DIY: Halloween Craftin'

Hey, lookie! I created a club! Here are the rules:

1st Rule: You do not talk about the Naughty Kitty Club.
2nd Rule: You DO NOT talk about the Naughty Kitty Club. 

Oh, crap, wait. My bad. That's Fight Club rules. Carry on. Let's talk away about this ultra-photo heavy blog post and this imaginary club I created cuz that's what you do when you're not cool enough to be invited to join a bona-fide club (tho I guess using cheesy terms like "bona-fide" will prolly get you ruled outta just about any club). 

I actually have no idea just how this here needle felted number came to be. It most def wasn't planned. I mean, I'm currently buried under half finished sewing, painting, crafting, art teacherin' projects. So piling one more on top of that Mountain of Mess seemed like such a great idea. You know. I like to use crafting as a means of avoiding unfinished crafting. I'm sure it's how Martha Stewart lives her life. 

Since I'm currently in full-blown Halloweenie mode, I've got a big fat pinterest board bursting with vintage fall images. And images of black cats keep popping up and I'm loving them! Our first cat, Mama, was a sweet black cat and I'm always reminded of her when I see them. 

So, on a whim, in-between 23 other projects, I pulled this rarely worn lace jacket thing from Forever21 outta my closet and set to sketching out my plan. 

I started with this vintage Halloween kitty as my inspo and went from there...

You might notice I later dropped the bow tie as I thought it was two similar to this OTHER needle felted cat ensemble (yes, I've now created two needle felted cat wears. And, yes, I'm completely aware that this makes me a Crazy Cat Lady. Whateves.) After this was drawn, I cut it out and pinned it to the back of my jacket.

Using chalk, I sketched out the circle to go around the cat and started needle felting that part in with a combo of yellow and orange wool roving. Oh! If you'd like to learn more about needle felting supplies, how it's done, the whole thang, go here and check out some crappy videos I made! 

I like using the wool yarn as an outline because it gives me some super hard edges and also allows me to fill in my spaces Paint-by-Numbers style. 

Omg, everytime I see this photo, I think of Donald Trump. Tell me I'm not alone!

The parts of the face came together really fast. I just started outlining and filling it in. 

I tried to limit my color palette so that it had a vintage look to it. Instead of using black for the cat, I have this great roving that is a blend of purples, browns and blue that I thought worked well. 

The eyes proved to be a pinch challenging in that I had to really thing about what colors to use. If I had used black to outline the eyes, they would have disappeared into the background color. So outlining 'em in that deep orange was my solution. 

And, c'mon, I needed a slogan to go with the kitty, right? I was thinking of those jackets the Pink Ladies wore in Grease or the hot pink satin roller skating jacket I had as a kid. I toyed around with a couple of names and this is the one that I liked best.

I managed to get this done in the time it took me to watch Pulp Fiction and Ghostbusters. I'm on a rando retro movie watching bender. Did I mention it's fall break and I have a week off? Yeah, don't hate. 

During a coffee-refueling break, I got sidetracked and made a new table runner! I'm really loving all things mid-century mod right now (like, aren't we all?) and I found this fabric in my stash from Ikea. All it needed was a lil hemming and boom! New runner. I love how well it goes with that Williamsburg marbled platter (a thrifted score, if you can believe!) and the antler and feathers that el hubbo has collected on his hiking trips. 

Still loving the Halloween display. The only good part about taking it down at the end of the month is that it will be replaced by Christmas goodness, yay!

So this is what our table pretty much looked like over those first coupla days of fall break. Peaky Blinders on one laptop, pinterest on the other. Oh, and a Big Fat Frothy Coffee. That's a must. 

A buddy invited me over for a craft night. In preparation, I dug out a coupla old canvases and painted 'em white and then gave them orange stripes. In the end, one became the cat painting and the other as the background for my craft. 

At my buddy's house, we used this air dry clay stuff (I can't recall the name but it wasn't like Model Magic) and I shaped the parts to this Pumpkin Dude.

Once dry, I painted him in that went over him with some watered down brown acrylic paint. That was brushed quickly off to leave an antiqued-ish look behind.

Then I shoddily put him together with some wire and glued him to the canvas. The prob? He blended into the canvas too much, says me.

 So I lightened the orange lines with some watery acrylic and added the vertical stripes. Done! AND I just realized both he and the cat are winking. What the what? Am I on some sort of winking kick? Are they both missing an eye? Do they have an eye-winking twitch? 

All I know is that guy ain't winkin' fer sheeeeeet. Pumpkin! Get off my a$$!

Oh and then there was this painting. So, the back story on that crazy texture is that I painted that in oils a million years ago. The colors I used were horrid but the texture was cool. So I painted over that in watery creme, added the stripes and started busting out this witch. I have NO IDEA how to finish this beast but I'll keep you posted. 

 The texture has me really excited tho. 

 UGH. Speaking of beasts, this bad boy has been on my easel for a while now. I thought it would be so easy to bust out. Turns out it's taking foreverness. I'm determined to finish before the 31st, y'all. It's gonna happen. 

Unless I get distracted and make another jacket, that is. Oui! I think instead of the Naughty Kitty Club, I should change the name to Messy ProCATinator's Club. Tho it just don't have the same ring to it, does it?

In the Art Room: Houses to Help, a Compassionate Fundrasier

I think that teaching compassion and kindness is one of the most important and most difficult things to do. I mean, you can remind the kids to be kind, considerate and thoughtful until you're blue in the face but until you actually show 'em how and let them know the positive effects, it's almost impossible. 

Recently, the kids in my room were talking about an apartment fire that had happened the night before. Thankfully no one was hurt but many of my students were aware of the incident because it happened in their complex. One of our families was effected and lost much due to the fire. 

While the kids were talking about it, I thought it would be a good time to do a compassionate fundraiser with the kids. I try to do one every year where artwork is "sold" to parents at a price they chose to give and the money going toward a specific cause. One year, we did the Empty Bowls thing and raised close to $2000 for a local homeless shelter. Another year, we sold our animal clay sculptures with the proceeds going toward a local humane society. These have always been a success however...there was always a disconnect. The children never visited the humane society or the shelter. They never actually witnessed the positive effects of their efforts nor did they have a connection to the shelter or the humane society. 

And that's when I got the idea for my third and fourth grade students to help the family effected by the fire. They have both a connection with the family and the apartment. When I brought the idea up to the kids, you could have heard a pin drop. They were so excited that they might be able to use their art to help a family, that they knew, in need. 

The idea for these houses was not my own. You might recall the Houses for Haiti effort from several years ago. We used the same concept. I chopped up scrap painted papers into 2" X 2" squares. The kids were to pick any two squares, one for the house, the other for the roof. Rotating one square to a diamond, folding in half and cutting along the line, they had a triangle roof. From there, they were allowed to use scrap papers, glue, Sharpie markers and paint to decorate their houses. They had free range and were told they could make as many as they liked in the 15 minutes we had remaining in the class period. Most kids created one but I had several that were in it to win it and were busting 'em out factory style. "I want to make a bunch to raise a bunch of money," I was informed by one fourth grade girl. 

Once complete, I hot glued a 2" X 2" piece of card stock to the back of the house as well as a magnet. For some reason, I have a trove of magnets in that pit I call a storage closet. Which means this craft was free to make, yay!

I created a little tag to go along with the houses. We put them up for "sale" in the teacher's lounge with a suggest price of $1 after much price bickering by the kids. I left my signs, the houses and a box for money in the lounge that I checked at the end of everyday. I don't think a single person paid a dollar based on how much money we raised. 

 The houses were just irresistible! 

 The artist behind this house is usually one of my first-finishers...but not this time. He was dedicated to crafting a detailed and unique house that was sure to sell.

 I love the stained glass look of this one.

To know the impact their art made, I left this in the lounge so that the teachers could write notes to the kids. This meant so much to the young artists. 

Have I told you lately how much I love the people I work with? Talk about kind and considerate!

In addition to this effort, my school also hosted a spirit night at a local restaurant to raise funds. Our magnets raised just over $150 for the family. Oh! And I also shared an image of this project on Facebook and received a half dozen letters in the mail with money for magnets as well! If you are interested in purchasing a magnet, just leave a message in the comments and I'll be sure to get in touch with you. Thank you!

What the Art Teacher Wore #148

 Sharpen Those Pencils Monday: So my students no longer get letter grades on stuff. It's like numbers or happy, sad, neutral faces because, apparently, letter grades are confidence-killers (tho I don't recall good ole D in algebra ever doin' me any harm). So this sweater was mighty confusing to the wee ones. sweater: Urban Outfitters, couple years back; skirt: thrifted, vintage; tights: Target; shoes: Dolls by Nina

Hi, friends! It's been nearly a month since I shared one of these ole What the Art Teacher Wore blog posts and I dunno why. Well, I do know why, it's cuz I keep forgetting to snap photos. And, when I do remember, it's the end of the day and I'm no longer looking fresh as a daisy. In fact, I more closely resemble a trampled-on dandelion. Mostly cuz I think the kindergarten are secretly trying to kill me. Lemme tell you what happened to me last Friday:

Imagine, if you will, a group of bright-eyed and bushy tailed wee kindergarten friends gathering their art supplies, strapping on the aprons and gearing up to paint masterpieces. When suddenly I hear from across the room: Mrs. Stephens! I got paint on me!

Now, if you are an art teacher, this is something you hear a lot. So you probably have a stock response. Mine is: IT'S ART CLASS! If you get a lil messy that is...(and the kids know to respond here) OH-KAY!

It's after that sentence I hear a collective Uh-Oh! from the class and I turn around to see said Paint-On-Me has decided to disrobe and go topless in the art room. "It's okay!" she shouted, "I got the paint off now!" and before I could reply I hear "I can see her niblets!" from across the room.

AND cut! That's a wrap. Kindergarten for the win.

I'll just leave that lil story there and share with you what I wore when I decided NOT to go topless and reveal my niblets. Ahem...

 Wardrobe Changeover Tuesday: So, like, as you mighta guessed, I have a buncha clothes. Y'all have seen my closet, it's a bottomless pit of dresses, skirts, scarves, belts, shoes, you name it. Fall marks the time that I do that wardrobe changeover thingie. You know, putting away my summer clothes and busting out the fall/winter stuff. Please tell me I'm not the only clothes hoarder to do this. I'd love to leave everything out all year cuz I live in Tennessee and you never know when one day it's gonna snow and the next it's gonna be 85 and sunny. However, I suppose the hubs would like his side of the bed to remain uncovered (ugh, he so needy) so for that reason, I swap out my clothings. dress: Ann Taylor, thrifted; sweater: Anthro found at Buffalo Exchange; hair bow: belt from dress; shoes: Minnetonka; belt: Anthro; necklace: Forever21; crinoline: Amazon 

 Art Will Rock You Wednesday: In the art room on this day, I debuted the Art Will Rock You song in the art room. But the best part of this day was when I was putting my kindergarten friends on the bus when one of them shouts at me: Mrs. Stephens! What in the world are you wearing?! Kid. I don't even know. dress: vintage, etsy find; fox sweater: DIY, details here; necklace and scarf: vintage

The Best Smell of the Year Thursday: I seriously think that fall is the time of year with the best smells, don't you? When I was taking this photo, I couldn't stop sniffing and I was all, what is that amazing smell?! Crunchy leaves smell the very best. sweater: thrifted; dress and belt: vintage

 Love this Star Wars Halloween pin I picked up on our last trip to Disney. I've managed to purchase a pin each time we visit and my collection is growing! I'll have to share it with you sometime. They are so much fun to shop for and wear. If you love this one, you can find them on ebay. 

Happy Fall Break Friday!: Since we started schoolin' way the heck back in early August (like, the first or something) we get this amazing week off thingie called Fall Break. Yay! I'm so thrilled! I literally spent all day Saturday in my pj's in sloth-like celebration. I can't wait to relax, spend time with friends and head out on a lil vacay with the hubs. I'll keep you posted along the way. top: embroidered by me, blog post here; skirt: ancient Target find

I hope y'all have a fab-o week! In the meantime, keep that top on. Don't nobody wanna see those niblets!

In the Art Room: Art Will Rock You! An Art History Song

Hi, friends! This past weekend, I went all crazy and decided to write an Art History Ballad to the tune of Queen's We Will Rock You. You see, I've had this Rockin' Art History Wall in my room for ages...but I always thought it'd be fun to have a song to go with it. If you follow me and my art teacherin' adventures here, you've seen some images of my magnificent (ahem) song writing attempts. This week, after our sketchbook time, and right before our painting adventures, we took a 5 minute trip to the Art History Wall and I taught my third and fourth graders the first two stanzas (is that what they're called?) of the Art Will Rock You song. I managed to film a class of third graders singing the song and chatting for a hot minute about the art history the song covers. I had to keep it short and sweet as we had a lot of other things to pack into our hour together. 

My sincerest apologies for my voice. And that jib-jab in the middle. feel free to just scroll on to the end to catch the second half of the song. 

I did do a lil reno on the wall this summer as the purple papers were looking a lil faded. 

The first portion of the song is about Rock Painting followed by Ancient Egypt. Here are the lyrics if you'd like!

This one was so much fun to write...I wish the others had come as easily. A songwriter, I am not!

A lil tricky to sing, as you'll notice in the video. We'll get it!

The next portions of our song will include the Ancient Greeks and Romans. I'll be teaching a little more of the song each week...at least, that's the plan. With it only taking 5 minutes, I think it will go well. I did have a couple extra minutes at the end of a first grade class this week and we did it too! They loved it! All that stomping and clapping was a hit with the kids. 

I'm not totes in love with the lyrics for the Romans and Greeks so they are kinda a work in progress. If you've got suggestions, I'll take 'em!

And if you decide to use this in your art room, I'd love to hear from you! You can always comment here or shoot me an email. I'll be sure to update the blog with more of the song as it comes along. And, if you'd be so kind, if you do use this, please share this blog post with your friends so they can as well. Thanks!

In the Art Room: A Color Mixing Unit

You wanna make a whole buncha kids excited, happy and edu-ma-cated all at once? Celebrate the end of a color mixing unit with a Color Mixing Cookie Party! My kindergarten through second grade have been immersed in all sorts of color theory. We've read books, watched videos, learned songs and, of course, painted. Today I thought I'd share with you a couple ways we've been studying color!

My kindergarten friends were introduced to color with the Ellen Stoll Walsh book Mouse Paint! I love this book for a coupla reasons: it's short, to the point and full of great visuals. After that quick read, we did a lil mouse drawing of our own!

In this video, I'll show you how to draw the three mice from the book. And how to mix those primaries into secondaries. I created the video in such a way that you could share it with your students so they could draw along with me.

When I do directed drawing with the kids, they sit on the floor with clipboards, oil pastels and 9" X 12" paper. Because the drawing is repetitive, it doesn't take long for the kids to finish their three mice.

From there, we review the colors mixed in the book. We talk about creating small puddles so that we can still see our cute mice. 

 Once these masterpieces are complete, the kids will paint on 12" X 18" pieces of paper, folded in quarters, all of the secondary colors. These papers will be used for a colorful self-portrait that I'll share with you soon...although, if you follow me here, you've already seen preview! 

These have been my favorite videos to share with the kids on color mixing and color theory. I love when the kids watch and sing along. These videos have been a fabulous addition to my art teacherin' repertoire! 

Being a big ole They Might Be Giants fan from way back, I love playing their tunes in my art room. 

And this series of videos on the Elements of Art have been great to share with the kids before start our sketching at the start of class. 

My students have been working on a behavior incentive where we can earn parties for good behavior. You can read more about that here if you wanna. Well, when they earned parties (and they all eventually will), I wanted to keep it fun and educational...so we had a Color Mixing Cookie Party to celebrate our awesomeness and the end of our color mixing unit.

Here's a lil video for y'all to walk you thru the supplies you'll need and just how easy this activity is.

I happened to have a million popsicle sticks so these worked perfectly as our icing mixers!

 So much deliciousness!

If you decide to do this, just a coupla reminders:

ALWAYS check with your school nurse for allergies! We don't want to chance any child getting sick.

Do this at the END of art class because these kids will be JACKED up on sugar. Thankfully for me, my kids go to P.E. after art...so they were able to burn off all that extra energy. 

And remind the kids how awesome the party is! I like to tell em, "if you thought THAT was fun, just wait until the next party you earn". Nothing like a good bribe for good behavior.

Have ya'll done this in your art room? What spin did you put on it? I'd love to hear details, ya'll!