What the Art Teacher Wore #167

 Marvelous Monday: Ah...this week actually felt like SUMMER! I didn't have too obligations on my agenda except to visit buddies, hit estate sales and do whatever I wanna do. Isn't that what summer is supposed to be all about? dress: sweet little five dollar estate sale number from the 50's. I'm in love! belt: a market in L.A.; yellow Chucks: Amazon; bag: Goodwill Outlet

Hey there, party people! I hope this week has treated you well. It's been a fun and relaxing one here. I've stitched, worked on a couple new projects to share with y'all and in my art room, attended and presented at the Art Ed Now conference, estate sale'd and met up with buddies for coffee and lunch. The perfect summer agenda, says me! 

Next week, the fun really begins: the hubs and I are taking off for Southern California for a short vacation. Then my buddy Laura is flying in for us to join the amazing Patty Palmer at her Deep Space Sparkle Workshop! We are so excited to meet the attendees and share our passion for creating with children. I'll keep all y'all posted. Until then, have a fabulous week!

 If you follow me here, then you know I'm learning to play the uke. I've not played a musical instrument since my sad attempt to learn the violin in college (my apologies to EVERYONE who lived on the second floor in Edmonson at I.U.!). I'm a slow learner but this instrument seems like something I might be able to handle. The end goal is to learn to play We Will Rock You (odd choice, I know, but hear me out) so that I can play accompaniment when we sing Art Will Rock You in my art room! I've been working on more lyrics to share with y'all as well as how I plan to use it in my art room. Stay tuned, I'll be sure to keep you posted! 

 Terrific Tuesday: I've not had much luck shopping for vintage and other goodies at the thrift stores of late. This Anthropologie dress that I scored a while back is still one of my fave finds. I love the vintage cut of the dress! dress: Anthro, found at the thrift; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; shoes: Chucks found at DSW; bag: Enid Collins, antique

 This is the first time since May that I've had a chance to spend time in my sewing room. I have a small stockpile of vintage dresses that I've thrift picked over the last couple of months that are in need of minor repair before wear. I decided to knock out a couple before starting a new sewing project. The red dress (scored for a mere $8 at Buffalo Exchange) just needed to have the elastic in the shoulders tightened up!

 Wonderful Wednesday: And now look at the dress! I am in love with the print and the cut. I also dig how well it matches my Enid Collins bag. dress: vintage, Buffalo Exchange; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; shoes: DSW; bag: vintage Enid Collins, ebay

 If you attended the AOE Now online conference and happened to hang out with me while I chatted about fiber arts in the art room, then you got a sneak peak of my sewing room! This is also where many of my Art Teacherin' 101s have been filmed of late (y'all should subscribe. New videos about all things art teacherin' drop every Wednesday). I'm fortunate to have a space to sew. It'd be a lot  bigger of  a space if I didn't cram it full of fabric, felting supplies and patterns. But these things make me so happy. And, like a true hoarder, I like to surround myself with everything, all at once, all the time. 

 Thoroughly Thursday: I managed to pack so much into my Thursday it was bananas. Early morning estate sales, Art Ed Now conference and chat, Indian food, afternoon coffee with an art teacherin' friend and her wee baby and thrift store shopping. I love a packed day when it's filled to the brim with funness. dress: vintage. It once was a stained white before I dyed it fuchsia

 So, funny lil story: for the Art Ed Now conference, I needed to be available to chat and take questions during my session which was around noon. A storm was rolling in so I decided, five minutes before my air time, to run out and clear our deck of the furniture I didn't want damaged in the storm. And wouldn't ya know, the dern door locked right behind me. I was LOCKED OUTTA MY HOUSE. I could see my laptop on the kitchen table with Jessica about to introduce me and I literally screamed NOOO! 

Seriously. That was me. Dustin Hoffman. Thankfully, I'm married to a Boy Scout who is ALWAYS prepared and happened to have a spare key in a hidden spot. I made it inside just in time for my first question. Whew! Crisis averted. 

 Fabulous Friday: Lunch with a friend was the biggest item on my To Do list this day. Not to shabby after the mountains of To Do's I've been climbing of late. A girl could get used to this. top: vintage, Buffalo Exchange; circle skirt: vintage, estate sale; belt and yellow Chucks: Amazon; bag: made by me, details here

This weekend, I've decided to dive right into my first Back to Schoolin' dress with a mash up of five dress patterns (eep!) and some fab fabric found at Joann's. Stay tuned! I hope to have this complete by next week to share with y'all!

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What the Art Teacher Wore #69

On the Fourth: When I heard Anthropologie was having their 20%-Off-Everything-Still-Overpriced-But-We-Call-It-a-Sale-to-Soften-the-Blow Sale, I knew I had to get over there and see if they had this dress in my size. And they did! AND I managed to use a gift card, making the dress, like, free-ish. I mean, they practically paid me to take it. So I was actually doin' them a favor. Because I'm a giver. belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; shoes: DIY here

 Hiya, kids. I don't know if you missed me or not (the correct answer here is: YES! We did! We've been worried sick, crying every night, checking your blog religiously, where have you been young lady?!) but I've been on a little bit of a laz-cation. We didn't make plans for the holiday weekend and then it rained for five days straight during which we started building an ark and then remembered we had kayaks and then remembered we'd never get all those stinkin' animals in our kayaks so we had some ice cream and took a nap. Seriously. That was our fourth of July. Oh! And we bought cat food. Because, in all seriousness, if we could only save one kind of animal, it'd have to be kitties. And camels because they spit at people and I think that's hilarious. Mostly because I often have the same urge.

So this super sweet vintage fabric has been in my stash for ages. I love it so much that every now and then, I just take it out and look at it adoringly. I finally came upon what I think is the perfect dress pattern for this fabric and I'm excited to share it with you as soon as the beast is complete. Because, in a moment of insanity, I decided to use another Butterick pattern. Keep me in your thoughts, would ya?

 So, yeah, the holiday weekend was pretty lax. We actually didn't even venture out to see fireworks, mostly because it was raining and the other mostly because we are Firework Connoisseurs. Some people might even refer to us as snobs but I say, "Until you've watched your husband spend $280 in an Alabama Fireworks/Flea Market/Grocery Store type place and then watched him set them off at a local elementary school but only after using them to blow up the gingerbread houses your family lovingly crafted, you don't know the Power of Fireworks." Which is probably why no one talks to me because I have a tendency to go off on random rants. AND because I spit at people. But only when annoyed.

Rainy Day Estate Salin': Turns out the day after the fourth of July isn't the best day to go estate salin'. Even still, my buddies and I managed to score a coupla goodies. On the cheap too as my bartering skillz are jammin'. Mostly cuz the folks running the estate sales will do just about anything to get rid of me. dress: vintage, thrifted; belt: LOST! I busted out of the thing getting in and out of the car and, sadly, lost my wee bow belt, sigh; sweater: Betsy Johnson, Buffalo Exchange; boots: Hunter

 I did manage to venture out to a couple of estate sales this week so I thought I'd share my scores with you. Which is what the "When I Scored" part of the post title is all about. Lest you think I was referring to something else. You naughty reader.

Lefty pinking shears, a super old button holer AND that wee container of hem marking powder. Which I convinced the estate sale dude to give me for free because, "Look at it, it's gross. You'll just end up throwing it away, so it's like I'm taking the trash out for you!" (See, this is why they hate me).

There's still white powder in it. Which could be vintage cocaine because that woulda been the ultimate place to hide one's coke, dontcha think?! I can just imagine the scene now: "Why, what do we have here, Betty?!" // "Oh, you silly husband! It's my hem marking powder aka How-Do-You-Think-I-Manage-to-Keep-the-House-so-Clean-Make-Three-Square-Meals-AND-Put-Up-with-You-with-a-Smile-on-my-Face powder. Whichever you'd prefer to call it, dear."

Let's Go Barbecuin': A buddy of ours had us over for a cookout which was a lot of fun. I have this bad habit of getting stuck in homebody/sewing room mode and I sometimes have to be forced to leave the house. This was one of those times and it was totally worth changing out of my 3pm-in-the-afternoon pajamas for. dress: vintage; sandals: Target, old

At one sale, I scored two large vintage scrapbooks for a dollar each. On the first page of this scrapbook, there were tons of these sweet get-well cards.

Complete with hand-written notes! I love letters, especially vintage ones. Their handwriting and choice of wording is always so elegant to me.

The other scrapbook was a total trip. It was completely full of page after page of wedding and shower announcements, invitations, and newspaper clippings. It had the Always-the-Bridesmaid-Never-the-Bride feel to it.

Most of the announcements were from the 1940s with many grooms in their military garb. It was like a book full of Baby Boomin' Baby Mamas and Papas.

Some pages of the book were simply cutouts from magazines...like a bridal pinterest board from the 1950's, dontcha think?

 And that's all I've got to show for myself from this past week. And I'm not promising much more this week as my baby bro (he's 10 years my junior) and maw are coming in for a visit. Again, be thinking of me, would ya? I have no idea what we'll be up to, but I'll be certain to pop back in and say hello. I'd hate for you to get all worried about me again, geesh.

Hope your week is grand!

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Spoiled Rotten

Just some of the birthday loot: great books from my aunt, my bro and a sweet friend; beautiful bouquets from favorite friends.

 Holy cow. I am super spoiled. My birthday this past Friday was quite the momentous occasion complete with entirely too many cupcakes, Happy Birthday songs (once on our school-wide morning announcements, several times during art classes and once again at a restaurant during lunch -- hey, anything for free dessert, people) and a treasure of birthday booty. These goodies were just too great not to share. Not included in photos were the countless notes and drawings from students, the mountain of trashy magazines and chocolates from hubs (does anything beat that combination?) and cards and gifts from friends. I don't suppose turning thirty-ahem-seven will be that bad after all.

My mother-in-law is an estate-sale-aholic for which I am very glad. She showed up with this vintage paper suitcase wrapped in a bow. I love how it looks as though it is smiling!

Here's a peak at just some of the vintage goodness inside the suitcase: vintage fabric and aprons, never-used watercolor sets, a child's sewing basket, books and a group photo of women with their children from the 1920's. This is the kind of stuff that I could sift through, hold, touch and smell for hours.

One estate sale had been at the home of an artist. I was so excited to see the artist's charcoal landscape drawings but this portrait is my favorite. I am now on the hunt for the perfect thrift store frame to put her in. Isn't she a doll?

Watercolor set. I wonder if the Bradley is the one of later Milton and Bradley, the game board makers, fame?

I love the cover of this vintage coloring book, so cute!

A close-up of a child's vintage sewing basket. Her wee little embroidered stitches are far better than mine.

A lovely little hat and gloves set. Too bad my man hands are too big for 'em.

On the day of my birthday, my sweet student teacher returned with a book she had created with the kids while I was away in NYC. She snapped a group photo of each class and quoted each student (that's almost 400!) on what they like about me as their art teacher. Can you imagine? She presented it to me during one of my classes, so I read what that particular class had to say. Needless to say, I almost lost it. It was the most touching gift I've received in a long time. Thank you, Lauren!

I thought I'd share with you some of the funnier things the kids had to say...it's hilarious what they pick up on.

General consensus? I'm silly, I talk funny, I dress wacky, the kids love art. I do hope they're learning something as well!

Yeah...there's probably a reason. Like the other teachers have taste.

Thanks for indulging me, I just had to share my birthday bounty with you!

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