until next time!

Wassily Kandinsky, Several Circles, 1926 This series of trippy dot paintings are among my favorites of his. I like them better than his heavier looking works like the painting below...

Kandinsky, Concentric Circles, 1913

Feelin' Groovy Tuesday: This four dollar antique store dress always makes me feel so 1960's hip. dress: vintage; tights and belt: Target; shoes: Clarks; poodle pin: gift from a friend

Rebecca and I were so busy this week that we rarely remembered to take outfit photos this week...not to mention find out the details of her outfit. Pretty sure more of her wardrobe is Target or Anthro. Can't go wrong with either.

Are you familiar with the modern day pop artist Ryan McGinness? I love his work, especially these black light pieces from 2009. The overlapping script lines are so beautiful to me and the pop of color against the back is stunning. Now if only he could get the circles to rotate like a kaleidoscope, my mind would be blown.

Seriously. I've now got an art-craving to bust out my calligraphy pens and doodle like mad.

Betsy Johnson-Wannabe Wednesday: I found this dotted dress at Plato's Closet for $3 and I had to have it in my life. Sadly, the thing was just too short. So I added the leopard jersey print to the bottom and suddenly it was just a smidge less inappropriate. Success! dress and belt: Plato's Closet; shoes: ancient Anthro

Daw, she so cute.

Dan Christensen, O-Zone, 1988. I recently stumbled upon this artist and, I gotta tell you, I love his stuff, especially those dotted pieces below. He's apart of a group of artists called the Color Field movement. These artists were interested in exactly what it sounds like: large fields of color. And alternative means of applying color to their canvas. Here it looks like he might have used a giant airbrush to me.

Gah, I could stare at this all day. Well, not all day, I might go a little mental(-er) but I do love them. Especially how the dots seem to vibrate and move.

Like a circus without the creepy clowns, corn dogs and cotton candy.

Open House Thursday: Otherwise known as The Day Without End. But it was so much fun seeing the kids and chatting with their parents. dress: vintage, thrifted; shoes: Irregular Choice

So Gary Andrew Clark is the artist behind these dotted works. They remind me of Warhol meets Chuck Close on some sort of Alternate Universe Futuristic Planet. What I really like about these is that you can scoop 'em up for about $40 a pop here.

Who dat lady?!

FRIDAY, You Finally Made It!: It only took you forever. dress: ancient, Francesca's; shoes: Anthro

I know those happy pants came from Anthro. Aren't they adorbs? And, yes, I just used the word "adorbs". Deal wit it.

So I don't suppose I can go a whole post talking about dots and NOT mention Georges Seurat. I mean, dude put in his hours of pointillizing the daylights outta this canvas, I gotta give him a shout out for that. On a totally different subject, I bet that lady with the umbrella could out-twerk Miley any day, dontcha think?

On that note, I'll end this here post. Before the train to inappropriate town makes another stop to you's-about-to-lose-yer-job land. Later!

Read more »