What the Art Teacher Wore #170

Most Wonderful Time of the Year Monday: Y'all know I am the proud owner of just a coupla outfits, right? Well, when it comes to Christmas, I have to clear out a portion of my closet just to make room for all of my holiday-wears. I ain't proud...I'm just sayin'. sweater: DIY, made by me many moons ago; scarf, skirt and blouse: vintage, thrifted; boots: Frye, paint splatters accidental; tights: Target; belt: Pinup Girl Clothing

Well, hey there, hot stuff! Long time, no What the Art Teacher Wore. Like, seriously, long time. In fact, I just checked, the last one was mid-August right before school was really rollin' and I lost all control of my time. Things are always the craziest this time of year and, lately, I have been really feeling it. So much so that Monday I had the pleasure of experiencing my first panic attack...at least I think that is what that overwhelming sense of stress, ear-ringing and quickness of breath was indicating. In an effort to slow things down a pinch, I delivered my first "no" this week to an art teacherin' bunch I wouldn't normally say that to. However, my state of mind couldn't handle the thought of one more thing on my plate. So even though I hated to say "no"...I really did feel much better afterwards.

But boo! We're not hear to listen to me moan and groan! I decided to bring back What the Art Teacher Wore this month because, well, I do love to dress Christmas-y. Halloween and Christmas are my fave times of year and my wardrobe would most certainly agree. I cleared out a large portion of my closet recently to make room for all of my holiday clothes. If you follow me here, you've seen several of these snaps already. I thought I'd also share what's goin' down in the art room this week, the most exciting being Esmerelda the Elf! Anyone else have an Elf in their art room? Y'all, it has been so much fun and really sparked the kids' imaginations. 

I hope y'all have a fabulous week! 

 Second grade weaving is one of my favorite projects! The kids love it and now that these are all warped, they are really gonna love the weaving process. We are ready to roll next week! If you've never done this project with your students, it's perfect for those in second grade and up. You can see the lesson on that here (great visuals to print out and provide your students) and video tutorial here. 

Rockin' and Rollin' Tuesday: Next week, we have our musical performance/art show/book fair because at our school, we are all about DOIN' EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE! I'm so excited, our kids our so stinkin' talented. sweater and tights: Target; skirt: DIY, more here; blouse, scarf and pin: thrifted

 When I see my third graders, I see two classes at once for an hour. This particular group is ahead of the rest so to slow them down a pinch, I decided to have them work on a new mural to be featured outside of the art room: a James Rizzi-inspired funky town! I can't wait to see these funny buildings lining the halls to the art room. More details on this lesson soon. 

Merry Kitschmas! Wednesday: So I've been weeding out my closet and I'm slowly saying goodbye to clothing that is not vintage or made by me. What I'm left with are some fun outfits that make me so happy to wear like this plaid dress in Christmas colors I picked up in a resale shop. dress: vintage

 Last year, my sweet kindergarten teacher friend Heather had an Elf on a Shelf and I thought it looked like so much fun. Lo and behold, wouldn't you know that on Wednesday, December 1st a wee little door appeared outside my art room. Upon entering, the kids and I discovered that an Elf had strung yarn all over the entrance of my art room! We had to do the limbo just to get around the strings (because touching it might chance Esmerelda losing her powers!). The kids are IN LOVE with this little art room elf of ours. Our elf is considered to be magical (much like fairies) and doesn't just celebrate one winter holiday but many! I've hesitated in mentioning that she's watching for good behavior after one first grade class refused to take their eyes off her! "She's watching us, guys! I just saw her blink!"

Tree Skirt to Lady Skirt Thursday: Every year for the last several, I've managed to make a tree skirt into a lady skirt. It's like my fave thing ever. I'm on the hunt for this year's skirt! tights: Amazon; shoes: Converse, Marshall's years ago; top and suspenders: thrifted; skirt: made by me! See my tree skirts here, here, here and here!

 Not even gonna lie, I'm a little jelly of all the attention that Esmerelda is getting: notes, gifts and drawings. Like whut?! How this wee elf more popular than me? 

Trees from the Ceiling Friday: Obviously Esmerelda doesn't care about fire codes (ahem) -- look at those trees she hung from the ceiling! We talked about the celebrations that happen during winter all of the world after 'Melda reminded us of several with her message. I'm loving having this Elf, y'all! Love to hear if you have an Elf in your room as well. tacky sweater: made by me, more here; dress: made by me, deets here; boots: Frye

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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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DIY: Another Christmas Tree Skirt to Lady Skirt

Well, well, would you lookie here. Yet another tree skirt gone lady skirt in the hands of one tasteless gal. If I didn't obviously have a problem, I'd kinda feel sorry for the naked -n- skirt-less Christmas trees in my house. I mean, would you look at that poor tree behind me with it's wad of velour dumped at the base? Once upon a time, it had a lovely tree skirt -- oh, who am I kidding, it never had the chance of getting a tree skirt! Especially not a super cute faux fur Santa-stunt double of a skirt like this one. I mean, c'mon. It was just begging to be a lady skirt. 

I scored this gem a month ago whilst out thrifting with my moms-in-law. Who, bless her, even after all these years, is still a little taken aback by my tackiness. When I excitedly showed her my find, she was all, "That's cute." And when I proceeded to tell her that it's fate was to become a lady skirt was like, "Um, you're kidding. Right?" 

Like, no. Totes not kidding. I kinda fancy myself the Scarlett O'Hara of tree skirts. What she did with those drapes was simply amazingness...

Although, if we're being honest, my ensembles look a lil more like this...

Anybody else grow up watching Carol Burnett and loving every minute of it? 

Now this lil lovely only set me back $1.99. The only problem was that someone else really took to it thus making it difficult to start any sooner. C'mon, kitty! That's my tree skirt! 

 By the way, this was a breath away from being our Christmas card this year. That is until I dropped the ball and didn't make one at all. But if I had...

My apologies. We are working on our kitty-cat manners. Ahem.

 Now I can totally see why kitty-bear didn't wanna give the skirt up. It's so snuggly and soft, kinda like having a wreath of teddy bears wrapped around your hips (hey, there's an idea!). The only prob was that the fur made it impossible to install a zipper due to it's thickness. Fortunately, there was velcro on the back. Unfortunately, velcro is not so secure. To those patrons at the local coffee shop that mighta seen more of me than they had bargained for (a little candy-striped booty with that latte?) my sincerest sorry, not sorry. You know you liked it.

[If you are new to this blog, welcome!. My name is Cassie and I have a slight tree skirt obsession. Please visit Exhibit A, B and C if you don't believe me. Thank you.]

 And now for today's giveaway! How about a Vintage Christmas Craft Book, y'all!

Each page looks like this. Wonderment, amiright? Here's how you can enter to win:

1. If you haven't had a chance to "follow" this blog either on bloglovin or by clicking the icon on the right of your computer screen, please do. I'd totally appreciate it, y'all. 

2. Leave me your email in the comments (so I can let you know if you won!). AND tell me what you want for Christmas! I'm hoping Santa brings me a phone that's not from 2004. But I've not been very good this year, so, there's that. Can't wait to hear from you!

As for yesterday's winner that would be...Marsha Silver! Congrats, friend! 

By the way, so sorry for the super late post. After a hectic day at school, the hubs and I hopped in the car and drove 3 hours to Gatlinburg, Tennessee! We're here for a couple days of hiking and, well, more hiking. So tomorrow's post will prolly be just as late as this one. Regardless, I'll see you tomorrow with the winner and another round of giveaway goodness! 

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