DIY: Latch Hook and Needlepoint Frida!

This pattern is now available! Get you one right here!

Y'all. I had so many artsy-craftsy-teachery goals for my break. And then I went and designed a Frida Kahol latch hook pattern and completely forgot about my other ideas! So, I present to you Frida two ways: Plastic Canvas Frida (left) and Latch Hook Frida (right).

I rediscovered latch hook at year when I bought a kit on a whim at Joann's. Y'all might recall from this blog post. Once complete, I stitched it onto what has become the most petted jacket by my students EVER (saying "please don't pet me" isn't something I thought I'd have to say...but such is the life of an elementary art teacher). I was "hooked" after completing this jacket. When I returned this winter to buy another design I was pretty disappointed by my choices. It seems that latch hook patterns have not been updated since I was a kid...in the 80's. 

That's when I got the idea over break to design my own. I got some graph paper and went to work...then I decided to hook it, not knowing if my design would work or not.

 But she did! I present to you Furry Faced Frida!

 Personally, I LOVE the look of latch hook because it's a multitude of things: tacky, vintage, bizarre, retro, kitsch, you name it. Now, since this design was my own, I did have to cut all of my own yarn. If you are not familiar with latch hook, it is the process of taking a 3" piece of yarn, folding it over a latch hook tool (found in all craft stores for a couple of bucks) and "latching" it to one of the openings in the latch hook canvas (I'm not sure what the stuff is called but you can also buy it blank at the craft stores). It's pretty easy! To cut my own yarn into the correct lengths, I just wrapped it around a 3" piece of cardboard and cut it. I kept the colors organized with this jewelry hanger I found at Five Below:

I have one of these for storing my embroidery floss also...they so handy!

 Since I was bringing back latch hook in all of it's retro glory, I decided to try my Frida design out on plastic canvas too. Y'all...I think I may like her a bit better that way!

 Even if the back looks like Zombie Frida (according to my husband). If you've never used plastic canvas, it's also available in the craft stores for CHEAP. I used the same yarn as I did my latch hook. When using plastic canvas, you'll need a tapestry needle. It can be a touch confusing because of the diagonal line the stitch creates. When counting out the stitches and figuring out your design, simply count the top of the diagonal, not the bottom left, if that makes any sense. 

I think at one point, every grandma was required by law to create a plastic canvas tissue box. So...y'all know that I'm gonna have to create one full of artists! I've already finished my Andy Warhol latch hook...I can't wait to share that with you.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED...this pattern is now available to you! You can buy the pattern here. I'll be creating some how-to videos on plastic canvas and latch hook soon. Also, stay tuned for my Warhol pattern!

In the Art Room: Kindergarten Snowmen!

Every time I post on this blog lately, I find myself apologizing for not posting more. I'm tired of apologizing and I miss it here...and y'all! One of my goals this year is to get back here at least twice a week (my goal is three) to share lessons and whatever else that's goin' on. So, to kick off the new year, I thought I'd share a project I wrapped with kindergarten that they totally loved...and I think your kids will too. 

I created this lesson video for you to share with your students! I'll break it down day by day as to how I taught it in my art room.

Day 1: We painted spirals. I have my kindergarten for 30 minute art classes. Most of them finished their spiral paintings on one day but some wanted to paint the following. We used watercolor paint which is what I demo with in the video. Also, those warm color paintings? Those are by the first grade...and I'll be sharing that lesson with you later this week. 

Teaching kids brush control and proper brush use is no easy task...but it can be fun. Here's a clip of me teaching my students how to correctly use their paint brushes and achieve delicate spiral lines. 

If I have learned one thing about teaching kids, it's that silly sticks! They'll remember things if they are super silly and fun. That's basically my teaching philosophy. 

 Day 2: On the second day, we gathered with a clean 12" X 18" piece of paper and met on the floor with our bingo daubers (we call them paint markers). Because our daubers are filled with permanent ink, we placed another sheet of paper under ours to protect the floor...at least that was the idea. We did have a couple of incidences but we managed to get the floor clean. I did try to have them do a draw along with me while at their seats: TOTAL BUST. The kiddos couldn't focus when they were all spread out and it was just not fun. So we did a Round 2 on the floor and it was great. 

Day 3: We added the chalk and the paint to our snowman.

Day 4: We cut them out and added them to our backgrounds! Most kids added stick hands and a few even added boots. 

 This little guy got carried away decorating the background of his before cutting it out and adding it to his painted paper. I love it so much! Especially that rainbow scarf! 

 Something I was considering for y'all:

* If you are short on time, skip the painted background. Have the kids create their snowman and then just paint the background of that paper when finished.

* If you don't have paint markers or bingo daubers, try using Sharpie markers or black paint! If you use Sharpie markers, work on a sheet of paper that is 9" X 12" as the lines are much smaller than the daubers.

* The kids could color in the scarf and hat, not paint. I did that with a couple of classes when I didn't have time to get out the paint and they look great!

Love to hear from y'all if you give this lesson a go. Your kids will love it!

What the Art Teacher Wore #211

I need y'all to say a lil prayer for me...as we are heading into a FULL week next week! That's right. While some of y'all teacherin' friends work a partial week, we are in it to win it, truckin' all the way until 10am on Friday morning. If I make it if the kids make it that long. Every last one of us is runnin' on fumes and hot chocolate at this point. BUT...we still makin' some masterpieces!

None of which I've had two seconds to blog about...so that's super awesome. My goal is to post a bunch of winter-themed lessons on this here blog super soon. AND I do believe I've been saying that for months but things have been cray around here. I'm inching closer to being finished with my new book (preorder here, eep!!) and having some time to actually create and catch up on this here blog is quickly becoming a reality. I'm so happy for it! In the meantime, if you follow me on IG, then you've seen a lotta these lessons already. I've even shared the details in my stories. But the plan is to create real live videos for you to share with your kiddos over my break. So...stay tuned. 

 One project I'm stoked to share are these here super cute first grade penguins. The kids and I are loving this lesson and learning so much! Bingo daubers were used for both this lesson and the third grade abstract name design shown above. 

 Since kindergarten is wrapping up their snowmen this week, I had to wear this here snowman dress, right? I found it on Amazon and it was both inexpensive and super cute, if I do say so. And I just did. But not as cute as these guys...

 These were all lookin' pretty adorable but adding the chalk around the edge and to the cheeks totally took it to another level. 

 That night, my good buddy Tamara hosted a craft night...and I made this cute lil toy soldier! She is the most amazing host. We had a wonderful dinner WHILE creating. Thankfully she had the templates for the solider all cut out so it was just a matter of picking my colors, tracing and cutting. She even had a frame for each one of us. I was pretty excited to finish...and have him match my bonus room so well. 

 Another week, another tree skirt. It's the most tree skirtin'est time of the year!

These second grade chalked background for an upcoming Wolf Kahn-inspired landscape has me really excited. Yet another lesson to share with y'all soon!

I have found that all the shops have the best tacky holiday sweaters right now! Target is where I scored this lil number and I love it. 

 Speakin' of love, that's what I feel when I stare at these fourth grade beauties. Stay tuned on this one, we'll soon be adding these to our snow globes. 

And would you look at that! We got all fancy for our nephew's wedding this weekend and I just had to share...we clean up pretty good.

In the Art Room: Teaching Kindergarten Paint

Hey friends! Just a quick pop in to share a lil video with you. My kindergarten and first grade friends have been painting these spiral backgrounds for some pretty stinkin' adorable snowmen and penguins. I'll be certain to share a tutorial on how we made those lil dudes but today I thought I'd share a video of me explaining just how to paint these spiral lines. I got A TON of questions on my IG on how my kiddos are successful with painting such clean and fine lines. Instead of telling you all about it, here's a clip of me talking to them about it:

More to come on how we finish these masterpieces. Thank you for letting me share!

What the Art Teacher Wore, Double Dose Edition!

Hey, friends! Feeling as frazzled and flakey as I am?! Super duper! It would appear that I've lost my ever-lovin' mind (along with my students...yeah, I see you outta your seat totally off task, tip-toeing over to your friend's table). I've also managed to lose the following recently: my house key, my car keys, my To Do list, my cup of coffee (I regularly leave one in the copy room, the microwave and on the hood of my car) and my sanity. Yay! It's the most craziest time...of the year! 

 Me, every.single.day.

In other news, I've got two weeks of What the Art Teacher Wore's to share with ya. So grab a drink (I don't care what, I'm not here to judge) and let's commiserate on just how bonkers this time of year is! 

Also...if retail therapy is your thing, as it is mine, my sweater is from Michaels!

Despite the insanity, the show must go on...and on it is on my art room. We finally wrapped up all of our Artome Art Show work this week (holy smokes! We've had so many interruptions to our schedule that it literally took a lifetime to complete those bad boys! If you are interested in seeing what artwork my students create for this fundraiser, hop over here). In the meantime, wearing these tacky Christmas sweaters with tights are my new favorite and snuggly thing. I scored this sweater last year at Target and the tights were a Christmas present last year from a student.

I have been planning like crazy the lessons for the next couple of weeks. I want to create projects that will keep my kiddo's attention to the very end. This is one I'm working on with my fourth grade students and they are REALLY excited (which says a lot...they are a bunch that does not excite easily, le sigh). I'll share the lesson with you soon...this is just a sneak peak. More views on my Instagram, if you are interested! 

Tennessee doesn't really get much of a winter...so it's been kinda strange to actually have days that don't get above 30 degrees! I'm from Indiana where we do have this thing called winter...but having lived here for 20 years, I've forgotten how to dress for the cold. Thankfully my Mondrian coat is a warm thing for these cold days!

Tis the season to bust out all the tacky sweaters. ALL OF THEM. Even the homemade ones that itch like crazy around the neck! 

Well, after Thanksgiving, our art room elf, Esmeralda, always makes an appearance. This year as been no different. This time, she's gotten our new art room addition, Ricky Rainbows, in on the mix! Ricky was created by the artist Jennifer Strunge and he's just the cutest thing. 

Okay, here's something I'm not ashamed to admit: I have more tree skirts turned lady skirts than I have days to wear them! Seriously, how did this happen?! I know...because they are the easiest thing to make! I have found that Big Lots has the best tree skirts for this: they are inexpensive and long. And tacky...which is a requirement. Here's how to make your skirt! Y'all might remember that this summer, I caught a similar bug when I bought 6 round beach towels from Walmart and made them into circle skirts too! 

So for that snow globe lesson I mentioned above? My fourth graders are using 14" cardboard pizza rounds for the globe. Each kiddo had to spend the first 7 minutes of makin' time creating a minimum of 2 idea sketches before tacklin' their glove. My new favorite thing right now is having my students create idea paintings/media sketches to get their wheels turning. We've always done sketches...but not with paint or chalk or whatever. This is new and I'm loving it. Like I said, more to come!

Don't hate...just appreciate. Found 'em one year at Marshall's and they are pretty much the best thing ever. 

Ah! Friday! This dress is from Meijer and I promise you it appeared much longer on the hanger...ahem.

Kindergarten and first grade have been spending a lot of time painting themselves into dizzy spirals. This has been quite the learning curve for them. Like, literally. Painting such fine lines requires a lot of brush skill and patience. Something we covered A LOT while spending two 30 minute art classes on these beauties.

So, I plan my outfits out on Sundays...do you do this? I started last year and I love it! It really saves me so much time in the mornings.

I'm pretty much living in these tights...please don't judge. Made this dress about four years ago! LOVE the faux fur neckline. 

That third grade lesson I shared earlier this week? LOOK!! I'm in love with the results. More details on how we finished these in a follow up blog post! 

My friend Cheryl loves Christmas ensembles as much as I do! When she walked into art class, all the kindergarten started singing Rudolph and it was the cutest thing ever!

Lately, my early finishers have been diving in to the next phase of the lesson with sketches. My first graders, when finished painting their spirals, started drawing penguins, first on dry erase boards, then on paper, as practice for their big paintings to come later. 

Walmart, men's section, y'all. I had to. I mean, CHRISTMAS AND CATS?! YES.

With the help of a super mom, we got all the Artome artwork organized, labeled, glued, packed and shipped! Yippie! I cannot wait for the show!

So those boots? I'm pretty much living in them. Dress was made by me (with lights in the hem!) several years ago. 

Big ole bingo dauber penguins by first grade, y'all! Next up, we paint and cut these out to add to our spiral paintings! I'll keep you posted. 

 And that's a wrap! Like, literally, if you take a look at my skirt. The rest of the weekend, was Christmas Craft Nightin', hiking, sleepin' and tickin' off my To Do list. Happy Sunday, y'all!