What the Art Teacher Wore #64

She's a Handful Monday: My students are portraying themselves as royalty in their latest self-portrait adventure. When I asked why one "king" appeared to be yelling (complete with angry eyebrows and wide open  mouth), I was informed that "the king is upset because the queen is a real handful." Trying my best to hide my laughter, I had to ask, "A handful of what...?" After some thought I was told "pain". These kids keep me rolling. top: gift from a friend; scarf: Orla Kiely; skirt: vintage, etsy; tights: dunno; shoes: DIY, here; mini beret: DIY; belt: Anthro

Bonjour, ya'll! I hope this week has been a lovely one. It's been pretty busy here in Cassie-land what with art-show-preparations and feeble attempts at art-room-tidying. But that's okay. I do believe I could have handled just about anything this week threw my way knowing that this Sunday I'm heading to...

This and more amazing vintage posters here.

What?! I know, I can't hardly believe it myself. When hubs recently told me we'd be traveling to Germany for a wedding, I asked if we could please include a short trip to Paris. If you've been following this blog for a bit (for which I thank ya), then you know that I began this school year with an introduction to Paris, complete with art room decor and Parisian-themed DIY dresses. I had no idea that the opportunity to travel there would present itself. I'm so excited!

Grannie Tuesday: One of my first grade students told me I was looking "not like Mrs. Stephens" on this particular day. When I asked her what she meant I was told, "You look like a grannie. It's your sweater. It's a sweater for grannies." Thank you but I prefer to call my style Grannie-Chic. sweater: vintage, thrifted; skirt: vintage, etsy; top: gift from my moms-in-law; fishnets: Target; shoes: Softt; headband: Anthro

Image here.

Which is all to explain my Parisian-themed looks for this week. It was fun digging these outfits out of my closet because it reminded me of the very beginning of the school year. The kids were thrilled to see them too and greeted me with many "Bonjour"s...and a couple of "Hola"s. So it looks like we've got some reviewing to do.

Special Blood Vessels Wednesday: One of my kindergarten students informed me that the reason he's so good at art is because he has "special blood vessels that pop!" when he comes to art class. I'm thinkin' this might be gas. Regardless, I thought it was adorable. sweater: thrifted; dress: DIY by me; tights: Target; shoes: vintage, thrifted

Students of mine gave me these sweet earrings at Christmas. Perfect.

Image here.

The funny thing is, I never had a super strong desire to travel to France until we began our study this school year. And after seeing those pictures of Jes all over Paris, the desire to travel there hit me like a stale baguette.

Fancy Dress Thursday: A couple of days ago, a group of my third grade girls informed me that Thursday was Fancy Dress Day. One girl said, "so don't forget to dress fancy, okay?!" At which point a third grade boy said, "why would you tell her that, she dresses fancy [pause to look at my silly outfit of the day] and weird everyday." Really? You had to throw that "weird" in there? sweater: thrifted; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; dress: Bernie Dexter; fishnets: Target; shoes and mini beret: DIY

A couple of weeks ago, one of my sweet students drew this picture for me...before she even knew of my plans. I'm totally diggin' those ballet flats!

A high school buddy of mine sent me this adorable brooch for my birthday and I just love it! And, speaking of buddies, on Thursday evening, I blew off some much needed steam with a great couple of girlfriends just shopping, trying on makeup and shoes and eating entirely too much.

Image here.

Oh! And speaking of Jes, since his last update, he's been to England and Iceland! I will certainly share those amazing photos with you soon. He's such a get-about.

And I'm Outta Here Friday: It wasn't until 6:30 pm when I was finally finished with lesson plans and room-tidying that I realized I hadn't snapped a picture for the day. This one goes down as one of the worst. And that stuff in the background? Hundreds of pieces of artwork for our upcoming art show, yay! smock: vintage, etsy; skirt and tights: Target

Image here.

So I'll be taking a wee blogging break as I'm out and about. But I'll be certain to share my adventures once I've returned and recovered from jet lag. Until then, au revoir!

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In the Art Room: Actually, Outside the Art Room

Outside of le Cafe Artiste!

 With mere hours before the wee artists return to school, I managed to finish the outside of my art room. Giant sigh of relief. And collapse on the couch. I'm a little concerned about the inside of my art room as I have yet to put supplies out and rules up (gasp!). However, I've always been told it's what's on the outside that counts. Or did they just tell me that because of my crummy personality?

My van Gogh-spiration. The Yellow House (Vincent's house in Arles), 1888

 I am not one of those artsy types that can just have an idea pop into my head and then knock it out with a paint brush and paper. Oh no. I've gotta have something to look at and steal from. Which is where van Gogh stepped in. I sketched his street scene onto brown bulletin board paper with a charcoal stick and then painted over it...with my paint brushes! That's right, I found 'em! They were...sadly...right where I now remember putting them. In the kiln room. Don't ask.

Dunno about you, but when I hang things on the concrete blocks at my school, they don't like to stick. I've tried it all: blue sticky tack, gum, a plethora of tapes, you name it. The best sticky stuff for the job? 3M Double Sided Tape. It's pricey but this should stay up all year.

 From there, blue paper was hung across the top, the street scene was added and I set to work on the entrance. I knew I wanted it to look as though the kids were walking into a cafe so up went the awning and the door decor.

That's supposed to be Paul Cezanne in the open window there. Or George Costanza. Your pick.

This door actually leads to my office. I'm thinking I may have to put some sort of "Closed" sign on the door otherwise I'll have lots of friends stumbling into my messy lair.

When the kids enter my room, here's what they first see. So at least this part of the inside of my room is finished. I'm not showing you the rest...yet.

 So I'm pretty excited, I think it's finally coming together. Now, I just need to revise my rules.

If you recall, they were:

Rule #1: Find Mrs. Stephens paint brushes.

Rule #2: What? Have you found my brushes yet? Then you need to revisit Rule #1, kid.

So everything was done. Finished. Complete. And then I did it. I added a poodle.

 Here's what I'm thinking:

Rule #1: Help Mrs. Stephens off the couch.

(note to self: move couch to school.)

Rule #2: Wait, why am I up? Help Mrs. Stephens back to the couch. She was confused.

Can you tell I'm still borrowing heavily from the Gladys Presley Poodle?

...And that I'm totally on a poodle kick? Thank you, art teacher buddy, for picking up this sweet poochie for me.

In other French-related news, guess who made it to Paris!? I just got this photo, along with many others, from the sweetest young lady who agreed to take on Jes. He's traveled all over Paris. I'll share more of his adventures with you soon. In the mean time, he's packing his bags to England. The kids are going to Flip. Out.

 Thanks for dropping by, friends! Wish me and my students luck for a great day tomorrow (you might wanna throw in an extra penny at the wishing well for the kids...with me as their guide, they're gonna need it!). 

And for all of you teachers out there, my thoughts are with you. Enjoy your days with those sweet kids!

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In the Art Room: Let's Go to Paris!

Having haphazardly cleaned my art room at the end of the school year, I managed to hide all of the paintbrushes from myself. Seriously, I've no clue where they are. So this here window mural was painted in sponges, paint rollers, fingers, window paint markers and a sumi brush. 

Each year, students, their parents and faculty friends ask me the same question: "So, where are we going this year?!" I began this tradition of decorating my room around our theme of study many years ago. I'd say I do it (in my best Sally Struther's voice) for the children, but the truth of the matter is, I just love doing it. The bonus is they love it as well.

I'm so excited for them to see this year's theme: Traveling Europe. As you might have guessed, we are starting off our journey in Paris! Which is just a pinch different from where we traveled to last year...

This time last year, we were heading back in time to Ancient Egypt. I painted the windows, sponge stamped those dollar straw mats and created the batiks in the window and behind my chair. All of that's now packed away. Somewhere. Possibly with some paint brushes. 

I did learn something having lost my brushes: painting goes a whole lot quicker if you use a paint roller to block in the background. Another lesson learned: beware of paint-roller-splatter. Especially when wearing vintage, argh!

I began with a really rough sketch of how I was hoping the windows would turn out. The left bank of windows proved to be the easier side as I had a clear idea of where I was going: Eiffel Tower, some hot air balloons, a background of buildings and some flowers in the foreground. Not quite three hours later, done.

Remember I told you I was on a poodle kick?

This side proved to be a pinch more difficult. I knew I wanted a street, a bike and a poodle. I created an extremely rough sketch on my window with a washable marker and just went for it. Thankfully, I had plenty of photos from our trip to Epot and their version of Paris to help me out.

I love Epcot. There is nothing to do there but shop and eat. Which go together like hot fudge and ice cream, says moi.

Knowing that I'd be creating my room around this European theme, hubs and I went to Epcot on our trip to Disney at the very beginning of the summer. Can you spot my inspiration in these photos? Hello there, street lamp.

Another thing I love about Epcot is that they hire folks from the actual counties to work in that portion of the park. Or they manage to find people with really great accents. Either way, it's very cool.

Table for two? Oui, s'il vous plaît.

In between and above my windows are concrete blocks. Not exactly the Euro-vibe I was going for. In my search for paint brushes, I found that I had a mountain of French painting reproductions. So, I set about mounting them and creating some faux advertisement posters. I was inspired by the post of adverts I saw at Epcot...

From Epcot's Paris.

FeeFee and her suitcase, ready to travel the world.

Because my art room used to be a library, I have an enormous book shelf beside my windows. Normally I fill the shelves with treasures from the countries we are studying, but my stash of European souvenirs is pretty slim. So I scooped up this old plastic Samsonite suitcase at the thrift store and covered it with some royalty -free travel images I printed off the interweb.

Which was inspired by this display at Epcot.

My new favorite spot in the room. Now where is that waiter with my cappuccino? I hope he's not buried under paint brushes some where -- I'll never get my coffee!

So one area of my room complete! Notice I'm not sharing with you photos of the rest of the place...in my mad hunt for paintbrushes, I opened every cabinet and pulled out every drawer. It looks like a poltergeist swept through my room.

Au revoir, Jes! Do you remember our school mascot? He's traveled to Germany and the Netherlands and this week he was shipped out to France! I cannot wait to share photos of his travels with the kids.

It's such a relief to have one portion of my room complete. Now I'm just down to moving tables, prepping first week supplies and hanging up my class rules. I've already started to rewrite my rules:

Rule #1: Find Mrs. Stephens paint brushes.

Rule #2: What? Have you found my brushes yet? Then you need to revisit Rule #1, kid.

(Thanks for dropping by!...Cassie)

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