DIY: My Top 5 Fave Things About Fall

Good evening, foolish mortals! I don't know about all y'all but I'm beyond thrilled that it's fall. YES, I'm aware that rhymed. And YES, I'm aware that my poetry skillz are the stuff of envy. Not everyone can match this quarter pounder with cheese of awesome. Since I'm a big fat hairy fan of all things Halloween-ie and Fall-tastic (case in point: check out the blog post behind those Haunted Mansion pants here), I thought I'd slap together this here post of my Top 5 Fave Thingies about Fall, y'all! What are your fave fall-ish things? Or, more importantly, what are you dressing up as this Halloween? 

1. Costumes! Best part of fall? Dressing up for Halloween, of course! We're not "allowed" to dress up for the big day at my school but, really, I look like I'm dressed for the occasion nearly everyday. And if I can tie it in with what the kids are learning about, all the better, right? Here's one of my fave costumes to date: Mary Poppins! 

While we were studying all things Frenchie one year, I dressed as everyone's fave school girl, Madeline! That was an easy costume to slap together and so much fun to wear while reading the book to the kids. 

'Kay, so, truth be told, that Crazy Art Teacher costume on the left isn't, um, a costume. That'd be a daily outfit in Art Teacherin' Land. But that Magritte number did fall on the big day and was fun to wear. Well, except for talking behind a giant apple all day. 

I'll actually be donning this number on Tuesday as we are celebrating Super Hero Day! Nothing like an art teacher/Lichtenstein inspo to come and save the day, right? 

2. El Dia de los Muertos! I love the beautiful artwork that comes from el dia de los muertos, it's some of my fave! It's so colorful and celebratory that it always makes me smile. I've tried my hand at creating several Day of the Dead crafts that dress being one of 'em. 

 Painting these flower pots for the occasions was a ton of fun. 

Of course just one Day of the Dead dress isn't enough so last year, I created this number. I had to add those pompoms at the bottom because, well, who doesn't love colorful pompoms?! 

When we travel, which we do a lot during October going to haunts, I love to embroider. Last year, I stitched up this piece on one of our trips. It's reversible, y'all! 

3.  Creating! The beauty of fall is always surprising to me, it's like I forget just how stinkin' pretty it is every single year. The smells and the leaves are what gets me every time. One of my fave fall activities are creating these leaf prints! 

I love how beautiful these always look and they are a great lesson in teaching positive and negative space, among a bah-zillion other thangs. 

Leaf reliefs are another big hit in the art room. Bring a lil science into your art room and you'll be a hit with all those big wigs. Or just wear a big wig like the one above and BOOM! you're the big wig and you can do what you want. In which case, you'll still wanna do these. 

A coupla years ago I collected every beautiful leaf I could find and I squished em in my leaf press. Then I went bananaz and made millions (okay, like seven) flattened leaf-y works. Like that one below. 

 They look so pretty on the wall when I bring 'em out in the fall (again, poet, I know it). 

4. Clothes! Well, y'all know clothes are my fave. I mean, when you catch me starring off into space, I'm thinking about one of two things: Donuts and Clothes. Prolly in that order. And Halloween clothes are just about my favorite. You can see that Frankendress here. 

Of course this Walking Dead-inspired frock has been super fun to wear to all of the Halloween events el hubbo and I love to go to. What? Is there something behind me? 

 Let's just go ahead and say it: sometimes, the fabric makes the dress. Case in point, y'all, this vintage horror flick frock. The fabric is my ab fab. 

Wanna hear something cray? I officially have so many Halloween wears that I've not even gotten around to wearing this one this year! 

 5. Being Inspired! This year, more than any other fall, I've really been inspired to paint, create and decorate! I got the idea to do this mug shot of The Bride back in August and I finally decided to dive in and just do it (thank you, Shia Labeouf!). 

And that's kinda how these guys were made too. I have this habit of putting things off (hello, lesson plans!) and I'm super bad when it comes to creating, believe it or not. I'm all about the list making and then the talking myself outta it. My new thing is just to dive in before my nay-sayin' side of my brain has any, um, nay-saying to say. Nay. And that's how these lil dudes came to be. 

AND this crazy cat thing. 

Fall marks the time of year when I start needle felting EVERYTHING. Like, seriously. No thrift store sweater, dress, pants, you name it, are unable to escape my needle stabbing abilities. Take this sweater for zample. 

And there you have it! What have you been creating this fall? Any embroidered goodness? Stitched stuff? Paintings? I'd love to know! Time's a-wasting...next thing you know, I'll be comin' at ya with Christmas crafts, ahhhhh!! Can't wait!

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DIY // In the Art Room: Making Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins Outfit details: bag, skirt and ruffly blouse: vintage, thrifted; sweater and boots: Buffalo Exchange; gloves and hat: vintage, gift from a friend; umbrella and red necktie: made by me

Why, hello thar! 'Tis I, wannabe Mary Poppins, practically (im)perfect in every way! Like many schools, mine celebrated Read Across America week with a "dress like a storybook character" day. Because we are currently learning about all things United Kingdom and I'm reading Mary Poppins to my second and fourth graders, deciding who I would dress like was as easy as taking my meds with a spoonful of sugar. Even if I did wanna dress as Sherlock Holmes for a could coupla days. But I didn't think my pipe-puffing would go over well with those party-poopin' principals in my building. So Mary 'twas!

Whilst dressed as Mary, I tried my very best to keep my faux-British accent going as long as I could. We do this little routine in my room where the kids repeat the art directions after me. For kicks we tried out our best Brit accents and the kids loved it. I'm sure that if any actual British folk heard our southern accents attempting to copy theirs, they'd spit up their tea and biscuits.

 Fave Mary moment...and how I foresee my classroom evaluation going when my aforementioned non-pipe-smoking principal drops in to witness kids -n- clay:

Mr. Banks: Just a moment, Mary Poppins. What is the meaning of this outrage?

Mary Poppins: I beg your pardon?

Mr. Banks: Will you be good enough to explain all this?

Mary Poppins: First of all, I would like to make one thing quite clear.

Mr. Banks: Yes?

Mary Poppins: I never explain anything.

The thing my outfit was lacking was the famous parrot-headed brolly. You just can't be Mary Poppins without it. But where to find such a thing? I decided that I'd just have to make my own. I sent out an umbrella email request to the fabulous teachers at my school and within minutes I had my mitts on a lovely wooden handled umbrella.

As soon as I got home, I busted out the tin foil and started sculpting the parrots head. I was too impatient to mess with the masking tape portion of 'mache'ing so I hopped straight to the covering-in-sticky-newspaper part. I'd later come to regret this (like so many things in my life) as it prevented me from having a smooth surface for my bird.

After taking what seemed like days to dry, I painted him with acrylic paints and used an image from pinterest as my inspiration. Laziness prevented me from giving him a coat of Modge Podge. Someday, when my laziness takes a holiday, I'll get to that step.

Ack! Giant parrot eye! In some photos, the tip of the parrots beak is white so I painted mine as such. One of my principal ladies said it looked like his nose was chipped. Some people just don't know.

More from the best movie on the planet...Parrot Umbrella: Awk, that's gratitude for you. Didn't even say goodbye? Mary Poppins: No, they didn't. Parrot Umbrella: Look at them! You know, they think more of their father than they do of you! Mary Poppins: That's as it should be. Parrot Umbrella: Well, don't you care? Mary Poppins: Practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking. Parrot Umbrella: Is that so? Well, I'll tell you one thing, Mary Poppins: you don't fool me a bit! Mary Poppins: Oh, really? Parrot Umbrella: Yes, really. I know exactly how you feel about these children, and if you think I'm going to keep my mouth shut any longer, I'll...
[she clamps his mouth shut] Mary Poppins: That will be quite enough of that, thank you.

Time for tea! Anyone for a cuppa?

All week, leading up to the arrival of Mary Poppins, my classes enjoyed a spot of tea and biscuits. I brought in some of my vintage table clothes and fancified one small area of my otherwise disastrous art room. I brewed each class a pot of tea (apple, peach and mint) and picked up some shortbread cookies and tea biscuits from the store. One kind UK blogger (thanks, Jerra!) informed me that I needed to serve my tea with "lumps" (sugar cubes) and I'd have to say, the kids liked that the best.

Pinkies out, dearies!

Of course, I just had to bring in my small collections of Mary Poppins records. Thankfully our librarian still had one of these ancient bad boys on hand.

Most of my students had never seen a record player before (shoot, they find the tape player on my CD player fascinating) and I found several of them with their noses right up to the spinning record like this young dude.

In my crazy closet, I had almost the perfect coat and scarf to complete my Poppins look. I thrifted the brown coat a while ago and the scarf is an old number from the Gap.

And, would you believe, the most magical thing happened! This weekend, hubs and I took a short trip to Walt Disney World and Epcot in Orlando. On our final day there, while walking through the Great Britain portion of Epcot, I ran into none other than Mary Poppins herself. Here she is asking me if I keep my students in "spit spot shape". Please don't ask me what's going on with my hair.

An even rarer occurrence: Me, in jeans!

From Mary and I, we wish you a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious week. So put that in your pipe and smoke it, Sherlock!

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What the Art Teacher Wore #57

Crazy Hat Day: Where it just wouldn't be the same unless you had a Crazy Outfit to match. Go outlandish and tacky or go home, says me. hat and skirt: a DIY that I know you are dying to try, here; shoes: yet another Sunday afternoon project for you; blouse: gift from a friend; belt: Anthro; tights: Target

Greetings, kids! I come to you fresh outta Read Across America Week. The teachers and parents at my school put together all sorts of fun reading goodness including a book fair, a reading night and, my personal fave, thematic dress days. You can catch what I wore for last year's RAAW here, if you want a good laugh and sigh of relief that you don't have to appear in public looking as ridiculous.

And speaking of reading, I thought I'd share with you just a few of my fave reads this week as well. See how thematic I am? It's almost like I should be a teacher or something. Got a favorite book of your own? I'd love any recommendations of good reads. Muchas gracias and enjoy your week!

Are you familiar with this Canadian author? Apparently Robert Munsch started his career by just doing some improv story telling at his local library. His tales were so silly and strange that his young listeners soon were soon hooked. I am in love with all of his stories, but this tale of a young artist that colors herself "almost entirely all over" with "super indelible never-come-off markers" is a favorite with all of my students. I highly recommend it.

Show Your College Spirit Day: Why I'd love to as I do believe I went to the best college in all the land: Indiana University. I have so many wonderful memories of my 5-ish (ahem) years there that I try to make an annual reenactment with my buddies. And while I never acquired a t-shirt, I do have plenty of that Hoosier red and white in my wardrobe. sweater: vintage, thrifted; dress: from Germany; tights: Target; shoes: Fluevog

I have almost all of these Mike Venezia "Getting to the World's Greatest Artist" books because they are awesome. They are full of visuals with just the perfect amount of funny and factual. When reading them, I read the artist's first name (for example, "Claude") and have the students say the last name ("Monet"). By the end of the story, the kids know the artist's name as well as his/her life and work.

Words on a Shirt, er, Skirt Day: Since I wore my one and only shirt with words last year, I opted for words on a skirt this year. Although I did have to use the force all day long: (student) "Hey! You don't have words on a shirt!," (me) "That's right. Because it's actually words on a skirt day. Now move along, move along. This isn't the art teacher you're looking for." dress: created for last year's trip to Star Wars Weekends, diy here; tights: Target; boots: Anthro; blouse: thrifted

Did anyone else grow up loving Shel Silverstein's work? I have the world's worst memory but I can vividly recall my second grade teacher animatedly reading her copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends. It was one of my favorite things. As a kid, I was inspired to write poems and short stories thanks to Shel Silverstein.

Awesome.

Show Your School Spirit Day: Also known as Where This to Starbucks and Receive Bizarre Looks Day. When I told the hipster teen workin' on my soy-tea-latte that I was a teacher, he just looked at me with a "duh-lady" expression and said, "yeah, I thought so." t-shirt: designed by one of our fourth graders, tie-dyed and bow-dazzled by me; tiger tights: amazon. Yes, seriously; skirt: J.Crew, gift; shoes: Clarks

Another fave when I was growing up. I do believe I've read this book more than a dozen times. The illustrations are the best. Harriet's penchant for those black and white composition books is why I carry one myself. What? If you've read the book, you'd understand.

Dress Like a Storybook Character Day: I'm most definitely not "practically perfect in every way" but I do love me some Mary Poppins. Especially since she ties in so well with our study of the United Kingdom. I actually began reading Mary Poppins to my second and fourth grade students a couple of weeks ago while they were weaving. Little did they know there was a reason behind my madness. I'll share with you more details of that and the making of this lil outfit later this week. Until then...ruffly shirt, bag and black skirt: vintage, thrifted; sweater and boots: Buffalo Exchange; hat and gloves: vintage, gift from a friend; parrot umbrella: DIY by me

This summer I met Richard Sherman who, along with his brother Robert, wrote all the songs in Disney's version of Mary Poppins. He told us how Walt Disney had a very hard time convincing  P.L. Travers to allow him to turn her book into a movie. We are actually at the magical world of Walt Disney World this weekend on a little pre-birthday trip/any-excuse-to-get-outta-town vacay. And while I haven't seen Mary (yet!) I did manage to score a Poppins Pin! I'll be sure to share our trip with you in a future post.

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