What the Art Teacher Wore #171

Happy Holi-daze! These photos are completely random and outta order which is fitting for this week, don't you think? disco top: UAL; Christmas tree skirt to lady skirt: found at Big Lots, made by me last year with my tacky teacher buds; tights: Amazon; silver chucks: Journeys; big red bow turn hat: Hobby Lobby

Hello, Craziest Time of the Year! I know I'm not alone when I say WOW. Could things be any more bananas right now? And yet, would we really have it any other way? I think not. 

Adding to the craziness, I also decided to start sharing short videos on Instagram with y'all this week. Stay tuned for more of those. And if you've missed any, I'll be archiving them here. 

I also hosted my first Facebook Live chat this week! It is still up in case you missed. I'll be back this Wednesday at 8pm CST to chat about classroom management...something I know I'll be cracking down on after the holidays. Hope you'll join me! 

I'm still in school until Wednesday...here's to makin' it, y'all! 

Last year, my kindergarten teacher friend Heather (left) and my second grade teacher buddy Bethany made these skirts from tree skirts found at Big Lots. We wear them every year for our annual Tacky Holiday Sweater day! Aren't they the cutest? We're so famous for our tacky, we were even featured on BuzzFeed! 

Fourth grade is rockin' and wrapping up their Faux Stained Glass project. I am so in love with their work!

Light Up Dress Ain't Got Nuthin on No Elf: Seriously, after showing the kids the Elf Cam 2016, they were so not interested in my light up dress. They're all, "nice but WHERE IS ESMERELDA?!" sweater: vintage, thrifted; light up dress: made by me, details here; shoes: Aldo

Second grade is weaving right now and it's just the most perfect project for this time of year. I see my second graders at the very end of the day when we are both tired. For the last week, we've been siting on the floor in a "Weaving Circle" while chatting, reading books and helping others learn to tie knots. It's just been the best way to end our day!

Polka Dotted Holidays! I so love this noisy dotted dress. It was a lucky estate sale score and it's one of my faves. sweater: Target; dress and brooch: vintage; boots: Frye...paint splatters by me

This week, I went LIVE on Facebook! If you weren't able to join the fun, it is currently archived here. I'll be back this Wednesday at 8pm CST to chat about Classroom Management. I think that is on everyone's mind at this time in the school year. I hope you'll join the fun!

I forgot to snap a photo on this day...but I did make a run to the grocery store. I was stopped by one woman who said, "My nana had a tree skirt in that same print!". I didn't have the hear to tell her that I probably was wearing her nana's tree skirt. Then a dude stopped me and said, "OMG, I was so going to wear that exact same outfit!" I told him it was a good thing he didn't seeing as how I looked so cute. Nobody wants to be the loser in a Who Wore It Best, right? 

First grade had a blast painting their Bebo-inspired birds. I heard comments like, "I'm a serious artist!" and "I love painting" the entire time we were working. It was so sweet. 

Friday Funday: I think everyone's schedule is cray right now what with programs, plays, etc. I've decided just to let it go and ride the crazy rollercoaster. Having a wacky outfit certainly helps. dress: made by me, here; tights: Amazon; candy cane chucks: Marshall's years ago

One of my favorite things ever is to host a craft night. I try to do one every coupla months but life just got so crazy this summer and fall, I just couldn't squeeze it into my schedule. I was determined to make a Christmas Craft Night a thing this year. So I through out an impromptu invite and we had a house full of food, booze, crafts and laughs. We missed y'all who couldn't make it and so sorry we didn't get a photo with everyone! Our Christmas Crafts of Holidays Past here and here. 

 The next morning, I went to my first ornament exchange at my friend Camilla's home. I had the best time opening ornaments from these sweet ladies. What a wonderful way to share our talents! You can see my ornaments here. 

I hope y'all have a fabulous week! May it be full of friends and fun. 

Facebook Live! Tonight at 8pm CST

In case you missed my chat on Time Management (and many other things!)...you can still view it for one week here!

Hey there, cats and kittens! I hope you'll join me this evening for my first Facebook Live. So, like, I've never done a Facebook Live and my hubs just asked me if I'd given it a test run yet. Um, no. I am divin' into this thing head first without checking the water for sharks or 'gators cuz that's how crazy I am.

Hope to see you tonight, Wednesday, December 14th, 8pm CST for our first Live chat. I'll be talking about Time Management because I get a whole lotta questions on how I manage my time (which is simply hysterical to me). Get all my magical tips and tricks (bwahaha!) tonight and I'll see you real soon. 

In the Art Room: Artome Art Show

Last Tuesday my school hosted their first ever Artome Art Show and I gotta say, it was FABULOUS! If you are not familiar, Artome is a fundraising company for the arts. To join the fun, you simply call or email Artome and let them know the number of students you have participating. In return, they send large sheets of paper that students can either create directly on or artwork can be added to. Also on the paper is a place for you to add the student's name, artwork title, grade, teacher's name and school. Once artwork is complete and the form is filled out, Artome provides you with a UPS shipping label. Slap that label on your box of artwork and ship it on to Artome. 

Then, two weeks later, THIS happens!

Two hours before our art show/winter program/book fair (we specials folks like to do ALL THE THINGS, ALL AT ONCE), two sweet Artome dudes showed up and set up our displays. The artwork could be organized anyway I asked...so I decided to mix it up a bit. Instead of having all kindergarten artwork together, I had them mixed with other grades. This added variety and also made it so folks went through the art show more thoughtfully.

Here's how the fundraiser portion works: Artome is paid $19 for each framed piece. Whatever amount you up charge is what you take. For example, we asked for $25 for each piece making our profit per work of art $6. We have about 320 students at my school and sold over half of the works of art. We did really well!

 I think next year we will do even better. Our program was for our 2-4th grade kids so many of our younger students were not in attendance. If there were, I think we would have sold even more. And, actually, we have...Artome allows a week of post-show sales for families who missed the show. 

Any unsold pieces will be removed from their frame and sent back to me to return to the artists. Also, this was so helpful: any artwork that was not completed in time to be shipped could still be framed the day of. That helped me out tremendously with my friends who were absent on art days.

Overall, it was a seamless fundraiser that resulted in happy artists and parents. Who could ask for anything more? 

Love to hear if you've given Artome a go and what your experience was like. 

Art Teacherin' 101: Episode 25

Y'all can tell it's the craziest time of the year when I start multi-tasking my blog posts. Allow me to introduce to you the first ever (and hopefully the last) What the Art Teacher Wore/Art Teacherin' 101/All Sorts of Other Stuff blog post! Yay! It's kinda like when your mama has too many small portion leftovers and decides that throwin' them all into a pot, heatin' 'em up and callin' it Goulash is making dinner. Welcome to my Bloggy Goulash. Grab your Tums. 

First order of business I want to share with y'all is that Other Stuff...I'll now be sharing one-minute videos on my Instagram, Monday through Friday! 

Be sure to follow me on Instagram to keep up with this new adventure. To join me during our Facebook Live chat, follow me here. And if you miss a video, all of them will be archived on my YouTube channel. 

I decided to do this because I remember what it was like my very first year teaching, in a portable (aka a trailer), isolated from the other teachers and definitely out of touch with other art teachers. I had so many questions! Now that I have almost 20 years under my sparkly belt, I thought I'd give back what I have learned (and am still learning!) along the way. If there are ANY questions you have for me, please feel free to leave them in the comments or shoot me an email (my address is to the right of this post). I'd love to hear any feedback about this new adventure, y'all! 

Now, on to this week's Art Teacherin' 101...LETTING GO OF NEGATIVITY.

I know I've been sharing with you recently my feelings of stress and how I'm attempting to address it. This week things really hit the proverbial fan with an art show added to the mix. Don't get me wrong, working with Artome was A DREAM (blog post to come, y'all!). However, I was on the receiving end of some not super polite comments from colleagues and, I gotta say, I really allowed that to darken my day. 

This was compounded with some other things that have happened recently. I discovered an entire conversation about me that was happening in a private art teachers group and let's just say there were some very personal and unpleasant words spoken about me. That really wore me out. Unfortunately, I have the habit of allowing negativity to play on loop in my head. Shoot, the words typed out in this email from many moons ago by a fellow art teacher still ring in my ears: It appears your priorities of late are to make a costume a day and write your blog. That is fantastic and shows what a dynamic artist you are, but it leads me to ask, "Do you have time to be a FSSD Art teacher and honor those obligations?"

So all that to say, we are ALL going through stuff. Everyone's got negativity to deal with. The best we can do is try our hardest to let it go. The black balloon visual works really well for me. Another thing we can do is NOT BE A BLACK BALLOON. Remember what your mama taught you: if you've not got anything nice to say then shut it. 

It's also good to know that you aren't alone. Keep that in mind when things start to wear you down. This time of year, everyone is tired and irritable. Just keep your head in the art teacherin' game and focus on the little artists who make you happy. Speaking of, I love these snowfolks created in one day by my firsties!

A good cry always helps. Mine have been coming in waves, sometimes out of no where. Just go with it. You'll feel so much better, I promise!

Retail therapy always helps me...which is why I hit the thrift store so often, it's guilt free!

Seriously, y'all, happy holidays. Stay positive, let go of that negativity and know that you aren't alone. Love y'all! 

In the Art Room: Elf on a Shelf

Every since the ole Elf on the Shelf hit the market, I wanted one in my art room. I love the idea of bringing magic into my kids' lives even if they don't celebrate the holidays...we can all believe in magic, right? I never really knew just how I would make it happen and I really didn't wanna splurge on that expensive book/doll set I'd seen at the big box stores. But this Thanksgiving, when I was at Michael's, I saw they had a colorful elf (and a wee elf door!) for 70% off and I scooped it up. I have a habit of over-thinking things and then not following through. With this elf, I really had no idea what I was going to do, how the kids were going to respond but just decided to go for it. Y'all...I'm so glad I did! 

Every since the first day Esmerelda appeared (by yarn bombing the entrance of my art room, making all of my classes crawl under the mess), the kids have been super stoked. They stop me every day to ask what she's been up to, they peak in my room at every chance, they leave notes and drawings for her outside of her door. I teach kindergarten through fourth grade and EVERY child is all in with this elf. I've never seen anything like it.

However, there are always the nay-sayers. Last week, when a third grade student claimed he didn't believe, another child spoke up. "You should set up a security camera, Mrs. Stephens. That would prove that she's real."

At first I scoffed at the idea. I ain't got time for that! When I shared the conversation with my husband, he was like, "No. You HAVE to do it!" We chatted about the scenario and even what music should accompany the video. I filmed and edited last night and I'm excited to share a preview with y'all. Here you go!

I cannot wait until Monday to share this with the kids. I really think they are gonna freak! My plan is to hide paper elves all over the art room and allow my best behaved tables to go on the hunt (it's THAT time of year where we need a little extra incentive to make good choices). Only a few of the elves will have a green hat which will get the kids a special surprise from Esmerelda. Oh, y'all. It's gonna be a fun week!

 One reason I'd never done an elf before was because I wasn't sure how to do it and if I'd have the time. Let's face it, this is the busiest time of the year. Here's how I do it: every morning, I come in and slap together the most insane mishap in less than 5 minutes as that's all the time I have. I do something different everyday because the kids ask EVERY DAY what she's been up to. Not only that but I do see some classes from one day to the next. 

The best part of having an elf is that you can be messy! I'm leaving up her holiday decor as I feel it embodies my life right now. 

 An incentive for a kindergarten class? If you behave, Esmerelda will let you have one of her special snowballs. 

I'll keep you posted on Esmerelda and her adventures! Stay tuned to the reaction to the video, that should be super fun. Love to hear if you have an elf on the shelf or any other magic happening in your art room!