DIY: A Pee-Wee Herman Baby Shower!

Come on in, and pull yourself up a chair (like Chairry!)
Let the fun begin, it's time to let down your hair!
Pee-Wee's so excited,
'cause all his friends have been invited (that's you!)
To go wacky, at Pee-Wee's Playhouse! *

Hey, kids! Whatcha see here is one of the most bad a## baby showers this side of puppet land: A Pee-Wee Herman Baby Shower! That's right, ya'll. When my best bud (who happens to be a super fantastical art teacher) shared that she was expecting, we -- along with another art teacher buddy -- decided that the theme should be a common bond of ours: Our Love of All-Things Pee-Wee!

Did ya'll watch Pee-Wee's Playhouse ** as a kid? I admit, I wasn't a kid when the show was in it's prime but a teen with a penchant for all-things-kitsch. I spent my Saturday mornings watching it with my kid bro, cracking up at the cast's insane antics. That show has had a huge influence on my crazy-art-teacher style and I strive to be Pee-Wee-esque on a daily basis in my art room ('twas the reason I started the Word of the Week!). So when we settled on a Pee-Wee Herman baby shower theme, I was beyond excited to play hostess!

Because we also have a love for the movie Pee-Wee's Big Adventure *** (just watched it the other day, ya'll. Still as amazingly awesome as ever!) this shower was a combo Playhouse/Big Adventure. My mom, an avid bike-rider and bike-stuff collector, really came through with some bike-themed decor. That's her image hanging on my front door!

I'm pretty sure the whole shebang woulda made Pee-Wee proud. Or at least have him making this face.

Now, this party was not without some work on the part of me and my co-host and fellow art teacher Stephanie. She created these amazing signs that greeted baby-mama and guests as they entered the shower. Aren't they the best things ever?! My favorite part is Randy and his mis-matched nostrils, ha-ha (read in your best Pee-Wee laugh).

While Stephanie and I were plotting and planning, we decided to dress as characters from the show. She settled on Pee-Wee while I decided to dress as my all-time favorite femme fatale, Miss Yvonne. Now, if Ima gonna be totes honest with ya'll, I gotta admit Miss Yvonne is my fashion icon. Seriously. I mean, what's not to love? Big hair, big, um, skirt, big flirty personality, she's got it all! I've always loved her the bestest.

But I just didn't have the right dress. That is until I remembered this 1991 prom number of mine. That's right, kids, I still have my prom dress. Along with photographic evidence of a bad perm and a prom date who thought a stone-washed jeans/tux combo was the sh$$. Now before you go all, "OMG, you can still fit into your prom dress?!", let's take a look at this dress, shall we? It's only fitted through the bodice with a nice open skirt for the girth that has become my hips. I never did manage to fill out that bodice despite sleeping with my training bra under my pillow since age 13. Boobie Fairy, why hast thou forsaken me?! Lil known fact: did ya'll know I went to prom with Abe Lincoln? Just kidding, he opted to go to the theatre that night.

Now a pure white dress just wouldn't do for Miss Yvonne. I mean, did you see that cleavage -- she's  no angel, ya'll. So I gave that dress a make-over with a bath of Procion's robin's egg blue dye. And I'm so excited about the results, I might have to find me another prom date! Anyone know here Lincoln went after that theater production? He's not returning my calls. 

Stephanie (aka Pee-Wee) and I came up with a magnificent munchie menu that went a lil something like this: mac -n- cheez, basil-moz-tomato sammies, crackers made to resemble Pee-Wee's iconic suit -n- tie and Playhouse-themed cuppie-cakes!

This wee arrangement greeted guests when they entered the kitchen. My mom gave me the go-ahead to spray paint her mini-bike red (looks way better, ya'll). I sketched up the cupcake decor, made a buncha copies, colored 'em in and glued a flat wooden stick to the back. I had fun looking up lines from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure...although I can't believe I forgot, "I love that story!". Oh well, next Pee-Wee Party!

Now I've never thrown a baby shower before and I've only attended one (I just don't get asked to these sorts of things. Never been in a wedding either...and for that I count my lucky stars!) so I was kinda just making it up as I went a long. I knew that we should have some sort of craft as most of the guests were art teachers. So in the dining room, I set up a coupla stations (the fact that I just used the word "station" gives away that I'm a teacher, doesn't it?!): a onesie decorating area and a scrapbook decorating activity.

I always loved Jambi and secretly make wishes to him on a daily basis. Why "I wish to live in an ice cream truck" hasn't happened yet, I've no idea. In the basket, I stitched up a buncha little draw string bags (have ya'll ever made those before? I snapped a how-to picks for a future DIY post if ya'll are interested) and placed a wee onesie inside. Stephanie came through with an assortment of fabric markers that were great. So that the drawn image wouldn't go through to the back of the onesie, I cut thick paper to be placed inside the onesie while working. These turned out so amazingly cute, ya'll, but you'll have to take my word for it. We were all so busy crafting, I forgot to snap photos!

Don't you love those sweet flowers from the Playhouse? Stephanie created 'em outta felt and I totally want to make some for my art room. While I was working on this party, I watched an amazing documentary on Wayne White called Beauty is Embarrassing. If you've not seen it, you really should check it out. Wayne was one of the puppeteers from Playhouse and did voices for several characters including one of the flowers. 

For the party, Stephanie had the great idea of a photo booth. We decided to have the photos in an album to give to Mallory (aka Baby Mama) along with some sweet scrapbook'ed notes from us. So after onesie making, we stamped, glued and drew ourselves silly. Speaking of silly...

Holy cow, was that photo booth a ball! I had a buncha props like hats, glasses and scarves while Stephanie had some cute handmade ones. Hubs got me a remote control camera clicker (I'm sure there's a better name but I'm sticking with that one) for Christmas and it was perfect! I just set the thing on "continuous" and snapped over 100 photo booth pics.

My fave photos are the outtakes. This one of my sweet former student teacher ('member her?!) and Mallory is one of my faves. By the way, wish Rebecca luck, she just landed her first art teaching gig in Salt Lake City! She's gonna be fantastical!

For present-opening time, I just knew we'd have to have a Chairry! He came together super fast: just covered an armchair in blue fabric, added the felt mouth and attach the goggly eyes. The funny thing is, Malloy had given me those goggly eyes for my birthday!

Stephanie did an awesome job creating the wallhangings in the background. I spy Mr. Kite, Clocky, Mr. Window and Terry! AND, I dunno if you noticed, but Mallory's shirt is the door to Pee-Wee's Playhouse! She felted it just for the occasion. WHO MAKES A SHIRT FOR THEIR BABY SHOWER?! This awesome lady. That bunting was stitched up by me and was the simplest thing ever: get yerself some quilt binding, cut some triangles, pin 'em inside the binding and stitch. Cake.

Here's one of the prezzies I made for Lil Miss Lydia Dot. Stay tuned for the Pee-Wee bibs I created too! I'll share that with ya'll later this week.

I'm thinkin' Chairry had a good time...although, he looks like he's had a few too many, dontcha think?

It was such a super fun shower for one super awesome friend that I'd do it again tomorrow. And everyday after that. Although I don't know if hubs would agree.

But I bet I know one guy that would!

Thanks for dropping buy this photo-heavy post, ya'll! I hope you enjoyed hearing about it as much as we did putting it together! Stay tuned for one more Pee-Wee post soon! 

Until then, I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I!?

* Pee-Wee's Playhouse Fun Fact: The theme song for Pee-Wee's Playhouse was both written and sung by the one and only Cyndi Lauper! Take a listen here.

** Many a folk got their start on Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Probably the most famous one was Laurence Fishburne who starred as the always-county-always-polite Cowboy Curtis. But did you know that Rob Zombie served as a production assistant? Or that Jimmy Smits played a mechanic (for a hot minute)? Of course, Phil Hartman was Captain Carl and a writer for the show. The list goes on...

*** Pee-Wee's Big Adventure was directed by non-other than Tim Burton! He'd just been fired from Disney (what?! silly mouse!) after creating a lil film known as Frankenweenie. Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee) saw the film and asked Burton to direct his movie...which lead to Beetlejuice that lead to Batman and Tim Burton Fame -n- Fortune. Thanks, Pee-Wee!

What the Art Teacher Wore #104 and Let's Book Club, Ya'll!

I'm-a-Total-Fake Monday: Ya'll, don't let this photo fool you. I didn't wear this on Monday as I was in my pajamas feverishly stitching up my Frida Frock. I just so happened to have worn this a coupla weeks ago and never shared it with ya'll. Cuz I just don't think we're at that point in our relationship for you to see me in my Walmart-wear (aka, my jammie-jams). dress: vintage; belts and sandals: Anthropologie

 Hey, friends! Thank you for all the love on the Rambo Meets Frida Frock. It was a whole lotta fun to make even if it did challenge my weak sewing abilities. When that bad boy was complete, I spent the rest of my week catching up with my roomies from the NAEA convention in San Diego, playing tourist-in-my-own-town with my art teacher buds and teaching a Felted Pet Portrait class at The Skillery! It was another packed summer week and, although I'm pretty pooped, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Speaking of packed, let's just throw one more thing into the mix, shall we? A while back, many of ya'll joined the Artsy Book Club. If ya'll aren't familiar, I suggested some titles, took a poll and we settled on the artsy read One Drawing a Day. I really enjoyed the book (and I know many of ya'll did as well based on all the drawings you posted on the Facebook page) but in the end, I just couldn't keep up. Instead of simply sketching the "assignments", I would spend an hour plus each evening. I enjoyed it a whole heck of a lot and was beyond inspired by what ya'll shared...but in the end, I just couldn't give up that much of my sewing/crafting/felting/watching-survival-shows-with-the-hubs time. So, sadly, I let the whole thing go. And I feel pretty bad about that because we had such a fun little family of support and creativity going on! So, if ya'll are in, I propose we give it another go!

I've slapped together some books that I'd love to read from all walks of literary life: a coupla how-to's, an inspirational teaching book, an uber-famous art book and one from Disney. I've created a poll (look right, ya'll) so if you're interested, you can cast your vote for the one that piques your interest. I'll keep voting open for a coupla days and I'll announce our book club winner later this week. 

Until then, check out these titles and have a super fab week, kids!

The Imagineering Workout by Disney Imagineers, 2005 Here's a summary from amazon: You've been told how to think "out of the box," and even been told to throw the box away, but really, isn't it time someone taught you how to create your own box in the first place? The Imagineering Workout: Exercises to Shape your Creative Muscles, will do just that, with interactive, ingenious, and practical exercises that will stimulate your imagination, tone your creative muscles, strengthen ideas, and, most importantly, inspire new approaches. The Imagineering Workout is for anyone who wants to learn new ways to problem-solve challenges, whether they're creative, logic-oriented, everyday, or event-inspired. The ingredients Imagineers use are simple and contain a large measurement of fun, which contributes to shapelier thinking and stronger solutions.

No Excuses Tuesday: Errand-running demanded I actually look human and leave the house.  I was all, "whuh? what's with all the sunlight and people?!". After having spent all Monday at home, I felt a lil vampire-esque finally leaving the house. I'm a homebody so I was glad when the running-around was over and I could return to my sewing lair. dress: vintage; sweater: thrifted; shoes: Anthro; bow and belt: dunno

Printmaking Unleashed, Traci Bautista, 2014 Not gonna lie, this one totally has me interested. Here's the down low: Unleash your inner artist and join Traci Bautista as she shares inventive ideas for making marks with handmade tools, nontraditional materials and simple DIY printmaking techniques. Pulsing with exploration and whimsy, Printmaking Unleashed features 60+ step-by-step demonstrations and countless possibilities for creating original prints, fabrics, art journal pages, mixed-media collage, and so much more.

Wednesday Wannabe: I'm such a sewing wannabe. Did ya'll check out those other sewing blogs in the Frida post? I wish those chics were my neighbors, as I'd be at their house getting help all the time! 

Paint Mojo, Tracy Verdugo, 2014 Deets: Break free of your comfort zone, sharpen your senses to perceive the world around you and find happiness in play. On this painterly journey, Tracy Verdugo leads you from self-doubt to self-appreciation by helping you find your voice through a myriad of vibrantly-hued mark making, painting and self-reflection techniques. There are no mistakes here, only opportunities to learn and grow.

"I LIKE YOUR DRESS!" Thursday: I was on my way to meet up with some buddies when my wee your-a##-is-outta-gas light popped on. As I was filling up my tank, the gas station attendant lady got on the intercom and shouted, "I like your dress!". Being embarrassingly flattered as I was, all I was able to do was shout back a weak, "thanks!" and a wave. It truly made my day. dress: vintage; shoes: old, Target; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing

Teach like a Pirate, Dave Burgess, 2012 I actually have started this book but since hubs has hijacked my kindle, I've yet to finish. It's a great read, super inspiring. Here's what amazon says: Based on Dave Burgess's popular "Outrageous Teaching" and "Teach Like a PIRATE" seminars, this book offers inspiration, practical techniques, and innovative ideas that will help you to increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator. You'll learn how to: • Tap into and dramatically increase your passion as a teacher • Develop outrageously engaging lessons that draw students in like a magnet • Establish rapport and a sense of camaraderie in your classroom • Transform your class into a life-changing experience for your students.

Nashville Tourist Friday: I don't "do" N'ville enough. It's so much fun with friends. In case you find yourself in my neck of the woods (gimme a shout, ya'll!), here's what we did that was totes 'tactical: Eighth and Roast (you could cut the hipster air with a chainsaw but the service was super and the coffee, dreamy); The Fabric Studio (gah, the most gorgeous prints ever and the owner was super sweet); The Haus of Yarn (offers an amazing selection of yarn and a decent amount of wool roving); The Hip Zipper (vintage clothing on a budget); Fannie's House of Music (don't let the name fool you, the have a good selection of vintage clothing too!); I Dream of Weenie was our lunch spot and they offered veggie dogs! Don't make that face, they were delish!; Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream...so amazing, gah; Tatyana's Vintage-Inspired Clothing (my buddies and I have been dying to go there...and, while the clothing was amazing, the customer service was unbearably rude. We left empty-handed, sigh.) Can you believe we did all that in one day?! When it comes to shopping and eating, we totally got this. dress: vintage

The Art Spirit, Robert Henri I talked about Henri and this book here.  I've never read it but it's like a staple in the art book world. Details: The Art Spirit represents the best of the collected words, teachings, and letters of inspired artist and teacher Robert Henri. Filled with valuable technical advice as well as wisdom about the place of art and the artist in American society, this classic work continues t be a must-read for all aspiring artists and lovers of art. --Publisher's description.

DIY: Rambo Meets Frida Kahlo Dress

 Hola, cats and kittens! Whatcha see here is one unibrowed lady that has finished her Rambo dress! What in tarnation is a Rambo dress, you ask? (FYI, no one says "tarnation" anymore, you might wanna update your vocab. You sound like Yosemite Sam and not in a good way.) Well, lemme tell ya. It all started a lil while back when SeamstressErin asked me, ME, if I'd like to participate in a sew-a-long. 

Ya'll. In case you didn't know this, sew-a-longs are for people who can actually sew. But I digress.

 According to Erin, she'd managed to get her kitten mittens on all of the turbans worn in the movie Rambo III. You can see 'em on the dudes below. Look, turban-ie!

 Her idea? To send a buncha bloggers a turban and see just what they would stitch up. It's been super fun (and totes intimidating!) to see what those sewers created. I've added a linky-loo to each at the bottom of this post so you can see for yo'self.

 When my turban arrived in the mail, it was magical. KIDS, this turban has been in the presence of Sylvester Stallone. He probably, like, looked at it! He mighta even, I dunno, stood near the dude wearing it. In fact, I'm willing to say he was all, "Man, that is a super sweet turban. The best outta all of them. Can I just, you know, wipe my brow on it?" 

AH! My turban has sweet Stallone sweat all over it! That would explain the smell. Actually, it smelled like camels when I ironed it. Which could only mean one thing: When Stallone sweats, he sweats camels, ya'll. Like a boss.

Now, as some of ya'll know, I love to create clothing inspired by either works of art or the artist themselves (check out my Campbell's Soup Can Dress, The Great Wave Frock, my light up Starry Night Dress,  The Scream Dress, a Jackson Pollock-y Number and my tribute to the surrealist Rene Magritte). So when I started thinking of ideas for this dress, I happened to be working on that stenciled and embroidered piece below. It totally reminded me of the artist Frida Kahlo (who has been in my mind a lot thanks to Natalie Friedl!). When I happened to lay the embroidery on top of the turban I was all "EUREKA! I love them together!" and my Rambo meets Frida Kahlo dress was born (still workin' name: Fr-rambo Frock? Frida Kahlo-ambo? It's a work in progress). 

By the way, don't you love how it looks like Frida is givin' ole Sly the side-eye. She's all, "Ummm-hmmm. I bet he sweats camels."

Oh, Frida, you so crazy.

Since this turban was based on Rambo the third, I decided to use three patterns. Actually, that's a lie. I decided to use three patterns because I'm an idiot. But I really liked the bodice of Simplicity 0320, the midriff of Simplicity 8087 and the flounce -n- skirt of Butterick 5880. Now, some of you know how deep my hatred of Butterick runs. Deep. It was about this time last summer that we battled it out during the making of this dress. Once again, like last time, I relied heavily on my pretend BFF Professor Pincushion. For any of you sewers out there that don't have a clue (like myself), this lady's youtube tutorials are a sewing-lifesaver. 

Putting this number together was not without it's share of seam ripping and swearing. Can you really do one without the other? First of all, getting that bodice and midriff of two different patterns to play nice wasn't easy. And, let's chat about the elephant in the room, shall we? The stripes on the flounce. ARGH! They no matchy! Some of the stripes lined up but others didn't. That's because they were on opposite ends of the scarf and apparently weren't woven exactly the same. So the flounce has a few flubs. Whatcha gonna do.

 A lil side and back view. For the back midriff band, I used some minty green cotton that was just a touch lighter than the embroidered piece on the front. One of the reasons I always return to that vintage Simplicity pattern is I love that stinkin' band. Not only is it flattering (says me) but it also allows me to play with more fabric patterns an color. 

Outfit details: Well, you know I made the dress...I also created those floral hair clips for the occasion by hot gluing some fake flowers to some hair clips; hand painted necklace: DIY here; bangles: gifts/thrifted; wedge sandals with fabric design: DIY here

Now, let us talk about the wonderment that is the Frida Kahlo, shall we? I've always admired Frida's surrealist artwork for it's honesty. This woman's life was a tough one and each one of her paintings exposes so much raw anguish that it's impossible not to feel her pain. Do ya'll know her story? It goes like this: When Frida was 6 years old, she had polio so her right leg was shorter than the other. For ease of walking, she would wear several pairs of socks at at time. As a child, in order to hid this, she took to wearing long skirts.

 When she was 18, she was riding a bus that was in an accident. One of the metal handrails went completely through her body, leaving her nearly dead. She had over 22 surgeries due to this accident. In the end, those surgeries resulted in the amputation of her leg. For the rest of her life, she wore a series of plaster and leather corsets to help her sustain her body. It was during that first bedridden year after the accident, that Frida took to painting (sometimes on those plaster corsets) and an artist was born. 

 "I am not sick. I am broken.

But I am happy as long as I can paint."

I've always loved Frida's sense of style. But it turns out that there was much more to her look that I ever imagined. You see, in the 1930s- 40s, fashion in Mexico was very European. However, there was a national pride movement that both Frida and her super famous hubs Diego Rivera were apart of. To showcase that pride, Frida started to dress in a style called Tehuana after it's place of origin. In this culture, a women's ensemble had three key parts: a headdress (Frida adopted the flowers), a short square and ornately designed blouse (this easily hid Frida's corset), piles of jewelry and a long flowing skirt (which also hid her prosthetic leg). Her signature look, which hid her imperfections, remains stylish today.

 Oh! I forgot to point out, I used some of my scraps to make a Rambo-esque floral headband. 

 And there you have it! A dress that was once a sweaty turban now lives a new life as a Frida Kahlo-inspired frock!

 A very special thank you to Erin for inviting me to participate in this Rambo Sew-a-long! I had so much fun and was truly challenged by the task (but really, when am I NOT sewing-challenged). Now, follow these links to check out more Turban-tasticness!

*  Katie of Kaddlehopper

*  Lolita Patterns

*  Handmade by Heather

*  Three Dresses Project

*  Fanbloomingtastic

*  Lauren of Lladybird

*  Tumbleweeds in the Wind

*  Communing with Fabric

*  Seamstress Erin

*  Ginger Makes

*  Oonaballoona