In the Art Room: A Virtual Tour of the Art Room

Hey, friends! As you just heard, cuz I just done tole you, I'm gonna take you on a lil tour of my art room today! I tried to keep these two clips short and sweet for a coupla reasons: 1. It takes me foreverness to upload a video clip on youtube. Like, 4-eve-err. If any of y'all have any tips or tricks, I'd so appreciate 'em. And 2. I have a hard time listening to my own voice in a vid clip so I assume it can only be worse for you. 

That bein' said, I thought y'all might be able to better understand the lay of the art room land if I virtually showed you around. Now, this is just a wee tour but I do blab a pinch about my first coupla days of school that will begin next week. For that I'll give ya a full blog post of what new things I'm trying, what's working and what's gonna get tweaked (er, what?!). You can read about my first coupla days of school from last year here, if you wanna. For this year, stay tuned. For now, welcome to my art room!

C'mon in!

At the start of the video, I show you this board. All of these fun souvenirs have been thrifted and garage saled over the years. I also reference my giant windows (which are glorious, I know. I'm very fortunate to have such a great space. This is why they can't get rid of me!). I repaint those window every year to go with my theme. You can check out my Parisian windows here and Asian-themed windows here. 

As for my Masterpiece Gallery, you can read how that was created with a bunch of thrifted frames here. You can also read about our game The Smartest Artist here. 

So I chatted for a moment about those vocab pockets that I keep next to my door. As the kids enter, they usually read an art word. However for these first couple of days, we are going to read these words. Then we're going to chat about how these words both describe us and art class. These will be our first "word wall" words. For more deets on this flashcard biznatch and my feeble attempts at teaching vocabulary, go here, here and, wow more?!, here.

Details on that Word of the Week in this here blog post. If you attended this summer's AOE conference, you might recognize that telly on the right. A fellow art teacher commented that she was looking for one to use to "call an artist" and I thought that was simply genius and promptly stole her idea! I can't wait to try it out. 

You know with the way educational theories and junk change with the wind blowing (usually outta some politician's a$$), I don't know if it's still "I Can" statements or something new. Regardless, I like having the kids recite what they "can" do as I find it empowers 'em. So I'm going to keep it up. I wrote about this here. 

Now, I don't know why I didn't say this earlier, but new art-teacherin' friends, you just might be freaking the funk out right now. I know I have a lotta stuff: decor, books, souvenirs, a rando rotary phone. I've spent the last 16-ish years collecting, gathering, midnight-online-shopping. And I've been in this art room for over 10 years so I've managed to decorate just a pinch. But you DON'T NEED ANY OF THIS STUFF to be an excellent art teacher. Seriously. All you need is a whole lotta love for the kids and art. That's it. And maybe a can of this. Because it has the best name ever and everyone knows art teachers use this for deodorant. 

 Like I said, we really only visit this area when I start introducing and chatting about Mexico and Central America. The kids are very good about not running over and grabbing things. In fact, we treat the objects in this area as if we are in a museum. Look but please don't touch. Except for the books. You can get as touchy as you like with those. For the paper decorations, I just accordion folded some scrap bulletin board paper and cut designs. 

By the way, any of y'all got a killer Day of the Dead lesson plan for me? I've been scoping the interwebs and finding all sorts of fun stuff. However, the last time I taught about Day of the Dead it was misinterpreted by some and was promptly shut down which is unfortunate. So this go-round I've got to be certain to teach it very carefully. 

Now, let's chat about my windows, kay? I usually paint both sets but this time, after spending 2 half days working on these, I was done. I pulled some images from the interwebs and started sketching my design with a grease pencil. For paint, I normally use Window Chalk (which I can no longer find!) and the kid's paint. This year, I really wanted the windows to be vibrant and not fade as fast so I decided to use my acrylic paint.

My make-shift painting studio. Do you see that tube of cerulean blue sitting here on the right? When I picked it up, I could tell it had tons of paint in it but when I squeezed it, nothing happened. So, being the genius that I am, I squeezed it even harder until the paint exploded from the back of the tube covering the floor, splattering on to my keyboard, my necklace and my legs. Shoot, it hit places I wasn't even aware of until folks be like, "Um, you have blue paint on your XYZ". And don't nobody want blue paint there. The best part? Every time I needed blue paint, I WOULD FORGET THAT THE PAINT WAS GONNA SHOOT OUT THE BOTTOM and I managed to splatter it everywhere all over again. Wiping it off the cat as we speak.

I think I blabbed for a moment about Mona Lisa in the vid clip. I know some art teachers do this thing where they say "Mona" and the kids say "Lisa" and then they are to imitate her stance: body calm, hands in lap, eyes on me...creeper smile optional. I thought I'd demonstrate that with my framed Mona on the right. I painted that a couple of years ago after finding the frame at the thrift store. I was tired of looking at my same rules so I decided to use these fun images from a Keith Haring calendar instead (I said Kandinsky in my video clip, sorry, friends!). 

Here's the deal, in art class and in life, I think you should be nice. In Teach like a Pirate (our Artsy Book Club book), the author Dave Burgess calls his classroom the No Meanness Zone. I think it's super important to teach children the importance of kindness...even in the face of unkindness. Which is tough and something I struggle with. A part of that is having respect for yourself which is where the "take pride" idea comes in. I'm a lil too tired of hearing the kids down talk themselves and/or their artwork. But I'm really getting ahead of myself. More on rules and first day-ness soon.

Yes! I have drums! Thank you, Forks Drum Closet! The chimes are my hub's biz called Treeworks Chimes. You can find em here...and a super great attention-getting chime bar here (okay, commercial break over). Details on that Art History Wall here. 

Oh! Y'all remember these frames? 

Well, you might have noticed that I've gotten 'em up! I spray painted them gold (although in this photo, it really just looks like brown wood, humph) and have 'em around my room. I picked 'em up at Michaels for just a couple bucks each. I do believe every art teacher in the land needs these fun frames so get you some! And, if you got 'em, I wanna know what you did with 'em.

And that's it! I do hope all y'all have the very best back to school ever! I'm so excited to share with you guys what we're up to...that is, once I figure it out. Chat with you soon!

DIY: The "Uh, Are You an Art Teacher?" Ensemble

The other night I was meeting up with a group of non-art-teacher buddies (yes, I have those. Two, actually, thank ya vury much) for dinner. I was just coming from my first day back at school so I was in my normal art teacherin' garb. Paint palette in mah hair, pencil-y shoes, some sort of embarrassingly obvious art teacher dress...you know, the norm. When I wear this wacky tackiness, I honestly don't think twice about it. In fact, I often forget that I look rather ridiculous. My non-art-teacher buddies, however, never forget. 

NATB: When we go out, people seriously look at you funny.

Clueless Me: No they don't!  

NATB: Um, yes they do. It's like they are trying to decide, "Is this a crazy person? Does she realize there are crayons in her hair and she's out in public?!" And you don't even notice!

Okay, so I totally thought this was bogus until yesterday. I got it in my big fat art-teacherin head that I needed to create some miniature art supplies. I'd seen some amazing ones here (gah, y'all! This artist must have magical fairy fingers!) and was totes inspired. So I ran to the nearest big box craft shop and loaded up on Sculpey. When I got up to the register, I realized I didn't have my teacher ID for a discount. Then this went down:

Me: I'm sorry, I don't have my school ID. Can I please get a teacher discount?

Not-Looking-Up-From-Scanning-Countless-Sculpey-Blocks Check Out Chick: You have to be a teacher.

Me: I am a teacher, I promise! I just left my ID at school. 

Still-Preoccupied Check Out Chick: I'm sorry but I don't have any way of knowing if you're really a teacher. 

Me (remembering my convo with NATB): Look at me.

Check Out Chick, startled: Huh? Oh. Wow (taking in that number above). So, you're an art teacher, huh? Kay, I believe you!

And I actually think she gave me double the discount, y'all. As she should all crazy art teachers.

Thank goodness for that wee discount otherwise Ida never been able to make these mini-masterpieces. You know, cuz every approaching-middle-age lady needs a set of Art Supply Shoe Clips, amiright? More on those in a minute, for now, let's talk about that discount-gettin dress, shall we?

You might recognize this fab fabric from my Dreaded Art Supply Order post (which I will be posting a revision of. Y'all made SO MANY super duper suggestions that I've already rewritten my order!). I decided to pair it with some orange and red chevron fabric I thrifted years ago that were curtains in it's previous life.

As for a dress pattern, I settled on that 1970's number on the left. I totes loved the bodice (I fer realz have a thing for dresses with a midriff band. In case you've not noticed every-freakin-dress-I-stitch has a midriff band. Band? Belt? Thangie? You know what I mean). However, I wasn't loving the skirt options. Here's the deal, that mini is just a lil too mini. I don't believe in shaving above my knee caps so I pretty much look like an orangutan from there up. Just ask the hubs. Good thing he's into primates. As for the maxi, y'all, I can't do a maxi in the art room. Every time I squat in a maxi (um, that sounded bad. I mean squat down to pick something up off the ground, not like, to pee outside or something. I may look like an orangutan but I'm not an animal, geesh), I inevitably step on my hem, start to stand and fall over. It's quite classy. For that reason, I decided to go with my skirt standby, good ole Project Runway Simplicity 0320.

Now, let's address the big fat hairy elephant in the room...those 1970's bat wings...

Yeah, those. Y'all know I'm not really a lover of stitching sleeves but I was willing to forego my hate for these guys. I mean in the sketch they looked so hippie and cute! In fact when I wore this dress the other day, all my flower-power teacher buddies reminisced about the dress they had as teens with "wings". However, these guys should really come with some sorta warning label. The entire time I wore this dress, I could see those wings outta my peripheral view and kept swatting at 'em. Once I thought there was a bug on me, another time a bird and I swear I even saw a group of dancing bears. But that was after accidentally consuming some of that Sculpey clay (hazards of eating and crafting). So there's that.

I also have decided that absolutely no dress is complete without pockets. However, I really hate where the pocket are placed in this particular dress pattern. It's impossible to have your hands in your pockets and NOT look like you are piddling (scroll upward, y'all and tell me I'm lying). I opted to use some more of that chevron for pocket town.

Oh! Can we talk about that vintage pattern for a pinch? Cuz it was just about the weirdest pattern I've ever used. Tell me if you find this odd: it had me separately create the front and back of the dress...

And then stitch the front and back together at the side seams. Huh? I mean, I've always done it where you make your bodice and your skirt and attach those together. I actually kinda liked it this way as it made gathering the skirt portion a lot less taxing. I just found it kind of odd...have y'all every sewn a dress this way? What are some of the pros and cons cuz I'm thinking of going down this road again when it comes to other dress patterns.

Oh, look, crafting shrapnel. This is what you don't want your dinner table lookin like, FYI. Not unless you want Dancing-Bears-on-Shoulders hallucinations. 

To make these into shoe clips (and sweater, hair, nipple, whatever clips) I simply glued a little alligator clip on the back. I'm kinda addicted to making these right now (well, as of last night) but I'm in need of more mini-suggestions. Whatcha got for me?

And there you have it, kids! An ensemble that will most definitely get you stares and the occasional discount. Off to see if it'll work at the liquor store! 

What the Art Teacher Wore #108 Whilst Vacationin', Book Clubbin' and Art Room Preppin'

Hiking Mount Baldy, Walking the Devil's Backbone: I'm never a fashionable hiker. For me, it's all about comfort. But it did crack me up that when I posted a couple of landscape photos from the hike on Facebook, several peeps asked "What dress where you wearing?!" and my first thought was, "I NEED A HIKING DRESS!" Um, no. I don't. t-shirt: Urban Outfitters; hiking pants: sale rack, some hiking store

Well, howdy, friends! I hope your week was a wonderful one. Mine was all kinds of crazy, thanks for asking. We'd been in Southern Cali since last Friday doin' the Disney circuit while squeezing in some serious dining and vintage shopping in between (possible vacay post to come because everyone loves countless photos of someone else's vacation, amirite?!). When we're in California, we love to hike and this hike to the summit of Mount Baldy was our most fun and challenging one to date. I took One Million photos and hubs made a groovy video of the view which I've posted below. It was such an exhaustingly awesome experience.

We returned back to Tennessee at the lovely hour of 2am Wednesday morning which was FANTASTIC as my first day of school was at 8am the very next day. To say I've been a mess every since is an understatement. Speaking of mess, my art room totes qualifies. Normally at this stage of the back-to-school game, I've got my room decked out, lessons practiced, prepped and written and my entire first couple of days scripted (yeah, I know. Dork much?). This go-round, not so much. I'm fired up about the school year (Teach Like a Pirate has me so inspired!) but my feet are still firmly rooted in summer. C'mon, feets. Party over.

Speaking of Teach Like a Pirate, how are my Artsy Book Clubbin' friends doing? I've decided to include our book club chats with my weekly What I Wore because if I try to do more than three blog posts a week I find that I stop washing my hair and cleaning the house (ha, who am I kidding, I gave that up a long time ago!). I also thought it might be fun to literally "chat" with you about the books so you'll find me jibber-jabbering away in a coupla vid clips below. I tried to keep 'em short as I know the sound of my voice is akin to yodeling-cats-in-heat.

Last but not least, I've been LOVING seeing the fabric choices y'all are posting on the Apron Sew-Along Facebook page! After hours of online trolling (yes, hours. Gah, I love me some fabric shopping), I purchased my apron fabric along with some new dress-making prints. I can't wait to share with you what I picked up! For more Apron Sew-Along deets, visit here, kids. 

Until next time, have a super duper week, dudes!

If it's one thing I learned on this hike, it's that I don't love heights. The walk entailed walking along something called the Devil's Backbone which was a ridge with steep drop offs on either side. I tried to keep my eyes firmly on the ground but I could see the crazy cliffs outta my peripheral view. Kinda spooky.

But the views were killer.

My 1970's Album Cover: In my lame attempts to blur out innocent bystanders, I created a rather fuzzy edge to this photo. By the way, my album includes such covers as Come Sail Away by Styx, Sailing by Christopher Cross and every Captain and Tennille masterpiece. dress: Forever 21, old; sandals: Chacos; hat: tourist trap, Charleston 

Hubs and I spent a lil time strolling the beach and the boardwalk at Venice Beach. It wasn't my fave place ever but it was an experience and I do love sand in my toes.

Back to School Thursday: By the way, I didn't always remember to snap daily outfit photos in Cali, hence the week mix up. My eyes are closed in this photo because I'm actually asleep. Whilst standing. It's a practiced and perfected skill. Now if I could only paint eyes on my eyelids, I'd be in business. color wheel dress: SALE! Modcloth; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; shoes: Crocs

Let's chat Teach like a Pirate! I can't wait to share with you how this book has reshaped my first coupla days back to school.

Freaky Friday: Reality has started to set in. Hence the freaky face. Workin' on revamping how I present my rules and routines to the kids. top: Banana Republic, garage sale; wrap skirt: Funky People, so old I don't remember where I got it; shoes: Frye, Marshall's; necklaces and bangles: thrifted and gifts 

Printmaking Unleashed.

Here's that stitched piece of foam I mentioned in the clip. Kinda digging this idea.

More experimenting on muslin using Printmaking Unleashed techniques.

Saturday School: So I popped in for a couple of hours on Saturday just to get at least one area to a decent state. I'm still working on writing up my rules so for now I've just got them jotted on the board. Proper signs to come...along with a million other things on that To Do list. dress: vintage, thrifted

I found this sign in the sale area at Urban Outfitters and I thought it'd be the perfect addition to the art room. I don't always feel this way...but, like Dave Burgess says in Teach Like a Pirate, sometimes you gotta fake it till you make it. It fits in perfectly in the art room...I'm planning a room tour soon so you'll be able to see where this guy is hung.

DIY: Let's Make Beautiful Aprons Together!

All fabric is from my fave online fabric retailer Fabric.com. They ship fast and have a huge variety. There are plenty of other sellers out there though so shop around, kids! You can find this one here. 

So last week I got the crazy idea that it might be fun if we, you and me, stitched up beautiful aprons together. Before better judgement set in, I threw this question out to the interwebs:

Have you guys ever heard of a Sew-Along? It's where a blogger presents a sewing project and, over the course of a coupla weeks, walks the reader through the sewing steps of a project. In the end, the sewers show off their creations on the blog. SoooOOOOoooo, I thought I'd see if anyone might be interested in sewing an apron with me. There's tons of fun fabric out there (this example was found after a quick search) and, being that it's an apron, little sewing experience would be required. I only wanna venture down this road if I've got some folks who'd be interested...whatcha think?

I was excited to hear from so many of you that are interested! So in this here post, I've put together some super fab fabric (y'all I spent entirely too much time trolling for fabric. I honestly think I could do it all day. Anyone need a Personal Fabric Shopper cuz I'm totes yer gal!) along with some apron pattern ideas. I hope you'll have as much fun shopping and dreaming up apron designs as I have. 

Now, let's talk details:

* During the week of August 18th, we'll kick off our Sew-Along! In that initial post, I'll post short video clips on preparing and cutting your fabric as well as taking our first couple of sewing steps. I'm going to approach this apron as if you are a beginner sewer so that everyone can feel included. However, you are not limited to what I sew. Advanced kids, take it and run!

* You'll Need Some Fabric! I'm still gazing at apron patterns for us but my personal plan is to use two contrasting fabrics. So, if I were you, I'd purchase about a yard of your main fabric (meaning the fabric that will cover the majority of your body) and about 1/2 yard of a contrasting or complimentary fabric. That 1/2 yardage could be used for a pocket, ties or a ruffly bottom (and who doesn't like a ruffly bottom, hmmmm?). In this post, you'll find a ton of fabric ideas. 

*And, the best part, Let's Share Our Creations! So I actually have big dreams for this idea. First, I'd love for us to share our works-in-progress as well as our finished aprons and what better place than Facebook? So I've created a page just for us! You can join here even if you don't plan to sew, it's fun to be inspired. I also WOULD LOVE for us to gather at the NAEA conference in New Orleans this year wearing our apron-tastic creations! Wouldn't that be fun? Like I said, big dreams. More on that later. For now, let's chat apron patterns!

Okay, lemme tell you my apron criteria as I do plan to wear this in the art room:

1. It must be super cute. Always a priority.

2. It must cover the majority of my bod. Which means ruffly half aprons are out. 

3. There must be big -n- deep pockets. They don't necessarily have to have a wiener dog on 'em or a pig grillin' up his family members (like, weird) but they do have to be functional. That's a must.

4. Speaking of wieners, there won't be a stabbed one in the middle of my apron. Geesh, is someone frustrated or what?!

After much thought, I've decided that we won't be using a purchased pattern. I don't want y'all to break the bank for this AND I want you to have plenty of money to spend on the fun part: The Fabric! So, I'll be working on a pattern template that will be easy for you to replicate at home. However, you are not limited to what I come up with! For some apron-spirtation, you might want to visit these links and come up with your own pattern!

Martha Stewart's Baker's Apron

Hostess Apron with Ruffles (this one is more cute than art room functional)

Simple Ruffled Apron (perfect, just needs pockets!)

Another Ruffled Number (again, pockets, people)

Retro Inspired Apron (ahh, so cute! But those ties...are they in a funny spot or is it just me?)

Now, let's chat fabrics!

Artsy! Here's some artsy fabrics to wear in your art room, art studio or just to lounge around and look super cute. Because it's what you do. Retro camera fabric here, pencils here. 

I MIGHT be madly in love with this fabric. 

That pencil fabric is actually the same design used in a pencil skirt that was sold at Anthropologie last year. I have some sitting in my sewing room waiting to be stitched into a dress. I love that scissor fabric, I think it would be cute as that 1/2 yard contrasting fabric I mentioned earlier. Check those rulers at the bottom so you understand the scale of the fabric.

WHUT?! Yes!

Art Teacher Geek Chic: Marker fabric and art supplies. 

What's Cookin', Good Lookin?! I know not all y'all are art teachers out there but I'd still love it if you'd join the fun. So I thought I'd throw some other fabric options out for you. I personally LOVE this fabric as it reminds me of the food in Pee-wee's fridge on Pee-wee's Playhouse!

I actually have that fabric on the right...I had plans to make it into some sort of Labor Day/Grillin Out Dress...we'll see if I can get around to it!

If you type in words like "retro" or "vintage", you'll love what you find on this website! While on this site, check out Cloud9 Fabrics as they are all organically dyed and printed. 

Love these retro prints!

Garden Apron: I mean, I don't garden but I might with this fabric. You might recognize this, I used it to stitch up my Gnome-y Dress!

Something for the Boys: I love this comic book and Pop! fabric. 

Muscle Cars, anyone?

Muscles with Cars, anyone? Okay, you caught me, here's the REAL reason I can't stop looking at fabric. It's just so...hawt. 

Alrightie, kids! If you're in, remember to "like" the Facebook page. Order your fab fabric when you can as we'll be starting the week of August 18th! I'd LOVE to see the fabric you pick so please share it on the Facebook page for apron-spiration. Chat soon!