What the Art Teacher Wore #153

 Vintage Dress Love Monday: So when I found this vintage dress for next to nothing at Buffalo Exchange, I gotta admit, I squealed a wee bit. Despite the fact that I look a lil like a Pizza Hut table cloth, it has this darling pearl-bead detail on the bodice that would make any vintage-loving gal weak in the knees. It's truly a summer-y dress but with the weird warm weather we've been having, it seemed perfectly suitable for a 70 degree December day (which is unheard of in these parts, y'all!). dress: vintage; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; fishnets and tights: Target; shoes: Clarks

Ahhhhh. Do you hear that? The sound of silence. Not a child stirring in your art room. Not even a mouse...well, unless you're me. And then there might be a mouse or three. I hope this blog post finds you enjoying some well-deserved off time (or at least very near it!). I have managed to spend nearly 75% of the first day of my winter holiday in comfy pajamas mostly due to a cold and slightly due to slacker-ism. I've decided to embrace the slack and (hopefully) cast off the cold. I do hope your break finds you doing the former and not the latter (or is it the other way around? I never could keep those two straight). Regardless! Enjoy yourself, your friends and your family this holiday session. AND these incredibly tacky ensembles. Until next time!

Oh, Tacky Tuesday!: We have a lil Tacky Christmas Sweater Day tradish at my school and for the last coupla years, my kindergarten-teacherin' friend Heather (left) and second grade teacherin' pal Bethany (right) make skirts! This year we each bought a tree skirt at Big Lots for $7 and spent a couple hours one afternoon turning them into lady skirts! What you can't see is that Heather's skirt features Santa! I love that we wore matching candy-cane tights without even consulting each other...great tacky minds, y'all. on me, red dotted shirt: thrifted; dotted sweater: Old Navy, last year; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; tights: Amazon; flats: some horribly comfortable things I picked up in New Orleans

 Our snapshot of last year's skirt-making endeavors which got us a shout out on BuzzFeed (I'm actually featured here twice, y'all)! You can see more here. 

 Weird Santa Wednesday: I made this table cloth into a lady skirt last year after scoring it on ebay. What sold me on it was the delightfully creepy Santa Claus. You can find that DIY here. sweater: vintage, thrifted; tights: not sure, Marshall's or TJMaxx, maybe?

Pajama Thursday: Okay, y'all. My school has hosted many a PJ Day and I've never participated. Mostly because my previous pjs have been horrendous sweat pants and hole-y t-shirts from high school. It's not exactly the look I wanna be flaunting around, ya know? I mean, I do have a reputation to uphold. However, a quick run to Target (along with half the faculty and staff of my school, ahem) I found these lovely Nick and Nora snow globe themed numbers AND panda slippers all for 40% off. How could I resist? Of course to complete the look, I had to go all out, y'all. 

 Like, ALL out. The kids nearly died. They rarely see me in pants, let alone pjs and glasses. I slapped my eye cover on the top of my head along with a scarf. I gotta admit, I was very comfortable all day. 

 And, not surprisingly, totes unproductive. I just wanted to crawl under a table and nap! The temps have now plummeted so wearing this gem at bus duty was a must. Did I mention that I had to go to the bank, the office supply store AND the craft store afterwards? When I waltzed into the bank, you coulda heard a pin drop. I said, "Look, before you say a word, it was Pajama Day at my school. I know this is usually Walmart attire but I promise you, it was for educational reasons." 

Managed to Get a Cold for Christmas Break Friday: Our Friday's before this break are only 2 hour days. They are super fun, full of class parties and a big ole school sing-along. Sadly I felt so under the weather that I worked in the teacher work room all day (with the help of some very sweet assistants) creating what I've dubbed "art teacherin' placemats" for my room. You can view them here. cat headband: Forever21; top: DIY, here; table cloth to skirt: DIY, here; tights: amazon; cat shoes: ModCloth; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing

And, from my kitten feet and fluffy tabby, we'd like to wish you and your's a Meow-y Christmas! I'm sure to be back before the big day but in case you're not, thank you so much for reading this here blog! Your support means the world to me. 

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What the Art Teacher Wore #126 and Ghosts of Christmas Past

Christmas Tablecloth to Lady Skirt Monday: This bad boy is easily one of my fave vintage Christmas finds. Upon close inspection, I do believe it's prolly from a late 1960's DIY kit. It's all glue, felt, fringe and sequence which is simply my kinda party. sweater: vintage, thrifted; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; skirt DIY: deets here, y'all; tights: prolly Target; boots: Lucky Brand score from Marshall's

Well, hello, friends! Are you feeling as frazzled -n- fried as I am?  It's the most Wonderful(ly) Wacky time of the year, amirite?  Thankfully, there's a light at the end of the tunnel (or is that just a Christmas tree I see?) in the form of two weeks off! My apologies to those of you who don't have the luxury of sitting around in your pjs whilst eating ice cream outta the carton and catching back episodes of Project Runway for 14 consecutive dayzzz. Your mama done tole you to become an art teacha, ya shoulda listened. Now if only I can muscle my way through these last 4.25 school days and conquer that mountain known as my To-Do list, I'll be well on my way to sloth-doom. 

Now, I gotta tell ya, I'm like way behind on some blog posts. I've got a lil backlog of art projects, DIYs and Christmas-themed whut-nots to share with y'all. So, for that reason, I have decided to post everyday for the next 10 days on this here blog. That's right, you heard me. AND I plan to have a giveaway EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. Because I'm feeling all Christmas-y and giving-ish. So! Please be sure to report back here tomorrow to find out all the free-goodie goodness that I've got in store for you over the next 10 days.

Until tomorrow, here's a lil peak at some DIY's of Christmas past with linky-loo's and how-to's for your craft-astic pleasure. Hope y'all have a great week and I'll see you tomorrow!

 A coupla years back, I got on this painting-from-vintage-postcards kick. I found this sweet image on pinterest, sketched it out and painted on canvas. Every year I place it on my (rarely used) painting easel along with that house I painted (found the wooden cut out of the house at the thrift store years ago). A sweet parent gifted me the Merry Christmas sign one year and I love how it goes with everything perfectly. Says me. All the Christmas-y details here, friends. 

 Yet Another Tablecloth Gives It's Life for a Tackitastic Cause Tuesday: I shared this debatable beaut with you earlier this week. I still loved it regardless of what the holiday-haters say. By the way, do y'all like my one-legged flamingo pose? What in the world...? top: vintage, thrifted; skirt and headband: made by me, details here; shoes: Converse

 Yet another Christmas painting I copied and painted a coupla years back. I've since added a big red and white stripped bow to the top. Inspo was a vintage ad. All the snore-y details here. 

 My Kind of Christmas Colors Wednesday: I love pink and turquoise. Together. Forever. One day when I retire, I'll live in an Airstream trailer, complete with pink and turq interior and I'll pull it behind my big fat vintage pink caddy. I'm serious, y'all. That'd be livin the dream. sweater and tights: Target; big belt: Amazon; cuckoo clock dress: made by me, details here

When I finished off that cuckoo clock dress, I found I had a ton of tiny and, so I thought, useless scraps laying around. Bein' the hoarder that I am, I couldn't handle throwing 'em out. So I kept 'em thinking I'd come up with something to do with them. Which is where the idea to create ornaments with the remnants came from. 

 Light Up Dress Thursday: Oh, when created this dress a couple Christmases ago, it forever cursed me. Since it's creation, the kids are all, "yeah, your new dress is cool and all BUT DOES IT LIGHT UP?!" sweater: thrifted; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing (guess who likes belts from Pin Up Girl Clothing...?!); crinoline: Amazon; light up Christmas dress: made be me, go here; Santa shoes: visit here 

A coupla years ago, my school began what has since become our annual Tacky Christmas Sweater Day. I attacked an otherwise innocent thrifted leopard print number with (totes itchy) garland and dominated with my tackiness. View it here, friends. This year, my school is doing something a lil different. Because we are doing a Be Nice campaign at our school, we decided that teachers and students should "pay" to be tacky in the form of pet supplies that will be donated to the local animal shelter. Super nice, right? We thought so. It's this Tuesday, wish me luck!

Big Fat Christmas Skirt Friday: Whoever originally created this tree skirt sure did put in their time. It's totally embroidered and just so vintage-y sweet. Let's hope they never find out what I've done to the poor thing! vintage sweater: thrifted; tree skirt to lady skirt: here

What's a Tacky Sweater Day without being rewarded for your efforts, hmmm? Here are the rewards I created in the past. WHICH were handed out after school hours, just in care you are wondering. I've gotta dream up new ones for this Tuesday. No worries, I'll share 'em with ya. Until then, see ya tomorrow! 

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In the Art Room // What the Art Teacher Wore #83

Dress Like a Tacky Christmas Tree Monday: When I was a kid, my parents allowed me to have a mini-Christmas tree in my room to decorate as I saw fit and it was just about the tackiest thing ever. When I ran outta real ornaments, I crafted some with construction paper and copious amounts of glitter. When I tired of that, I took to filling in the gaps with stuffed animals (who never looked to thrilled to have fake pine needles stickin' 'em in the back, go figure). It was bright, shiny and totes tacky. Kinda like Monday's outfit. sweater: ebay; top, tights: Target; necklace, belt, skirt: thrifted; shoes: Anthro

Hey, guys. Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful words this past week. My sweet and caring father-in-law will be greatly missed by each and every person that had the pleasure to meet him. I have so many happy memories of him. I am keeping those at the forefront of my mind.

This post was actually written the week before last. After some time away from school, I'm excited to go back (even if it is for only 4.25 days), see the kids and attempt to pick up where we left off. I've got a couple of new routines I've been test-running in the art room that I hope to share with you later this week. Oh! And a couple DIY's up my wannabe-Anthropologie sleeve.

Until next time, squeeze your loved ones. I'll chat with you soon.

All my students, pre-K on up to 4th grade-land spent one 1/2 hour art class creating clay star ornaments. Our mission: to gift them to our parents in exchange for the gift of one dollar. The children are bringing that dollar back to the art room. Our service project this year is to help our friends in Asia (as that's the continent we are traveling this year), particularly those in the Philippines who were so badly effected by Typhoon Haiyan. What warms my heart the most about this project so far are the dollars coming in from the children themselves.

This is our third year to do a service oriented project. Our first year, we did a project very similar to Empty Bowls and donated the proceedings to a local homeless shelter. Last year, we created ceramic animals and "sold" them back to our parents with the proceeds going to a local no-kill animal shelter. This year, I wanted something quick and easy we could bust out in one class. So now my room is currently filled with these stars. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Christmas Tree Skirt Tuesday: 'kay, I might have a slight addiction to making these skirts. I finished my second this weekend and now I find myself hunting them down at the thrift stores. Somebody stop me. It's not like I don't have an Everst-sized mountain of unfinished projects to tackle. blouse: Old Navy; tree skirt to lady skirt: DIY post here; tights: Target?; shoes: thrifted, Crocs

Our awesome PE teachers have the kids skating this week. After a super brief chat about gesture drawing, I took my third and fourth grade students down to the gym armed with clipboards, newsprint, charcoal sticks (which they thought was just about the coolest thing ever after I told them that I didn't use such an art supply until college) and chamois clothes. They were to fill three pages with as many sketches as they could in the 15 minutes that they had.

My Favorite Christmas Colors Wednesday: These colors remind of me of 1950's kind of Christmas decor which would be my fave on the planet. In fact, I'm so excited that this year I have out the aluminum tree (with a rotating color wheel light!) my mom bought for me last Christmas. Which is kinda funny cuz she just called me yesterday to tell me she bought me another of those trees with another rotating light. Looks like my mom is a hoarder enabler. Which is why I love her so. cuckoo clock dress: DIY dress here; sweater and tights: Target

Most of the kids really took to the gesture drawing. However, some of my more detail-oriented drawers (which is me) were stumped. They simply stared at the skaters zipping by in complete confusion as to how they were to make a "good" drawing. I reminded them that we were simply to show movement in our drawings and that was all. And to stop thinking so hard and just draw. Draw, draw and draw. Some had the bright idea to sketch the legs of one skater and after they zipped by, add the torso of another and the arms of yet another. This gave them a little of a montage sketch but at least is solved the problem of just having floating body parts.

Candy Stripes Thursday: Now I admit I have entirely too much clothing (seriously, I get asked a lot about my closet..it's time for a post!). But one way I've found to make my dresses work summer and winter duty is to simply place a sweater over 'em. This is a sleeveless summer dress that I topped with a thrifted sweater. sweater and shoe clips: vintage, thrifted; dress: European vacation score; tights: Target?; boots: Lucky Brand, found at Marshall's; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing

Once the got the hang of it, they were on a roll...pun intended. And I could tell they enjoyed it. In fact, one of the fourth graders said, "Mrs. Stephens, we never leave the art room!" I could tell just doing something a little different felt like an adventure...which is what art is always supposed to feel like, right?

Feelin' Mad Men-esque Friday: The weather here has been completely bonkers. One day, I swear it was 75 degrees and the next 30! I basically lived in this poncho on Friday which isn't an easy thing to do as I felt like I had bat wings all day. Which I kinda do and totally need to bust out my Jane Fonda tapes. Cuz, yes, I have them and yes, I still have a VCR. I'm retro, ya'll. poncho and dress: vintage, thrifted; tights: Target; shoes: Dolls by Nina

Stay tuned to what becomes of our sketches. I'm pretty excited to share the progress with you!

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