DIY: Cardigan/Scarf

I told you I was on a floral kick. I've got Begonias and herbs growing in these pots. Fingers crossed my notoriously black thumbs don't kill these guys.

From the creator of the Blarf, that's scarf-to-blouse, and the Skankie, the hankies-to-skirt creation, I now bring you the Scarfigan!

Er, Cardiarf.

 Scardiarf?

Oh, it's a cardigan that I sewed a scarf onto. Call it what you like.

Sorry for the face.  I blame my mother. The problem with pinning a flower to your sweater is it confuses the insects. This is one of the few non-swatting and screaming photos.

Today's To-Do List said the following:

1. Go for a run.
2. Clean the garage.
3. Organize closets.

I wrote that list last night. When I read it this morning, I thought, "that's the dumbest thing I've ever read." So instead I did this:

1. Got out my vintage scarves.
2. Threw them on the floor.
3. Made a cup of tea.

This is Asha. But she has many other alias...aliases...aliai...she got a lot of names. Among them: Jango, Bo-bo, Chubby Girl, Jabba, and Brittany. Okay, I made that last one up.

When I came back, I found this. No matter what I'm working on, there's a certain furry someone that always has to lay near it, across it or on it. Currently, that thing is my typing arm. But who could deny that furry widdle face?

I got the idea in my head that instead of cleaning the garage, what I really needed to do was sew a vintage scarf onto the back of some long-forgotten, rarely-worn cardigan. It was really pretty simple. Here's how I did it:

1. Using the zig-zag setting, I sewed around the back of the sweater, following the back panel. I did this because I don't have a serger and I wanted a finished edge to prevent unraveling.
2. I pinned a vintage silk scarf over the back panel (notice I've not cut into the back of the sweater yet). Because the silk is so thin, it was easy to just tuck under and pin into place.
3. Using a top stitch, I sewed the scarf to the cardi.
4. I removed the pins and carefully cut the sweater out staying close to the zigzag line. The tricky part was NOT cutting into the scarf. Which, of course, I did. Not cool. 
5. And...viola! Finished Scardiarf! Doesn't that sound like a dish served by The Swedish Chef?

"What do you think, Jungle Cruise?" ... blank stare. I get that a lot.

So there you have it. And it didn't even take me, The World's Slowest Crafter, that long. Which meant that I had plenty of time to reread To-Do List #1 and revisit my options.

And I decided that my initial reaction was true: That's the dumbest thing I've ever read.

So I went antique shopping for vintage hankies instead. I wish I were making that up. But I'm not. I'll show you what I did with them soon.

On a side note, I thought I'd share this great photo with you. Do you know who this amazingly creative and spectacularly tacky (and I say what with great respect) woman is? This is Enid Collins, purse designer from the 1960's. I recently discovered her creations and was so excited to score one of my own recently on ebay.

Since the backyard proved to be an insect hazard, I thought I'd try the front. Except I kept tripping over the stairs in order to beat the camera timer. Oui. I am really the last person that should be blogging!

Goodbye, Grungy Garage and Cluttery Closets, Mama's got shoppin' to do. Outfit details: dress: vintage, thifted; belt and flower: H&M; shoes: Frye, TJMaxx; bag: Enid Collins, ebay; scardiarf: originally from Target, DIY'ed by me.

I hope you go out and avoid your To-Do List today as well! Thanks for reading.

(Flower) Pothead

Oh, hey neighbor. Yeah, I'm taking pictures. Of myself. With a tripod in the front yard. What? These America's Next Top Model photos ain't gonna take themselves.

It's spring and I've officially become a Flower Pothead. I've spent hours on flowers: planting, painting, wearing, embroidering and decorating with them. This spring thing better stick around because I'm in deep. I thought I'd share with you just a bit of the flowery fantasticness I've gotten myself into:

Flowers in my Hair: Saw Casey wearing flowers in her hair on a recent post and just had to do the same. Mine are fake flowers purchased at JoAnn's hot glued to a hairclip.

Flowers in my Patterns: We dropped in my favorite vintage shop in Orlando, Paris Market Vintage, where I swooped up this sweet 1970's era skirt for a mere $4. If you are ever in the area, it's a great shop with the sweetest ladies working there.

Flowers on my Doorstep: I took these $10 plastic flower pots, turquoise spray paint and cheap acrylic paint and did 'em up Bob Ross style last year. They've sat outside all year with very little wear. I decided to try trailing petunias in the pots this year. I'll share with you how I painted these pots in an upcoming post.

Flowers on my Hoop: My embroidery hoop, that is. I managed to make some headway on our recent trip. I'm about half way finished now...you'll have to wait and see the result when it's complete. It might be a while.

Flowers in my Foyer: I don't care that they might be weeds, they are flowery just the same.

Flowers in Miniature Bottles: Hubs came home from a recent adventure with a sack full of these miniature jars. He'd been off-trail hiking and stumbled upon a cache of vintage trash. Such a great find, don't you think?

Flowers in the Sunshine: Nuff said. Hope things are coming up roses where you are!

DIY: Conquering the Dynasty Dress

At the Hollywood Drive-In Golf at Universal Studios. I loved their putt putt courses which were based on 1950's B-movies. This one was called The Haunting of Ghostly Green.

While in Memphis last weekend, I was taken to a gem of a place called Park Avenue Thrift. And while it was far from being even remotely Park Avenue-esque, we did make a new friend (one whom attempted to try on her size 20 bathing suit over her clothes, asked us what we thought and paid the cashier with a wad of wet cash brandished from her bra). I also found this lovely floral dress.

Before hacking into the dress, I thought I'd give it one last hurrah in all of it's shoulder-pad, big-hair-with-bow, blue-eye-shadow, and-pointy-shoe glory.

As soon as I slipped the dress on, I immediately had images of Dynasty pop into my head. The shoulder pads were mammoth. It's no wonder we did our hair up so big in the eighties. If we didn't, we'd look like a shrunken head between those pillow-sized pads.

As a kid, my cousin, my aunt and I used to watch Dynasty, Falcon Crest and Dallas curled up with my grandma in her bed. The plot was over our heads so we usually had our noses stuck in some Sweet Valley High book.

More pictures from the putt putt. I've not putt putted in ages and we had so much fun. If you've not been lately, I say go.

So, here's a breakdown of how I conquered the Dynasty Dress:

• Removal of shoulder pads. But I didn't trash them. They'll come back in style someday, right?
• Removal of 8" from the hemline. I mean really. It was like a floral parachute.
• Addition of yellow scalloped collar. Seen best in the final photo.
• Removal of belt. I love it, but you can't see it. So I am wearing my bow belt instead.
• Addition of matching sandals. I used the excess fabric to create the straps for my Sseko sandals. If you are not familiar with Sseko, you might want to check them out.

Another show we watched with grandma as kids. I always thought of my grandma as being like Dixie Carter's Julie Sugarbaker. Doesn't Charlene look like she's wearing my floral dress?

It's not the biggest dress overhaul but this one didn't really need it. I was sold on the full skirt, the floral and the pockets. It just needed some de-eighties-izing.

Dynasty Dress, consider yourself conquered, bwahaha.

When I asked hubs what he thought of the end result, he said, "It's nice. It looks like an Easter dress. That's the look you were going for, right?"

Erm, yeah. And that's the last time I let him win at putt putt. Enjoy your weekend!

In the Art Room: Mammoth Monet-Inspired Mural

Mammoth Monet-Inspired Mural measuring in at 12' X 9' and well over 10 lbs. This is one mural not to be contented with.

 Hey, guys! I interrupt this blog post to say that my third graders just finished some clay frogs after creating this mural...you can see them here.

Well, I learned my lesson. After creating a winter mural with the kids after break (that you can see here: http://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2012/02/wishful-winter-wonderland.html ) and only having a short time to display it before it became passe, I started early on this here spring/summer mural. The kids and I had most of the mural put together before spring break, but I was so excited to see the end result that I sneaked in, glued down the last of the frogs and flowers and, with the help of our awesome custodians, got it hung up. I can't wait for the kids to see it when they return. Here's how we went about our creation.

Our inspiration: Monet's garden and pond at Giverny.

I introduced Monet to the kids with this book. I love this series of books and find that all of my students, kindergarten through fourth, enjoy them too. I know that there are video versions of the books but I don't enjoy showing movies in my room. And, honestly, I love to read aloud.

One of my favorite tricks to get the kids to remember an artists name is this: whenever I say the artist's first name, the kids are to respond with his last name. So, as I read, I'll say, "Claude..." and the kids all respond, "Monet!" It really helps with recall...most of the time. Recently, when we were playing The Smartest Artist (http://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2012/01/smartest-artist.html), the question was, "who painted the Mona Lisa?" and I got "Vincent da Vinci!" Oh well.

After reading about Claude Monet, the kids spent a week creating clay projects that were pond-themed. So we had clay frogs, fish, waterlilies, butterflies and snails. I'll share these in an upcoming post as the kids have yet to glaze them. With our knowledge on ponds, the kids began creating the pieces of our mural.

A great rhyming book about a frog that ends up in Monet's garden.

 Here's a run down of who created what:

• Kindergarten created the textured papers for the grass, flowers, cat tails and bridge. We learned all about mixing the secondary colors. They went on to create the three dimensional flowers too.
• First grade created the tissue paper meets sparkle Modge Podge pond papers. They also drew the fish and the frogs. 
• Some of the second grade classes printed the land with sponges, cardboard and empty spools for flowers. These are the background papers behind the kindergarten flowers. One class created the sky sponge paintings with the printed dragon flies. These kids also created the waterlilies on color diffusing paper.
• The third and fourth graders are up to their eyeballs in weavings. Their task will be add insects once finished with their woven masterpieces.

A sweet little frog has found his home on a tissue paper waterlily.

First grade koi fish with a second grade waterlily.

Three-dimensional flowers with kindergarten. Yes, it's as crazy as it sounds. They got it...but it took us a while. Next time, maybe first grade.

For a full flower tutorial, go here: http://kristineldridge.com/blog/?p=5615

I had a sweet former student shadow me last week. I asked her to come up with an idea for printing dragon flies as my pre-spring break brain was spent. She used a toilet paper tube she pinched in the middle to create a horizontal 8 and q-tips for the body. The kids loved it.

I borrowed the sun from the winter mural. I'm thinking he'll make an appearance in all of our seasonal murals, what do you think?

I was told that this is a Mrs. Stephens Frog. I do love bows in my hair. Now I just need to get my nails done!

Mammoth Mural in all it's glory. Happy Spring!

What the Art Teacher Wore #11

Spring Green Monday: Guess who's overcompensating for not wearing even a stitch of green on St. Patrick's Day? sweater: Ann Taylor, thrifted; dress: vintage, thrifted; belt: made by me; brooch: vintage, thrifted; shoes: thrifted; fishnets: Target

Okay, please don't hate me. But I don't have to work for the next two weeks. I know! Can you believe it? We have a grand total of 14 days off for spring break. I am beyond excited. I've already had a blast, spending my weekend with a great friend and fellow art teachers at a conference in Memphis. Now I've got the next couple of days to catch up with friends and DIY's before hubs and I head to Orlando.

On with the outfit post. A couple weeks ago, when introducing Claude Monet to the kids, Lauren and I dressed as Monet's garden. This week I thought I'd try to match my look with a painting just for kicks. Sometimes I based my look on a painting, like Monday's dress; other days, I searched for a painting with a similar color palette after the fact. It was a lot of fun...and I'm hoping it helps me out of those fashion slumps I sometimes get into. Of course, the kids loved it. And that's why I do it, right? (Not really, but it makes me sound less crazy if I say so, doncha think?) Enjoy!

Portrait of Joseph Roulin by Vincent Van Gogh ... I opted not to match the beard but the wallpaper.

Since the shoes just weren't tacky enough, I hot glued some flowers onto shoe clips.

Blarf, It's Tuesday: Wearing the Blouse-from-a-Scarf made by me; skirt and fishnets: Target; shoes: Dolls by Nina

Still Life with Peppermint Bottle by Paul Cezanne

One of my headbands from Jen at Peachy Tuesday...you must check out her shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/peachytuesday

One-Day-Closer-to-Break Wednesday: dress: anthropologie; tights: Target; shoes: Clarks

Spanish Dancer by John Singer Sargent

Put a Bird on It Thursday: Not seen the Portandia "Put a Bird on It" skit yet? What are you, nuts? Youtube it immediately. dress: anthropologie; sweater and tights: Target; belt: Pinkyotto; crayon shoes: thrifted and then painted by me

Photo of a Stuart Davis painting by me on my visit to the Met. Sorry, I failed to get the title.

More Peachy Tuesday goodness in my hair, love these headbands!

It's Friday, Let's do the Ed Grimely! shirt and tights: Target; skirt: anthropologie; shoes: Indigo by Clarks; belt: made by me

Dogs Playing Poker, artist unknown

I mean, really. What other painting was I going to pick?