DIY: A Kid-Created Paint Splattery 1950's Circle Skirt

Do you know anyone who suffers from the And-Ands? Unclear as to what this ailment entails? Lemme paint a picture for you. Those suffering from the And-Ands might find themselves in a situation such as this:

"I'm going to have all the kids create clay food sculptures for the art show. AND we're going to have a 1950's diner theme to showcase their work. AND I'm gonna get them all soda jerk hats. AND I'm going to encourage them to get all 1950's-ized for the art show. AND I'm gonna make an outfit for the occasion. AND I'M GONNA HAVE THEM SPLATTER PAINT THE FABRIC BEFOREHAND." 

Symptoms may include: waking up in the middle of the night with another AND; interrupting conversations by shouting, "Oh! I have another idea!" and running away abruptly only to return with a wad of Christmas lights (deets to come); constant lip biting and talking to oneself. Sometimes in tongues. 

When to see a doctor: When you look like this...

So, yeah. I got the And-Ands. I think this time of year does it to many of us art teacherin' types. We just have so much more we wanna do and have so little time to do it in. Not that I want more time, I'm beyond ready for summer, y'all. That was just a silly figure of speech. 

My case of the And-Ands spiraled completely outta control when I was in JoAnn's a couple weekends ago stocking up on the ushe: puffy paint and glitter. I happened by the pattern department and decided to plop down and flip thru their books. I spied a 1950's poodle skirt costume and was all EUREKA! I need to make one of those! It was then I remembered the drop clothes I had purchased from Walmart EXACTLY a year ago. This lead me to the idea of having the kids do this outside my art room door...

Just after my trip to JoAnn's, I hit Home Depot in Franklin. I'm telling you the exact location because this is seriously The Best Home Depot there is. I met a very kind gentleman named Dave who not only helped me pick and mix the colors of paint I wanted but, after I explained the project to him, he also generously gave me a discount. As a teacher, I don't often ask for any sort of discount (duh, gonna start now!). I loved that Dave, Miss Mary and QT were excited to help a crazy art teacher out. BIG shout out to them, they have a customer for life!

Word to the Wise: If you are gonna do splatter painting with non-washable paint and children, have them suit up in aprons and go barefoot. Even that won't keep them clean but it will help just a pinch.

Once I got the fabric home, I threw it down in our living room just to start planning my next course of action. Of course, Inspector Asha had to take a walking tour of the fabric. 

Busted, kitten!

I wanted to use as much of the fabric as possible to really showcase the kid's splattering. For that reason, I settled on my vintage Simplicity 4884 that I picked up from Etsy a while back. I used it to stitch this shower curtain into a skirt last summer. 

Are you gettin' just how BIG this piece of fabric is? A circle skirt requires a lotta fabric but, like, not this much. Which can only mean one thing: I get to stitch more stuff out of it! I'm thinking a handbag and a tote and a jacket AND, AND, AND...(oh my goodness, it's starting again!)

For now, the only extra thing I did make was a hair bow. 

For fear that I'd be busting sewing needles right and left, I did invest in a couple industrial strength needles. I only had a few times when my sewing machine sounded like it wanted to die. So, really, no more than normal. 

Did I mention that I also have the And-Ands when it comes to shopping? Um, yeah. It's bad. "I'm gonna need saddle shoes and poodle socks and a new crinoline and pink cat eye glasses..." 

The temp has dropped a pinch here in Tennessee (just heard from a buddy that is SNOWED in Michigan this weekend. It's May, Michigan. Get with the freakin' program). So I just might have to wear my snazzy Gap Kids jacket to complete my ensemb.

Which, by the way, wasn't spluttery painted enough for me...so I added some more drips and drops. 

AND there you have it! I'm so looking forward to sharing the art show with y'all...and kicking this case of the And-Ands until next art show time!

What the Art Teacher Wore #162

Monday, y'all: Here's a dress from way back...I try to create a Back to Schoolin' dress each year and this was one from a couple years ago. It's rather plain for my taste now...but I guess I was just working towards my wild side back then. dress: here; sweater: Buffalo Exchage; owl sandals: Anthro, old

Well, we're down to the single digit days in our lil who's-counting-we're-teachers-we-don't-even-LIKE-summer-vacation (wink/nudge) countdown. Of course, because our art show is THIS FREAKING TUESDAY, I've got tunnel vision with a laser like focus that can only see the mountains of clay projects to be displayed, the random artwork to be put up (shout out to my mama helpers for making those stacks shrink daily!) and other stuffs. I'm super excited about this year's theme of a 1950's diner. I can't wait to share photos with y'all. 

In other news, it's #MeMadeMay! Non-sewists, #MeMadeMay was started several years ago by sewists who wanted to share all their me-mades throughout the month on their various social media outlets. I almost-always forget to participate and I always-always forget to share...but I'm gonna try this month. So here's a lil what I wore (and made!) and what I over-shared (that wasn't me-mades!) in social medialand. Enjoy! 

The excitement is building. All students are encouraged to dress 1950's style (after a prezi of what that entailed) and I managed to purchase each a paper soda jerk hat that will be available for the taking at the show. I also took a snapshot of each student in the diner with their food. Those photos were used in their advertisement for the diner...but I also dropped the photos into a slideshow that I'll have going during the show. All these deets will be in an upcoming blog post (complete with video tour!) next week. When I'm fully recovered. 

 Tuesdayness!: Just another day in so-much-to-do/so-little-time paradise. dress: created during that crazy series of snow days we had last school year; scarf: vintage

 Of course, to get into the spirit, I HAD to purchase some saddle shoes, poodle socks and sparkly cat eye glasses. DUH. 

 Sad Feet Wednesday: When it's hustle mode, there's no time for anything but flats. Which I totally hate. I was even asked by the kids if I'd shrunk. another back to art teacherin' dress: here

 Because I've little time for anything, I decided it would be a good time to create a skirt for the occasion. I was gonna make a poodle skirt...but opted to have the kids splatter paint a drop cloth for me to stitch into a skirt instead. In other news, a splatter painted drop cloth circle skirt is stiff enough to, like literally, stand it's own ground. 

 Thursday!: You can tell I'm tired when I can't even come up with a clever name for the days of the week. I'm just running on fumes at this point, in case y'all haven't figured that out. dress: here; sandals: Shoe Carnival

 Oh, this makes me so happy! Our awesome bookkeeper, who also doubles as our yearbook editor, decided to use the first grader's tiger mural on the cover of the school yearbook! I love it and what  a happy memory for my firsties. You can see more about this lesson here. 

Fri-YAY: Thank you so much for your kind words about this IKEA dress the kids colored! They were literally spellbound when I wore the dress on Friday. They just looked and looked at it and for their coloring. I have a couple more kid-made fabric ideas in mind that I can't wait to work on this summer! dress: here

In the Art Room: Abstract Painting with Fourth Grade

Confession: I'm not an abstract artist. By any stretch of the imagination. I just can't seem to unwind my mind enough to even think that way. So teaching abstract art kinda sorta freaks me out. However, with the help of Nashville artist Hannah Lane, I was able to happily, easily and, if I do say so myself, successfully introduce my kids to creating abstractly. 

For this three class period project (with an hour class time each), the kids learned about the artwork of Hannah Lane, met Hannah and then wrapped up their work with me. And, by the looks of how colorful and happy these pieces are, I'd venture to say that this was one of their fave projects this year. 

Because Hannah visited one fourth grade class, I only did this project with them. My other fourths were neck deep in other projects so just giving this lesson a test run with one group seemed like a good idea. I will definitely be doing this project again next year...with a bit of a twist. 

But first, let's talk supplies. We used the following:

* 8" X 8" canvas board (although gessoed cardboard would have worked)
* Warm and cool colors of tempera paint (I like Sax Versa Temp)
* ModPodge 
* Collage papers
* Stencils
* Puffy paint

The week before Hannah arrived we looked at a prezi I created about her work. We talked about her series of paintings and her style. I fielded a bunch of questions from the kids to ask her on the day of her arrival. Shortly after our chat, we painted monochromatic-ish paintings in either all warm or all cool colors with an abstract design. Here's an example:

The next art class, Hannah arrived. She brought her large crowd series painting (shown above) as well as a huge box of glorious paper scraps that the kids went gaga over. Once she shared more about herself and her work, the kids began collaging the paper in any manner they liked onto their canvas board. We used ModPodge to adhere the papers. 

I loved how each unique paper was precious! I heard lots of squeals at finding just the perfect paper. 

Hannah was so sweet with the kids, they truly loved her! I secretly thru some shiny fabric scraps into the mix just to see how that would work. I can't wait to use up my fabric scraps for this in the future!

The room smelled of ModPodge and excitement (which also smells like ModPodge, in case you are wondering). 

At the end of all that collaging, many pieces looked a little something like this...

They made me so happy! And the kids were thrilled.

After we said goodbye to Hannah, I was left with a bunch of happy artists...and collaged canvas boards. What to do with them from this point? I felt like they needed something more. Hannah had spoken about how she reworked her canvases after the collaging stage and I felt like the kids needed to do the same. Enter stencils and puffy paint.

Earlier this year, I had a huge assortment of stencils donated to the art room. For the occasion, I busted them out along with my sponge stampers. After a quick lesson on stenciling (as well as a chat about composition), the kids went to town. 

My students all have a deep love for puffy paint. As do I. It's the New Black in the art room, y'all. We had used it the previous week for our diner sign project (more to come!) and I knew they loved the stuff. I did have to remind them to show restraint and not go bananas with the stuff. It's like the salt and pepper, sugar and spice for your art work, kids. Not the main course. Don't get carried away. 

And they didn't! Seriously, these bright happies are my new fave! I see so many possibilities with future projects based on this. 

Have y'all done abstract collage/painting with your students? What have they created? I'd love to hear more!

Art Teacherin 101: Episode 2

Hey, y'all! Thank you so much for your positive response to Art Teacherin' 101 (notice how I've already failed to even remember the name of this series in the title above. Tired brain, much?). I'm excited to share with you my TOP THREE TIPS to art show success: deer mesh and Gaffer's tape, amazing parent volunteers and a day off the day of the art show! Take a listen, I promise it's short and sweet unlike me...

I will share with you two (yes, TWO) blog posts about our show with video tour. It's a big one, y'all! You'll see the 2-D show as well as our 1950's diner with our 3-D food. Until then, here's just a couple of the things mentioned in the clip:

Deer mesh and Gaffer's Tape. Both can be purchased from Amazon. About four rolls were used outside of each classroom. My hope is that the classroom teachers leave the mesh up so that 1. We don't have to rehang and 2. So they can utilize it when it's not Art Show Season. Last year it pretty much got trashed due to the annoying paperclip tangling. I'm confident that this year the clothes pins will prove to be much better. The Gaffer's tape isn't cheap...but it's the one thing that we've found to actually adhere to those annoying painted concrete walls. It's holding the mesh to the wall as well as carrying the weight of the artwork. The parents do a fabulous job of hiding the tape behind artwork. You'll also need to invest in some Blue Dapp that can anchor any fly away corners of art. 

Here's a rather fuzzy view pulled from my instagrammerz. More photos to come...but I did want to give you a sneak peak of first grade. In the clip, I was standing in front of just ONE portion of ONE second grade class. Like I said, we hang everything that every kid has made. It's wall to wall wonderment, y'all! 

I'm so fortunate to have the best administration that not only supports the art program but the art show as well! Having a day to set up clay in my room while the kids are working on other art activities with a sub in another location is super fab. I'd be a hot mess without that extra time to finalize art show displays. 

AND, most importantly, parent volunteers. I have the best...THE BEST...and the art show would not be hung without them. Special thanks to them all with a big hug to Molly, Terri and Donna. Y'all are super stars!

So, what are your fave art show tips? For more, you can visit this blog post of my other Top Ten Tips to Putting Together an Amazing Art Show!

DIY: A Coloring Book Dress

Factiod: I'm a super awesome starter of stuff. I'm a super miserable finisher of said stuff. 

Don't believe me? Just ask my mama. Every time I chat with her, she'll begin every other sentence with, "Hey, did you ever finish...?", "Whatever happened to that one thingie you started?", "When are you gonna get that whatchamacallit done?!" 

On those rare occasions when I do FINALLY finish a UFO (UnidentiFied Object), to the rest of the world, it looks like I just pulled a project outta thin air. Many folks have asked me how I manage to "get so much accomplished" and have commented that I "must have more hours in the day." Y'all. I'm seriously one of the most slacker-tastic peoples you'll ever know. I just happen to start many a-thing and, randomly, when the wind blows sideways outta my butt, I finish them. 

Case in point: This Coloring Book Dress!

I picked up this fab fabric from IKEA back in October (for $7.99 a yard, foolz!). This is my second dress made from heavy IKEA fabric (check out the first) and I gotta say, I'm totes hooked. Not only are the designs great and the prices right but the fabric...THE FABRIC...is simply perf for making a circle skirt. 

But I'm ahead of myself, as usual. Let's back track to the coloring of the fabric:

This year, more than any other, it seems I have kids that finish at different rates. Some that work FOR-EVERNESS on any and everything and others that zip right along. As a slow worker, I always allow those kids who need it all the time in the world (to a fault, perhaps). As for the Zippies, as they're known, if their quality is up to snuff, then I allow them to do some early-finisher activities: blocks, dry erase boards, games, books, painting the occasional mural. Or, in this case, coloring on a giant piece of fabric with fabric markers!

Here are my kindergarten friends deep in conversation and coloring. When I came over to snap a pic, the wee one on the right was explaining to the dude in the middle: "Mrs. Stephens can sew clothes. She's making this into a dress." When this was met with a Nuh-uh! we chatted a pinch about how clothing is made. I showed the kids dress patterns and even took some votes on which pattern I should follow. In the end, I did a mash-up of several patterns, as is my nature. 

By the way, these are the makers we used. They seemed to do well on the coarse fabric and held their color after one good washing. Since the kids had walked all over the fabric, it was in need of a cleaning.

When I got the fabric home and washed it, I sat on it for some time, trying to decide which pattern to use. Like I said, in the end, I decided upon a mashup. Now that I have a plethora of dresses under my sewing belt, I know what I really like to wear: a circle skirt, a cinched waist and BOWS! Anything with bows!

Having just finished my circle skirt at Anna Maria's very own shop Craft South, I felt comfortable using this pattern for the skirt. 

For the bodice, I opted to go the Butterick-route (despite my occasional HATRED for Butterick patterns, ahem) only because, you guessed it, BOWZ. 

If that there pattern looks kinda-sorta familiar, it's because I made this lil number from it last summer (ooooooh, that reminds me. SUMMER is almost here! I am so looking forward to endless days spent in PJ's and sewing projects). 

And, y'all. That cinched waist I mentioned? I've used this trusty vintage Simplicity 8087 more times than I can count!

The rest of the patterns I could toss but I do love that bold waistband. I'm not in love with the skirt or the 1960's fit of the bodice. For this dress, I did shorten that band about an inch because I didn't want to lose the cute castle design. 

I am pretty pleased with this mashup. I even went so far as to line the bodice with that sweet dotted fabric I used at the waist and the bows. I didn't want the coarse IKEA fabric against my delicately soft porcelain doll like skin, y'all. 

I can't wait to wear it to school this week! It's most definitely a twirling number. And y'all better believe I'll be hitting up IKEA for more fabric soon. Until then!