Showing posts sorted by relevance for query valentine. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query valentine. Sort by date Show all posts

Sunday, February 12, 2012

DIY: You're Such a (Soda) Jerk!

I went and did something I promised myself I wouldn't do. I painted this here Valentine's Day canvas. I knew it would take me forever and that I'd just barely finish it in time to enjoy it...and...yet... I managed to convince myself to do it anyway. Here's how the conversation between Delusional Cassie and Sane-ish Cassie went down:

D.C. : Aw, look at all of these cute vintage Valentine's that keep popping up on pinterest! I should so totally paint one for the house.

S.C. : Absolutely not. You take forever to paint anything. Besides, it's kinda cheesy. Aren't you like thirty-seven or something?

D.C. : It's not cheesy, it's cute! And I swear, it won't take me that long, I'll just sketch it out and block it in. Piece of cake for this, ahem, thirty-six year old.

S.C.: You say so, Crazy.
After perusing pinterest for the perfect vintage valentine, I found this one. I absolutely love the girl (the hair! the red bow shoes! the heart shirt!) and the fact that she's chillin' at a soda fountain...but the rest of it was kind of lacking. I mean, I had to read the bit about being a working girl a couple of times before I got it (did I mention there is a Slow Cassie as well?). She just seemed too lonely and sad for a Valentine.
So I started sketching out some ideas. Instead of a poor working girl, I wanted a man-eatin' go-getter. Hence the fishnets and box of chocolates. And I wanted the object of her affection to be some cute -n- clueless soda jerk.
So I did some google-image-searching and found a plethora of soda jerks. After I created a sketch that I was happy with, I decided to tint and texture my canvas. I mixed up a warm yellow ochre and slathered it onto the canvas. Once dry, I sketched out my scene in pencil and started blocking in the colors.
Sadly for this dude, his flesh is a little multi-colored. Too much time in the tanning booth will do that to you, I hear. By the time I noticed his flesh inconsistencies, I was too tired of working on the painting to care.
Once I had the colors blocked in, I started going detail crazy. I decided I wanted the counter top to have a formica pattern so I attempted to paint tiny boomerangs with a one-haired brush. They ended up looking like hearts...which I kind of liked. I just had to add the fishnets as they are my favorite thing to wear. And what's a diner without a checkerboard floor? All of the outlining and lettering was done with a black paintbrush pen.
I have a small collection of vintage Valentine's that I picked up from an etsy shop last month. One thing I noticed about them is that they all have a play on words. As I was plotting and planning, I came up with the "So-da one you love is me?" My only regret is that I don't actually have him making a soda but what looks to be an strawberry shake. Oh well, hopefully the idea for that and the "fountain" reference at the bottom is still clear.
One of my favorite discoveries while soda-jerk-searching online was rediscovering this Norman Rockwell painting. When I became interested in creating art in high school, I found these sweet images so repulsive. I was just entirely too cool for nostalgic Rockwell paintings. Now, having the love for all things vintage that I do, I just adore his work. Especially when I discovered a collection of photographs that he snapped to create his paintings.
This makes me smile. Great, isn't it?
Well, would ya look at that, Sane-ish Cassie? It's finished! And hung right at the foot of my stairs for me to admire...for the next two days. Oh well. It did take much longer than expected but it was pretty fun regardless. Happy Valentine's Day!


Tuesday, February 14, 2012

DIY: Glitter & Leopard Print

I have settled upon a new life mantra: All things are better covered in leopard print and pink glitter. It's true. I sprinkled some glitter on the dirty dishes in the sink and, for once, they sparkled! I'm heading to the bathroom with my gallon o' glitter next.
Well, hello there! If you are reading this here blog on Valentine's Day, I thank you! It means you are not unlike this girl. I love the decorations, the candy, the flowers (I hear people give flowers on this day...is that true? Would you mind letting my husband know?) but I think the whole idea is kinda silly. We all know it's just a big fat hairy way for Hallmark to make a couple extra bucks. But I'll take any ole excuse to get tacky and girly, thank you very much.
You don't have to say it. I know what you're thinking: daaaaang does that girl have big feets! Yes, I do. Thanks for noticing. Jerk.
 I began with these shoes. I've had these thrifted Nine West shoes in my closet for a couple of years and, while I love the wing-tipped retro look, I could never seem to find a way to make them work. The weird silly-putty tan just never appealed to me. So in my closet they sat.
The idea for covering the shoe in fabric came from this fab website: http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/
Until this weekend. I took a little trip to the craft store and picked up some hot pink glitter dust, an Exacto knife, Modge Podge (for whom I should totally be an endorser) and Aleene's Tacky Glue. I painted the glue on to the shoe and covered it in some leopard print from my stash.
Silly Putty Tan, goodbye. Me-Yeow, Leopard Print!
 After the glued dried, I used an Exacto knife to cut off the excess fabric. I was really nervous about this as I thought it might be tricky, but it was a piece of cake. To prevent the fabric from fraying, I used a little brush and scrubbed some matte Modge Podge along the edge of the fabric. The extra fabric along the top was trimmed down, folded under and Modge-Podged. See, I even verbified their product name. I should so totally be an endorser!
Not all glitter is created equally. You must use glitter dust for this. Now I feel just like Edward, sparkling in the sunlight...
 Next came the glitterization of the shoes. In a small throw-away dish, I mixed a small amount of glossy Modge Podge with a ton of glitter. I painted a thick coat of said concoction onto the shoes. Once that was dry, I sealed it again with another coat of Modge Podge.
What's better than glitter shoes? Why, glitter fishnets, of course!
 And my shoes were complete! When I was making them, I actually thought I should stop after just covering them in leopard print. "Show a little restraint for once, Cassie. For the sake of all things non-tacky and civilized." Ha! Thankfully that was just a fleeting thought. Me, civilized? I don't think so.
My completed Valentine's Day look.
After completing the shoes I realized I had no other plans for my Valentine's Day outfit. So yesterday, Lauren (the cute girl you see featured in the weekly outfit posts) and I went to Goodwill after school in search of Valentine's Day attire. She spotted this leopard print skirt. What luck! And then I started noticing a ton of leopard print and I said, "Oh...maybe this is too in style right now...?" I pride myself on being very out-of-style, you see. However, as soon as I said those words, I realized my silliness: I was shopping at the place where people sent their unwanted wares! Whew! No worries, I'm wearing the most unwanted of clothing. Perfect!
Oh those bangs. Some days they just look so Squiggy (of Lenny and Squiggy fame...you Laverne and Shirley fans know what I'm talking about). And that crooked collar/bib. Oui.
The collar is one I made based off of the same idea I used for this outfit post...http://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-to-dress-like-kindergartener.html 
I happened to have a bit of pink glitter leftover from my shoes. So I cut out some cardboard hearts, glittered them and glued them to a barrette. And, viola! Happy Valentine's Day all. Now, if you'll pardon me, hubs just walked in with a ton of chocolates and trashy magazines. Oh, forget those flowers. This man knows me too well!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

DIY: Lovey Dovey

My completed yarn-wrapped heart now hangs over the mirror in my foyer. I hate that word, foyer. Makes me sound so fancy. But it sounds better than "front entrance" which is what I initially typed.

I am not, nor have I ever been, and I predict I won't ever be, sappy. When I lose my Burt's Bees, I become chappy; with a tiny amount of wine, I am slaphappy; and my middle-aged lady arms are starting to look flappy; but sappy is not a word that would describe me. Lovey-dovey, mushy, huggy-kissy sweet stuff kinda makes my skin craw, my eyes roll toward the back of my head and my finger make a gagging motion down my throat.

Supplies: Styrofoam heart and pink yarn: Hobby Lobby; baker's twine: Anthopologie, last Christmas; buttons and paper measuring tape: from my stash; vintage photos: from my mom

However, this is not all my fault. I inherited the unsappy gene from my mother. Case in point: If I tell her I lover her, more often than not, I'm greeted with a "whatever." It's just not in us to give a sap. 

So it's kinda funny that I decided to spruce up the pad for Valentine's Day. Honestly, it's because I had so much fun decorating for Christmas, that I didn't want to stop. Never mind that the floors haven't been swept in years and that the laundry is a 6' mountain of funky smells, look! I made a yarn wrapped heart!

Are they not the cutest? My mom brought me a stash of old family photos, some of people neither of us knew. Doesn't it look like he's tickling her ear and she's trying to stop him? I wonder where they are now.

And it was really easy to make. If you've been on pinterest for a millisecond, you've seen yarn-wrapped wreaths. I made one at Christmas...but this one was a wee bit trickier because of the points in the heart. If you've never tried it before, here's how I went about it: tie yarn around styro wreath and wrap yarn around it. That's it! When I came to the points in the heart, I plugged in my hot glue gun and glued in strips of yarn to fill in the gaps. It's really the easiest and most mundane craft ever. 

Another nunno-who-they-are photo from my collection. I love how she's on her tiptoes in her sweet loafers...and is he coping a feel?


When I was finished with that, the fuschia heart was rather boring. So I decided to add some blue striped  baker's twine which I double knotted in the back. I backed the photos onto matte board and hot glued the board to the frame so as not to ruin the photos. The vintage buttons were hot glued on as well. I had initially used a black ribbon to hang the heart but it seemed too domineering. I swapped it out for the paper measuring tape. In all, it looks pretty crafty, but that's okay by me. It'll do for the month of Feb.

Right under the yarn-wrapped-heart mirror in the foyer is a little table with this display. My collection of vintage children's books comes from the throw-away pile at in my school's library.
These little cupid houses have actually been up since Christmas. As if you couldn't tell. I've decided that the hearts on top of them mean I can leave them out just a pinch longer. Again, this idea was pulled from pinterest.

If you have access to clay and a kiln, here's how I created these: for the trunk, place a texture down on your table. I used a large stamp that had a wood grain design. Place the clay on top of the stamp and flatten it with a rolling pin. Remove clay from stamp and roll into a tube shape. For the roof, lay a different textured surface onto your workspace. I like to use vintage lace. Repeat the step of flattening the clay. Now, instead of forming a tube, roll clay into a waffle cone shape. Slip and score to the top. Add details and, viola! A house for cupid!
My Valentine garland. The easiest craft ever.
This is the last of my Valentine's decor, I swear. If I do anymore, my anti-sap status is sure to drop greatly. This here Valentine's garland was the easiest to make. My school has one of the Edison die cut thingies. I die cut some of my scrap booking paper (picked up a JoAnn's)  that I thought might compliment the colors of my living room. Which, as you can see, is just black and white. Easy to match.
If you've never sewn before, this is the project for you. When I got my first sewing machine about 6 years ago, I started by sewing paper. There's no fear in "messing up" and ruining expensive fabric. For this, I just pushed the heart through the machine. To make the blank space, I just continued to pull the heart so the machine would keep intertwining the two threads. Once the space was long enough, I fed the bird through the machine. Simple, right?

So, there you go. Valentine's decor for the un-Lovey Dovey set. I keep thinking to the next holiday I can decorate for...which is St. Patrick's Day, I believe. Nothing is coming to mind. Except to leave my little clay houses out just one more holiday and call 'em Leprechan Houses. That'll work, right?

Sunday, February 10, 2013

What the Art Teacher Wore #54

 Valentine's Monday: This week I decided to get into the Valentine's Day spirit. Which for me meant I wore just a pinch more red and pink that usual. This was a little DIY dress and collar I crafted last year. You can check it out here if you wanna. dress, collar: vintage dress, DIY'ed by me; tights, red shirt: Target; boots, belt: Anthropologie

Hey, dudes. I hope this Sunday evening finds you relaxed and ready to start the new week. I've got the relaxed thing down...it's going back into the art room that concerns me. I've got so many big plans for upcoming art adventures I just hope I can keep up!

Somehow, while spending entirely too much time online, I stumbled upon the photo below. I think every art teacher needs a little Dior palette hat in their lives, don't you? This hat reminded me of how much I love Christian Dior and his New Look which took fashion by storm in 1947. I thought I'd share just a few photos from that era with you this week. 

Until then, I hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day week!
Stephen Jones for Christian Dior Haute Couture, Autumn Winter 2007–08 I love that this model is not only meant to look like she is from the New Look era but she is also painted black and white. Genius. I've loved and collected vintage fashion since high school. Back then I was really into the hippie look, complete with giant bell bottoms and platform shoes. I even painted daisies and the Beatles on the bottom of a pair of my dad's old jeans. Wore 'em, like, every day. But I always picked up dresses from the 50s when I found them at the thrift store. I wasn't interested in wearing them at the time, but I knew they were special.
Candy Cane Tuesday: None of the kids were getting the Valentine's reference with this outfit. They just old me I looked like a candy cane. sweater: vintage, thrifted; dress: Germany; tights: Target; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; shoes: Softt; flower: H&M
Renee, The New Look of Dior, Place de la Concorde, Paris, August 1947 by Richard Avedon Not until The Golden Age of Couture exhibit at the Frist Center for Visual Arts did I find out just how special these dresses were. Not only did the exhibit showcase photos like the one above but there were also dresses galore from the New Look collection. I went to that exhibit at least four times. I just couldn't get enough. It was then that I really began wearing my, at the time, small collection of dresses from the 1950s. That collection is now beginning to look like an episode of hoarders but we'll address that another time (read: never).
Richard Avedon Self-Portrait, 1963 Oh man, can I just take a time out from Dior and tell you how much I love the photography of Richard Avedon? Dude, I mean, seriously. Google his name and some of the most amazing images you'll ever see will pop up. I think I need a coffee table book of his work, stat.
Lame Hair Wednesday: Seriously. I've been slacking in the hair department of late. I'm enjoying my sleep more than I am a good 'do. When is bedhead gonna become stylish, anyway? I mean, this morning when I awoke, I was totally rockin' the Mel Gibson Braveheart hair look. Shoulda went with it. sweater, tights: Target; dress: Buffalo Exchange, Anthro tags; belt: Anthropologie; shoes: Dolls by Nina; necklace: created by a friend

Left: Christian Dior {New Look 1947} in front of the Eiffel Tower ~ Paris, France; Right:  Christian Dior measuring a hemline. Dior's New Look line dramatically increased the length of women's skirts. During World War II, regulations were issued by the U.S. government to set skirt lengths at 17 inches above the floor in an effort to conserve textiles. Women were entering the work force more than ever and this length seemed to suit them and their ability to work comfortably. After the war and the regulations ended, Christian Dior lengthened hemlines again. This infuriated many who saw this not only as a set back for women but also as wastefulness. 

Thursday: After a bumpy class, I received the sweetest email from a mom who said that although her kindergartener was out sick, the little one was still able to teach her mom all about tints and shades with a landscape painting lesson. The photo that was attached to my email immediately cheered me up and was just what I needed to readjust my mood. sweater: vintage, gift from MIL; dress: Anthropologie ($19, yo!); tights: Target; shoes: Indigo by Clarks
Male students protest against longer hemlines at Michigan State University, circa 1947
 Yeah, leave it to a bunch of guys to protest longer hemlines. If it's one thing I learned in college, never trust the dudes who claim to be feminists. But I digress. Is it just me or isn't the idea of people protesting over clothing being too long just fascinating? If you search the internet, you'll find images of women wearing the New Look and other women ripping their clothing off or throwing water at them. It's amazing that a hemline the goes down could cause such an uproar.
Women protesting Dior’s long skirts. Chicago, Illinois - September 22, 1947 Despite the protests, women everywhere fell in love with the designs of Dior (even if one unfortunate lass in Cali got her hemline caught in the door of a bus as she exited. Poor thing had to run along side the bus until the driver noticed and set her free). For this reason, Dior became an overnight sensation and was able to help revive the fashion industry in Paris. 
Do you Dior, Friday? My wanna-be Dior inspired look. I am completely in love with wearing a crinoline under my dresses now. Not only is it warm but it's so full and fun. This one I am wearing is just some cheapo thing. I think I'm going to put a temporary halt to my dress-buying-disease and save up for a real crinoline. Any suggestions from you crinoline wear-ers out there? sweater: vintage, thrifted; dress, belt: Anthro (dress, $29! Seriously, if you don't get there and scoop up some of those sales, I'm going to end up buying everything!); tights: Target; shoes: Softt
 New Look, Christian Dior, 1947 On one of the occasions when I went to the Golden Couture exhibit, I had the chance to hear one of the curator's speak. She told us the story of how she went to an auction and saw a lump of red fabric with a Dior label. Despite the fact that the dress was a mess, she bid up to $3000 of the museum's money on the dress, thinking she was getting the bargain of a lifetime. Turns out the museum had to spend about $8000 just to repair the dress. However, if it's a Dior, than it's worth it, right? You just can't pay enough for that much glamor.

 A Typical Weekend: Speaking of glamor, would you take a look at this little Dior-inspired number. Hubs, who has to deal with me looking like this more often than not, insisted on snapping these photos of me today. I cannot believe I'm actually sharing these photos with you...I mean, there are strings hanging off my butt! I have tape stuck to my jacket and my socks don't even match. But, since I'm all about full disclosure, here you go. If you "accidentally" stop following my blog, I completely understand. jacket: Mountain Hardware: sweats: borrowed from hubs; mismatched socks: Thorlos

 Sigh. Only on this blog will I take you on a trip from Christian Dior to linty sweats. You're welcome.








Monday, January 8, 2018

In the Art Room: Top 15 Fave Valentine's Day Lessons!

After winter break, I always find myself in the mood to start Valentines-y/Warm-Fuzzy/Lovey-Dovey projects with the kids. When doing a little searching on my blog last night, I discovered that I've done 15 Valentine's-themed lessons over the years. I had no idea I'd done so many! I thought I'd share them with you today. May of the links back to the original post will include an instructional video. Please let me know if you do any of these lessons, I'd love to see what you and your kiddos create!

Robert Indiana Love Prints! Believe it or not, my sweet FIRST GRADERS created these a couple years ago! It was a great lesson for printmaking and definitely one I will be doing again. If you don't have printing ink, you might want to check out this blog post where I'll show you how to print with paper and markers!
James Rizzi Love Birds!  Who doesn't love James Rizzi?! These birds are based on some of his work and is a great tie-in if you've already taught Rizzi and his fun cityscape works.
 Recycled Hearts!  Last year, I had a stock pile of messy-mats from our months of painting. We used them to make these two fun works of art (see below also) and they were such a hit! What a great way to review the warm colors, pattern and line.
So much sweetness!
Chris Uphues Hearts! If y'all don't know who Chris Uphues is, then you need to! He's one of my fave dudes to follow on Instagram. His artwork is so fun, so happy and so kid-friendly. They had a blast creating these happy hearts inspired by him.
J Goldcrown Hearts! If you need a quick one day project, I would recommend this one for sure! You can introduce your students to another street artist, J Goldcrown, and have them work in chalk! This is a great project for just about all levels. 
Sculpture Hearts! Last year, I introduced my second graders to Celluclay with this project. I have 30 minute art classes with these kiddos so we had to hustle! We spent one day covering our foil hear in clay, two days painting and the last day stringing beads. These were one of my favorite projects for Valentine's day!
 My Heart Has Wings! If you want to do a feel-good project with your faculty and staff, might I recommend this one? We did it on a PD day and it was so much fun. Of course, this would be a great project for kids as well.
Candy Heart Sculptures! My fourth graders created these candy hearts last year and they had a blast. We used plaster strips which created a super hard surface for the candy. We even made giant candy boxes to display them in!
 Woven Hearts! Every year, first grade does a paper weaving and every year we do something a little new. Last year, they nailed the weaving part so well, I thought I'd introduce them to simple sewing. They did great and I loved hanging them up like a quilt.
Candy Heart Drawings! When my fourth grade early finishers were done with their candy heart sculptures, I had them move on to a drawing of their candy hearts with oil pastel.
Britto Mural! A few years ago, I had to be out for a couple of weeks for jury duty. While I was gone, I had my students work on the parts of this Britto-inspired mural. It was great because then there was a fun masterpiece to hang in the hall when I returned. You can check out the instructional videos in the link.
Valentine Animals! My kindergarten kiddos created these fun animals last year. I created an instructional video for each one which you can find by clicking on the link. 
Collaborative Heart Mural! Collaborative pieces are a lot of fun this time of year. If you follow the link, you'll see which grades created what for this huge collaborative pieces that still hangs in our front office.
Peter Anton Box of Chocolates! This might have been a kid-favorite as it involved using EVERYONE'S favorite art supply: puffy paint! Check out how we made the faux candies and boxes by following the link.

What are your favorite projects this time of year? Love to hear! 
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