I just finished making my third Halloween craft of the season! I shared my new Halloween dress in this blog, complete with a video tutorial, here. Then I made another dress...which you can see a sneak peek of in this photo. I can't wait to share it with you but until then...let's make an eyeball necklace! Here's what you'll need:
* Large wooden beads
* White and black acrylic paint
* Skewers
* High gloss Mod-Podge
* An assortment of beads
* Elastic string
* Paint markers
* Flat paintbrush
And here's a little how-to:
My only real tips:
* Work on these in batches. This will allow dry time between the white paint, the iris, the pupils, the highlights and the red veins. Thankfully, the paint markers dry quickly!
* Lay out your design on a plate. This will keep the beads from rolling all over the place.
* Don't worry about 'mess-ups'. In the end, no one will notice a wonky circle or a misplaced bloody vein. Trust me!
* Have fun! Do this as a craft while watching your favorite horror flick or listening to a spooky podcast to get you in the mood!
Making these necklaces on elastic means I can easily put them together! And slide 'em over my big ole head.
I already debuted my necklace with my new dress at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios! It was fun to dress all creepy for the occasion.
You'll have to know if you decide to give these a try! And stay tuned...I have so many Halloweenie crafts coming your way.
My niece recently asked me to paint a personalized canvas for her brand new classroom. She sent me some ideas from Pinterest that all looked easy enough so I tackled the project in an afternoon. It was so fun and easy! So I decided to paint a couple more for some super amazing folks...and film the process in case you'd like to do the same! They make for great gifts and seriously took no time at all. Here's the process:
The key: EMBRACE THE 'MESS-UPS'! And enjoy the process!
These canvases were about 18" X 12". If you check your local craft store, they often sell canvases of these sizes in a pack of two.
My niece had requested a pastel palette and I loved the way it looked! I found that you can buy a palette of pastel acrylic paints at the craft store too.
I preferred using a flat brush for the wide lines and a fine point for the details. Other than the canvas, the paint and brushes...this was an inexpensive gift!
I was super pleased with how they turned out! And I think the recipients were too :)
I really think these could be personalized too for the person you are creating the canvas for! Art teachers for sure could have a palette in that upper righthand corner!
Not to mention, painting these meant that I was able to take my Creative Vitamins! I got to relax and enjoy creating just for the sake of doing so.
To know me is to know that I really love fashion. Particularly, vintage fashion. There's just something about that 1950's fit and flair that gets me. In fact, vintage sewing patterns from the 1950s are what got me into sewing in the first place. I found a stash of patterns on a visit to the thrift store in college. Even though I didn't know how to sew or even own a sewing machine, I bought all the patterns and just stared for hours at the pictures on the front of the pattern envelopes.
It wasn't until YEARS later that I got a sewing machine and even more years after that when I finally learned how to sew. And I really don't know why I waited so long! Sewing is not rocket science. Especially these days with pattern companies doing a great job of breaking the steps down and folks on YouTube sharing all of their stitching knowledge.
So when I set about making this dress, I decided to film the process. From my big mistake of not taking the print into account when cutting out the pattern pieces to not following the directions and making the bust too large. I packed as much of it as I could into a video and you can find it right here:
And if you want a tour of my sewing room, you can check that out here:
Gotta love it when it's tidy!
I know what you are thinking: isn't it a little early for a Halloween themed dress? Well...we are going to Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando this weekend so...I don't think so!
And I gotta say: I've not sewn a dress in A LONG TIME (I think maybe the last was a dress I wore for an art show two years ago!). It felt good to get back into my sewing room again. And I've got a couple more dresses underway so stay tuned!
The start of the school year is my favorite time to read and celebrate the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. Not only does it teach our students that everyone is an artist and how to embrace a growth mindset but...Dot Day is a celebration of JUST THAT and it takes place every year on September 15th. Perfect timing!
I have kicked the school year off with MANY different Dot Day art lessons and I thought I would pile them all into one big blog post just for you. From simple one-day lessons to longer format lessons, I've got you covered. Be sure to look for the links and give them a tap. Many links contain (free!) handouts and videos for you to use in your art room.
Okay, let's get started!
#1 A lesson that I have done FOR YEARS with my kindergarten students is this Dot Day lesson. Right after our First Days of Art sculpture project, we dive into painting! If you follow the link, you'll see me teaching painting to my kindergarteners on their third day of art class.
I've done this lesson a couple of different ways. Sometimes we paint on cardboard pizza rounds (ya know, cuz they are a circle and all) and other times, like here, we paint on squares of paper. Regardless, we always start with a dot sticker right in the middle.
#2 Last year, I had everyone create a painting the same way as those kindergarten pieces. Once complete, the students cut their paintings into fourths and rearranged them onto another square of paper. Details can be found here.
Once complete, it was hung as this large collaborative piece!
#3 Last year we also went Dot Day WILD by doing centers. I LOVE doing centers with the kids because it makes it so, in a short amount of time, they bet to experience an assortment of materials and methods. I created short videos to talk them through the centers so they could just go for it! You can see the end result in this blog post. But be sure to check out my methods and videos for how these were created here.
#4 Dot Day Printing was one of the kid's favorite dot day activities because they had instant masterpieces! All we used were pizza pans purchased at the Dollar Tree and paint! They signed and gave their paintings a name and we strung them throughout the halls. This was a one day activity with a huge impact.
We also read Little Spot of Kindness which was a great one to read at the start of the school year!
#5 If you teach older students (5th and up) or you just want to dive into a longer-format project for Dot Day, you may want to give this string art lesson of mine a try. Video included in post!
I actually did these at the start of the school year with my fourth graders and they looked amazing for Open House!
#6 Circle loom weaving is one of my most popular blog posts! I think it's because...I found a way to make it easy for kids to learn and enjoy. Even though the blog post is a little bit older, it still has all the video details you and your students need. I've done this lesson successfully with second grade on up. I would recommend that if you do this at the start of the school year, third grade and up is the best age group.
Even simply painted, these plates are beautiful! Let me walk you through how we make these without the mess of mixed colors and patterns.
#7 Check out these simple metal relief pieces my third graders created one year! I'm a sucker for Sharpies and foil, y'all. Lesson here.
So sparkly!
#8 Need a SIMPLE yet BEAUTIFUL Dot Day display? Try this one!
Now let me offer an update for that post: PLEASE when doing these coffee filters, PLEASE...do yourself a huge favor...don't dry them on plastic. Have kids create the dots on a STYROFOAM plate and let them dry on said plate. I would apologize for shouting but this is a BIG mistake I see folks make! When it dries on paper, the color leaves the filter and stains the paper. Then you have a sad looking filter! So...listen to your Mama Cass on this one. I beg of you!
#9 Dot Day Party! Why not throw some huge sheets of paepr on the tables, bust out those metallic art supplies like markers, oil pastels and paint, turn on Emily Arrow's the Dot song and let them create their own dots as they dance around the room?! That's how these were created and used as a backdrop for our giant hallway display. Check it out in the link!
#10 To know me is to know my love of CARDBOARD PIZZA ROUNDS! I buy them in bulk from GFS. Check out the brand called Circle King. I will always love and redo this lesson!
#12 This first grade (yes, first grade!) mural was a big undertaking but we kept it up all year. Can you blame us? We started with these Dot Day inspired flowers. Lesson here!
#13 If Dot Day sneaks up on you OR you go back to school a little later and want to do something quick, this lesson is a fun one and done lesson! And you can find the free handout here!
During those first days of art class, there is a whole lot we gotta cover: Rules, Routines, More Routines, Consequences and, again, Routines. It can be taxing on our voice (not to mention energy level) and, inevitably, we forget SOMETHING to SOME CLASS and can never remember just what it was we forgot or to whom. It's all very exhausting...and that's just how WE feel. The poor kids literally spend their first week hearing all the Do's and Don't's until it all just becomes a blur. Usually, by the time they reach our door, they are just dying to do something, ANYTHING, other than hear Rules and Routines.
So, like, what to do?
I can tell you something that has worked well for me: videos!
Creating videos is something I've done for a very long time (subscribe to my YouTube channel and check out all of my teaching videos!). I started with creating lesson videos and noticed just how closely the kids pay attention. I always say they listen to TV Stephens far better than Real Life Stephens (and I don't know how I feel about that but whatever!). So several years ago, I decided to create some Welcome to the Art Room videos, as well as What is Art and Routine videos and I thought I would share them all here today.
In this post, I'll share with you some tips on creating your own videos or...feel free to simply use mine! You can always pause the video and interject. Let's start with the most recent video I created for the first day of art. Here's the graphic I created for the video (on Canva, a free website for easily creating graphics just like this!)
This video is short and sweet where I quickly cover some things on the very first day. I do go back and cover the rules the following art classes but this is just a way to catch a glimpse on that first day. If you'd like to see what a first day looks like for me, check out these videos. This is how I run my art room for first through fourth grade:
Not shown: when I stop to play the video. I usually do this after we go through our introductions.
For more behind the scenes of my art room routines, you can check out these videos. It may explain the method behind my madness:
These are routines I establish that first day and how I start each art class.
Throwing this video in here since I reference the behavior system that I use. It's a hit with my students!
I thought I'd also share some older Welcome to the Art Room videos that I created in years past. This might give you some more ideas of what a video you create may need.
This one was created during Covid...so you'll notice how different the routines were.
And this is my original video.
I promised some tips on creating your own video so...here we go:
* Keep It Short! Don't overwhelm the kids. Think of this video as the fun "Cliff's Notes" version of all that you plan to cover. A brief tour, a quick introduction and a general view of how you operate your art room is perfect.
* Involve the Staff! Kids love to see their teachers ham it up! This video I created on Art Class Etiquette was always a hit:
I also created several "routines" videos and this one they loved because their favorite teachers were featured in it:
* Use Your Phone! I'm always asked "how do you make your videos? What software? Lighting? Microphone?" Guys. GUYS. Your phone is fine! Just prop it up someplace and hit record. And be YOURSELF. Now that is easier said than done. What works for me is to hit record and then make faces at yourself for a minute. Loosen up. Don't worry about messing up. Don't hit the stop button and record again and again. It will just make you frazzled! Just record and know you can edit later. Or not! A bloopers reel may be fun for the kids to see!
If you have an iPhone, iMovie is the easiest editing tool! Watch a 5 minute How-To video on YouTube and you'll have all the basics down. The kids aren't lookin' for perfection. They will love it regardless! Unless they are in 5th grade. Then they pretty much don't like anything ;)
No iPhone? There are PLENTY of free apps out there for editing. Or create the video in TikTok or Reels! That will REALLY get their attention. "YOU HAVE A TIKTOK?!" Yes. And please don't follow me.
So, there you have it! I added this last video in case you are interested in sharing it in your art room. All of the drawings were made on my iPad and I simply recorded myself while drawing!
Need more art teacherin' tips and tricks? Did you know I wrote a whole book on it? And I can tell it's Back to School season as I'm backing up tons of orders each day. You can find it here.
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