What the Art Teacher Wore #143

Summer-day: You know, my fave thing about summer vacay is when you get to the point where you forget what day it is. That's when you know you've hit toootal relaxation AND, sadly, that the end is nigh. Just one more week of freedom before we return! dress: vintage score from Buffalo Exchange; crinoline: Amazon; shoes: old, BG's; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; Enid Collins Box Purse: ebay

Hi, friends! I realized the other day that I've only shared with y'all maybe one (or two) What the Art Teacher Wore blog posts this summer! One part cuz during the summer, I'm off my routine which means my blogging schedule (as if there ever was one) gets all kinds of jacked up. The other part cuz, well, when I'm not wearing the same stinkin' outfit for days in a row, I'm in stretchy pants (I just can't bring myself to admit that I'm in the yoga pants camp so "stretchy pants" they shall be) and a hole-y t-shirt. It's a glamorous life I lead, lemme tell ya.

This week kept me on my toes tho as I had to venture out and teach teachers! Our local art museums The Frist and Cheekwood Botanical Gardens offered a wonderful three day professional development and I taught a lil bit of fiber arts on the first day...

Teaching art teachers is so stinkin' fun because they come up with the very best of ideas. We focused on needle-felting and ways to both tie that in to the current art exhibits as well as bring the craft back to our art rooms. I shared some of my student projects involving needle-felting as well as some that I'm planning to try out with my students this year. Being the most creative teachers I know, these dudes came up with great ideas as well as the most beautiful of needle-felted creations! 

SIDE NOTE: I'll be leading another fiber arts workshop at The Frist on Saturday, September 26th. This one is open to everyone, not just art educators. We'll be focusing on needle-felting, embroidery and more...the last I checked, there were only 6 spots left so if you are interested, go here and I'll see you there! 

I loved everyone's different take on the craft of needle-felting and the inspiration they got from the both the Italian Style show as well as the Wiener Werstratte. This artist was inspired by an incredible fur coat designed by Karl Lagerfeld. I love how she layered and needle-felted through the felt. 

Two artists created landscapes and I just love them both. The impressionist style of the one on the left is so subtle. Needle-felting really seems to be perfect for that kind of look. Although the one on the right is very graphic, which I love. My work in needle-felting is usually very flat and graphic as well so I can totes relate to the style and look of that one. 

Ah, summertime happy place. 

The artist on the left created a Japanese family crest. I had no idea that you could needle-felt synthetic yarns until she gave it a go with her boarder. I love the roses in the foreground of the one on the right. 

And this artist drew her inspo from the graphic designs of the postcards and fabrics we saw. I love the colors and joy in this piece, makes me so happy!

 Fave Purse Tuesday: So you mightah noticed in these here photos that I'm carting around a box-purse. I've always loved Enid Collins box purses but this summer, after scoring a couple at the flea market, I've become obsessed. I was so thrilled to get this one which is currently my fave. I've now got a lil (growing) collection that is gonna require me to install a shelf to showcase 'em all! sweater: thrifted; dress: vintage; shoes: Jeffrey Campbell; brooch and earrings: estate sales

 Rainy Day Wednesday: We've been having these rando outbursts of rain then INSANELY humid (we call it "muggy" where I'm from) weather. I mean, it literally feels like you are walking into someone's mouth the moment you step outside. No bueno. So it requires footwear like these Crocs that can take a lil rain and a lil shine. sweater and blouse: thrifted; skirt: Anthro found at Buffalo Exchange; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; brooches: estate sale

So-Cal Thursday: I finished off my Artsy Sew Along skirt right before we took a lil vacay to Southern California! If you are sewing along, don't you worry. I'll get the vid clippies up soon once we return from the land of eternal sunshines. shirt: thrifted; skirt: made by me!

 

Evenings at Disneyland: I'd love to share with y'all photos from our Cali-adventures but I dare say this blog post is photo-heavy enough! However, if you follow me here, you can keep up with the craziness even more (hurray! -ish!). When in Cali, we venture into California Adventure every evening to see The Mad T Party band as they are Uh-Maze-Ing. Here I am chillin' on the streets of Muppet-ville waiting for the next show to start. top: Old Navy? Target? I can't remember; skirt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; belt: Amazon. Fur realz. Just type in "big a$$ belt" and you'll find this; shoes: TJ Maxx

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In the Art Room: NAEA 2015 Convention

Well, helloooo there, friends! Long time, no bloggity-blog. As you art teacherin' buddies of mine mightah guessed, I was at the NAEA convention this past week. It was a thrilling experience as those of you that attended can attest. I was determined to blog about my experience in fur realz time, but you know what? As soon as I got there, the phone, camera and laptop went away and I just dove right into the moment. That's right, y'all. I did the unthinkable: I lived in realtime. And I think my experience was all the better for it. Howeverness, I gotta tell ya, my photos are rather lacking and for that, I apologize. 

I do wanna give a shout out to all of you that attended and snapped a photo with me. Thank you! I loved meeting each and everyone of you and I was thrilled that you wanted a picture with my wackiness. I love y'all!

So in this here blog post, I thought I'd break down for y'all my experience. I had so much fun attending sessions and presenting (a whopping four times. Someone. Please. Remind me next year just how crazy I am, ermkay?). If you weren't able to attend, don't you sweat it, sistah (and brah), Ima be creating blog posts on my presentations (10 Exciting Ways to Introduce Vocabulary and Tiptoeing into Blogging) later this week. So stay tuned!

And without further ado-ness, I present to you NOLA NAEA 2015!

So the amazing Tim Gunn was our keynote speaker. And he was seriously just that: ah-freakin'-mazing. Like, there was laughter, there were tears, there was loud coughing into the microphone by the interviewer (whut was that, y'all?!), it was ab fab. As y'all might recall, I interviewed Tim waaaaay back in December for the April issue of School Arts magazine. So, I gotta tell you this hilarious stalker thing I did after Tim's talk: I was standing around outside the auditorium with a bunch buddies rehashing the dude's awesomeness when we spot him! He's chatting with a small crowd of folks and my friends were all, "OMG, there he is! Let's get him!" And, being his new BFF, I lead the troops to introduce ourselves and say hellllllo. Did I mention that one of the buddies in my group was wearing a dress completely decked out in Mardi Gras beads? Well, imagine this if you will, we start walking towards Tim but he's leaving! So we start walking faster. Next thing you know, we are chasing the man and I can hear the SWISH! SWISH! of the beaded-dress girl behind me. Now, least you think I'm a total fool, the dude WITH Tim was waving us on! He was saying, "Hurry! C'mon!" So our behavior was totally encouraged, warranted and justified. When we finally reached Tim breathless and swishy you can tell poor dude is in a rush. He rapid fire shakes our hands and poof! disappears. I was mortified. I shook my clenched fist at the man who encouraged us and said, "You told me to hurry! You told me to c'mon! Now he's going to reissue his restraining order!" 

 

Shortly after that awkward exchange, I was in Tim's class (so, duh, why didn't I just wait to talk to him then, right?!) which, I gotta tell you stressed me out, y'all! It was basically a condensed version of Project Runway. We worked in groups (I had The Best Group. Just sayin'.) and were given a table full of supplies (rubber bands, tape, scissors, clothes pins, highlighters, velcro, etc). Tim came around and handed each group a paper that said things like "T-shirt to Zombie Apocalypse", "T-shirt to Runway". Ours said "T-shirt to Purse". We had 30 minutes and managed to pull that cute thing together. I had to walk the runway which also made me a nervous wreck (whuuuuut?!). All that to say, after that experience, I had no nervous energy left for my presentation!

See that teeny tiny speck in the background? That's me talking about teaching vocabulary in a 25 minute session. I was thrilled that so many folks showed up (thanks, guys! Y'all made my day!). It was standing room only. I was worried I wouldn't get through everything so I told everyone I was gonna talk fast and I finished in 15 minutes! So I opened up the floor and so many awesome art teachers shared their vocabulary cheers, chants and tricks. I couldn't have planned that better!

Now I gotta tell ya, this is like my 5th conference or something. And when I first went, I didn't know anyone. Which can be pretty lonely even when you are surrounded by thousands of other like-minded folk (in fact, it can feel even lonelier!). If you had even a pinch of that at the convention, I'm so sorry! I know I felt very shy (imagine) and intimidated when I first started attended and hardly spoke to anyone. If you attend, please don't let that be you! Strike up a convo with everyone! Talk, share, swap war stories and phone numbers. The connects you make are priceless (me with my buds Laura and Nic!). 

After the vocab session, I waited in line a long line to meet Tim Gunn. Again. The poor dude. All kidding aside, he stood and signed autographs for well over 3 hours, y'all. That's after being the keynote speaker and leading a session. He's perfectly awesome. AND he signed this here article! 

On Friday, I presented a session about blogging with several other art bloggers. That was a tremendous amount of fun! But as Phyl of There's a Dragon in my Art Room pointed out, it's too bad we couldn't have attended each other's presentation to learn from each other! Again, I'll be sharing my chat in a blog post later this week. 

After that, AOE hosted a blogger meet and greet. It was so fun to chat with the AOE team (so much awesomeness! Jessica has some great taste!), meet blog readers and chat with bloggin' buds. Some of these bloggin' buddies of mine feel like long lost friends (Nic! Laura! Phyl! Hope!) and new best buds (Tim! Andrew! Sheryl! Theresa!). I love this meet up. 

Thank you so much, Jessica, for arranging this fun!  

I love these two ladies! Being around so many art teacherin' besties is good for the crazy soul, I tell ya. 

Of course, I had to get outta that convention center for a lil bit. I roomed with a couple of friends of mine from Memphis (thank you, Debbie and Kim for being the best roomies everrrr). On Friday, I did manage to skip away with them and another buddy to do some serious credit card exercising. Trashy Diva was my fave place to shop on Magazine Street!

On Saturday, I decided to hit the French Quarter with some buddies. We met some incredible street and gallery artists (this city is so full of talented folks, it's nuts!). Of course, eating a late lunch of seafood gumbo and monkey bread pudding on a balcony overlooking Jackson Square was a must! 

 That evening I taught a ticketed event on needle felting. I do believe I officially got 25 lovely ladies addicted to a new craft. To introduce needle felting, I had each create a palette hair clip (as you often see me wearing...DIY post to come).

 I love how this artist had a "mixed colors" palette! So clever!

Then each was given a blue apron to needle felt their individual design upon. We also had give aways, crazy story telling, chocolate consumption...it was a big time all around. Special thanks to all that those who missed part of the masquerade ball to attend.

If we look a lil cray [that's cuz we are], we are trying to show you our palette hats! None of the ladies finished (felting takes longer than just an hour or so) so they took home enough roving to finish their masterpiece. Hey attendees! When you do finish, email me a photo so I can share it here, please.

After that, we decided to crash the ball with some other buddies! It was so fun, I'm so glad we went. The night may or may not have ended with some serious Hurricane consumption...I'd give you the full story but what happens at an art convention stays at an art convention.

Until next time! 

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DIY: A Christmas Craft Night

 Can't take credit for this lovely. It was created by my super talented friend Tamara. Isn't it so stinkin' sweet?

Just so you know, my house only gets cleaned when company is coming. Now, not the entire house, mind you. Just the places I think peeps be seein'. And if Ima gonna go all out and decorate for the holla-daze, then somebody best come around for a visit. For that reason, 'tis the perfect time to host a Christmas Craft Night, says moi.

 When I popped in to visit my buddy the other day, I totally stole her little lovely off her tree and promptly placed it on her front door for a photo op. What you can't see is her standing just on the other side of the door asking, "Is it cute? Do you have it on the wreath straight?!" Oh, if these poor blog photos could talk, y'all. The stories they'd tell. 

'Kay, so I super duper love having buddies over for crafting. For the occasion, I usually make a big ole pot of soup (minestrone is my fave), have some bread/cheese/wine handy and a dining room table all covered in crafts. As folks trickle in bearing gifts of apps and zerts we usually vent about the day's teacherin' events (as expected, most of my buddies are art teachers) before bucklin' down with a bowl of soup and get to crafting.

On this particular craft night, we did some needle felting. I thought it'd be fun to just needle felt whatever (like I said, most are art teachers, you give 'em the goods and they'll go to town) and frame it in an embroidery hoop. As for supplies, you can see (from left to right) I had some foam cushions for underneath the felting, wool yarn, wool roving, fabric (not necessarily wool), embroidery hoops and needle felting tools. I loved seeing the variety of what everyone created.

So simple and sweet, right? Meredith outlined her R in wool yarn which really made the letter stand out. 

My best gal Mallory made a sweet little "L" for her daughter Lydia Dot who's celebrating her first Christmas this year. You might recall we had a Pee Wee themed baby shower for the arrival of El Dotto. 

Here was my lil 'zample that I busted out about 10 minutes before everyone arrived. Mostly cuz I was running around like a crazy person attempting to get my home to look less an-army-of-clown-hobos-live-here-esque. 

Need a coupla needle felting toots? Cuz I've got some for ya. Check here to see what you need to shop for and here to see just how you can go about creating. Oh, and a lil more here. AND if you need a barrage of my needle felting DIYs, you can go here and follow the linkzzz. 

Now whilst everyone was needling away, I got the notion that the hoops would be super cute wrapped in this amazing gold leafed yarn I picked up at Joann's. 

It actually was easy to do and I think looks great. But I think a lotta things look great so what do I know?! To start, use the outer hoop an remove the screw. Hot glue the end of the yarn to the start of the hoop and commence wrapping, you rapper, you.

AND hot glue the other end of the yarn! Now, the yarn will make the hoop so large it won't be able to close with the screw. So we used some jewelry wire and closed the hoop with that. Which was pretty unsightly so we covered that with a lil pompom. 

 Like so! Totes adorbs, amirate?! By the way, in case you are wondering, that's a fox that has hyper extended his neck. 

What that lovely lil dinning room table looked like near night's end.  Sadly, I didn't get a pic of everyone's creation. Although, I did manage this gem...

Not only are my friends so exceptionally good looking that it's almost criminal, but they are a super talented crew too. Meredith, top left, is an art teacher and incredible paper flower fabricator whose lovelies you can see here and here. And Aimee, red apron in the middle, sells the most fabulous vintage classes in her art teacherin' spare time. Crystal, who is just to the right of Aimee, creates incredible jewelry with guitar strings from her husband's band Old Crow Medicine Show. All of these ladies are awesomely wonderful, I was simply thrilled to get my Christmas craft on with them.

Which brings me to my most exciting giveaway goodies of them all (mostly because needle felting is my ab fave!). A slightly used needle felting tool and cushion. AND two pieces of lovely fabric and roving! Here's how you can enter to win...

1. I'd love to know...if I shared more DIY video clips on this blog, would you be interested? Would you view them or is that simply not your thing?

2. Please leave your email so I can reach ya!

As for yesterday's winner...congrats to Debbie! I'll get those lovely magazines out to you soon. 

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What the Art Teacher Wore #119 and Spooky Ensembles of Halloween Past

A Return from Fall Break: Ain't gonna lie, that break sure was nice but it was good to be back. Looking at this photo, I can't help but notice all the creepy things that stare at the kids while they work: Señor Roy G. Biv (um, that's what we call the big-eyed rainbow), Graffiti Mona and those rando drawings of mine on the board. owl sweater: felted DIY, details here; dress: BCBG, old; belt, tights and necklace: Target, old; boots: Buffalo Exchange; hair bow: um, I'm wearing the belt from the dress as a hair bow. What?

Hey, friends! I hope you all are enjoying your weekend. Here the leaves are turning, the temps are as unpredictable (warm-then-cold-then-warm-again-and-now-rain-for-three-days-straight) as my moods and it's now dark way too early. I think that's the only thing I don't dig about fall: the fact that it's, like, 5pm and the pitch black night has me convinced I need to hop into my pajamas and consume multiple cups of hot chocolate. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I suppose. 

Now since Halloween is right around the corner, I thought I'd share with you some of my fave spooky ensembles from years past. I'm hoping this will inspire you to start dreaming up your creation for the Dress-Like-A-Famous-Artist/Artwork Contest! Y'all have been coming up ideas for your costume, riiiiight? Halloween is on Friday this year which means you can totes wear your costume to school (if you are a teacher although any of my non-teacherin' friends can enter!) and tie it in to whatever it is you are teaching. I don't plan to enter (although I will be in costume that day!). I did spend my weekend wrapping up a coupla costume ideas (come on back on Tuesday and I'll show ya!). Grand prize is your pretty face in SchoolArts Magazine, y'all! For all the details, please click here. 

Speaking of creating, have y'all been gathering up your fabric and stitching supplies for our next Sew-Along? In case you missed it, we will be creating dresses for Dress a Girl Around the World, an organization that sends dresses to girls in need. I am so excited about this that a group of my teacher buddies and I are doing this in the afternoons as well! I was really hoping that I could get the first tutorial up by the week of October 27th but I forgot to consult my calendar. This coming weekend is my state art conference where I'll be, wait for it, recognized as Tennessee Elementary Art Educator of the Year! (Or, "Art Teacher of the Universe" to anyone who asks. You'd be surprised how many "REALLY?!"s I get. Sigh.) Since I won't be around to film any tutorials this coming weekend, I'm going to push it back a week. However, you really don't need my help as the Dress a Girl website has very clear directions. Have any of you already started? I can't wait for us to begin!

Other than that, I got nuthin, kids. I hope you have a super awesome fall-ish week. Until Tuesday, I hope y'all enjoy these spooky ensembles of Halloween past.

Last year I was so stinkin good at getting my Halloweenin' on. I felted eyeballs on my Target pants, created that leaf printed garland and even painted some pumpkins. This year, um, not so much. The season totally got away from me! I've decided not to let that happen with Christmas, gonna start early-ish on that one. 

Rainy Chilliness: Suriously? Where's my coat/hat/scarf? I swear, in my art room, I had my heat running one day and my ac the next. top: Buffalo Exchange; skirt: Anthro; necklace: El Dia de los Muertos DIY; tights: Target; shoes: thrifted

Part of the prob this year was that I got too late of a Halloween start. I mean, it's only a coupla weeks away and I have two dresses that I'd love to bust out before then (totally wishful thinking as I'm the slowest sewer everrrr). This Day of the Dead dress and matching planters were all created in early September of that year. What happened to that plan-ahead person? Where did she goooo? (and just who is she because I've never been one to plan ahead. I do think this was that time aliens clawed in my ear while I was sleeping and took over my brain for a hot minute before realizing that the battery was too low.)

Bustin Out Them Boots: It's that time. Tights -n- boots, y'all. I really am so glad that tights season is here as it means one happy thing: no more leg shaving until May! Let the glorious gorilla legs begin! sweater: felted fox DIY, here; dress: Anthro label found at Buffalo Exchange; tights: Target; boots: Frye, found at a discount joint because Frye boots are INSANELY expensive, kids; belt: Anthro

This outfit was super fun to make. Well, the needle felted sweater was actually the fun part. Sewing doesn't always go smoothly for me (I do more seam-ripping than stitchin, kids. True Story.) but felting I feel I can't mess up. I do seriously wish I had a white streak in my hair. Hmmm. 

Squirrelly Sweaterness: I love this sweater but I only wear it during the fall. I paired it with this funky 1960s sleeveless two-piece because, well, I thought they looked like a perfect match. sweater: Urban Outfitters, couple fall's ago; top, skirt, shoes: thrifted

One Halloween dress that wins my fave fabric award is this one. It's got al the famous Universal Studios monsters featured on it and it's just a buncha fun to wear. You can find the gory deets here, if you dare. 

Spook-tacular!: A friend of mine told me about a house just down from my school that was decked out in the Halloween spirit. Mitch and I took a trip there this weekend and I just had to share it with you. It really makes me sad that I didn't decorate at all for Halloween (we're always gone to haunted houses on the night of Halloween anyway, sigh). Next year I will attempt this level of amazingness. sweater: vintage, thrifted; skirt: Anthro found at Buffalo Exchange

Until next time, I hope your week is simply Be-witched!

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