Don We Now Our Ugly Sweaters

Even though it isn't actually ugly
 this Alex Stevens sweater from
Amazon won me over.

by Elizabeth Van Allen

scribblesbyartteachervanallen.blogspot.com/

Aaah, winter... season of snow, hot chocolate, re-connecting with friends & relatives and donning our ugly sweaters.  That's right folks, I hopped right up on that bandwagon this year with no regrets.  I followed the lemmings off the sidewalk and right into the check-out line.  Who am I to question such a fun and openly ridiculous trend?  Seeing that I always have impeccable taste (I heard you laughing!), I actually had to go out and purchase one.  As so many of my fellow lemmings had already beaten me to thrift stores, TJ Maxx and Marshalls, I resorted to going online.  Did you know how much these things cost?  The retail price before discounts seems to average $30-$60!  I gathered my coupon codes and waited for the right time to strike.  Helloooo Amazon.com!

You'd think that just the sweater would be enough.  Nope, I had to go that extra mile and add lights.  I attached these babies to my sweater with twist ties in mere minutes!  My students kept asking me where the lights were plugged in.  After a while I stopped showing them the battery pack and answered with "my belly button, of course!"  Their faces were priceless.

No ensemble would be complete without coordinating accessories.  Enter my holiday hat/fascinator/headband. No ordinary buy-it-at-CVS santa hat would do, I HAD to personalize it according to some very rigorous specifications.  Thanks to my local craft store I combined a mini elf hat headband with an ugly sweater ornament!

Hidden bonus: a homage to 1994's olympic ice skating drama!

Apparently my first ugly sweater attempt qualified as a fail. Here's what a co-worker of mine overheard from an 8th grade girl in the hall: "That's supposed to be an ugly sweater?  She won't win any prizes because that sweater's not ugly.  I'd wear it."  I guess you can't win 'em all, but in this case I think that losing is a little more like winning, at least in the eyes of the fashion police.

What did you do to spread a little extra holiday cheer this season?

Fascinating Fascinators DIY

My first fascinator

by Elizabeth Van Allen

for scribblesbyartteachervanallen.blogspot.com/

On a whim this summer, I decided to make a fascinator.  Of course at that point I had no idea they actually had a name, I just referred to them as those saucy little hat thingies.  Originally I made one to go with a dress I wore to volunteer at a childrens' fancy tea party.  It was being held at the library where my mother works, so of course I had to make one in a different style for her to wear.  Funny enough, fascinator making was one of the activities they had for the kids!  Apparently I'm not alone in my fascination for these little hats.  Maybe that's why they call them fascinators!  

Mom's mini top hat fascinator

Pretty soon I was trying to find an excuse to make another one.  Enter my Fairy Art Mother Halloween costume.  Yay for halloween!  Of course I went crazy coming up with ideas.  Eventually I settled on a painter's palette with other assorted rainbow-colored goodies thrown in there.  I sketched it out and got to work finding my supplies.

Planning my Halloween costume!

Materials:

• Painter's palette- make sure it's the size you want.  I couldn't find one in the right size, so I traced one in the right shape, sized it down, cut it out of cardboard and covered both sides with wood grain contact paper. 
• Crafty crap in assorted colors- that's my general term for the beads, shells, macaroni, sequins, feathers, puzzle pieces etc. that is inevitably in a box somewhere if you have kids, are artsy or are/know a teacher. 
• A sturdy headband that fits your head without slipping OR a pre-made fascinator headband.  Believe it or not, I found mine for cheap at a drug store.
• Ribbon
• Felt



El-cheapo fascinator



Pay close attention
 to step 2!




• Glue gun (of course)

Process:

1. Fit everything together BEFORE you take the tags off.  There's always something that doesn't quite work, even if you planned it out beautifully.
2. Fully assemble any major pieces before attaching them to the headband.  This prevents the burns often associated with the combination of awkward angles and hot glue guns. 
3. Securely attach the major pieces to the headband or base piece.  It's really tempting to break out the glitter and finishing touches, but if your base isn't firmly secured to the headband, it will fall apart before anyone sees it.  You can add a piece of felt under the base and headband to keep your hair from catching on any part of the headpiece.
4. Work from the base up, making sure each piece is attached securely.
5. Make sure that the fascinator is balanced when it's being worn.  If it's too heavy on one side you'll spend the whole time trying to keep it on your head.  Give it a test run for at little while, just to be sure!

The Finished Fascinator