DIY: A Prom Zombie Dress

Lil known fact: Halloween is the most celebrated holiday at Casa de Cassie. Not cuz we decorate all crazy-like (although the hubs' secret dream is to operate his own haunted house. Dream job goals, y'all. We all got 'em!). No, it's because we absolutely love going to haunted housing events with our fave being Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights.

Opening weekend was this past weekend and we were extra stoked because this year is the 25th year they've been running Halloween Horror Nights outta Orlando. Which could only mean one thing: tons more scariness. This year did not disappoint with nine haunted houses, most based on Universal flicks: The Purge, Insidious, Freddy vs. Jason, American Werewolf in London and others based on the Walking Dead and other spooky themes. Between walking from one haunted house to the next, there are themed areas called scare zones. So, in short, you are constantly being chased by scary chainsaw wielding maniacs. For example...

 Mitch (the hubs) was all, "Hey! You need photos for your blog. Just stand riiiiiiiight there and smile." 

Me: Are you done yet? Pretty sure that's enough photos. For realz. WHY ARE YOU STILL TAKING PHOTOS, WHAT'S BEHIND ME?

This lovely new friend of mine was just one of the awesome scare actors in the Shady Acres scare zone where the concept was inmates from the local asylum had escaped. Turns out she just wanted to show off her chain saw handling skillz...on my face.

Just a short clip to give you more of an idea. No videos or photos are allowed in the haunted houses...after all, you're there to "enjoy" them, not film 'em. But take my word for it, they were super scary.

 Now y'all might know that I've sewn and created my share of Halloween ensembles like this Day of the Dead number and this one, this Monster-Mash mash-up, these Haunted Mansion pants, this Universal Studios Horror Flick dress and this Bewitched dress. And every year, I say the same stinkin' thing: I'M NOT GONNA MAKE ANOTHER HALLOWEEN OUTFIT. But then, I spotted that there Alexander Henry Zombies! fabric at JoAnn's and I was like, fine! Just take all my moneys! Since I needed to bust this dress out quick, I settled on that vintage McCall's 6221. If it looks familiar to y'all, that's cuz I've made a Monet dress, a Valentine's Day number and a Barbecue frock with it. 

After that super scary night, we went to Disney's Not-So-Scary event. Now, I might be a lil biased because I'm kinda bananaz for Disney but this event was so great! Families get all dressed up and trick or treat at the various treat-giving locations. Also, ALL of the characters are out for you to get your photo with. What that meant for us was that most folks were so busy with the candy and the photo ops that they weren't in line for the rides. We had a 5 minute wait on Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and The Haunted Mansion which, if you've ever been to any Disney, you know that's unheard of.

The maids of the Haunted Mansion (my absolute favorite-est ride with It's a Small World coming in at a close second) were decked out and so fun to chat with. I love how they immediately snapped into character when they realized Mitch was snapping photos!

 Boom! Nailed it! 

They also had tons of scare-actors out and about! There was this fabulous ghost story teller outside of the Haunted Mansion that was a total riot. And a traveling troupe of Civil War ghosts who sang western tunes acapella. But the parade and the fireworks were my fave.

But the best thing was getting to eat at Be Our Guest. Y'all. It's like Mission Impossible to get a reservation here. But right before we left our hotel, Mitch decided to all them on a whim and ask if they had anything available. The hostess informed us that they'd just had one spot open up! I enjoyed dining in there so much that I didn't even think to snap a single photo but you can see more of the place here. 

Oh, look! Mitch and I posing in front of obnoxiously phallic tikis! Thank you for letting me blabber on about our lil scary-cation and show off my Zombie print dress. Y'all are the best. 

In the Art Room: A Henri Rousseau-Inspired Mix Media Collage

Currently, my eyeballs feel like they are made of broken glass and are just barely staying open. However, I'm thrilled to say that pulling those close to 12 hour days at school this week has paid off: All of my students 400 Henri Rousseau-inspired masterpieces are up and on display for our Open House! Whew! If you follow me here, you've seen my students progress. We've all learned about the artist and created a tiger-tastic work of art (side note: our school mascot is also a tiger and we have a Tiger Run coming up next month. So now the halls are decked out for that occasion as well!). I'll be sharing each of the projects here over the next coupla weeks so stay tuned! Today, I present to you the work of my fourth grade artists!

 To conquer this Jungle-tastic Project, we used the following supplies:

*  Model Magic by Crayola
*  Sax Versa Temp paint
*  Chalk pastels
*  Oil pastels
*  9" X 12" painted construction paper
*  9" X 12" poster board to back the construction paper

This project began on the very first day of art when, after covering the rules and such, we set about making painted paper. This idea of painting paper on the very first day came from my good friend and art teacherin' genius Laura Lohmann. 

My Monday and Tuesday classes painted a variety of green papers for our jungle-y projects (used mucho by my third graders for their project, details to come) while my Wednesday and Thursday kids painted orange papers. My fourth graders ended up using these as the background for their collages.

We painted, we scraped with texture combs, we tried out different paint application techniques. 

We pulled prints which we thought was just about the coolest thing ever and that was it for our first day! On our second day of art, we learned more about the artist Henri Rousseau and studied his jungle paintings. I even created a Jungle Lounge in my art room for the occasion!

Complete with Clean Up Gong, of course. Over the next two art classes, the students were allowed access to a ton of books featuring photos of tigers and information about their habitats and eating habits. With that in mind, they were given about golf ball size of Model Magic to create their tiger. I did show them some simple basics but really encouraged them to experiment, look at the visuals and come up with a creation of their own. 

The following art class, those were painted. I thought the students would spend about thirty minutes painting but they were so excited to do detailed work on their tigers that they ended up using the entire 60 minutes to paint!

They might have been a lil influenced by this guy hanging out in the Jungle Lounge. 

The kids have been spending the first 5-7 minutes of each class in the lounge sketching in their newly created sketchbooks! They love this area. I can't wait to create some more seating for them. 

Creating the background took the kids another 60 minutes. They were allowed to pick any of the textured and painted papers they created on that first day to serve as their background. Then they could use either all warm or all cool colored chalk for their sky. Once the sky was complete, the kids could create the land portion of their work with any colors they liked. 

We talked a lot about the habitats of tigers and again studied the visuals. The kids created lakes, rivers, jungles, mountain ranges, you get the idea. I was so impressed with their diverse ideas. 

I mean, check out this: I was informed by the artist that her tiger was jumping from a rock to the top of a tree. This is her ariel view. 

Once the chalk portion was complete, the kids were allowed to add more plants with oil pastels. They also used some remnants of the painted paper to create plants, trees, suns or moons and whatever else they could dream up. 

Once both the background and the tiger were complete, the kids brought their tigers to me and told me where to hot glue them to the work. I also hot glued their work to a pieces of poster board as the construction paper was not strong enough to support the weight of their tiger. It was a little bit of added work on my part but I didn't mind. We were just so happy with the end result! 

Have y'all used Model Magic before? I'd love to hear about your projects, I'm always looking to steal, er, borrow new ideas! 

Winner-Winner Chicken Dinner! The Results are In!

 Well, y'all, the results of the What the Art Teacher(s) Wore//Back to Art Teacherin' Contest are in! Thank you so much to all of you who entered and took the time to vote! Without further ado, I present to you our winners:

First Place with 994 votes, Katie Romanic! Her hand painted zentangle-inspired dress, bow and shoes were adorable. Katie will not only be featured in School Arts Magazine but also receive a free year's subscription. Congrats, Katie! 

Second Place with 934 votes, David Meade! It was a seriously close race between David and Katie. David also created his colorful look by crocheting his beret and making his mustache. He also wears that apron everyday to teach art! David will also be featured in School Arts Magazine. Congrats to you, buddy!

Third Place winner is Cheryl Buchett! Cheryl's hand sewn dress in that super cute art teacher print was definitely a hit! You'll be seeing Cheryl in School Arts Magazine as well! Congrats, friend!

Fourth Place winner is Dorie Mishael! Everyone was just smitten with Dorie's hair, handmade skirt and Kandinsky-inspired rug! Her colorful personality shines through in her clothing and her classroom environment! You'll also find Dorie featured in School Arts soon! Congrats, Dorie!

Thanks again for taking the time to vote! 

DIY: A (Brush)Stroke of Genius Dress!

Hello there, friends! Allow me to introduce to you the cutest art teacherin' fabric ever created in the universe: Carrie Bloomston's Paint line for Windham Fabrics (No, I'm not an endorser. Yes, I'm a total fan girl. Fabric-gasm much?). 

When I spotted this fabric on that one website which I just sign all my paychecks over to, I literally let out a gasp and hollered "Take All My Moneys!" I mean, just look at it, y'all. Gaze at the wonderment of the best dern artsy fabric there ever was...

Is Carrie a fabric-designing genius or what, y'all? You can still find some of the stencil and paint brush fabric here but for the other'n (as my grandma usta say), you'll have to hit up those sweet etsy sellers. Try here.  

I knew I had to use both fabrics together (with a pop of polka dotted purple at the waist). So I used my trusty Simplicity 2444. Y'all might remember when we had that lovely ice storm last winter and I successfully turned my school Snow Days into Sew Days, stitching up not one but THREE versions of this pattern. There was that Mondrian number, that marker-tastic dress and the pencil dress complete with bolero. So, me and this here pattern, we go way back. 

I did do something a lil dif this time around. I sized down the bodice. I noticed that the bodice of each of those dresses was a pinch large and I do like my bodice to hug me just right, nice and tight. So even tho I'm usually a 36" bust (sorry if this is too much info for y'all. Just deal with it.) I went down to a 34" and I love the fit! I do recall reading somewhere that one should size down in bust when stitching (was it Gertie's book?) and I'm much more pleased with the fit. I will say that it did shrink the armholes a bit which I didn't love. I have this weird thing that if something is touching my armpits, Ima gonna sweat on it (again, TMI? It's a sharing-is-caring kind of post this evening. I repeat: Deal.Wit.It.) So there's that. I smell but I got a good fit. Not a bad trade off says moi. 

What I dig about this design is that I can tie a big fat bow in the front, in the back, wrap it around the back and add a simple knot in the front, you name it. Of course, I do also love me some fit and flair.  

 Of course I just HAD to wear this dress with my Paint Brush Tiara! 

No, I did not create this masterpiece. I scored it at the NAEA convention in NOLA. They have this great vendor's market and there were so many amazing art teachers selling their creations. I do wish I could recall who created this headpiece as I scored the last one! If any of y'all attended NAEA and know of the artist, would you mind dropping a line in the comments? I'd really love to give this awesome lady some credit!

I decided to debut this ensemble on the day we were using recycled paint! I have this small group of 4th graders that come to my room for about 10 minutes each morning. They take down my chairs and attempt to help me organize my art room. Last week, their mission was to test ALL of my markers and find the "deceased" ones. We placed those in cups filled with just a pinch of water to drain out the remaining ink from the marker. 

With that "marker juice", my second graders created splatter paintings! We'll be using these in an upcoming self-portrait project. They thought this was just about the best thing ever.

 "Mrs. Stephens, I have purple freckles now!"

"That means you are hitting your paint brush too hard. No more splatter freckles!" 

Meh, we all ended up with a rainbow of freckles. All part of the fun!

And there you have it! A Brushstroke-tastic dress, purrrrfect for the art room, says Asha the Cat. Actually, I believe she said, "Stop taking pictures and fed me, fool!" (she likes to channel Mr. T when she's hangry). Adios!