DIY: A Crayon-tastic Dress and A GIVEAWAY!

 What you see here is an art teacher that's one crayon short of a full box. 

Partly cuz, let's face it, I'm nutz (and I'm not just sayin' so. During our school's evening registration, I was asked on more than one occasion by the under-10 set if I was planning on being "even crazier this year." When I replied with an "um, I suppose so?" I was met with mostly "yes!"es and a few "oh no"s. But those came from parents and the administration. Which doesn't count, says me.) And the other partly cuz, well, I used several of the crayons from my box for that there hair clip.

But that crayon clip was just the icing on this Ultra-Geeky-Crayontastic-Art-Teachery-Get-Up Cake. 

When I stumbled upon this crayon fabric at JoAnn's, I knew deep in my tacky-bedazzled heart that it was meant for curtain-making or bulletin board decorating. Not dresses. I thought to myself, "Should I? Or would that be taking things a little too far?" And then I remembered THIS get up, laughed manically (which drew stares and whispers and a phone call to the police) and realized I done took things too far a long long time ago.

I also scooped up a coupla yards of that blue chevron. I loved the idea of it paired with the crayon fabric (look, I can teach about zig zag lines and crayons with this dress. Shoot, this dress just does the teachin' itself. Thank goodness because with all this sewing I forgot to write my lesson plans. Just kidding, principal lady!).

You might recall I scored a batch o vintage patterns this summer that just happened to be in my size. I decided to use the one above...with much anticipation. I've never heard good things about Vague, er, Vogue patterns and, I gotta say, with good reason. I mean, I thought Mrs. Butterick was bad. She at least talked to me. Vogue just uses pictures, arrows and a couple line drawings of the middle finger. It's most off-putting. Thankfully, this pattern was pretty self-explanatory, so my wee brain was able to manage.

 I really loved the dress on the envelope with the butterfly border fabric so I used the crayons as the boarder to the chevron. I was a little concerned that so much blue zigzag would be boring and toyed around with other fabric choices. In the end, I decided that having the zigzags run in different directions would be twofold terrificness: horizontals to accentuate and verticals to elongate. Wow, that sentence made me sound all smart -n- stuff. Maybe I'll include that in my lesson plan. Oh! By the way, crayon shoe DIY here. Cuz I know you're dying to make your own. Double Oh! More about my Art History Wall here.

 Just a coupla books I plan on reading whilst wearing said dress. See, I did plan. A little. 

Have ya'll read these? Love 'em.

 And there you have it! One Crayon Dress complete(-ly crazy. You're welcome, children.)

 And now, lemme giveaway some stuff! I have a coupla odd-shaped yards of this crayon fabric (due to cutting to create the border) and this super rad vintage box of Crayola crayons in hardly-used condition. The fabric would make great quilting squares, classroom curtains, underwear, the possibilities are endless. To enter, all you gotta do is leave a comment about what you'd do with either the crayons, the fabric or both! International friends, you are always welcome to join the fun. I'll throw all ya'll's names in a jar and announce the winner sometime next week. When I've finished writing my lesson plans.

Until then, lemme hear from you and enjoy the rest of your week!

What the Art Teacher Wore #72

Hello, Final Summer Monday: Yep, that's right. Come tomorrow, we'll be back to school. Thankfully we've got a couple more days to get our act together before the kids return. Oh, and speaking of kids, tomorrow is Meet-the-Teacher night which is always super fun. And I totally spent the majority of the weekend working on a dress for the occasion. More on that soonish. dress: vintage, DIY-update by me; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing (I wear this thing TOO MUCH); shoes: thrifted Crocs (that's right, I said Crocs, can you believe it?)

What is up, ya'll? It finally stopped raining here (it's seriously been the rainiest summer ever in Tennessee. And that's great, I can dig it, but my yard looks like a Chia Pet on 'roids. Which sounds way cooler than it looks. Imagine Carrot Top's hair as a yard. Got that in your mind's eye? I told ya it wasn't pretty). 

So I was able to tackle said Rainforest Cafe Yard this morning and was almost finished when the neighbor's super-friendly, always-on-the-lamb golden retriever decided to drop by for a "Hey, whatcha doin'? It looks like fun! Can I help? Oh, wait, I gotta pee. On your mailbox. Okay, I'm back! Whatcha doin' now? Before you tell me, can I sniff your privates? Please?! Because that would be awesome. Oh, wait, I gotta pooh. Right where you haven't mowed yet. Be right back!"

And, when he returned, that sweet pup proceeded to drool the slimiest of drool all down my leg. Guh, just the thought still makes me do a little dry heavin'. So I've still got a pinch of yard work to complete. And for that reason, Ima gonna hafta to keep this post a pinch less long-winded than most. You're welcome.

Oh! And I'm including an artist along with my outfits this week! I used to be so good at that and then I, well, went on summer vacay and turned my brain off. I love the work of Hokusai so I thought I'd share it wit ya this week. Enjoy and I'll be back soonish!

The Great Wave off Kanagawa (aka The Wave), circa 1830 - 33, Katsushika Hokusai. So, when I think of Hokusai, I think of The Wave. This work was the first in his series of woodblock prints titled Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. This work, like most of Hokusai's wood block prints, is an example of Ukiyo-e art. Translated, that means "pictures of the floating world" and in you-and-me terms, that means works of art created between the 17th - 20th centuries with landscape motifs. Or big fat wave motifs. Either one.

Self-Portrait in the Age of an Old Man, Hokusai. Katsushika (best name ever) Hokusai lived from 1760 - 1849. And in that time, he became one of the most outstanding creators of Ukiyo-e with his woodblock prints and paintings. During his lifetime, block printing was a new thing that he obviously took to. Dude created around 30,000 block prints during his lifetime.

My First Handmade Dress Tuesday: I found this forgotten dress in the back of my closet the other day and had to get it out. I sewed it about 5 years ago and it was my first wearable garment. It's actually based off a prairie style skirt. All I did was pull the thing up to cover my lady-bits and add shoulder straps. Without the belt, it's a total tent but that's just between you and me. sweater, yellow necklace: thrifted; shoes: Crocs; hair flower and dress: made by me

South Wind, Clear Sky. Another one of Hokusai's Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji. This series of prints is really what catapulted Hokusai to fame during his lifetime. He was already well-known in his home country of Japan. But when copies of these prints traveled abroad, his work became widely recognized and appreciated. Among his most famous fans? Vincent van Gogh.

Catching Up with Friends Wednesday: And by "catching up" I mean "putting them to work". Two of my buddies helped me put up that Anthro tree (which seriously has a Little Shop of Horrors feel to it), another took some bottle caps off my hands and then I grabbed dinner with my future student teacher. Who will be put to serious work, muhahaha. I got a car that desperately needs a washin'. dress and sweater: thrifted; belt: H&M; sandals: Chacos

Lilies. I love Hokusai's work but I really got a think for his flowers. Especially this piece. I do believe that blue in the background is my favorite color. I love everything about this work of art.

Back at It Thursday: Our first days back to school involve lots of sitting. So here I am practicing. Sunglasses are excellent at meetings because they hide eye-rolling and sleeping. Now if I could just work on that mouth-hanging-open/snoring part, I'd probably have a lot more people fooled. dress: DIY here

Goten-yama Hill. Again, I love the color palette. Those blues with the pink, my fave.

Fun Friday: I really work at the best school ever. It was our first day back in our school building as a team and it felt so nice to catch up with everyone. We had some long-time staff members chat with us on the history of our school and it was goose-bumpy good. It definitely made me excited (ish) to be back. dress: thrifted; belt: Anthro; shoes: Frye; flower: made by me; necklace: ancient Target

Cranes. Look at how beautiful and perfect those cranes are. And to think they were created with just a few simple brush strokes. Brush paintings really seem to have the idea of "less is more" down, don't you think? It looks so simple yet it takes a lifetime to be able to paint like this.

DIY: Butterick, Who's Yo Mama?

You ever have one of those annoying sensations that just won't go away? You know, like a little tickle in the small of your back that you can't seem to reach or one of those rouge runaway hairs you feel somewhere on your face but you just can't find. OR, this one's the worst, what about a wedgie that manages to get more friendly than a proctologist?

 Oh, oops. Did I just go too far? Or maybe too close to home. I promise I didn't know this post was gonna head south so quickly when I began. My bad.

But I tell you I was going somewhere (other than south) with that there intro. Because this Red Hot Vintage Floral Fabric has been that unreachable itch, that fantom hair, that borderline sexual harassment wedgie all summer long.

Seriously. It started way back in May when I was working on my Star Wars dress. I spied this lovely piece peaking out from my Mount Fujiyama o' Fabric. And it was all, "Hey! Look at me. I'm gorgeous." and I'm like, "Wow, you are pretty sweet. But doncha think calling yourself 'gorgeous' is a little, I don't know, arrogant?" To which the fabric was like, "Look, if you don't think you are up to workin' with somethin' as amazing as me, that's fine. But let's not pretend I wouldn't make a pretty smokin' dress."

And that there sparked the unrelenting urge to find the perfect pattern to marry with this beautiful, albeit a pinch egomaniacal, fabric. 

(BTW, have you noticed just how much time I spend talking to inadament objects? Dunno what I'm talking about? What about here, here and, oh man, here. Geez, I need to get out more. Or start taking my meds. That'd probably help.)

After some serious online pattern digging, I found The Perfect Partner for my Red Hot Vintage Floral. I mean, look at that cut, that detail at the neckline, that big-drapey-hankie-thingie. It was like a match made in sewing heaven.

Then I saw it. The name of the maker at the top of the pattern envelope. And I went all Jerry Seinfeld and spit out the words with such venom and hate that I almost scared myself:

"BUTTERICK!"

That's right. The above is an accurate portrayal of my relationship with Butterick. You might recall my ever-so-slight (ha!) frustration with said pattern-maker here. In fact, I do believe I made that scrunched-up, buck-toothed mouse face complete with Wicked Witch of the West hands more than a dozen times whilst attempting to solve the riddle that is a Butterick pattern. And every time it stared right back at me with those dead-Newman-esque eyes and that smirky smile. Oh, how I loathe thee, Butterick.

(BTW, not that it would ever happen anyway, but I'm almost positive that these blatant Butterick-hatred posts are gonna make it so said pattern-making company never contacts me for an endorsement. Whatcha think?)

My frustration over the vaugeness of the directions became so great that I even started fantasizing about tracking down ole Mrs. B and asking her why, just why were her designs so great and her directions so bad. And then I realized that this pattern is super old and that I'd probably have to find Mrs. Butterick Junior if I wanted any sort of contact with my nemesis. And THEN I realized that she'd probably be just as cryptic with directions to her house (because I wanna see this evil face-to-face...which makes me think I shoulda titled this post "Butterick, WHERE'S Yo Mama?") as her maw was with sewing steps: "Oh, you know. Just drive a while and then turn at that stoplight. The one on that corner. It's a white house. On a street. With a yard. You'll find it if you're not an idiot..."

BUTTERICK!

Or, rather: BUTTERICK, JUNIOR!

One particularly difficult evening whilst attempting that big-drapey-hankie-thingie, I decided to google this pattern and see if anyone out there might have a word of advice (or an address, perhaps). And that's when I found her: Professor Pincushion. In this 80 minute tutorial, she walks you through the entire pattern and explains every single step. It was like the heavens opened up and I could hear the angels sing (which, it turns out, they like to sing G'n'R. I KNOW RIGHT, how rad is that?!) That's not even a joke, she's really that awesome. AND she's got these amazing sparkly gold fingernails that she  uses to accentuate her explanations which I have likened to Glenda the Good Witch. If she were only a set of nails.

Now I gotta admit, I still had to watch her create that big-drapey-hankie-thingie about two or twenty times before I got it. Which made me think that ole Prof Pincush could really make it big if, after a dozen replays, she could just reach her Glenda nails through the screen and do the hard stuff for you. Seriously. Are you listening, Professor? Because if this idea appears in your next tutorial, Ima gonna expect some royalties.

All moaning and groaning aside, I am pretty excited about this dress. Even with help, this pattern definitely was a challenge that put my severe lack of skills to the test. I still can't believe I managed to pull it off. With a whole lotta thanks to Professor Pincushion. And now that that annoying wedgie is finally released (ewww, sorry! But I had to do some sort of tie in with the beginning of this post. It's called Closure, reader. Deal wit it), I've two other dress-itches that I gotta scratch. Both involve amazing art-teachery fabric that I'm super stoked about. AND speaking of Super Stoked...

Me and my nutty outfits have found their place in SchoolArts Magazine! If you are an art teacher, then you know this is one of the best art education mags out there. AND, if you found this blog because of the magazine, welcome! I promise this blog is normally about much more than wedgies (haha, no it's not). For diy-details on the outfits above, just click on the following linky-loos: Applique Pencil Skirt; Gnome Dress; Embroidered Eiffel Tower; Paris Dress; Painterly Dress; and, lastly, Crayon Felted Hat and Skirt (with painted shoes!).

Stay tuned for some upcoming photos of my nearly complete art room!

What the Art Teacher Wore #71

I have no idea what's happening here. More than likely I'm trying to suppress a fart because hubs was in the background making dinner and his gross-out-tolerance is extraordinarily low. Which is unfortunate for him, being married to a fart-in-the-kitchen-whilst-preparing-dinner dame like me. dress: The Limited (I know, right!); cumberbun: gift from a friend; crinoline: picked up at Pre-to-Post Modern in Nashville; shoes: Sofft; necklace: vintage Target

Ya'll've (yes, I just invented a new contraction: you, all and have. Deal wit it) heard of Shark Week, right? Well, with hubs on vacation last week, it was Hubs Week at Casa de Cassie. Which was awesome because we got to spend so much time together (well, okay, "awesome" might be a bit of an exaggeration. A week is a really long time) and we got so much done. For example, we managed to watch every episode of Naked and Afraid (are you watching this? You really should be because it rocks). Now, if you're like me, when you heard that title you had flashbacks of the time the electricity went out in JCPenny's while you were trying on bathing suits...very frightening and naked. Kid ya not. Thankfully, that's not what this show is about. It's a reality survival show that features a nude guy and gal who are stranded on a remote location for 21 days with only one item of their choosing. After watching back to back 'sodes, hubs and I already know what we'd take: a keg and a hot tub. Duh. 

Other than that, we went to the movies, visited friends and fam and just plain relaxed. It was a lovely week that just zipped by at the speed of a flying squirrel (more on that shortly). And now, it's back to reality. Hubs has returned to work and I go back to school on...Wednesday. This Wednesday, people! And I can't...stop...crying. Tears of joy, of course. Big fat hairy tears of...joy.

Until I stop sobbing, I hope you have a super groovy week. Chat soon!

A coupla years ago, hubs decided he wanted to grow some fruit in our front flower bed. Which would be great if it wasn't The Front FLOWER Bed. Not like that matters as flowers have been refusing to last more than a week up in dat bed for as long as I can remember (which could have something to do with the fact that I'm like the Grim Reaper Gardener). So hubs stuck some strawberry plants and a blackberry bush in the ground. This year we've finally been able to get to the blackberries before our furry friends and have been munching on these lovelies for weeks. We couldn't figure out just who was eating up our strawberries until we came home to a skunk with a mouthful of berries and a tail raised and ready to rip, not unlike me in the top photo. To which we said, "We're good, skunk. You enjoy those berries, they's all yours."

Would you take a look at this super sweet photo-bomber? We're attempting to put this big ole gal on another diet...we've gotten a bit outta control giving her our table scraps (which include ice cream, cheese, yogurt and grits. Yes, grits. She's a Southern cat, after all). dress: BCBG; sweater: thrifted, Banana Republic; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; bow pin: Sweet Katie from The Little Red Squirrel!; shoes: Crocs...they've become my go-to shoe for all of this rain we've been having

Okay, dudes, quiz time. Do you know what this is...? And don't be all Mr./Mrs. Obvious and say, "Duh, Cassie, it's a squirrel." Because, I can assure you, after witnessing it flying up to the bird house and zip into it at the speed of light, it is not (and by "witnessing", I mean hubs saw it happen and told me all about it. And, unlike myself, he's not inclined to tell tall-tales or fart in the kitchen. Which I bet is mighty uncomfortable for him. The no-farting not the no-lying.)

I mean, it's totally not a regular squirrel, look at those crazy pupils. I had to tiptoe up to the house and hold the camera at arms-length just to get a good photo of the little guy. I woulda gotten closer but I had visions of him flying out of the house and attaching himself to my face and sucking my brain out thru my eyeballs. Because that's what flying squirrels do, right? Hence the dilated pupils.

Another photo-bomber who actually closely resembles the Unabomber, strangely enough. Funny-ish story, hubs and I were out recently when I overheard a woman say, "Oh, I love your sandals." Now, I'm not gonna lie, you dress crazy for a little while and you get rather used to folk commentin' on your duds (my fave, "Do you always dress like that?!") My response to the sweet lady was "Oh! Thank you!" only to discover she was talking to hubs about his hippie rope sandals. Hubs looked at me and said, "She was talking to me. It's not always about you. I look cute too." Indeed. dress: Tennessee Antique Mall

Definitely, um, cute.

Even though hubs had the week off, I had to get into my art room and work just a pinch. I managed to wash Paris off my windows and begin knockin' out my latest theme. I'm still far from finished but it sure made me sleep a little better at night to get some work done. dress: The Hip Zipper, Nashville; headband: Pangea, Nashville

Hubs and I took a mini-road trip to visit some friends in Knoxville, Tennessee. Whenever we are there, I gotta stop into my two fave vintage joints, Nostalgia and Four Seasons Vintage which are conveniently close together. I love this collection of salt and pepper shakers...but I scored my own collection at the thrift store just before droppin in here.

 I love a vintage joint with a shop kitty, don't you? This one cracked up me, I'd never seen a cat scoop water up and drink it that way. With this kind of talent I now understand why the restroom door had to remain closed. Wouldn't wanna interrupt a scoop-n-drink of toilet water.

So I've gotten like super lazy with my hair-stylin's of late. This is what happens when I wash my hair and decide to attempt Heidi braids: I end up with 1980's anchor man hair. Which is totally making a comeback so don't you knock it. dress: vintage; belt: gift; owl sandals and sweater: Anthro

Well, it doesn't look like this anymore because today I finished this beast! Although, just looking at this half finished monster, any idea where I'm taking the kids in art class this year...?

In the Art Room: Tennessee Arts Academy

Can you believe this gorgeous ceramic pieces? It was created during a class taught by Denise Ertler who is the professional development coordinator for Mayco, my fave glaze company. You can find tons of amazing ceramic lessons here.

 Every summer I'm super lucky in that I get to help out at Tennessee Arts Academy (they call me a "facilitator" because pain-in-the-a## was taken). If you've been hanging with me on this here blog since last summer (for which I thank you and I gotta ask, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!), you might recall this post in which I gushed over the Academy. Well, this post will involve a whole lot more rambling and a peek inside the creation of these marvelous pieces. None of which were created by me except for that just-started piece at the bottom of this post. I have this weird thing where I can't seem to get anything done when I attend the Academy. And by "weird thing" I mean an inability to shut up when I'm around other art teachers. I just love chatting with like-minded weirdos! Part of the reason I spend so much time talking to myself. But whateves, let's talk about the amazing Denise Ertler and her ceramic lessons.

So Mayco makes these things called ceramic canvases which is a bisque fired canvas-esque surface for you to go crazy on. During Denise's lesson, she taught the participants how to glaze a scene onto the surface with Stroke and Coat (not the best name but, seriously, The Best Glaze Ever). Once the painting was complete, the participants sculpted lil whatevers out of low-fire clay. These were then placed onto the ceramic surface and left to dry. Once fired (a low fire of cone 06), the hand built pieces adhere to the canvas and look like the image at the top of the post. Nutz, right? I love it. Even if you couldn't afford the canvas, I'm thinking this same concept could be done on a slab of clay, don't you think?

Mayco also makes these bisque dinner plates. Which makes me totally wanna make my own dinner plates partly because that'd be awesome and the other partly because my paper plates do not wash easily. They make the biggest mess in the dishwasher eve-rrr.

 I really love this project. The above piece is unfired but I thought I'd share it with you so I could better explain the process. The surface was glazed with two coats of brown underglaze. A stencil was then created with fuzzy string, twine, whatever you got on hand. Once the underglaze dried, Stroke and Coat was added in any variety of colors, painting right over the string. Once dry, the string was removed, the piece was covered in clear glaze and fired. I love the layers of color you can see in the finished glazed piece.

Here's another one of those clay canvas thingies. I like the square format of this one, don't you? This was created with a pen called Designer Liner and all I gotta say about this pen is WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I WAS ATTEMPTING THIS, huh?! ANYway, this was done directly on the canvas, color was added and then a coupla coats of clear glaze finished it off.

Do all ya'll art teachers know Peggy Flores? I know I just heard a resounding "YES!" because if you said, "no...?" then you have either been living under a rock (which sounds mighty cramped but I hear the temperatures are nice) or you just didn't know you know Peggy Flores. What in the world am I talking about? (geez, how many times in a day do I get asked that question!) Well, she's the lady behind the art instruction videos created by Crystal Productions. I have this metal tooling video in my collection and love it!

Another one of her lessons is the folded paper project. I wasn't in Peggy's class so I don't know the details of the project but I love the three-dimensional aspect of the piece. It adds a whole new layer to a collage project.

I know Peggy offers a paper mola video. Again, I didn't take this class, so I don't know the details but you better bet my kids will be making one of these when we "travel" to South America.

David Christiana was our awesome instructor for a two-day illustration type class. If you aren't familiar with David's work, go here and be prepared to be amazed. His work is stunning and he was just the nicest guy to have as an instructor. Now the above may look like your typical grid project but what made it different was the fact that it was a lesson on value and mark making. Each pieces was made on clayboard (have you ever worked on this stuff? It's got a smooth as silk surface on masonite) and created with a combination of pen and ink, pencil and charcoal.

The other project created in his class (which my camera ran outta juice before I could snap photos of) was one he titled Castle-ness. I loved this project (even though I failed to produce anything because of my aforementioned blabber-mouth-itus). He had us all brainstorm words that we felt described castles. So we said things like your typical stuff like stone, massive, drawbridge, etc. Then we dug deeper and came up with fortress, safety, power, greed, your mama (not really, just seeing if you were paying attention). After that brainstormin session, we were to come up with a brief description of either ourselves or someone close to us. With those two groups of words in mind, we came up with a drawing called Castle-ness: A castle idea but much more. I think I can use the brainstorming ideas with my wee ones.

I learned so much from Nicole Briscoe about inspiring creativity in young artists. Nicole teaches high school artists but many of the ideas that she shared I could easily see bringing to my elementary art room. The above is a display of projects from both Peggy's class and Nicole's. Oh! And you can also see some of the pen and ink Castle-ness drawings from David's class.

 Here's what I loved about Nicole's class: the drawing prompts. She have us giant sheets of lovely thick paper (I dunno, thick ole drawing paper, maybe? You know, the stuff that's not in my wee elementary budget) and, seriously, 25 prompts. Things like: a contour drawing; write a letter to yourself in 50 years; write your 5 core beliefs; draw a self-portrait; draw a tool (I drew my lipstick because I am a tool); do a value study; draw patterns; movement, etc. You can find a ton of her prompts and other great ideas for inspiring creativity in your art room here.

 So, now dontcha wish youda gone to Tennessee Arts Academy? Anyone can go, not just Tennesseans. All you gotta do is apply (like, in October, it fills up fast). Get your school to chip in on some of the cost and rack up the professional development hours -- 36 hours to be exact. AND, if you go, I'll show you my totally rad food processing blade scar. I KNOW, RIGHT?! Now you GOTTA go. Okay, I'll stop shouting. 

Hope your week's a great one! I hope to be back soon with a freshly finished DIY. Later!