In the Art Room: Elf on a Shelf

Every since the ole Elf on the Shelf hit the market, I wanted one in my art room. I love the idea of bringing magic into my kids' lives even if they don't celebrate the holidays...we can all believe in magic, right? I never really knew just how I would make it happen and I really didn't wanna splurge on that expensive book/doll set I'd seen at the big box stores. But this Thanksgiving, when I was at Michael's, I saw they had a colorful elf (and a wee elf door!) for 70% off and I scooped it up. I have a habit of over-thinking things and then not following through. With this elf, I really had no idea what I was going to do, how the kids were going to respond but just decided to go for it. Y'all...I'm so glad I did! 

Every since the first day Esmerelda appeared (by yarn bombing the entrance of my art room, making all of my classes crawl under the mess), the kids have been super stoked. They stop me every day to ask what she's been up to, they peak in my room at every chance, they leave notes and drawings for her outside of her door. I teach kindergarten through fourth grade and EVERY child is all in with this elf. I've never seen anything like it.

However, there are always the nay-sayers. Last week, when a third grade student claimed he didn't believe, another child spoke up. "You should set up a security camera, Mrs. Stephens. That would prove that she's real."

At first I scoffed at the idea. I ain't got time for that! When I shared the conversation with my husband, he was like, "No. You HAVE to do it!" We chatted about the scenario and even what music should accompany the video. I filmed and edited last night and I'm excited to share a preview with y'all. Here you go!

I cannot wait until Monday to share this with the kids. I really think they are gonna freak! My plan is to hide paper elves all over the art room and allow my best behaved tables to go on the hunt (it's THAT time of year where we need a little extra incentive to make good choices). Only a few of the elves will have a green hat which will get the kids a special surprise from Esmerelda. Oh, y'all. It's gonna be a fun week!

 One reason I'd never done an elf before was because I wasn't sure how to do it and if I'd have the time. Let's face it, this is the busiest time of the year. Here's how I do it: every morning, I come in and slap together the most insane mishap in less than 5 minutes as that's all the time I have. I do something different everyday because the kids ask EVERY DAY what she's been up to. Not only that but I do see some classes from one day to the next. 

The best part of having an elf is that you can be messy! I'm leaving up her holiday decor as I feel it embodies my life right now. 

 An incentive for a kindergarten class? If you behave, Esmerelda will let you have one of her special snowballs. 

I'll keep you posted on Esmerelda and her adventures! Stay tuned to the reaction to the video, that should be super fun. Love to hear if you have an elf on the shelf or any other magic happening in your art room!

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In the Art Room: Faux Stained Glass Winter Scene

I don't know what y'all call that time between Thanksgiving and winter break but I have been known to call it a naughty name or two. It's that weird in-between time where we are all comin' down from our vacation high and are so exhausted that we need another one. And just knowing that winter break is on the horizon can sometimes just be more than I (and the kids!) can handle. 

This week, so far, back to art teacherin' town has been a good one. I'm happy to be back making big messes with little people. One project that seems to have the fourth grade really excited is this Faux Stained Glass Winter Scene.

 I used black glue for the very first time in my teaching career last month and I (as well as the third graders) was all WHERE HAS THIS BEEN MY ENTIRE LIFE?! It is so much fun to create with! While they were working with it, I got the idea to introduce my fourth graders to the same media. With my Field Trip! series, I've been introducing the kids to contemporary creatives. Unfortunately, I don't personally know any local stained glass artists to film (any leads would be much appreciated!) so I created this introduction to the art of stained glass with a little iMovie wizardry. The fourth grade watched the first half of the video today and got a good start on their faux stained glass. 

The kids were SUPER bummed when I said that we weren't going to work with cut glass (really guys?!) but were excited when I mentioned black glue. I had them move to their seats and silent sketch several ideas for 5-7 minutes.

I really emphasized not creating a Christmas tree knowing that this project just might not be completed until after the holidays. However, I didn't want to limit the kids so I made it optional. Personally, I love that skull tree on the left! 

After our sketch time was up, we regrouped on the floor and watched the part of the video where I talk about drawing on large paper and using the puffy paint or black glue.

Puffy paint leaves a better, crisper line but it does take a little extra work to squeeze that bottle. The black glue (made with one part black tempra and two parts Elmer's Glue All) comes out faster but leaves behind a wider, flatter line. I shared with the kids the pros and cons and let them decide which they wanted to use. 

All but a handful of kids got to the black glue on the first day. I did change the size of the paper from what was in the video as I thought a 12" X 18" would be easier to manage. 

 One thing I had to really emphasize was keeping the drawing large. Showing that clip of the stained glass artist really did help them conceptualize the idea of large and enclosed shapes. 

 Of course, it wouldn't be black glue painting if we didn't have the occasional smearing. We learned to just let it go. The chalk can hide any imperfections. 

Gotta love a tree of Hershey Kisses! I'll keep you posted on the progress of this project. I see so many variations: landscapes, abstract designs, etc. I'd love to know if you have used this method. If you do, please drop me a line and share. 

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In the Art Room: A Winter Mural Collaborative

So this story of Winter Mural Collaborativity begins with a simple request from my amazing music teacherin' friend: to create a piece for the winter program. The making of this beast involved multiple grade levels with one incident of two classes working simultaneously and another where third grade created alongside kindergarten "buddies". Confused yet? Not as much as my art teacherin' friend Jennifer's daughter was when she popped by for a visit. "I just don't understand why this is on the floor!" Girl. At well over eight yards in length, it was the only place I had for it!

But at least that meant there was plenty of room to spread out and paint!

So just how did the kids create this masterpiece of monstrous proportions? 

 Like, I mean, mammothly monstrous. 

It started when two of my second grade teacher buddies both had to be out for an hour. I offered to take their classes which they thought to be super gracious...what they didn't know was that I was gonna put their kids to work. We called it a Painting Party! The kids were to go to their usual seats but, because of lack of chairs, were told not to sit. They'd need to stand to reach the entire paper anyway! A pattern was started on their large bulletin papers by me and their goal was to finish the patterns. Once complete, I'd pull their paper off their table, ask them what color paper they'd like to tackle next and what they thought they'd like their winter-y pattern to be. After an hour, we had a dozen large painted sheets of paper. My music teacher buddy Kiera and I assembled the papers to create the landscape the day before Thanksgiving break. I even put that girl on painting duty, she outlined all of the hills! Sadly, no photos were snapped...but you can see a very similar process in this mural creation and this one! 

On our half day before break, I arranged for a kindergarten class to come at the same time as a third grade one. I did this mostly because my poor kindergarten kids have fallen a pinch behind due to scheduling. I thought it would be a fun way to catch them up. Little did I know just how much the third graders would LOVE working with their "little buddies!"

Once all of my kinder and third graders were seated, I gave them the basics on building a house. Pick out two squares, cut one into a triangle, glue as the roof. Decorate. Add details. DONE. For my third grade kids, this was a larger version of the houses they created for the Houses to Help. 

By the end of the thirty minutes, we had a stack of these colorful beauties. 

When I told the kids that class was over, the third graders seriously said, AW! and hugged their sweet little friends good-bye. It was the cutest thing ever and I can't wait to do something like that again!

 On Monday of this week, back from break, I laid the mural out and had some second graders go to town painting some trees. It was a fun review of value (dif greens), shape (of the trees), texture (of the branches) and space (painting different sizes of trees). AND collaboration!

Did I mention we played the music program songs the entire time? We got our practicin' in, y'all!

 Love them trees!

NOT TO MENTION, the program was fabulous! Special thanks to Kiera for the awesome program (and mad painting skillz), my P.E. teacherin' buddies for helping me hang that masterpiece...and the young artists that made it all possible! 

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In the Art Room: Winter Mixed Media Masterpieces!

Brace yourselves, y'all. Wintertime is here and it's been non-stop winter-y projects up in my art room. Which can only mean one thingie: this here blog is about to be all sorts of frosty, freezy and fun projects galore! So many, in fact, that I'll be posting a couple each week so be sure to pop back by. The good news is these projects are Winter-y not holiday-y (my school is a melting pot so just focusing on one holiday isn't fair to all) so that means you can create these masterpieces until the snow melts and the flowers bloom! 

This was a quick and simple project that one of my second grade classes knocked out. They somehow managed to be ahead of the rest of my classes (doncha love when that happens) and I needed a lesson that would reinforce what we've been learning, introduce a coupla new techniques and only take the kids two thirty-minute classes. I created a couple of videos for you to either show in your art room or simply view on your own and share in your own art teacherin' way. I hope you find them helpful! You can always subscribe to my youtube channel for more videos like this one. 

For this project, our first order of biznatch was creating th background. The kids had previously worked with watercolor and splatter technique so they are pretty much pros at this point. 

In this video, you can see how I walked them thru creating with oil pastels, thinking about what makes an interesting composition, using the elements of art and both oil resist and wet-on-wet techniques. 

After our chat which I try to keep super short, the kids had just enough time to bust out the likes of these bad boys. 

I am learning that not all oil pastels are created equally. I've not ordered new ones this year (we are currently down to the numbs) but I'm learning toward ordering more Gallery brand pastels. I especially love the fluorescent ones, they are just so bright! 

Once complete, these are placed on the drying rack until the following thirty minute class. 

During the following class, the kids use white scratch paper to draw their birds. The kids are getting older now and no longer need me to direct them in drawing. However, some do like me to walk them through how to "read" the how-to-draw books which usually just entails a couple of reminders to break the objects down into lines and shapes. I also tell the kids that if they are feeling stuck or frustrated, to practice on a dry erase board until they feel they are comfortable enough to tackle their paper. 

I found a variety of how-to-draw birds and cardinal online and made several copies for the kids to get ideas from. As an artist, I always like to have a reference and I know many of my students do as well. I leave 'em as an option for the kids. 

Once the birds are drawn, the kids cut them out and commence gluing them in place. 

Because we created these right before heading in to Thanksgiving break, we worked hard to complete these in those two short art classes. Usually our projects take a bit longer...so this was a fun and fast alternative. 

Once complete, the kids use a Sharpie to sign their name so they can be hung in the hall for all to enjoy and for the artist to be recognized. There's just something so sweet about seeing a child's handwriting on their art. I always emphasis neat handwriting and placement. Artists always sign at either the top or the bottom...NOT THE MIDDLE (because, ya know, it's happened).

Once complete, we pop each one of these up on the T.V. via the document camera. We always cheer for the artist and pay them a compliment for their hard work. I love seeing the kids beam when we do this, it truly makes the "job" of teaching art worth while, y'all!

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In the Art Room: 4th Grade Snowflakes

So this lil repousse snowflake by my fourth graders just might be the fastest art project we bust out this year. Not that I'm bragging. I do believe those canvases coulda used a lil more work. However, I needed something short, simple and fun after our super long Mexican Sun/Moon weavings and this did the trick nicely. 

Just like this third grade paper cutting project, we discussed Mexico and the art of papel picado. I stumbled upon a couple of prezies on the art form which was great to share with the kids. I also have several examples of papel picado hanging in the art room so they could get the idea. So our first course of action: Cut some paper designs (I hesitate to call these "snowflakes" as they don't exactly meet the criteria but whateves).

Once the kids' designs were cut, they brought them to me where I placed them on a piece of 5" square matte board that I'd ready cut and doused in spray adhesive. Another hit of spray adhesive and a piece of 7" square aluminum foil was placed atop. The kids were instructed to return to their seats, fold the excess foil to the back and massage the surface with their finger tips only (no nails, y'all) until their design appeared. With the long winded chat and all that work, this took us about an hour.

In preparation for the following class, I'd spray painted each of the boards very lightly with the cheapest spray paint I could find (the dollar a can stuff from Home Depot is my jam). When the kids arrived, they were instructed to use 000 steel wool to burnish off the spray paint. They were thrilled when their design started to appear. That took them no more than 7 minutes. If this process looks vaguely familiar, I've done it with leaves as well. If you follow this link, you'll get a better glimpse at the step by step process. 

From there, the kids were each given a 6" square canvas. They traced the placement of their piece (I showed them an example of a diamond placement or a square. Guess which one was more popular?) and then commenced painting. I limited their palette to the cold colors (these are kinda sorta snowflakes, y'all. So we went with a winter palette for that reason). The only instructions I gave was a reminder to clean that brush between color switching and to keep the painting abstract (lines, shapes and color). The last 30 minutes of the second art class were spent quietly painting these canvases. Once dry, I added a touch of hot glue to the back of the repousse and attached. Boom! Done! Ready for hall display.

And now, on to the giveaway! Check out this huge pile of packages that I took to the post today. I hope y'all have been enjoying this giveaway as much as I have. It's been super fun. And, to be honest, what I've loved the most is reading all of your comments. So often, it's hard to leave comments on a blog or, quiet honestly, it's just easier not to (I'm very guilty of this so I totally get it). Which means, at times, I feel like I'm talking to myself because I don't often hear from y'all. So having this exchange with you has really meant a lot to me, thank you so very much for playing along. 

So, what's up for grabbies today...?

All sorts of glorious vintage goodness! Two lovely vintage alteration booklets, two packets of vintage buttons, a little needle booklet and an iron-on embroidery pattern set. So many pretties in one giveaway, ya'll! Vintage-lovers, this is right up your alley!

Here's how you can enter to win...

1. So, it turns out that A LOT of y'all want that needle felting kit! My question to you is...if I were to sell them, would you be interested? Would there be any other artsy kits you'd be interested in?

2. Don't forget to add that email address, kids. Tomorrow is THE LAST of the giveaway goodness, eeee!

And the winner of that needle felting kit?! Tracy Evans! Congrats, buddy!

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