Hey, y'all! It's finally fall-ish feeling around here and I thought it would be the perfect time to share with you some of my very favorite fall art lessons! If you follow the links, most of these lessons include videos for you to use in your art makin' world. To kick it off, here is a fave fall lesson of mine: First Grade Woven Owls!
I love this weaving lesson so stickin' much! You can find all the details both in my fibers book or right here in my blog post!
Here's another fun fall lesson that I did with my first graders but would be awesome with older grades too. This one involved learning about a contemporary artist, painting, collaging and printing. So much! Details here.
Another fun fall printing lesson can be found here. Instead of creating the printing pans, you can always use Gelli-Plates!
This lesson I have done with my students as young as first grade! They love it and the results are always stunning. More details here. I hope these fall lessons leave you feeling inspired. Happy Fall, y'all!
A couple of weeks ago, I spent a weekend elbows deep in clay and Halloween crafterin' and, I'm not even gonna lie, I.Was.In.Heaven. Seriously. In fact, just tonight, I asked el hubs-tastic if there he thought there was a book publisher out there who might be interested in a new edition of Encyclopedia Britannica of Halloween Crafter'ness cuz I just might be the gal for the gig. Case in point: these Halloween Chatter Teeth!
I created these bad boys after settling on the theme for my Candy Corn Tree: Monster Mash (BTW, have you entered to win a $150 shopping spree yet? If not, what in the world is wrong with you, get yourself here, right meow!) Don't ask me what this has to do with traditional monsters...other than the iconic Rocky Horror Picture Show image. I mean, that qualifies as a classic, right?
In all honesty, the idea came to me from my sketchbook. A year ago, I filled my sketchbook with Halloween-themed ideas and these chatter teeth were one of them. After a pinch of troubleshooting, I discovered that these silly teeth were super easy to make. So much so, I created a video just for you! Here you go:
To create these bad boys, rustle up the following:
* Aluminum Foil I like the stuff in the precut sheets cuz I'm too lazy to cut. Hit up the Dollar Tree for the Aluminum Foil for Lazy People. Yes, that's the actual name.
* Rigid Wrap Plaster Strips I like the stuff from Activa Products which you can find here. By the way, full disclosure and such, I often work with Activa Products. But I do truly love their products. Case in point...
* Celluclay I don't care what you say, Celluclay is my JAM, boy! I love the stuff, it makes my world go 'round.
Now, if you've never worked with plaster strips, lemme just say, it is a gift sent from heaven above. It dries so quickly! It has the strength of ten horses! It's quite possibly the best thing ever!
But I say "quite possibly the best thing ever" with a grain of salt. Because, in all honesty, Celluclay is the best. I'm telling you, get you some, I'll make you a believer. I will say that the stuff does take FOREVER to dry so, for the love, put your creations in front of a fan and rotate, rotate, rotate. As mold loves to grow if you do not. At least in the humid mold-growin' breeding grounds of middle Tennessee.
AND once dry, paint with acrylic.
And display where big mouths and loud mouths hang.
Out of laziness, I did not cover the chatter teeth with a clear varnish. The acrylic had enough shine to give these guys the sheen they needed.
Once complete, these chatter boxes can be displayed just about anywhere! In the living room...
In your Candy Corn Halloween Tree...
Next to a decapitated head of Dracula...I mean, really, the choice is yours.
Wherever you decide to do, just don't for get to enter to win THIS GIVEAWAY, for the love of all things chatter teeth-y and holy. Okay?!
Big GIVEAWAY and discount offered in this here blog post...keep reading for your chance to win! Hello, Goblins and Ghouls...I'm super stoked to share with you my Monster Mash Halloween Tree! I was recently given this amazing Candy Corn Tree from Treetopia and tasked with coming up with a theme to not only decorate it...but create the ornaments for the tree as well. For the creation of the decorations, I reached out to my friends at Activa Products for some of my favorite sculpting supplies. I'll be sharing one of my favorite creations here in this blog post, the Spooky Scary Skeletons! But first...my tree!
I received my tree from Treetopia lightening fast. I was surprised when I unpacked it just how big, full and bright it is. I absolutely love this big ole candy corn tree. I will say, I was a little overwhelmed at first: how was I going to decorate this tree? It already looked fabulous enough as it was. Here's a peek at my unboxing of the beast:
Super easy to assemble and such a full tree! I love that I don't have bald spots in my tree.
Back to decorating...I was like, HOW?! But then I got to thinking: I've always loved the classic Universal Studios horror movies like Frankenstein, Dracula, Bride of Frank, The Mummy...you name it. With that in mind, when Monster Mash came on while I was playing Halloween music in my art room, I knew THAT had to be my theme. So, Monster Mash Halloween Tree it was!
Nothing says a dance party like some disco balls, amirite?!
Over the next couple of days, I'll be sharing with you a TON of Halloweenie How-to's as I show you how I created nearly every bit of spooky decoration on this tree. Today, I thought I'd share how I created these Eye-Popping Spooky Scary Skeletons!
Here's your list of supplies: * A plastic skull. I found mine at a local craft store...but right now, you can find a plastic skull just about everywhere. * Aluminum foil. I like the cheap stuff from the Dollar Tree because it comes in precut sheets that are the perfect size. * Rigid Wrap Plaster Strips. I love plaster strips because they dry so fast! I used them in the making of the eyeballs. * Cheesecloth. Check the cooking/baking section of your grocery store. * Liquid Starch. Sta-Flo is my go to. Mostly because I want that to be my rapper name. Sta-Flo Stephens. * Acrylic Paint and Paint Brushes.
Once you learn the magic of liquid starch and cheesecloth, you are gonna be like me and go crazy covering everything in it! You can see that's just what I did here to create ole Frank.
Be sure and stay tuned right here and my YouTube channel as I share all of these Halloween DIYs with y'all!
Like these silly chatter mouth teeth...
And more monsters from the mash like The Mummy...who I find to be the most frightening part of my tree.
Or maybe it's Dracula trying to bite through the caution tape! By the way, you can find out how to create these eye-popping ornaments here:
I have always loved decorating for Halloween but this tree just took it to another spooktackular level. You can find my Top Ten Fall Crafts here for more ideas.
But now that I've shown you around my tree and shared a couple DIY's with you, let's talk about that give away, shall we?
Treetopia is allowing me to giveaway a $150 Gift Card to their online store! That's right, I'm super excited about this one...if you've not explored their site, then you must. They have so many trees to offer with my current favorite being the Candy Corn tree, obviously. However, next on my faves: THEIR RAINBOW TREE, what?! How perfect would that be in an art room, right?!
Here's how you can enter to win: 1. Comment. Leave a comment below and share your favorite horror movie of all time. More importantly: leave your FULL NAME and EMAIL ADDRESS as well. 2. Follow. If you are on Instagram, follow me here and Treetopia here! If you are not on IG but on FB, then you can find me here and Treetopia there. That's it! I'll let all y'all know this Friday, October 13th who the lucky winner is!
If you don't win...or if you just cannot wait to purchase something from Treetopia right now, they are offering a 15% off discount! Just use the coupon code: TTHWDIYQ17C. This offer is only good from today, October 9th through the 27th.
What an exciting giveaway and discount, right?! I am itching to get myself another Halloween tree. That black and white stripe one is calling my name, y'all!
But I'm pretty sure the neighbors have enough to say about one Halloween tree...best not start adding more.
By the way, if you create any of your own skulls and eyeballs, please make sure to share with me be tagging me in your preferred social media outlet. I'd love to see what you create.
Stay tuned for many more Halloween How-to's...my list of spooky DIY's grows daily. October just isn't long enough for me.
Or my eye-poppingly handsome friends.
Too much? Eh, never! Let it all hang out, Gus!
I even have plans to make a variation on these guys...but we'll see if I have time this year to tackle that craft.
Be sure to enter to win that giveaway, y'all, it's a good one! I'll let you know the winner this Friday!
These here Zombie Head Planters are the ugliest things I've ever made and I really couldn't be happier. Weird? Yes. Okay with that? Totes.
I mean, you gotta have respect for something that finds brains appetizing, y'all.
So I got the idea to create these Zombie Head Planters last week after I wrapped up my last Celluclay creation. I STILL had half a bag left of the stuff (a little goes a long way...and even with these guys and the pumpkins, I still have some left over) so I actually have another project I'd love to do...but more on that later.
Let's talk about the brainz-eaters at hand, shall we?
Over the summer, I picked up these little plastic planters from Target with the grand idea that I'd plant herbs in them or something. That didn't happen and so six of these dudes were sitting around collecting dust. I had been using them to prop up my pumpkin heads as I worked on them...which gave me the idea to create these.
Need a review on how simple it is to work with Celluclay? Here you go!
Originally, I was just going to make the heads but I really liked the idea of the zombies having a body as well. So I used the upturned pottery for that.
Again, I didn't sand the plastic or prep it in any way. The clay did take longer to dry this time as the weather is now cooler. So I put them in front of a fan overnight and they were dry the next day. They've yet to crack or flake off which is great. They are rock solid once painted and Modpodged.
Painting was easy. I just picked a dark green color to paint everything, put them in front of the fan and started to dry brush on lighter colors. With a smaller brush, I added details. But, really, the painting is the easiest part. The surface of the Celluclay is perfect for zombies...who knew?!
My original idea was to have herbs in the planters but let's get real: I have a black thumb. So I shopped the heavily marked down fall floral isle of my local craft store and picked up what I thought would look good as hair and brain matter. I'm sure that's what everyone looks for in the floral isle, right?
True fact: I am no floral designer nor do I pretend to be. I seriously just used those floral foam thingies, hot glued some moss on that and stuck in some flowers.
Side note: hot glue and styrofoam don't play well together. The hot glue melted the foam and, um, that was fun. I was watching Project Runway so I channeled my inner Tim Gunn and I made it work (which for me always means: ADD MORE HOT GLUE!).
And I'm kinda sorta thrilled with how they turned out! With faces only a mother could love.
It's funny, whenever I'm tasked with creating something at a PD or otherwise, I ALWAYS make this lady. Sassy retro mama with a gnarly expression and usually a cigarette dangling from her lips. I think she's my spirit animal.
This is my tribute to Gene Wilder's character in Young Frankenstein...note the hair. Of course, I had to zombie-ize him. I love how the moss looks like brains.
P.S. these will NOT be on display in our bedroom. Their eyes seriously do follow you everywhere.
Don't tell the others but this one is my favorite. It reminds me of Beetlejuice...which is super duper in my book.
Now off to find just the perfect place in my house for these lovelies. Love to hear from you if you've worked with Celluclay and what you've created. You can comment below or shoot me an email. In the meantime, steer clear of the brain-eaters, y'all!
