What the Art Teacher Wore #10

Swing Your Partner Monday: I love my Mondays. Seriously. It is a slightly lighter day as far as my schedule goes and it just makes coming back to work at the end of the the weekend very pleasant. It also helps that I love my job! shirt: Paris Market Vintage in Orlando; skirt: vintage, thrifted; tights: Target; boots: Seychelle's

Well, hello there! It's just...me. Sorry, this week you only get to see what ridiculous ensembles I threw together as Lauren has kinda sorta moved on. And I've missed her so! Thankfully the room hasn't been too terribly quiet as I've had an army of amazing parents in my room all week. You see, my school was awarded a grant to participate in a fundraiser that will help feed the hungry. The deal is that my students are to create a clay masterpiece that, on the night of the art show, will be exchanged for canned goods. All canned goods will then be distributed to those in need throughout our community. 

The difficult task is helping twenty children successfully complete a clay sculpture in under half an hour. That's where these amazing moms and dads step in. They've helped clean, prep and assist any little artist in need. I honestly couldn't do it without them. So, if you're out there, thank you, parents! And any parent that helps in anyway at your child's school, know that you are truly appreciated.

I Don't Always Shop at Anthropologie, But When I Do, It's from the Sales Rack: cardigan and dress: anthropologie; shoes: vintage, thrifted; belt: Pinkyotto

Thrifty Wednesday: Everything I'm wearing was a thrift-store-score: sweater: Free People, thrifted; dress: Ann Taylor, thrifted; shoes: Dolls by Nina; tights: fishnets and gold tights from Target

Springy Thursday: I almost bought a knock-off vintage dress in this style at Anthropologie. So glad I didn't when I found this one at a vintage shop in San Francisco. dress: vintage; tights: Target: shoes: vintage, thrifted

Finally Feelin' It Friday: I admit, I'm officially tired! Notice the random artworks strewn across my floor and it's not even 8am! sweater: thrifted; dress: BCBG

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DIY: Glitter & Leopard Print

I have settled upon a new life mantra: All things are better covered in leopard print and pink glitter. It's true. I sprinkled some glitter on the dirty dishes in the sink and, for once, they sparkled! I'm heading to the bathroom with my gallon o' glitter next.

Well, hello there! If you are reading this here blog on Valentine's Day, I thank you! It means you are not unlike this girl. I love the decorations, the candy, the flowers (I hear people give flowers on this day...is that true? Would you mind letting my husband know?) but I think the whole idea is kinda silly. We all know it's just a big fat hairy way for Hallmark to make a couple extra bucks. But I'll take any ole excuse to get tacky and girly, thank you very much.

You don't have to say it. I know what you're thinking: daaaaang does that girl have big feets! Yes, I do. Thanks for noticing. Jerk.

 I began with these shoes. I've had these thrifted Nine West shoes in my closet for a couple of years and, while I love the wing-tipped retro look, I could never seem to find a way to make them work. The weird silly-putty tan just never appealed to me. So in my closet they sat.

The idea for covering the shoe in fabric came from this fab website: http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Until this weekend. I took a little trip to the craft store and picked up some hot pink glitter dust, an Exacto knife, Modge Podge (for whom I should totally be an endorser) and Aleene's Tacky Glue. I painted the glue on to the shoe and covered it in some leopard print from my stash.

Silly Putty Tan, goodbye. Me-Yeow, Leopard Print!

 After the glued dried, I used an Exacto knife to cut off the excess fabric. I was really nervous about this as I thought it might be tricky, but it was a piece of cake. To prevent the fabric from fraying, I used a little brush and scrubbed some matte Modge Podge along the edge of the fabric. The extra fabric along the top was trimmed down, folded under and Modge-Podged. See, I even verbified their product name. I should so totally be an endorser!

Not all glitter is created equally. You must use glitter dust for this. Now I feel just like Edward, sparkling in the sunlight...

 Next came the glitterization of the shoes. In a small throw-away dish, I mixed a small amount of glossy Modge Podge with a ton of glitter. I painted a thick coat of said concoction onto the shoes. Once that was dry, I sealed it again with another coat of Modge Podge.

What's better than glitter shoes? Why, glitter fishnets, of course!

 And my shoes were complete! When I was making them, I actually thought I should stop after just covering them in leopard print. "Show a little restraint for once, Cassie. For the sake of all things non-tacky and civilized." Ha! Thankfully that was just a fleeting thought. Me, civilized? I don't think so.

My completed Valentine's Day look.

After completing the shoes I realized I had no other plans for my Valentine's Day outfit. So yesterday, Lauren (the cute girl you see featured in the weekly outfit posts) and I went to Goodwill after school in search of Valentine's Day attire. She spotted this leopard print skirt. What luck! And then I started noticing a ton of leopard print and I said, "Oh...maybe this is too in style right now...?" I pride myself on being very out-of-style, you see. However, as soon as I said those words, I realized my silliness: I was shopping at the place where people sent their unwanted wares! Whew! No worries, I'm wearing the most unwanted of clothing. Perfect!

Oh those bangs. Some days they just look so Squiggy (of Lenny and Squiggy fame...you Laverne and Shirley fans know what I'm talking about). And that crooked collar/bib. Oui.

The collar is one I made based off of the same idea I used for this outfit post...http://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-to-dress-like-kindergartener.html 
I happened to have a bit of pink glitter leftover from my shoes. So I cut out some cardboard hearts, glittered them and glued them to a barrette. And, viola! Happy Valentine's Day all. Now, if you'll pardon me, hubs just walked in with a ton of chocolates and trashy magazines. Oh, forget those flowers. This man knows me too well!

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What the Art Teacher Wore #5

Hands-On-Hips = Don't-Mess-With-Me Monday: You know you're getting a little heavy handed with the cat-eye eye-liner when one of your students says, "Are you wearing your King Tut makeup today?" (click here to see me as Tut: http://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2012/02/walk-like-egyptian.html ) sweater and dress: thrifted; belt: gift from a friend; fishnets over mustard tights: Target; long-lost shoes: Sofft

Hey kids! It was a good week in Art Teacher Land. Weeks ago I lost a bag full of my favorite things: the shoes I'm wearing in the photo above, my gallon can of Big Sexy Hair hairspray and my makeup bag full of lipsticks. I'd given them up as gone-for-good when I just happened to be in our school's communal kitchen when what do I see? My bag o' stuff! I couldn't believe my luck...then I couldn't believe no one returned the bag to me. I mean, I know it didn't have my name on it or anything but who else in the school wears a honkin' size 10 in Funky Shoes, requires a jug of hairspray to maintain bumpit perfection and would have that many lipsticks?! Oh well. I'm just glad it's all back in the right hands. 

In other news, here's what Lauren and I wore this week. Check out her handmade belt and splatter paint shirt. Adorable! Enjoy your weekend, all.

Student Teacher Lauren perfecting her Hands-On-Hips look: she told me that she gets most of her cute clothes from Target. I love how she puts things together, don't you? Her color combos are very clever. Mint green and deep purple? Yes please and thank you!

Soldier of Love and Killer Boots Tuesday: And by killer, I mean they just about killed me. tights: Marshall's; boots: Buffalo Exchange; belt: made by me; dress: thrifted, altered by me...you can read more about that alteration here: http://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2012/02/soldier-of-love.html

Could-She-Get-Any-Cuter Tuesday: Not only is Lauren modeling an adorable dress on loan from her sis but she's also wearing lipstick she was gifted from a student! We were both given tubes of red lipstick this week...so nice to have miniature stylists.

Evaluation Wednesday: My big day...I was being observed to make sure that I was actually educating children and not just letting them huff sharpies and roll around in finger paint. Thankfully the kids were their usual awesome selves and all went swimmingly. sweater: thrifted...it has the sweetest label inside that says "Made With Love by Ester"; dress: BCBG, a rare new-item purchase; tights: Target; shoes: John Fluevog

Look at that bow belt! Aren't you in love? Lauren whipped it up that morning with sweet little train fabric she thrifted in Holland. Gah!

Crayon Shoes Thursday: All week one of my kindergarteners asked me if I'd wear my crayon shoes on her art day. So I got all crayola-ified from head to toe only to have her say upon walking in, "No, I said I wanted you to wear your pencil shoes!" shirt and sweater: Gap and Ann Taylor, thrifted; skirt: etsy; tights: Target; shoes and crayon hair clip: made by me

Look at that shirt! Lauren made it the night before using the secondary colors so that it would aid in the color lesson she's doing with the third graders. Genius.

It's Friday, Let's do an Irish jig: When all else fails, just pose like The Lord of the Dance. dress and belt: made by me with the help of a very good friend, blogged about a couple of years ago here: http://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post.html; red fishnets over blue tights: Target; shoes; Dolls by Nina

Lauren can rock a pencil shirt. She said she snagged this one at Target. And her shirt was made by her boyfriend. Happy Friday from the Art Room!

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DIY: Soldier of Love

Don't ask me what this pose is all about. I look like some sort of deodorant commercial. And this was one of the better pics in the batch. Oui.

This weekend I was struck by the sewing bug and decided to create another Valentine's Day themed dress. I like to call this little number Soldier of Love inspired both by the little guys at the bottom of my dress and these lyrics by the Beatles song of the same name:

Lay down your arms (.....soldier of love)

and surrender to me. (sha la la)
Lay down your arms (.....soldier of love)
and love me peacefully, (sha la la) yeah (sha la la).
Use your arms for loving me,
baby that's the way it's got to be. (Ooooooo)

Sorry for the linty-lo on my shoulder. These little hearts were the recipients of many a curse word as appliqueing them on was a real...well...female dog. The little bits of white showing through drive me nuts. Where's a red sharpie when you need it?

For the creation of this dress, I started with the hearts. My original idea was for the hearts to be embroidered in the same way you see the stripes in the above hearts. But the embroidery didn't work out as planned and my threads looked saggy and weird. And nobody likes saggy and weird or Rosanne Barr would be back in popularity. So, I ripped out all that work and tried a little something different.

Outfit details: dress: Goodwill; belt: one made by me; boots: Buffalo Exchange; jacket: Anthropologie, gift from a friend; tights: dunno.

I cut out two squares of the striped fabric and sewed them right sides together with a diagonal line that went from one corner of the square to the other. I cut off one half of the diagonal square and cut a heart shape out of the other half. That was then pressed open and appliqued onto the dress. That last part proving to be a real female dog but at least it was no longer Rosanne Barr, if you catch my drift.

Showing off my crazy fishnets. When I put them on, a toe popped out of each hole. I knew I wouldn't be able to do that all day so I'm actually wearing a pair of thin socks under my 'nets. And those boots...ack! I was fine until the last hour of the day. Then I wanted to cut my feets off.

I have had this adorable late 1960's curtain fabric for ages. Using a curtain to create a new version of this dress made me feel very Scarlet O'Hara but without the yards of green velvet and the hot dude who didn't give a damn. After taking 9" off the bottom of the dress, I hemmed the bottom of the curtain, sewed it into a giant hoop of fabric that was the same circumference as the bottom of the dress and sewed the two together.That part proved to be pretty painless.

The back of the dress had buttons that were the same khaki color of the dress. They were kinda lame so I picked up some of those make-em-yourself buttons at JoAnn's. I covered these buttons in the same fabric as the hearts.

Just a little close up of the buttons. And my wrinkly backside. Wait, that doesn't sound right. You know what I mean.

El Fin!

So, it was an easy DIY. It got mixed reviews today as some thought the soldiers a little weird but I love the little dudes. So much so I tried to make big hair to match their big hats. Chat with you soonish!

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DIY: How to Dress Like a Kindergartener

Warning: This blog post is full of the World's Most Annoying Photos. But I have excuses! I have a head cold; it's really early in the morning; I'm all jacked-up on herbal tea and sudafed. AND I was born this annoying. So, what can you do?

Hey! Look! It's a thirty-something dressed like an over-grown 6 year old! Listen, folks, I'm just trying to keep it real for the under 10 set, 'kay? Thankfully, I teach the littles. Can you imagine what middle school kids would have to say about my look? I shudder to think.

 Okay, I know I look like I've been put in the corner (which if my parents had done more often, I'd probably be a much better person), but I'm just trying to give you a view of the heart in my dress. And my giant slinky-esque hair.

The idea for this dress came to me on my recent visit to San Francisco. I found this most incredible creme-colored dress with a heart cut out of the back. Despite the despicable number 4 size, I was determined to try it on. And. Get. It. Zipppppped! After which I couldn't breath nor feel my fingertips. Right before I passed out from lack of oxygen, I managed to break free of the dress and return the ugly ole rag to it's rusty wire hanger. I didn't really like it that much anyway. 

But who am I kidding? It was one of those dresses that haunts you. It comes to you in your sleep and whispers in your ear, "celery and water for the next thirty days and we could be together!" Hmmm...

"A grapefruit and a couple of prunes a day for a couple of weeks and I'll be all yours!" Well...that doesn't sound too bad...

"Give up chocolate for a week and that zipper will glide over your ---"

Wait, what?

Did that dress just say "give up chocolate"?! Ho, no. That ain't even in my realm of possibilities. Sorry, dress. But that's where I draw the line.

Sorry for the grainy photo...just trying to give you a closer look. I told you my hair looks like a slinky! Wiggles like one too.

So I decided to make my own version. With this sad little plaid jumper I'd picked up a Goodwill ages ago and worn just once. I had always liked it for it's vintage-y Catholic-school-girl jumper look but it was really long. Like, down to my mid-calf long. It made me feel as though I'd been swallowed up by some giant kilt. It seemed the perfect blank canvas for my dress-terpiece.

I was seriously nervous about cutting the heart out of the back but it turned out to be the easiest part. I used a paper template, cut around it, notched the heart, tucked and ironed it under, sewed around the heart and I was done. Seriously. That simple.

Another grainy number. Sorry.

And I had thought the pocket would be the easy part. Ha! Silly me. I tried to create the pocket the same way I had the opening in the back. Cut out a too-big heart, cut notches, tuck notches under and sew.  But the velvet proved to be too flimsy and my heart looked lumpy and weird.

Plan B proved to work much better. I cut out the heart in velvet, mustard yellow linen and some slightly stiff backing. I sandwiched the backing in between the two fabrics and did a tight zigzag stitch around it. Which, by the way, all sewing machines have. My ole Kenmore had this same function. From there, I sewed the pocket onto the dress.

Could I be anymore annoyingly excited? I warned you.

I also took up that hem several inches. I used the excess plaid fabric as a bow for my hair. Kinda hard to see as it blends in with my 'do. I also made the belt. I'm rather matchy-match like that.

My Peter Pan collar which was referred to thrice as a bib. Yeah...not exactly what I had in mind but whatever.

I created the Peter Pan collar after seeing a similar idea here: http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com. The tutorial there used leather for the collar but I decided to use my mustard colored linen again. Just like the pocket, I sandwiched a piece of backing in between two pieces of mustard fabric and zigzag stitched around the edges. I stitched very small button holes at the top and bottom of the collar to feed the ribbon through. Once I had the ribbon at the right length, I cut it and waved a lighter under it to seal the ribbon and keep it from fraying.

My finished kindergarten look. The best part about this dress? The always-forgiving elastic waist band. Which means I can eat as much chocolate as I like. Take that, Size 4.

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What the Art Teacher Wore #3

Running on Fumes Monday: Oui. I had just arrived home from San Francisco a mere 6 hours before the school day began, hence the hair. dress: vintage, picked up in S.F. on Haight Street ; sweater: a Lily Pulitzer find at Goodwill; shoes: my ancient John Fluevog shoes. I was so thrilled to visit one of his stores in S.F. and scoop up a new pair!

Just a little peak at what I wore to work this week. I'm so glad the weekend is here. I've been on the move traveling every weekend for what seems like a month. And while I have loved every minute of it, I'm truly a homebody. I am looking forward to sleeping in, catching up on some craftasticness (almost done some Valentines-y decor I'll share with you soon) and being with hubs and kitty. Hope you have fun doing what you enjoy the best!

Bustin' Loose Tuesday: I love this dress. I got it on the cheap because it had some holes which I thought I had mended the night before. When I arrived at school, I noticed a small one near my underarm (anyone else hate the word "arm pit"?). By the end of the school day, the lil hole had grown to a new neck hole. Thankfully, I keep my sewing machine at school so I was able to do a little mending in my office. dress: The Cactus Flower, Bloomington; belt: made by me, available in my shop; shoes: anthropologie; headband: made by Jen of Peachy Tuesday

Headband close-up. I loved it so much I based Tuesday's outfit around it! These headbands are so comfortable and unique, I am constantly getting stopped and asked about them. You must check out Jen's sweet etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PeachyTuesday

Amazon Art Teacher from the Black Lagoon Wednesday: I didn't think about it, but with the hair and the heels, I probably reach 6' hence the "yer so tall" comments. necklace and tights: Target; sweater: a Goodwill find from my college days; belt: gift from a friend; shoes: Opposites Attract; dress: my favorite vintage shop in Orlando, Paris Market. Check them out here: http://www.shopparismarket.com/

Close up of my belt buckle. It reminded the kids of Narnia.

Red Hot Thursday: I was informed by one of my second grader girls that I needed to start wearing Red Hot Lipstick. When I asked why, she said, "It will make your face look fashion-y." Er-kay. I'll have to give it a shot. sweater and skirt: Goodwill; tights and black shirt: Target; shoes: Dolls by Nina

Is that you, Friday? It's me, Almost Insane: sweater: Goodwill; dress: vintage find from Orange, CA; belt: from my belt-gifting friend; boots: Seychelles; tights: lovely tights shop on etsy found here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TejaJamilla

Whoooooo's glad it's the weekend?

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