15 of my Favorite Lessons for Spring!

One of my favorite lessons (and more popular vidoes) is this Heather Galler-inspired floral painting. We did these in April and they were always an art show show-stopper! Not to mention, a great gift for Mother's Day! Full lesson with video here.

I even love them in black and white! If you are short on time, these could be completed with tissue paper squares...see my lesson below for more details on that process.

Liquid watercolor was how we finished these off. I like using liquid watercolor on larger projects. I always save pan watercolor for more detailed work. 

This lesson is a hit with ALL grade levels! I first did this lesson years ago with second grade. Last year, I did it with everyone and the results are always beautiful. Full lesson and simple video here!

So many ways to finish these beauties. We opted for chalk but we've also used bleeding tissue, watercolor and tempera paint too!

THIS is kindergarten, y'all! We finished these with oil pastel and watercolor. A more updated and kid-friendly video can be found in this blog post. 

Looking for a spring-time clay project? Check out these created by my kindergarten students! You can find the details and a video tutorial here.  And if you are looking for a list of my favorite clay supplies (as well as were to snag my clay book) check out this link!

Springtime is the best time to introduce landscapes to your students! This one is so fun...it's chalk like you might have never used it before! Chalk...that doesn't need to be set with a fixative. More here!

I will advise this: when adding paint after the chalking, use tempera cakes, they were so much better than the tempera paint I used in the video.

So, like, basically, ANYTHING you make and put in these PLATES from Hobby Lobby looks stunning. This was a quick kindergarten lesson that you can find here. Video too!

This one was so fun! Learn a little about Warhol AND get to use Puffy Paint?! Yes please and thank you! Again, I got a video for you. Check it out here. 

Nothing says spring like cherry blossoms! This one was inspired by Vincent van Gogh's love of Japanese prints. I created a video and you can find it here. 

I think my favorite part is the textured paper we created for the background!

What is better than neon oil pastels and watercolor?! Not much, I say. We loved creating these coloful landscapes and they so brightened the halls. For the complete lesson and the video (I told you, I got you covered!) here.

Cereal boxes for the win, friends! Start collecting now!

Honestly, I don't know who loves puffy paint more, me or the kids! Just keep a pin on hand to unclog the nozzle. The paint does tend to dry out and clog the inside!

Looking for more landscape ideas? I put together an entire blog post of my favorite landscape lessons right here! 

I want this as a quilt!

Here's a little lesson I created to use up popsicle sticks (ha!) and for a sub! These turned out so cute and the kids loved them! Video lesson here. 

Please tell me I'm not the only one with three million trillion popsicle sticks!

These clay flowers my third graders created were so beautiful! 

Each one was so creative. I provide the step by step photos in this blog post. 

The details! Loved the birds and bugs added!

Cute little kindergarten flowers! We even painted flower pots for Mother's Day. All the details here. 

This lesson was so much fun! We used watercolor paint for the backgrounds, we drew designs on the vases, we used black ink and tissue paper! It was a big fun lesson and you can find it here. 

Love the dragon on this one!

I made this mural at the start of a school year...but I also think it would be perfect for spring! It's a lot...but so many beautiful things were created. Check out the blog post here. 

Speaking of murals...this one involved the whole school! And would also be a great end of the school year collaboration. 

Happy and bright colors like this always put me in the mood for spring.

I hope you find a lesson or two here that you can use this spring! I'm always so happy to share with you all. 

Classroom Management: The 3 Things I Do Before Every Art Lesson

Okay, so I'm gonna be honest: I'm not GREAT with consistency. BUT...I am consistent when I run my art class. Full disclosure: my art classes are (and yes, I still use the present tense; I've only been out of the art room for a month and I will always consider myself an art teacher so you'll have to forgive me) 30 minutes long with all grades, kindergarten through 4th. So even tho I don't consider myself a consistent person by nature, I've had to force myself to be for the sake of getting any true art teacherin' accomplished. 

In those 30 minutes, I have a lotta routines established. Today I thought I'd share the three I use to begin each and every lesson. Some folks hate these routines of mine...and they are always sure to let me know. BUT in the end, you gotta do what works best for you, your students, your situation and your set up. 

That said, here's the three things I do before every art lesson:

If you are interested, I wrote a whole dang book with my art teacherin' tips and tricks in it. You can grab a copy here, if you like. 

And if you are interested in what I'm using in this video, be sure and read the description. I added links to all of the supplies from the Open/Closed sign to the tabletop dry erase board to the happy face magnets! Tap this link to view those and...subscribe! I'm adding a ton of new content to my YouTube channel. 

DIY: Paint Pen Earrings!

Hey, y'all! 

So, backstory on this DIY:

A year or so ago, I bought this super cute pair of plastic (or maybe they are acrylic) face earrings. I loved them...but they were brown, the same color as my hair. The moment, I wore them, you couldn't see them! 

They sat in my earring stash for many a day until...one day...I decided to attack them with paint pens. What's the worst that can happen? I thought. I mean, I never wore them anyway. 

Turns out, after painting them and covering them in a thin layer of ModPodge and glitter, I loved them! 

And I recently did it again! This time, I created a how-to video so...here you go:

By the way, this is just a side note, but I'm adding a ton of new content to my YouTube channel! So...if you're interested, you should subscribe. Just sayin'.

If you wanna give this a go, I created a list of the supplies I used with links. Here you go:

*Super cute earrings here, here and here. 

* Posca pens were so fun to use!
* Glitter for some added sparkle!

* And ModPodge to seal the paint and prevent the earrings from chipping.

Knowing that I am always short on time, as I know you are too, I'm always looking for fun, easy and fast crafts. And this was it! 

ALSO...I'm getting back into blogging! AND I'm giving a tour of my 'closet' this week...and I'm really excited. It motivated me to clean the space! Just a little more tweaking until it's ready to share. Stay tuned!

Until then, have a great week, y'all!

Sewing Room Tour!

I finally cleaned my sewing room (after, you know, 10 years or whatever) and I thought I'd offer a little tour! Before we begin, I wanted to share with you all of the links to my favorite things you'll see in my sewing room. If there is anything you spot that I forget to link, please just ask. BUT...you'll have to ask on my YouTube video as leaving comments here on my blog is darn near impossible. A couple of years ago, my blog was flooded with spam comments and I had to make it more difficult to leave a comment. My apologies for that. But the comment section of this video is open:

Here are some of my recommended sewing must-haves!

My FAVORITE sewing machine for all sewists levels My FAVORITE book for new sewists My FAVORITE way to store spools of thread My FAVORITE thread (don't skip and use cheap thread, trust me!) Good scissors ONLY used for sewing is a must I LOVE this for pin holding when stitching, look how cute! A good cutting mat is a must These sewing pins are my favorite

In my video, I failed to mention that I have a roommate in my sewing room: Max. He's our toothless wonder. Though he's not very old, we had to have all of his teeth extracted a year ago. This means he has to eat soft food separately from our other cats (Johnny and Tika) who are wild wolves and would surely devour Max's soft food. Since he eats in my sewing room, he pretty much spends his days in there. With me. And his liter box, ahem.

I have had many versions of this wall in my sewing room. But what has worked for me the best is to have all of my tools up and visible for me to see and grab. Hence the multiple pegboards and the supplies on the wall. Artwork by my fave, Chris Uphues!

And I just finished that painted jumpsuit! If you wanna learn how I made it, just get thee here. 

There's probably a ton that I failed to mention so just ask!

What would I do without wire shelves?! Since leaving teaching in February, I've ordered a ton more for all of my art teacherin' books and supplies. I plan to share a tour of that space, where I 'work' very soon. It's just currently a hot stinky mess. 

AND if you weren't aware that I stepped away from the art room, YEP! I did! After 25 years. I do plan to chat about that in an upcoming podcast next week, so...stay tuned!

Fabric on hangers is seriously THE ONLY way to go! 

I do hope you enjoyed the tour! Stay tuned for more.