In the Art Room: Pieces of Paris

Framed masterpieces by my fourth grade artists.

My winter break is quickly coming to an end. It's been a lovely couple of weeks of traveling, crafting and catching up with fam and friends. Come Monday, it's back to reality. And I'm ready. I've missed my little artist buddies and their awesomeness. I snapped these photos of the last of the Parisian-themed projects my fourth graders completed before break. I thought I'd share this lesson with you.

Each 3" square was to be French-themed. This artist did a pretty bang-up job. From the top left to right: Le Sacre Coer, words in French, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, a fleur de lis and more words in French.

If you've been reading this blog since the beginning of the school year, then you are familiar with the Parisian theme with which we started. I painted my windows, the entrance to my classroom and sewed some dresses to get the kids excited about Paris. You can see the French-y works of art by my first graders, second and a couple of projects by my third graders here and here.

From top left to right: French words, the Eiffel Tower, French words, fleur de lis, French words and the Arc de Triomphe.

We began this project at the start of the school year after finishing our passports and suitcase portfolios. I wanted a project that would introduce many different types of media and enhance their drawing skills while teaching all-things-Frenchy. So our first order of business was learning the language. We had the help of Fifi (my smart mouthed pink poodle puppet), a couple of learning-French CDs and google translate. 

On a 8" x 11" sheet of paper, the artist wrote French words or drew mini pictures of famous icons of Paris in water-based marker. Once completed, they chose a handful of their favorite words and drawings to trace over in colorful sharpie markers. They then quickly brushed water over their papers causing the water-based markers to bleed and give a tie-dye effect to the background. Some artists added salt for that snow-flakey effect.

Originally that was gong to be the background for a different project entirely. But when I saw how their paintings were turning out, I decided to go a different route. Teaching is like that, you know? No matter how much planning and trouble-shooting you do, things don't always go according to plan. Which can often be a good thing.

But back to the paintings. We set those aside until the tail end of the project. When we'd finished all of our other little 3" mini-masterpieces, we got them back out, cut 3" squares of our favorite parts of the painting and added them to the final project.

Next up: Metal tooling. I love doing metal tooling with the kids. They learn so much about line, texture and color, if we happen to throw sharpies into the mix. This young artist chose to draw her version of the stained glass window in Notre Dame.

A mini Arc de Triomphe. After our French lesson, we learned all about the famous places of Paris, France. It was easy to pique their interest as they have a close buddy that recently visited all of these places: Jes! The artists were inspired by photos of his adventures in the City of Love.

After that: Scratch art. Dude, my students love scratch art paper. But it's expensive! So doing these wee masterpieces gives them great experience without breaking my art budget.

Le Sacre Coer is like the Where's Waldo in so many paintings of Paris. Because it sits high on Montmartre, it can be seen from all over the city. When chatting about this with the kids, one student said, "Ooooh. I thought that was the White House," to which another replied, "Really? In Paris?" Que eye-rolls, face palms and snickers. "What?! It does kinda look like it." I would have to agree.

Our last little drawing surface was this translucent stained glass paper stuff I'd had in my closet forever. These little drawings were perfect for out 1/2 hour art classes. We kept them in envelopes marked with our names.

Not sure if that's a moat or just a circle of silver encompassing the Notre Dame.

Top left to right: paint palette with fancy background, an artist hard at work, French words, more Frenchy goodness, the Eiffel Tower and Bonjour!

When all of the drawings were complete, we painted the background paper. I gave a quick lesson on color mixing and the use of texture combs. The kids chose a piece of colored construction paper to paint on and texture.

Bon appetit! When asked the chef was holding I was told "stinky fromage." Duh, silly me.

Once our envelopes were stuffed with mini pieces of Paris, the framing commenced. At this point, we were just a pinch over it so I really had to stay on the kids to use their best craftsmanship when framing. I started out with, "I'm so proud of your hard work. Be sure to take the same care when framing..." which quickly turned into "If you don't frame that carefully your evil art teacher will make you redo it." 

New kid looking around the room: "Who's the evil art teacher?"

Veteran kid jerking his head toward me: "That lady."

New kid looking up at me as I change my expression from smiling to Cruella Deville: shivers and gets back to work. 

Bwahahahah!

As you return to work, school, and life in these upcoming days of the brand new year, have fun!

DIY: Felting a Holey Mess, Anthro-Style

Hey guys! I'm updating this post with a link to another needle felting DIY I just completed...here AND one here...just can't stop felting! I don't normally stand around with my arms crossed. Unless I'm cold. Or I'm going head-to-head with a fourth grader and their attitude. In which case, one of my eyebrows are raised and my lips are pursed. Neither scenario is the case in this photo. I'm actually trying to show off my felt-y floral elbows.

Just to clarify: Anthro-Style is not at all similar to Gangnam Style. Least you be confused.

Anthro-Style is a way around paying through the nose for some adorable skirt/dress/sweater that you just know you could make. You can see my attempts here and here.

Gangnam Style is a way of dancing if you want to, well, have a female look at you as if you just ate your socks. You can see my attempts here and here (ha! made you look!).

I caught a bad case of Anthro-Style when I was at said store with a buddy. I spotted this sweet felted cardigan and was drawn to it's delicate colors and motif. However, the $138 price tag was just a pinch off-putting (ahem!). It was then I remembered the huge mound of roving I'd acquired during one of my hobby hoarding episodes and decided to attempt my own felted floral cardi.

Now when I say hobby hoarder, I mean that I've tried my hand at just about every craft under the sun. I collect hobbies like some people do baseball cards and coins. And I've got the garage full of potter's wheels, mosaic tiles, looms and jewelry making supplies to prove it. Occasionally I think to myself, "I should really get rid of all that macrame" and then I dream up something to do with it. For example. As I've yet to figure out how to craft a non-itchy macrame dress. But I will. Someday-ish.

 My version of the Anthro sweater. Granted, it doesn't look a thing like the original and I'm okay with that. Mine's the cheery-happy-kiddie version to their sophisicated-grown-up-lady original.

But my cashmere sweater cost $3.99 at the thrift store not $138. So you can add penny-pincher to my cheery-happy-kiddie version as well, you sophisticated-grown-up-broke-lady.

 Wait, what? You too wanna make a Felt-y Floral Anthro-Style Sweater? Duuuude, it is so easy. But you will need the following:

•  A Sweater. I was under the misconception that the sweater must be 100% wool. Oh no. You can needle felt on any fabric. I'd had this thrifted cashmere sweater in my give-to-Goodwill pile because it was a little holey. Turns out you can felt-patch those holes. 
• Wool Roving. I purchased mine at a workshop I attended a couple of years ago. I've made felted soaps and ornaments with it as well as this sweater. So, a little goes a long way. I wouldn't buy it at your local craft store because it will be a rip off. I'd look into some online vendors. 
• Needle Felting Tool. This I did pick up at the craft store. I bought one by the company Clover with three needles in it. They are sharp as a mother so be careful as you stab away on your sweater.
• A Sponge or Bristle Brush Block. Again, I snagged mine at the local craft joint. This is the cushion that you use under the punching of the needle.

Having never needle felted before, I watched a couple videos on youtube. I have found that when learning a new craft, the more tutorials, the better. Here's my feeble attempt:

1. Pulling the roving. When you get ready to needle felt, pull apart the roving carefully, as if you are gently pulling off a piece of cotton candy. Done correctly, it should look like the photo above.

2.  Shaping the roving. I was creating circles in the above photo, so I gently rolled the roving into a ball and held it in place with my finger. Place your sweater on top of your sponge or bristle brush punching pad.

3.  Punching the Roving. Seriously, watch your fingers! Getting stabbed is not a pleasant experience as those needles are not only sharp but slightly serrated. As you needle punch, your roving will shrink in size as half of it will go through the other side of your sweater. You can shape the roving by angling your punching tool.

4. Making Diana Ross Hair. Because that's what you wanted on your sweater, right? To add a circle around your dot, pull roving as in step one, lay onto sweater and start punching.

5. Punching, Punching, Punching. It's like Fight Club but without Brad Pitt. Sorry.

6. Shaping the Roving. I love that you can shape the direction of the roving just by angling the punching tool and moving the roving. Here I am completing my circle by overlapping the roving.

This photo and the one below should give you an idea how much the roving shrinks as you punch it. I formed the roving into a leaf shape...

...and used my needle to do the rest of the shaping. I added a very thin strip of dark green for the vein in the leaf. Again, for those small details, watch those digits!

Here's a view of the back of my sweater. I flipped over the Anthro sweater to see if theirs was as fuzzy and it wasn't. I'm not sure if that means they trimmed the back or if they just didn't punch as hard as me.

And here's a view of my dining room table. Which has now become Needle Felting Central. Sorry, hubs.

Again, I blame the ridonkulousness of this pose on my showing off my felt-y elbows. sweater: cashmere with Target tags, thrifted; wood paneled skirt: old, Target; tights: geez, Target!; boots: Frye found second hand

I gotta tell you, this needle felting business is addictive. I started on this one morning and didn't stop until well after noon. I was so excited when I was finished, I showed it off to hubs and the following transaction went down (you know, I just can't have a single post without a lil bit of dialog):

Me (complete with bedhead and pyjamas at 3pm): Look! I finished my sweater! (realizing I'm still with bedhead and pyjamas) And I'm still in my pj's! And it's after 3!

Hubs: Yep. Just what I'd always hoped married life would be like.

Yeah, well, as I always like to tell him, you're stuck with me now, mister! 

I do hope this here post has inspired you to do some punching of your own. Of the needle felting variety, that is. Happy Punching!

12 Favorites of 2012

Favorite Memories: Star Wars Weekends at Disney. We had so much fun that plans to return are already in the works. This dress I crafted from my childhood bedsheets got some serious attention with complete strangers asking if they could snap photos of it. Sketches of the next SW dress are underway. 

 Happiest of New Years to you! I hope you managed to ring in the new year in style. And, if your style is anything like mine, you were in your pj's fast asleep wondering who was blowing up your cell phone at midnight. I know, I'm such a party animal. 

Since I woke up feeling all reminiscent-y, I thought I'd share with you my 12 faves of 2012. I started this blog back up again a year ago as one of my resolutions of 2012. I wanted a place to share my DIY's, the art projects of my students, what I wore and, just, life stuff. While scrolling through my blog this morning, I picked out some of my favorites and thought I'd share them with you. So, here they are, 12 of my Favorite Memories, What I Wore, DIY's and Art Class Projects of 2012.

Favorite Memories: A Day Trip to Graceland: I have been a big follower of both Quincy and Emma's blogs for a while. So when the stars aligned for us to all take a day trip to Memphis, I was thrilled. One of the funniest things that happened was at the end of the tour, we decided to have our photos taken. Suddenly, a newspaper dude came up and started snapping away. And then some publicity guy for Graceland. And then complete strangers who asked to have their photos taken with us. It was a hilarious moment I won't soon forget.

Favorite Memories: A European Vacation: Well, for me anyway. Hubs spent most of his days working while I tooled around Germany in my VW exploring cities, eating entirely too much gelato and shopping for souvenirs. We did spend several days vacationing in the Netherlands with Amsterdam being my favorite. 

In the Art Room: Fantastic Frogs: Our clay theme for the end of last year's school year was Monet's Garden and these frogs created by my third grade artists were such a hit. I love the different personalities of each frog and how much it reflected that of the artist.

In the Art Room: Leaf Printing. I learned about this process from a fabulous art instructor at the Tennessee Arts Academy. The results of each print was just breath taking and such a wonderful learning experience for positive and negative space, printing, texture and nature. Complete details of the project here.

In the Art Room: Pouch Weaving. Not to be confused with purse-weaving as the boys would never go in for this project. And it turns out that this one is always a hit, especially with the boys. Each year my fourth grade students complete these pouches as a rite of passage. I wrote out the many steps to completing these pouches in my weaving posts. You can find the first installment here.

DIY: The Blue Christmas Light Up Dress. One of my resolutions for 2012 was to sew my own clothing. Before this year, I'd only sewn one dress completely on my own. This year, I sewed nine! This light up dress was one of my favorites, from it's adorable fabric to the pattern and, most especially, the lights at the bottom (which was my genius hubs idea!).

DIY: Memories of Marilyn. I began creating these ceramic paper doll dresses after finding a bunch of photos of my maternal grandmother Marilyn. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the dresses but I created about a dozen of them and shared a tutorial here. When a friend mentioned putting them in a shadow box with the photos that inspired them, I knew that was the answer. You can see more of the end result here. I think my grandma Marilyn would have loved this tribute to her.

DIY: Pencil Skirt and Shoes. Okay, I'll just go ahead and admit it: I've got a little bit of an applique addiction. It's kinda my version of be-dazzling something. Got a dull skirt? How about a blank apron? Need to jazz up that boring dress? Just applique the crap outta it! And you'll notice I've got the same issue with painting on shoes. Oh well. My students loved this end result.

What I Wore: Madeline for Halloween. Since the kids were learning all about Paris, France at the beginning of the school year, I decided to go all Madeline on them. This tied in so nicely with the beautiful bulletin board created by one of my practicum students. How I miss those awesome girls!

What We Wore: Dressing like Monet's Garden meets the 1950's. I had the pleasure of having one of the most incredible student teachers this year. We shared the same goofy brain and often dressed alike to teach our lessons. Her middle school students are very lucky to have such a talented and dedicated art teacher.

What I Wore: Read Across America Rainbow. Don't let my expression fool you, you know I'm lovin' this ridiculousness. This photo was taken during Read Across America week and on this day it was silly hat day. The best part about this hat was that I managed to cloud slap anyone that got to close with just the turn of the head.

  Another thing I have loved about this past year is getting to know so many of you! I have been thrilled with your comments, words of encouragement and the discovery of so many other like-minded folk. Thank you for following my blog and my dorkiness. I truly appreciate all of you. 

Happy New Year!

What the Art Teacher Wore #48

Christmas in the Smokies: I managed to wear this almost everyday while on our vacation in the Smokey Mountains. Not my best look, but fishnets and heels just weren't gonna cut it on these trails. backpack: borrowed from a friend; jacket(s): I'm wearing two with two more shirts underneath. Mountain Hardware; scarf: Urban Outfitters; hat and fleece headband: courtesy of hub's work, Meinl; cargo pants and long johns: army surplus; sneakers: New Balance

Well, happy post-Christmas/pre-New Years Eve to you! I come to you completely overdressed in layers of clothing and under dressed in overall look. When hubs and I decided to spend Christmas in the Smoky Mountains, I did pack up some stylish duds but they never left my suitcase. Because everyday's agenda involved a hike up some mountain or another, I opted to be comfy and warm. So you'll have to forgive my lackluster look and suffer through my vacation photos aplenty. Enjoy!

The Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We left for Gatlinburg last Saturday morning. We took our time and stopped by Knoxville, Tennessee for shopping at two of my favorite vintage shops in the area, Four Sessions Vintage and Nostalgia. Lunch at The Tomato Head was delish. Our hotel in Gatlinburg was pretty high in the Smokies. This was our view of the mountains the following morning.

After leaving Knoxville, we managed to make it to Dollywood in time to meet up with some friends, see a couple shows and ride some rides. Knowing we'd be back for more Dollywood-tasticness, we splurged on some annual passes. Normally the hubs and I take pretty poor photos but these aren't too shabby for us.

Okay, I was trying to snap a shot of this sculpture outside of the Wild Eagle ride because I thought it was pretty cool. What I didn't realize at the time was that it appears this poor unsuspecting dude is about to become an eagle snack. It cracks me up each time I see it! A side note: the moment they pulled the much-too-tight-for-my-taste harness over my head, I asked to be removed from the ride. The young guy strapping everyone in gave me a raised eyebrow and a "Really?" Knowing that I'd have a freak-out-fest if I was not released immediately, I gave him an, "Um, yes. Really. Please! Right now!" Needless to say, that's all it took. So, sorry, can't give you a review of the ride!

The day after our Dollywood adventures and my "get-me-off-this-ride" meltdown, we spent the day hiking. It was a chilly morning and much of the trail was covered in a 2" sheet of ice. But the huge cave at the end of the Alum Cave Trail was worth the slippery slopes.

At least three bridges made from giant logs were apart of the trail. At the end of this bridge, you had to hike inside the cave and climb a large stone staircase. Being in the shade meant that each step was a sheet of ice. I took to crawling up the steps and hoping hubs would break my fall if I fell.

Ya'll see that ice? You had to watch your step and your head. As the day went on and the sun came out, icicles were breaking and crashing to the ground. It was pretty scary as there would be no warning, just a sudden SMASH! on the ground. We managed to scramble up this slick trail pretty quickly.

At Alum Cave. The cave had a very large overhang which kept the ground here dry. It was still very chilly but the workout from the hike had us stripping off our layers. The overhang had huge patches of ice sliding off of it so we didn't stick around too long.

Hubs snapped this photo of me slipping and sliding across some ice. He likened it to the infamous photo of Big Foot. Sadly, I do see some similarities. Those hairy legs look especially familiar.

Remember the view from the outside of our hotel? Well, this would be the inside. I know, don't look at it too long. The funny thing is, both hubs and I are afraid of heights. So when we'd get off the elevator, we'd walk as far away from the overlook as possible. He was brave enough to snap this one photo for me. "Maybe you should take another to be sure you got it," says I. "I'm sure it's fine." Translation: You ain't gettin' another photo, lady.

The following day, hubs and I met up with our friends and decided to hike the Chimney Tops Trail. It was a pretty intense 2.5 hike straight up a mountain. My out-of-shapeness was really beginning to flair up about midway through the hike. I had to stop and tie my shoes a lot, if you catch my drift.

The view from the top. Only 20% of the folk that take on this hike actually make it to the top of the summit. The map said it was a "scramble" to the top which, I learned, has nothing to do with eggs. In hiking terms that means something like, "there ain't no trail, just a slippery vertical climb." Sorry, that's not my bag. Hubs, however, is now a proud member of the 20% club.

And thank goodness for that. Look at these beautiful photos he snapped from the top. You see that cloud at the top of the frame? Kinda gives you an idea just how high up he was.

Tennessee is such a beautiful place.

Christmas day found hubs and I taking the driving tour of Cades Cove and making our way back home. Tomorrow we are taking another road trip to explore more of Tennessee.

I hope you all have a safe and fun New Year! I'm sure to be spending mine with two of the biggest party animals I know, hubs and Asha the Cat. Thanks for dropping by and allowing me to share my endless vacation photos. I'll be back soon with a new Anthropologie DIY!