Showing posts with label cassie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cassie. Show all posts

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Everyday Art Room, Episode 1


Hey, y'all! I'm THRILLED to share the launch of Everyday Art Room, a podcast partnership between me and The Art of Education! We began this pod-tastic adventure a while ago and have been working super hard to bring you some elementary art teacherin' talk. I cannot thank the team at AOE enough for their work on this project; they are truly dedicated to bringing the very best to art teachers everywhere. 

You can take a listen to the very first episode of Everyday Art Room now. I'd LOVE to hear what you think! If you have a comment, question or suggestion that you'd like to submit, please feel free to do so either here on this blog or here. New episodes will be coming your way every Thursday so if you'd like to stay up to date, drop us your email here. 

In the meantime, I've added the transcript from the show. This will help you in case you'd like to have a visual of those eight routines I cover. Don't take notes, just sit back, take a listen and know I got you covered. Enjoy and I'd love to hear what you think!

You know they say that wisdom comes with experience, but I’ve always been one to kind of test a good theory so let me share with you something that I did not too long ago that definitely showed that I am not wise beyond my art teachering years. It was the first day of Kindergarten. I got the great idea that on the very first day of art, with five year olds, we should paint. I know. You already know where this is going. Sadly, I didn’t own that crystal ball, so let me paint the picture for you. All of my students were starting to paint and it was going pretty well. Shockingly well. I should have taken that as a sign. All of a sudden, across the room, I hear one of my sweet students say, “Oh, oh. I got paint on me. I got paint on me.”
I can hear the panic tone in her voice. I went over as a good art teacher does, and I said the words that we all say, “It’s art class. It’s okay. You’re supposed to get a little bit messy.” I turned my back for just a second, and all of y’all know that’s all it takes especially with Kindergarten painting on the first day of school. In that moment I hear the entire class erupt in this sound, “Oh no.” When I turn around my sweet little friend is thrilled that she no longer has paint on her. She also is no longer wearing her top. That’s right. She’s topless.
Hopping up and down saying, “I’m clean. I’m clean now.” It’s before I can do or say anything else, I hear a tiny little voice from across the room that says, “I can see her niblets.” Ooh y’all. You would think wisdom of art teachering would have told me not to bust out those paints with Kindergarten on the first day of school, but you know what, that’s our reality. This is every day art room, and I’m Cassie Stephens.
Now what my nearly 20 years of art teachering should have told me is that on those first days, weeks, month of school, you need to really be working on establishing your art room routines, so today I thought I would share with you my eight art room routines for a super successful school year. These are my eight art room routines. This is what works best for me. I’m going to share those with you, but you need to keep an open mind and think about what works best for you. Think about it like this: I like to use the three s’s. Does this work best for my setup? Think about your classroom if you have one. Think about your cart if you’re using one. Think about the school or schools that you have to travel to. Is this best for my situation? My demographics, my school demographics. Is this the best thing for my students.
I’m going to share with you my eight art room routines. What I have found to work best for my set up, situation, and students. Keep an open mind, many of these might work for you but many of them might not. For that reason, you need to start by putting yourself in your students shoes. When I’m establishing my eight art room routines, I always do this every single year. I rework it, rethink it, and I put myself in my students shoes. The first thing, the first routine I establish with my students is how do I want my students to begin art? Think about it, do you go to your students classrooms? Do your students get dropped off by a classroom teacher? Do they walk themselves down independently as my students do? If that’s the case, how do you want them to approach art class? Because that is what’s going to set the tone for the rest of the art class.
My students know that because we’ve established a routine, and we’re going to reestablish it on that very first day and weeks of school, that I have a line of tape right outside my door. That line of tape is where they stand and wait to enter quietly. That’s routine number one. Think about how you want your students to approach art class. That will really set the tone. Thing number two is making an entrance. How do you want your students to enter your art room? Now I know that this seems really nit picky, but once again, this really sets the tone. Let me tell you why I’ve really had to think hard about how my students made an entrance. I used to hold the door open and my students would walk past me as they enter the art room. As they did it was like a barrage of questions. What are we doing today. I like your shoes. Did you get your haircut? Somethings different about you. By the time my students got into my art room and settled, I’d answered at least a dozen questions, and we already lost several minutes of art time.
Think about how you want them to walk in your room. Here’s what I do. Here’s what works for me. Before my students can even raise their hand or ask me what are we doing in art today, I greet them at the door with a, “Hello my most amazing artists.” They know to all respond, “Hello my most amazing art teacher.” Trust me that never gets old. I say to them, “How are you today,” and they say, “Ready to create.” This is our routine that we go through every single time. Not only does it set a really happy and excited tone, but it also gets the chit chat out of the way. They file in my room and then we can dive right in. Let’s talk about think number three.
When my students come into my room they do not go straight to desks or tables. Here’s why. I learned from experience that if my students go straight to tables and sit down, whatever is on that table becomes fair game and it becomes a battle of the stop quick notes. They always win. Trust me. I usually just end up losing my patience. For that reason, we have, some people call it circle time. I say, take a seat on the floor. I don’t have a fancy rug. I just have lines of tape on the floor. These lines of tape show my students exactly where to sit as far as creating nice straight rows. They know to go all the way down to the end of the row leaving no space in between you and your neighbors. That way we can all file in quickly and quietly to dive into circle time. In that time we talk about what we’re going to be learning, creating, doing in art class that day.
The next transition in routine, and this one is a real big one, the next routine is the gathering of supplies. Oh boy. I don’t think classroom teachers will ever understand just how much work we put into preparing, passing out, and getting students to gather up those supplies. Really establish that routine because it’s a big one. My students in my room, this is what works for my set up situation and students, my students know to go shopping at “a store”. I have a long cafeteria style table. I have it divided into sections by grade level with just a piece of tape right down the center of the table to establish that this is the first grader supply area, second, third and fourth. My students, once they’re given their “shopping supply list”, which is basically just me telling them what to pick up at the store, they know to go shopping at the store. Many supplies are already kept on the tables.
Things that we would need every day. Glue, pencils, scissors. That kind of thing, but the thing that’s specific to their art project, my students know their routing is to go collect those things at the store. Now, when my students go to their seats to start creating, I do have a seating chart. I believe firmly in a seating chart and here’s why. It’ll really help you number 1) learn your students names. One of the ways that I establish my seating chart is I think hard about my students. I’ve taught my students for many years and I know most of them very, very well. I know that if I pair my students up correctly that they are going to have a really successful art class. I use a lot of peer tutoring in my room, and it’s great to see kids who excel in some areas help their friends who might not, because then the roles are often switched. I have noticed that some of those kids who are great at weaving, might not be so great at drawing. They can offer help to those who need it.
It’s wonderful to see the kids working together. Not just sitting and hanging out with their buddies. That is why I always have a seating chart. Another great thing is is that if you want to offer an incentive to your students, offer a party or a celebration for good behavior, allowing days where they’re free to sit wherever they like with their friends, that’s a great thing too. Another routine is to establish where your students sit. Now it comes time for creating. Finally. It always seems like there’s just not enough time for that. If you’ve established your routines firmly, then your creating time is going to go so stinking well. You do need to talk to your students, as you guys know, about noise level. About movement within the art room. How much movement do you want them to have. Do they need to constantly get up and get supplies, or will you have somebody who’s in charge of gathering supplies for them.
Not only that, but how are your students going to ask for your help. I have a rule that my students are not allowed to get out of their seat, come up to me with big old painted hands, and tap me on my arm. That’s like my number one routine. We don’t need to be touching the Miss Stephens. My students know they stay in their seat and they raise their hand. These are some things that you might think gosh my students should already know that. Remember, these are routines that you need to establish. Assume that they don’t know these things. The most important routine is clean up. Whoo that can make or break an art class experience. Think about how you want to signal to your students that it’s clean up time. How do you want them to go about cleaning up. Will there be certain people who have certain clean up jobs. Will they each be responsible for cleaning up their own individual area.
These are routines that you need to establish so that clean up time does not become mass chaos. Finally, our last routine to establish is how you want to close your art class. How do you want to end an art experience with your students. For me this is just as important as starting your art class. Remember that really positive and uplifting greeting I gave my students at the beginning of class, I want them to leave with that really great and happy feeling. We do this in a couple of ways just depending on time. One closing activity that we do is a game called the smartest artist. In this game I review simple things that my students have learned. How to mix the color green, what are supplies did we use today, and with that I can establish where my students are as far as what they’ve learned during that particular art class.
It’s the smartest artist. It’s a super fun game, but if we’ve run out of time, one simple thing I like to leave my students with is this: I’ve shown my students how to sign I love you. As they’re leaving my room, that’s what we do. I love my students. I love creating with them, and I want them to leave my room with that warm, fuzzy feeling. Those are my eight routines. That is a lot to go through during your first days and weeks of art class. Don’t expect them to get these eight routines right away. It’s going to take a lot of rehearsing and reviewing, and going over it, over it, over them again until one day, magically it’s working. You might be thinking, how am I going to establish all of these routines in a matter of a few art classes.
You can go about this a couple of ways. One of my favorite ways to share with my students my expectations and my routines is to do it in video form. Think about a clever way where you can create a video that your students can watch that’ll show them just how to gather up supplies, or how to walk in the art room. An idea that I did last year, was I brought in my specials team to act those things out with me. My students absolutely loved seeing their other teachers cut up just as much as their art teacher in this video and they really learned a lot. Even having the students stand up and act out different routines or situations will really help them to understand what you’re expecting from them. If only I had really thought that through on that very first day of Kindergarten with painting, topless. But I digress.
Thanks guys for letting me share with you my eight art room routines for a super successful school year.
Tim Bogatz: Hello this is Tim Bogatz, host of Art Ed Radio. We hope you’re enjoying the debut episode of everyday art room with Cassie Stephens. New episodes will be arriving every Thursday, so make sure you subscribe to this podcast in iTunes, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts. If you would like to contact Cassie or submit a question for the mailbag, you can email your comments and questions to everydayartroom@theartofed.com. Finally, The Art of Ed is focusing on back to school week. All of next week and throughout the month of August, check out the site for podcasts, videos, articles, resources and so much more that will help you start your year off as strong as possible. You can find it all at theartofed.com. Now, let’s get you back to Cassie as she opens up the mailbag.
Cassie Stephens: Now it’s time to dip into the mailbag. My first question is: Do your students wear aprons? Well that would’ve come in pretty handy with Kindergarten and painting. If so, what kind? Once again, you got to think about your set up, your situation, and your students. Thinking about those things, I have tried every single apron with my students under the sun. We’ve tried t shirts, and button down shirts, we’ve done the plastic pull em over your head aprons, the ones that go all the way down to your wrists that make the kids all hot and sweaty. What we are currently using, I think we’re going to stick with, are canvas kid sized aprons. It’s funny. I actually bought these on accident thinking they were full size aprons that I was going to tie dye for a workshop, but when I got them and noticed that they were miniature sized, I decided to take them to school.
The kids really love these aprons because they look like little miniature bonafide artists when wearing them. I keep my aprons on hooks over in our painting area. My students who are in kindergarten through second grade, they don’t have an option of whether or not they can or cannot wear an apron. It’s mandatory if we’re getting messy. My older students, it’s paint at your own risk. You can wear one if you like, but you’re old enough to make that choice. When my students put their aprons on, they simply pull them over their head, bring the strings that are in the back around to their front by their belly button and tie. If they don’t know how to tie, they just phone a friend. They really love wearing these aprons, and it has really made it so a lot of wardrobes are saved. It also helps if you use paint that is water soluble so as not to damage your students clothing.
My next question is kind of along the same line. It’s this: How do your clothes not get messy. You are always dressed up to teach art. Friend, if you could see me close up you would notice that my clothes are absolutely covered in a rainbow of paint, and clay, and glue, and some other mysterious items that I can’t quite identify. One way that I keep my clothing from getting too messy is I wear an apron most of the time as well. I also purchase the grand bulk of my clothing from thrift stores. This makes it so if I do damage my clothes in some way, it isn’t a financial strain. I can simply renovate that clothing, up cycle it somehow, or give it back to the thrift store. Here you are, a masterpiece splatted in paint. Enjoy. That’s one way that I manage to salvage my wardrobe.
It has been so much fun talking with you guys today about the eight art room routines for a super successful school year. Remember, when you’re thinking through your eight art room routines, consider the three S’s. What works best for your set up, your situation, and your students. With that in mind, plan through your eight art room routines. Number one, how do you want your students to have art. Will they be coming to you, will you be going to them? How is it going to look. Number two, how will your students make an entrance. Will you greet them, will they greet you, what’s the plan here? Number three, do your students, when they walk in, will they be sitting on the floor, and if so what will that look like? Will they be going to their seats.
Number four, how will your students gather their supplies? Will a table captain do it, will they do it independently? Next up, number five, seating. Will your students have specific places to sit or will they get to choose where they want to sit? Number six, what is your creativity time going to look like and if your students need help, how are they going to ask you or appear? Number seven, clean up. That’s the one routine we really need to establish so make sure you think that one through, and also that’s the one you’re going to have to review over and again with your kids. The last one is closing. How do you want to end your art class?
Thank you so much for joining me today. I’ve had the best time chatting with you. This is Everyday Art Room. I’m Cassie Stephens.
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Monday, November 7, 2016

In the Art Room: Art Conferencin' in Illinois!

Y'all, I'm just back from another incredible art conference this time in the great state of Illinois, a place I called home for many years. I had so much fun presenting (I was one of the keynotes, eep!), teaching and learning that I just had to share. The art educators of Illinois really know how to make a girl feel welcome and put together a FABULOUS conference to boot!

I kicked off their conference with a chat in a lovely renovated theatre in downtown Normal. I was thrilled that so many folks made it out to hear me chat, I thought for sure they'd be sleeping off their Cubs win. I really enjoy speaking with other art teachers, they truly are the best crowd!
Almost immediately after that, I lead a two hour needle felting session. I love teaching hands-on classes at conferences as it feels like hosting a craft night at my house. Just a bunch of soon-to-be friends, sitting and relaxing all while learning something fun and new. I was so inspired by what folks were creating!
My friend Heidi made this super cute Starry Night inspired hair clip to go with a dress of hers. If you aren't familiar with Heidi's blog, you need to check it out! 
 I love that folks were all set to needle felt on their clothing. Check out this sweet scarf that got a lovely flowery update!
 Amazing art teacher Jen Baker was my BFF at the conference as she made sure I was where I was supposed to be, doing what I was supposed to do at all times (and, with a flake like me, that's a pretty tall order). In all seriousness, Jen was BEYOND amazing as I was witness to her working her tail off the entire conference making sure that EVERYONE was happy and having a great time. She needle felted this sweet little palette on her sweater!

Sue at Back to Back Fiber provided the supplies for our workshop. She sent us beautiful sheets of prefelt that we also used to create wee masterpieces with. 
 Of course we had to make Palette Hair Clips! It's how you know you are officially Needle Felt Certified! 
We even had folks needle felting over holes in their sweaters or dreaming up the cutest of motifs. 
I mean, look how stunning!
For realz tho, my fave part of art teacher conferencin' is making new friends, hearing about their art rooms and learning from them. 
 And even if we aren't talkin' art, we are ALWAYS having a good time!
It was such a wonderful group to sit and stab stuff with. Thanks, ladies, y'all are the best!
Because I just can't get enough of all things fibers, I attended a class by the Fibers Queen herself, Natasha of Ester's Place. Not sure if Natasha knows it or not but she's kinda like my fibers BFF. I love hanging out with her. We had the best time at the conference!
We made these amazing wet felted flowers. I'm not a lover of wet felting...but Natasha is changing my mind! Full details on these projects soon. 
After a wee break, I joined several dozen art teachers for a relaxed and informal Q & A session. That was so fun! We shared ideas, stories and laughed a lot. The best part was we had a very wonderful group of college kids in our group who were fun to share our thoughts on art teacherin' with. 
 
 This here is one of them! Pleasure to meet you, Samantha!
 Buddies from way back. Always fun to see Kris and make new friends.
 I was super excited to finally meet Deyana in person. We've been internet buds for years...so it really was like chatting with an old friend. She's the owner of Socks and Souls which you should really check out. They have some GREAT art themed socks. I scooped up several. 
 Making friends from my old stomping grounds was so cool. My buddy Nora teaches in Joliet where I grew up!
Jen and I managed to stay out of trouble late into the evening with a group of other art teacherin' types. 
 The next day, I was back hanging out with Natasha again. We made the world's biggest felted collaborative piece. Can you believe this beauty?! I will DEFINITELY be sharing a complete blog post on this with video included. It was so much fun!
Illinois, I had a blast! I was so excited to speak and share with y'all as well as LEARN from some of the best art educators I've met. I was so thrilled to speak in this theatre that I had Jen snap my photo under the marquee...it wasn't until the photo was taken that I realized the movie they were showing. Idiocracy. How fitting!
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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

DIY: A Pencil-Print Dress with a Peter Pan Collar, Simplicity 1419

Dear friends. I awoke this morning at 3am for some unknown reason (okay, known reason: the cat was hungry. And when the gentle face-pats morphed into to kitty-cat b$tch-slaps, I was awoken {side-eye to cat who could care less because SHE'S currently sleeping}.) After a cup of too-strong coffee and a thirty minute blank stare at the wall, I decided to make something of my morning (er, night? I mean, it was 3am, people. Well, technically, if you are following this story closely enough and decent at math, it was 3:30am. Give or take). I mean, the left sleeve on that dress wasn't going to stitch itself. Which I'd kinda been hoping for having only stitched one sleeve in that dress and leaving it that way for a handful of days. Which y'all were witness to if you follow me here.  
But, whateves. At around 7:23am, this bad boy was complete and I took a nap to celebrate. Because I'm a party animal. 
While I was taking my sewing class at Craft South a couple Thursdays ago, I spotted this fabric by Alexia Marcelle Abegg of Green Bee Design and knew I had to have it. In fact, I do believe the words, "Um-hum, Ima gonna git me some o' dat" came outs my mouth. The draw back to taking a sewing class in a textile shop is that, in-between instructional time, I'm all loading up on yardage, saying things like, "Just put it on my tab, hehe." It's kinda like having a liquor store in a bar. Get the patrons all intoxicated and loopy and then offer 'em a lil sumpin'-sumpin' for when they get home. I see what you've done there, Craft South. I see it...and I like it. 
I decided to marry the fabric to this sweet Simplicity Lisette pattern #1419. I'll admit: the only reason I picked up that pattern was for that sweet lil collar and key hole opening.  
Since I was coming off my high from making yet another dress from this pattern, I decided to experiment in a lil cross-pollenating of Simplicity #1419 with #8087. This is okay in sewing-land, right? Or is this totes looked down upon like when my neighbors stuck a hamster in their bunny crate in hopes that the two would mate and create a new breed. Please say it isn't that bad because my mom wouldn't let me hang out with those kids after that episode. 
If you're curious how one cross-pollenates two dress busts, um, it's super glamorous. I simply finished off the bodice of the Lisette then laid the cropped bodice of the other pattern on top and chopped away. I know all you sewists out there just fell on the floor and are having "but-you-can't-do-that" convulsions but, y'all. That's how this self-taught, not-super-great-at-this-stitching-thing girl operates! 
In other news, Dear Simplicity/Lisette/Whoever-Designed-This-Dress-Pattern: it woulda been real swell of you to tell me what I was to do with that lil button loop thingie whilst adding the collar and the facing. Because both the hubs and I looked at all the pretty pictures and read the wordy-words and never found a mere mention of said loop thingie. Therefore I was left to my own MacGyver-esque sewing devises. Which, if mentioned here, would only throw the sewists into another fit of convulsions. 
 A word about why I am addicted to the waistband of Simplicity #8087: it's slimming as hail! Also, please ignore the giant opening at the top of the dress. I've yet to add a hook and eye. Or velcro. Or tape. Hot glue would work in a pinch, I betcha. 
 A close-up because Peter Pan collarzzz. So cute! 
 When I shared the making of this dress on my Insta-gram Crackerz, a friend was all, "wow, you have a thing for pencils!" and I was like, what?! No I don't! Lemme just check my blog and see how many pencil-y things I've made...oh...snap. I DO have a pencil-problem!
Case in point: My Jeffery Campbell knock-offs
 And this pencil-y appliquéd skirt


These two pencil-themed tops bright to you buy super pale and vein-y hands (like, ew. Why do my hands look like a skinned turkey? WHY?!)
That one time I had, like, two weeks of due to snow and stitched this colored pencil frock
 Or how about that one time I forgot I'm junior-sized in the bust department and made a big ole v-neck pencil-y number
Ugh. And this was just LAST WEEK, wasn't it?! Okay. So. I've got a problem. Just add it to my many, y'all. 
On a dif note, I hope y'all have a super duper fab-o fantastical Thanksgiving! Safe travels, happy dining and I'll chat with you soon. Toodles, turkeys! 
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Sunday, November 15, 2015

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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