DIY: The Crazy Cat Lady Sweater

Cat-tastic Outfit Details: Cuz you know you want 'em. sweater: originally a Free People, felted by moi; dress: vintage, Four Seasons Vintage, Knoxville, TN; tights: I'm wearing two. Don't ask me how, you don't wanna know; shoes: thrifted, Nine West

I recently took an "Are You a Cat Person?" quiz and, by the looks of things, I betcha can guess the results. But c'mon! Tell me I'm not the only one who answered a resounding "yes!" to the following: 

• You consider cat hair in your food an additional source of fiber (What? You can never get enough. Fiber that is. The hairballs kinda suck).
• You sleep on the edge of your bed because you hate to disturb the cat sleeping in the middle looking so darn cute (Not only is cuteness a factor but you try moving 20 sleeping pounds. No small task).
• You call home multiple times daily to ask your spouse what the cat is doing and to speak to her (Okay, this wasn't actually on the list but this is what my hubs does everyday during my summer vacation. Looks like I'm not the only one with a problem).

Sweater on the left available at Modcloth for $99.99 (really? How 'bout we just call it $100, ermkay?) and my felted personalized version on the right.

Since my students are currently creating dogs and cats outta clay, I just knew I had to have this sweater in my life. For educational purposes! For the children! For the love of all things cat-sy! But when I saw that totally ridic price tag, I was all "Edu-what? Children-shmildren! Cats, who gives a -- (cue tilted head, doe-eyed stare as seen below) Awwwww! Cats!" 

AND the DIY Crazy Cat Lady Sweater was born.

Now there's only one cat in my life and that's Asha. Her tale begins with her mom who we had originally adopted after she was abandoned at my apartment complex. Normally a calm and quiet cat, I was a little perplexed when one night she began howling like a crazy fool. Never having owned a cat before I had no idea she was in heat. I threw her outside and doncha know that little hussy came back knocked up. Hubs actually had to deliver Asha (on our bed, ahem) as she was born breach. She is currently our only cat and just about all we can handle.

I mean, just look at this nut. When she's not on some rickrack-chewing or stomping-on-my-crafts rampage...

...she's passed out drunk as a skunk. It's like living with Lindsay Lohan. But we loves her just the same.

Which is why I decided to create my own cat sweater dedicated to my dear sweet drunken Asha. Wanna do the same? Easy. Follow these steps:

1. You are going to create a symmetrical drawing of your cat. Begin by folding a piece of 8 1/2' X 11" piece of paper in half. From here you could either trace an enlarged photo of your cat or draw a very basic version.
2. Now here's a little trick to create a drawing that is perfectly symmetrical drawing. Fold the paper in half along the vertical crease. With the paper folded, scribble firmly on the backside of your drawing. 
3. When you reopen your paper, you will see a ghost line of your drawing. My students use this technique in art all the time when wanting to create a symmetrical drawing quickly.

Originally my plan was to place this drawing under the sweater and trace it. Yeah, that didn't work. The sweater is completely opaque. So then my thought was to use one of those pattern cutting tools that looks like a pizza cutter with teeth. I thought I'd trace my lines with that tool, place the drawing on my sweater and use chalk to "pounce" in the lines. Erm, no go. The chalk just vanished into the knit of the sweater. These failures lead to Plan C (for "C"rap, now what?!):

Cut the drawing into pieces and outline in wool yarn.

This worked swimmingly. I simply outlined the components of the design (cat head, glasses, ears, etc) and filled them in with felt. Almost like Paint-by-Number. Here, lemme show you...

On the left, you can see I've cut out the glasses and I've outlined them in dark brown wool yarn. Only 100% wool yarn can be used when needle felting. This same technique was used when felting the inside of the glasses.

Not being able to draw on the sweater was annoying. But drawing with the yarn really helped. And the good news is that yarn can be pulled right out of the sweater in case a mistake is made.

Creepy kitty face.

Outline in yarn, fill in with roving, lather, rinse, repeat (okay, minus those last three, we're not wet felting here). If you are new to the idea of needle felting, you can read about my first attempt, complete with slightly clearer directions, here. Follow that up with my downhill slide into felting madness: Put a Bird on It Sweater, Floral Applique Sweater and my Crazy Art Teacher Skirt.

Once I decided I wanted to create an Ashie sweater, I snapped this photo of her so I could see her coloring and details as I worked. She doesn't usually have such a freaky face unless she's staring at birds or other lil critters. In this instance it happened to be a giant spider hanging just above my head. Yeah, thanks for the warning, fuzzy butt.

 My feeble attempt to emulate the bow-and-glasses look. Somehow, it's just not the same.

Looking back over the "Are You a Cat Person" quiz, I never once saw the statement: 

• You unapologetically spend a good portion of your birthday weekend needle felting a picture of your cat onto your clothing. Which you wear proudly to work. Where small children praise you for your craftsmanship while adults smile and pretend they aren't planning an emergency intervention for your insane cat lady soul at the next faculty meeting. 

I mean, who wouldn't check "yes!" in that box, am I right people? 

Erm, hello?

Anyone?

(meow).

 

What the Art Techer Wore #58

Annoying Almost-Birthday Photo Tuesday: Yeah, I skipped Monday. You can see what I was wearing when I was having a meeting-Mary-Poppins-moment here (scroll to the bottom). Although you cannot see it in this photo, my top teal top is covered in cats. I'm usually covered in cat hair so this was a nice change for me. black top, pencil skirt and tights: Target; cat print blouse: Forever 21; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; shoes: Softt

 Hey there, buddies! Welcome to my post-birthday post. I celebrated my 38th (what the WHAT?!) birthday this Saturday and it was pretty swell. Upon my request, hubs and I gorged on crepes, ventured into the craft store (okay, I did the venturing. The craft store is hubs kryptonite), and just did what we normally do on the weekends. A perfect birthday.

Not only did I celebrate my birthday this week, but we also began our clay animal sculptures. Which means all 400 of my students sunk their hands into some squishy goodness and began the creation of their masterpieces. These animal sculptures will be sold back to the student's parents for any amount they decide to donate. The money we raise will be donated to our local humane society. I've been so lucky to have moms and dads in my art room all week helping make 1/2 hour clay art classes possible. I really don't know what I'd do without them.

Because we are creating animals, I decided to go with an animal theme in my dress this week! I also thought I'd share just some of my birthday spoils. AND I've also received two packages this week from some of the sweetest ladies from across the pond. Knowing that my students are learning about the UK (which we will resume after clay-town), I received one package from England and another from Scotland. This totally rocked my birthday week, thank you so much ladies!

From the hubs. Most of this will be gone by the end of the week. What's not shown is the subscription to People magazine (I love me some mag trash) and some sketched out new ideas for my blog banner! It's long overdue for a redo and I'm thrilled to be getting some help on it.

Pants! Wednesday: Okay, I never EVER wear pants to school. Ever. I just don't like them. They touch me in weird places, they rub in other places and they just plain bother me. Kinda like my husband. So my students freaked out when they saw this outfit on Wednesday. I was asked by at least a half dozen if these were my pajama bottoms. Seriously, you guys? sweater: vintage, thrifted; pants and shoes: thrifted; tights and flower clip: Target

When I was asked by Jerra if she could send my students something, I would have never expected all of this! Postcards, tea, chocolates (not shown because they were devoured), playing cards, fabric and a One Direction poster, eep! I cannot wait to create a bulletin board with all of this goodness, thank you so much, Jerra!

Poodles and Paris Thursday: When I was giving a clay demonstration to one of my fourth grade classes, they were impressed by something that I did. Can't remember what. Not important. When one kid said, "wow, that's amazing!" I told her, "that's why they pay me the big bucks." This comment seemed to shock her even more as she looked at me with wide eyes and said, "They pay you to do this?!" poodle dress, Eiffel Tower shoes, beret hair clip: made by me, diy here; tights: Target; sweater: vintage, thrifted

Scottish sweetness! Debi was also kind enough to offer to send me and the kids a little something from her homeland. I yelped out loud when opening all of this plaid-tasticness. My kids are going to flip out over that giant pen (they have a fascination with my giant pencils) and I've got itchy crafty fingers just looking at that fabric and those Scottie dogs. Thank you so much, Debi!

Pre-Birthday Friday: So my buddy the P.E. teacher sent all of my students to me telling them that I was 999 years of age. Which sparked a debate among one class of 3rd graders. One announced, "you are probably 18 years old, right, Mrs. Stephens?" I slapped my thigh and shook my head in wonder and cried, "Oh, my goodness, you guessed it! How did you know?!" This was met with a serious look by another student who muttered under his breath, "18? More like 40." Hey! squirrel sweater: Urban Outfitters; belt and boots: Anthro; dress: thrifted, Target; tights: Target

And then this happened...the pain! I can't even begin to describe. Typing has been almost unbearable. Thank goodness for good meds.

Birthday gags and goodies. Aw, just kiddin'. That little gag came in a box full of silliness that I can't wait to share with the kids on Monday. A freaky-faced screaming chicken? I think I just found my new art room attention getter.

Happy Birthday Saturday: Yippie! lace biker jacket: Forever 21; floral dress: thrifted diy; tights: Target; shoes: Softt

My baby bro (my only sib and he's 10 years younger than me. But I'm prettier) posted this photo from my 5th birthday on facebook. I remember that kitchen, those chairs and that car outside like it was yesterday.

 Speaking of baby bro, he sent me this groovy gift of flowering tea. Have you ever had this? It's made my Numi and it's these little tea bulbs that literally bloom in your hot water. It's fascinating to watch the leaves unfold and the flower come to life. It reminded me of stop action videos of plants growing. And it was tasty!

Not only was I spoiled with presents on my birthday but check out this weather! Hubs and I went for an eight mile hike (yay, exercise!) along Percy Priest Lake in Nashville. This was promptly followed by deep dish pizza and an ice cream sundae (so much for exercise!).

Well, back to non-birthday/no-more-spoilage week on Monday. Stay tuned for a brand new DIY that I'm just catty over (that was your cheesy hint!). Enjoy your week, kids!

DIY // In the Art Room: Making Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins Outfit details: bag, skirt and ruffly blouse: vintage, thrifted; sweater and boots: Buffalo Exchange; gloves and hat: vintage, gift from a friend; umbrella and red necktie: made by me

Why, hello thar! 'Tis I, wannabe Mary Poppins, practically (im)perfect in every way! Like many schools, mine celebrated Read Across America week with a "dress like a storybook character" day. Because we are currently learning about all things United Kingdom and I'm reading Mary Poppins to my second and fourth graders, deciding who I would dress like was as easy as taking my meds with a spoonful of sugar. Even if I did wanna dress as Sherlock Holmes for a could coupla days. But I didn't think my pipe-puffing would go over well with those party-poopin' principals in my building. So Mary 'twas!

Whilst dressed as Mary, I tried my very best to keep my faux-British accent going as long as I could. We do this little routine in my room where the kids repeat the art directions after me. For kicks we tried out our best Brit accents and the kids loved it. I'm sure that if any actual British folk heard our southern accents attempting to copy theirs, they'd spit up their tea and biscuits.

 Fave Mary moment...and how I foresee my classroom evaluation going when my aforementioned non-pipe-smoking principal drops in to witness kids -n- clay:

Mr. Banks: Just a moment, Mary Poppins. What is the meaning of this outrage?

Mary Poppins: I beg your pardon?

Mr. Banks: Will you be good enough to explain all this?

Mary Poppins: First of all, I would like to make one thing quite clear.

Mr. Banks: Yes?

Mary Poppins: I never explain anything.

The thing my outfit was lacking was the famous parrot-headed brolly. You just can't be Mary Poppins without it. But where to find such a thing? I decided that I'd just have to make my own. I sent out an umbrella email request to the fabulous teachers at my school and within minutes I had my mitts on a lovely wooden handled umbrella.

As soon as I got home, I busted out the tin foil and started sculpting the parrots head. I was too impatient to mess with the masking tape portion of 'mache'ing so I hopped straight to the covering-in-sticky-newspaper part. I'd later come to regret this (like so many things in my life) as it prevented me from having a smooth surface for my bird.

After taking what seemed like days to dry, I painted him with acrylic paints and used an image from pinterest as my inspiration. Laziness prevented me from giving him a coat of Modge Podge. Someday, when my laziness takes a holiday, I'll get to that step.

Ack! Giant parrot eye! In some photos, the tip of the parrots beak is white so I painted mine as such. One of my principal ladies said it looked like his nose was chipped. Some people just don't know.

More from the best movie on the planet...Parrot Umbrella: Awk, that's gratitude for you. Didn't even say goodbye? Mary Poppins: No, they didn't. Parrot Umbrella: Look at them! You know, they think more of their father than they do of you! Mary Poppins: That's as it should be. Parrot Umbrella: Well, don't you care? Mary Poppins: Practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking. Parrot Umbrella: Is that so? Well, I'll tell you one thing, Mary Poppins: you don't fool me a bit! Mary Poppins: Oh, really? Parrot Umbrella: Yes, really. I know exactly how you feel about these children, and if you think I'm going to keep my mouth shut any longer, I'll...
[she clamps his mouth shut] Mary Poppins: That will be quite enough of that, thank you.

Time for tea! Anyone for a cuppa?

All week, leading up to the arrival of Mary Poppins, my classes enjoyed a spot of tea and biscuits. I brought in some of my vintage table clothes and fancified one small area of my otherwise disastrous art room. I brewed each class a pot of tea (apple, peach and mint) and picked up some shortbread cookies and tea biscuits from the store. One kind UK blogger (thanks, Jerra!) informed me that I needed to serve my tea with "lumps" (sugar cubes) and I'd have to say, the kids liked that the best.

Pinkies out, dearies!

Of course, I just had to bring in my small collections of Mary Poppins records. Thankfully our librarian still had one of these ancient bad boys on hand.

Most of my students had never seen a record player before (shoot, they find the tape player on my CD player fascinating) and I found several of them with their noses right up to the spinning record like this young dude.

In my crazy closet, I had almost the perfect coat and scarf to complete my Poppins look. I thrifted the brown coat a while ago and the scarf is an old number from the Gap.

And, would you believe, the most magical thing happened! This weekend, hubs and I took a short trip to Walt Disney World and Epcot in Orlando. On our final day there, while walking through the Great Britain portion of Epcot, I ran into none other than Mary Poppins herself. Here she is asking me if I keep my students in "spit spot shape". Please don't ask me what's going on with my hair.

An even rarer occurrence: Me, in jeans!

From Mary and I, we wish you a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious week. So put that in your pipe and smoke it, Sherlock!

What the Art Teacher Wore #57

Crazy Hat Day: Where it just wouldn't be the same unless you had a Crazy Outfit to match. Go outlandish and tacky or go home, says me. hat and skirt: a DIY that I know you are dying to try, here; shoes: yet another Sunday afternoon project for you; blouse: gift from a friend; belt: Anthro; tights: Target

Greetings, kids! I come to you fresh outta Read Across America Week. The teachers and parents at my school put together all sorts of fun reading goodness including a book fair, a reading night and, my personal fave, thematic dress days. You can catch what I wore for last year's RAAW here, if you want a good laugh and sigh of relief that you don't have to appear in public looking as ridiculous.

And speaking of reading, I thought I'd share with you just a few of my fave reads this week as well. See how thematic I am? It's almost like I should be a teacher or something. Got a favorite book of your own? I'd love any recommendations of good reads. Muchas gracias and enjoy your week!

Are you familiar with this Canadian author? Apparently Robert Munsch started his career by just doing some improv story telling at his local library. His tales were so silly and strange that his young listeners soon were soon hooked. I am in love with all of his stories, but this tale of a young artist that colors herself "almost entirely all over" with "super indelible never-come-off markers" is a favorite with all of my students. I highly recommend it.

Show Your College Spirit Day: Why I'd love to as I do believe I went to the best college in all the land: Indiana University. I have so many wonderful memories of my 5-ish (ahem) years there that I try to make an annual reenactment with my buddies. And while I never acquired a t-shirt, I do have plenty of that Hoosier red and white in my wardrobe. sweater: vintage, thrifted; dress: from Germany; tights: Target; shoes: Fluevog

I have almost all of these Mike Venezia "Getting to the World's Greatest Artist" books because they are awesome. They are full of visuals with just the perfect amount of funny and factual. When reading them, I read the artist's first name (for example, "Claude") and have the students say the last name ("Monet"). By the end of the story, the kids know the artist's name as well as his/her life and work.

Words on a Shirt, er, Skirt Day: Since I wore my one and only shirt with words last year, I opted for words on a skirt this year. Although I did have to use the force all day long: (student) "Hey! You don't have words on a shirt!," (me) "That's right. Because it's actually words on a skirt day. Now move along, move along. This isn't the art teacher you're looking for." dress: created for last year's trip to Star Wars Weekends, diy here; tights: Target; boots: Anthro; blouse: thrifted

Did anyone else grow up loving Shel Silverstein's work? I have the world's worst memory but I can vividly recall my second grade teacher animatedly reading her copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends. It was one of my favorite things. As a kid, I was inspired to write poems and short stories thanks to Shel Silverstein.

Awesome.

Show Your School Spirit Day: Also known as Where This to Starbucks and Receive Bizarre Looks Day. When I told the hipster teen workin' on my soy-tea-latte that I was a teacher, he just looked at me with a "duh-lady" expression and said, "yeah, I thought so." t-shirt: designed by one of our fourth graders, tie-dyed and bow-dazzled by me; tiger tights: amazon. Yes, seriously; skirt: J.Crew, gift; shoes: Clarks

Another fave when I was growing up. I do believe I've read this book more than a dozen times. The illustrations are the best. Harriet's penchant for those black and white composition books is why I carry one myself. What? If you've read the book, you'd understand.

Dress Like a Storybook Character Day: I'm most definitely not "practically perfect in every way" but I do love me some Mary Poppins. Especially since she ties in so well with our study of the United Kingdom. I actually began reading Mary Poppins to my second and fourth grade students a couple of weeks ago while they were weaving. Little did they know there was a reason behind my madness. I'll share with you more details of that and the making of this lil outfit later this week. Until then...ruffly shirt, bag and black skirt: vintage, thrifted; sweater and boots: Buffalo Exchange; hat and gloves: vintage, gift from a friend; parrot umbrella: DIY by me

This summer I met Richard Sherman who, along with his brother Robert, wrote all the songs in Disney's version of Mary Poppins. He told us how Walt Disney had a very hard time convincing  P.L. Travers to allow him to turn her book into a movie. We are actually at the magical world of Walt Disney World this weekend on a little pre-birthday trip/any-excuse-to-get-outta-town vacay. And while I haven't seen Mary (yet!) I did manage to score a Poppins Pin! I'll be sure to share our trip with you in a future post.