In the Art Room: Chalk Prints and Shaving Cream Marbling

In second grade we are working like crazy with our short 30 minute art classes to try our hands at two different paper treatments: floating chalk prints and shaving cream marbling. My goal has been for all of my students to attempt both processes twice before the end of class. It's a go-go-go kind of class but it's a lot of fun. When I shared a couple short videos of my students working on these papers, I got a lot of questions about the process. So I created a video that will walk you through each. I'll also go through the supplies needed in this here post. Here's the how-to video:

Supplies for floating chalk prints:

* Paper. I used 6" X 9" papers. These will be used for the covers of their Rainbow Book. I only order between 80- 90 lbs paper for the art room. 

* Chalk. We used Freart Chalk by Prang. I like this chalk because it's high in pigment and thick like sidewalk chalk.

* Tongue depressors. We used the big ones which you can get cheap at the Dollar Tree.

* Tub of water. I made it so each my students had their own tub to save on time. I see my second graders at the end of the day so this meant I didn't have to hustle to move the tubs for my next class. 

If you watch the video, you'll see just how easy this process is...and how beautiful the results are. 

I have a feeling the kids are going to have a hard time deciding which beautiful papers to use for the covers of their Rainbow Book!

When doing these chalk prints, you can even use stencils to create a really cool look. Check out this blog post where we used star stencils. 

The best part is, you don't have to "set" these creations as you would normal chalk pieces!

 For shaving cream marbling, you'll need the following:

* Shaving cream. We used cheap dollar store stuff.
* Liquid watercolor.
* Paint brushes.
* Tongue depressors.
* Paper. 

This process required more steps so some of my students would get excited and forget those steps. I made sure to appoint my Art Teachers in Training who did a wonderful job reminding kids of the steps. Yay! 

I did not change out the bins of shaving cream or water. For the floating chalk prints, it was not necessary. For the shaving cream, it just meant that the following prints had more color. 

 Again, so pretty! I can't wait to see these on the covers of their books. Here are the books they are creating:

I have done shaving cream prints before...but never in a closed container. I am never going back, y'all! The mess is contained...like, literally.

Have y'all done these kind of prints before? I'd love to hear about it! I'm also curious to know what you did with your beautiful papers. 

I'll be sure and update you with our completed Rainbow Books!

DIY: A Pee-Wee Herman Baby Shower!

Come on in, and pull yourself up a chair (like Chairry!)
Let the fun begin, it's time to let down your hair!
Pee-Wee's so excited,
'cause all his friends have been invited (that's you!)
To go wacky, at Pee-Wee's Playhouse! *

Hey, kids! Whatcha see here is one of the most bad a## baby showers this side of puppet land: A Pee-Wee Herman Baby Shower! That's right, ya'll. When my best bud (who happens to be a super fantastical art teacher) shared that she was expecting, we -- along with another art teacher buddy -- decided that the theme should be a common bond of ours: Our Love of All-Things Pee-Wee!

Did ya'll watch Pee-Wee's Playhouse ** as a kid? I admit, I wasn't a kid when the show was in it's prime but a teen with a penchant for all-things-kitsch. I spent my Saturday mornings watching it with my kid bro, cracking up at the cast's insane antics. That show has had a huge influence on my crazy-art-teacher style and I strive to be Pee-Wee-esque on a daily basis in my art room ('twas the reason I started the Word of the Week!). So when we settled on a Pee-Wee Herman baby shower theme, I was beyond excited to play hostess!

Because we also have a love for the movie Pee-Wee's Big Adventure *** (just watched it the other day, ya'll. Still as amazingly awesome as ever!) this shower was a combo Playhouse/Big Adventure. My mom, an avid bike-rider and bike-stuff collector, really came through with some bike-themed decor. That's her image hanging on my front door!

I'm pretty sure the whole shebang woulda made Pee-Wee proud. Or at least have him making this face.

Now, this party was not without some work on the part of me and my co-host and fellow art teacher Stephanie. She created these amazing signs that greeted baby-mama and guests as they entered the shower. Aren't they the best things ever?! My favorite part is Randy and his mis-matched nostrils, ha-ha (read in your best Pee-Wee laugh).

While Stephanie and I were plotting and planning, we decided to dress as characters from the show. She settled on Pee-Wee while I decided to dress as my all-time favorite femme fatale, Miss Yvonne. Now, if Ima gonna be totes honest with ya'll, I gotta admit Miss Yvonne is my fashion icon. Seriously. I mean, what's not to love? Big hair, big, um, skirt, big flirty personality, she's got it all! I've always loved her the bestest.

But I just didn't have the right dress. That is until I remembered this 1991 prom number of mine. That's right, kids, I still have my prom dress. Along with photographic evidence of a bad perm and a prom date who thought a stone-washed jeans/tux combo was the sh$$. Now before you go all, "OMG, you can still fit into your prom dress?!", let's take a look at this dress, shall we? It's only fitted through the bodice with a nice open skirt for the girth that has become my hips. I never did manage to fill out that bodice despite sleeping with my training bra under my pillow since age 13. Boobie Fairy, why hast thou forsaken me?! Lil known fact: did ya'll know I went to prom with Abe Lincoln? Just kidding, he opted to go to the theatre that night.

Now a pure white dress just wouldn't do for Miss Yvonne. I mean, did you see that cleavage -- she's  no angel, ya'll. So I gave that dress a make-over with a bath of Procion's robin's egg blue dye. And I'm so excited about the results, I might have to find me another prom date! Anyone know here Lincoln went after that theater production? He's not returning my calls. 

Stephanie (aka Pee-Wee) and I came up with a magnificent munchie menu that went a lil something like this: mac -n- cheez, basil-moz-tomato sammies, crackers made to resemble Pee-Wee's iconic suit -n- tie and Playhouse-themed cuppie-cakes!

This wee arrangement greeted guests when they entered the kitchen. My mom gave me the go-ahead to spray paint her mini-bike red (looks way better, ya'll). I sketched up the cupcake decor, made a buncha copies, colored 'em in and glued a flat wooden stick to the back. I had fun looking up lines from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure...although I can't believe I forgot, "I love that story!". Oh well, next Pee-Wee Party!

Now I've never thrown a baby shower before and I've only attended one (I just don't get asked to these sorts of things. Never been in a wedding either...and for that I count my lucky stars!) so I was kinda just making it up as I went a long. I knew that we should have some sort of craft as most of the guests were art teachers. So in the dining room, I set up a coupla stations (the fact that I just used the word "station" gives away that I'm a teacher, doesn't it?!): a onesie decorating area and a scrapbook decorating activity.

I always loved Jambi and secretly make wishes to him on a daily basis. Why "I wish to live in an ice cream truck" hasn't happened yet, I've no idea. In the basket, I stitched up a buncha little draw string bags (have ya'll ever made those before? I snapped a how-to picks for a future DIY post if ya'll are interested) and placed a wee onesie inside. Stephanie came through with an assortment of fabric markers that were great. So that the drawn image wouldn't go through to the back of the onesie, I cut thick paper to be placed inside the onesie while working. These turned out so amazingly cute, ya'll, but you'll have to take my word for it. We were all so busy crafting, I forgot to snap photos!

Don't you love those sweet flowers from the Playhouse? Stephanie created 'em outta felt and I totally want to make some for my art room. While I was working on this party, I watched an amazing documentary on Wayne White called Beauty is Embarrassing. If you've not seen it, you really should check it out. Wayne was one of the puppeteers from Playhouse and did voices for several characters including one of the flowers. 

For the party, Stephanie had the great idea of a photo booth. We decided to have the photos in an album to give to Mallory (aka Baby Mama) along with some sweet scrapbook'ed notes from us. So after onesie making, we stamped, glued and drew ourselves silly. Speaking of silly...

Holy cow, was that photo booth a ball! I had a buncha props like hats, glasses and scarves while Stephanie had some cute handmade ones. Hubs got me a remote control camera clicker (I'm sure there's a better name but I'm sticking with that one) for Christmas and it was perfect! I just set the thing on "continuous" and snapped over 100 photo booth pics.

My fave photos are the outtakes. This one of my sweet former student teacher ('member her?!) and Mallory is one of my faves. By the way, wish Rebecca luck, she just landed her first art teaching gig in Salt Lake City! She's gonna be fantastical!

For present-opening time, I just knew we'd have to have a Chairry! He came together super fast: just covered an armchair in blue fabric, added the felt mouth and attach the goggly eyes. The funny thing is, Malloy had given me those goggly eyes for my birthday!

Stephanie did an awesome job creating the wallhangings in the background. I spy Mr. Kite, Clocky, Mr. Window and Terry! AND, I dunno if you noticed, but Mallory's shirt is the door to Pee-Wee's Playhouse! She felted it just for the occasion. WHO MAKES A SHIRT FOR THEIR BABY SHOWER?! This awesome lady. That bunting was stitched up by me and was the simplest thing ever: get yerself some quilt binding, cut some triangles, pin 'em inside the binding and stitch. Cake.

Here's one of the prezzies I made for Lil Miss Lydia Dot. Stay tuned for the Pee-Wee bibs I created too! I'll share that with ya'll later this week.

I'm thinkin' Chairry had a good time...although, he looks like he's had a few too many, dontcha think?

It was such a super fun shower for one super awesome friend that I'd do it again tomorrow. And everyday after that. Although I don't know if hubs would agree.

But I bet I know one guy that would!

Thanks for dropping buy this photo-heavy post, ya'll! I hope you enjoyed hearing about it as much as we did putting it together! Stay tuned for one more Pee-Wee post soon! 

Until then, I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I!?

* Pee-Wee's Playhouse Fun Fact: The theme song for Pee-Wee's Playhouse was both written and sung by the one and only Cyndi Lauper! Take a listen here.

** Many a folk got their start on Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Probably the most famous one was Laurence Fishburne who starred as the always-county-always-polite Cowboy Curtis. But did you know that Rob Zombie served as a production assistant? Or that Jimmy Smits played a mechanic (for a hot minute)? Of course, Phil Hartman was Captain Carl and a writer for the show. The list goes on...

*** Pee-Wee's Big Adventure was directed by non-other than Tim Burton! He'd just been fired from Disney (what?! silly mouse!) after creating a lil film known as Frankenweenie. Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee) saw the film and asked Burton to direct his movie...which lead to Beetlejuice that lead to Batman and Tim Burton Fame -n- Fortune. Thanks, Pee-Wee!

DIY: Intro to Needle Felting!

In case you missed it, last night I hosted my first free felting session over on my Facebook page and it was a ton of fun! We had almost 200 folks join me for about an hour of Intro to Needle Felting. If you'd like more details on this free craft night, pop over here. You can still purchase a kit if you'd like to join the fun! Those that participated and used the hashtag #creatingwithcassie on their Twitter and Instagram posts are being featured here today. If I missed your post, my apologies! I'll share it here next week. By the way, you might wanna give these folks a follow as they are creative artsy types just like you. I'll be certain to share their IG handles. This masterpiece was created by @jill_nettels!

Felted masterpiece by @dwade1721.

If you missed last night's session, no worries. It's been archived on my Facebook page. I've also uploaded it to my YouTube channel. So even if you miss me live, you don't miss a thing. 

It's a long one...here you go!

 Isn't this gorgeous? Created by @swshumaker!

Last night was my second attempt at creating LIVE. If y'all remember I tried it once before with creating my Art Teachers in Training badges...and it was a struggle. I couldn't see the screen to field questions, I couldn't get a good angle for y'all to see...it was not pretty. I was determined to give it another shot and I hope last night was better. But there are some things I learned! 

 A needle felted pouch! So perfect, by @echopaitsel. 

1. I'm not so good at creating and talking. I notice this in teaching too, do you? I'll lose my train of thought, forget what I was saying, end up just making a muck of things...I think it's that whole right brain/left brain thing. At least that's the excuse I'm using for those not-too-pretty examples I created live!

 Aren't these pins going to be so cute?! By @mary5409.

 LOVE this sweater by @mrs.newtonsart!

2. Keep projects open-ended. I really didn't want to tell y'all: this is what we are going to make and this is what yours will look like when you are done. Because...what fun is that? The beauty of needle felting is that there are no "rules", no "right and wrong" ways to do it. I think I succeeded in that...just look at the variety of awesomeness that y'all created! 

 Look at this sweet flower by @artteacher!

 One question that came up a lot was: what can you needle felt on. Y'all...ANYTHING! Check out this flower felted onto cotton by @ms_kibbe.

 I so loved seeing everyone's set up where they were going to be working. Look at this art room corner! @chapin_schnick, I love it so much, I might be able to forgive the Purdue sign (I.U. grad here, sister, ha!).

 I am loving this ladybug...I think I need to add some bugs to the clutch I am felting! @mrsmillsartfromtheheart, this is fabulous.

3. Y'all are fast learners! When it took me 30 minutes to create a circle and a leaf, y'all were busting out stuff like this. I was just floored when I saw my IG feed. 

 I mean, @emilystuver, for reazzz tho. Beautiful!

 Anything with a cat gets my seal of approval, y'all. @art.teach.at.the.beach this is so cute!

 4. Y'all are problem solvers...and great at helping each other. When someone asked how to felt on a pocket without felting the pocket closed, the idea of cutting the foam and placing it inside the pocket was shared. I love that the questions I couldn't answer, y'all solved!

 I have one word: wooooaaaahhhhh. @visualpraisestudio, this is amazing.

  I so love that the boyfriend decided to join in on creating with us! How awesome is that @daynabayna?!

 I loved the running cat theme. There's actually a book called Felting with Cat Hair that my mom gave me some time ago. I've yet to take Crazy Cat Lady to THAT level tho. Isn't this adorable by @nachtule?

 I think one thing everyone learned is that needle felting is a labor of love...heavy on the labor. But this sweater by @disneychica1313 is going to be so cute when she is done!

5. You guys are the best recruits! I loved how you involved fam members, boyfriends and pals to join the fun. It really was like a craft night with a ton of buddies. Thank you for making it so worthwhile. 

I love this photo from @jenjencarey...she cracked me up! I do love her C...even if her collar is hiding it. She just needs to flip her collar Rizzo-style! 

 Another beauty from @nachtule!

 Look how pretty this is by @cherishines!

 This one makes me so happy, I love this color combo by @chapin_schnick. 

 What I love most about needle felting is that you can start out small and simple...and grow so much from here. I can't wait to see what @artsygirl1978 creates with this! 

 Those of you who I missed, my apologies! I'll add you in next week's update of our craft nights. Remember if you'd like me to share your photo, simply use the hashtag #creatingwithcassie on your preferred social media outlet. And be sure to join the fun next week as we dive into the waters of wet felting. See you then!