Vincent van Gogh Inspired Buttons and Earrings!

Hi! I scored this amazing sweater recently and while I absolutely loved it, I hated the obnoxious plastic white buttons that were on the sweater. They just stuck out like a sore thumb! So I picked up some polymer clay at the craft store with the idea to create my own. Normally, I buy the 'name brand' polymer clay but this time, I was feeling cheap and decided to give the house brand a try. It was half the price and I have to say...despite the fact that the yellow clay stained my hands a pinch, it worked great! I'm used to stained hands so, no big deal!

I went about creating these factory style and it went pretty quickly. I made a video to share the process in case you need some van Gogh bling in your life. Like, duh. Of course you do.

So easy, right?

Once complete, I just stitched these onto my sweater and added some jump rings and a French hook to the earrings and I was all set in my new upgraded van Gogh sweater!

Not only that but this craft was just the creativity thirst quencher I needed this weekend. Thanks for letting me share, y'all!

Jen Stark Inspired Hearts for Valentine's Day!

Need a fast and fun lesson for Valentine's Day (or anytime, really) inspired by the artist Jen Stark? I created this one for my students and they started it last week. Some are working BIG on 12" X 18" paper while others are using it as an early finisher project and worked on paper half the size. I am also giving my students the option of using black and white, all warm or all cool colors (as seen on the left). 

ONE CHANGE I'M MAKING: for my students using black and white, I'm going to have them paint the entire background white and then add the black paint stripes once that dries.

Since my art classes are 30 minutes long, we've been doing the drips in one art class, painting in the next and wrapping it up and adding the puffy paint on the last class. 

If you are interested, here's the video!

Have fun!

Easy Embroidered Earrings!

I love embroidered earrings! They are lightweight to wear, simple to make and a fast craft. So I made some for Valentines and I thought I'd show you how! Here are the supplies you'll need:

* Felt

* Embroidery floss

* A Chenille needle or an embroidery needle (big eye, sharp point)

* Jump rings

* French hooks

* Scissors

Here you go!

And here are some other tutorials I've made for earrings. Just tap the link to view the blog post and video!

Check out to make these rainbow and color wheel earrings right here. 

And some unicorn earrings here! Have fun!

Jim Dine Warm/Cool Color Printed Heart!

I need a project that is big, energetic, colorful and fun for my students right now. They have the wiggles big time and I think that lack of recess due to the weather is playing a big part. So I thought we'd use up some of our paint in our trays, use some of this large yellow construction paper I had in my closet and go crazy with some printing and painting. Here's the video lesson, if you are interested!

Have fun!

Taking my Creative Vitamins

Here lately I've been in a bit of a creative funk and I've not felt excited or interested in pursuing my usual creative outlets. I love to sew funky clothing to wear and have an endless amount of projects in various stages in my sewing room but each time I go in there, I just look around and feel...exhausted. Is it that time of the year? Although, if I'm being honest, this feeling of disinterest has been going on for a while (gee, I wonder why) and it's starting to affect my teaching as well. Yep, I just said that out loud. 

I know it's not a good place to be so I'm trying to do something about it. I learned a long time ago that beating myself up and shaming myself about things just doesn't work. It only makes me feel worse. So instead of feeling badly about not sewing, I decided to dry something totally different: painting. 

I got out an old round frame found at the thrift store from my stash as well as some blank cards. I painted a dotted and flowery design on the frame just for fun...but then I had a lot of paint left over on my palette. So I kinda went nuts and started painting and printing on the cards. I got really excited about all of the colors and textures I created. Then I set up a little still life and drew and painted it on one of the cards. 

I thought I'd just start creating one painting an evening before bed. I've been keeping them quick so I enjoy the process but...some of them I've slowed down and taken my time on. 

I've been sharing the process on both TikTok and Instagram but got some requests for a longer video of the process. I also had someone mention wanting to share a video with her high school students. So I hope the one I created helps. For me, the key has been just enjoying the process, keeping the paintings small so I can do them in one sitting, using colors I like and creating a simple still life. 

I have a lot of random things from the thrift store that have been fun to paint. 

I'm not gonna say I feel so much better now or that I'm cured of my funk...I'm not. But at least I can say that I did at least one thing I'm proud of at the end of the day. Taking the time to create is something we creative types must do. Sharing my quick videos seems to have gotten some other folks creating too and that makes me so happy.