Tag: art teacher life

NOVEMBER 2025

What I’m Loving Right Now

The Before & After Mama Jacket from H&M

If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a new mom in NYC, it’s that leaving the house is a full-on strategy game. Between the stroller, the carrier, layers for baby, layers for me, and whatever mystery item I inevitably forget… anything that makes getting out the door easier immediately becomes a staple in my life.

Enter my latest obsession: the Before & After Mama Jacket from H&M — the coziest fleece jacket with a removable insert panel that wraps right around baby while she’s in her carrier. Think: one jacket, two ways, and zero stress about keeping her warm in this unpredictable New York fall.

Why I’m Loving It

The insert panel is genius. When she’s in the carrier, I zip the panel in and she’s instantly warm and snuggled right against me. No bulky coats on her, no awkward wrestling with layers — she’s just cozy and happy. It converts back to a regular jacket. This is honestly my favorite part. If we decide mid-walk to pop her into the stroller, I can simply unzip the panel and zip the jacket back up like a normal fleece. No need to bring a second coat for myself. Perfect for NYC weather. Cool mornings, warm afternoons, sudden wind gusts — this jacket has handled it all. It’s lightweight, soft, and still warm enough to get us through crisp fall walks. It’s a lifesaver for baby-wearing moms. If you’re someone who loves keeping baby close, this jacket makes it easy without sacrificing comfort or warmth for either of you.

The Only Downside…

It’s sold out right now — which tells you how good it is — but I’m crossing my fingers H&M restocks soon because this deserves to be in every mama’s closet.

Between the convenience, the comfort, and how adorable she looks peeking out of the fleece… this jacket has become a must-have for us this season. If you’re navigating fall in the Northeast with a baby, add this one to your wish list immediately.

Week of September 27, 2021 Outfit

Outfit #1:

Overalls: Old Navy OG Straight Black-Wash Jean Overalls for Women

Size 18

T-Shirt: Forever 21 (from 2011)

Shoes: DSW Chuck Taylor All Star High-Top Sneaker in White

Men’s size 9

Outfit #2:

Dress: Walmart Terra & Sky Women’s Plus Size Relaxed Peasant Dress

Size 0X

Shoes: Vintage

Outfit #3:

Shirt: Target Women’s Short Sleeve Camo Print Graphic Zoe+Liv (Juniors’) Green

Size XL

Jumpsuit: Natural Life Knit Jumpsuit in Grey

Shoes: DSW Arizona Slide Sandal Men’s in Taupe

Size 41

Outfit #4:

Shirt: Urban Outfitters (discontinued) Junk Food Keith Haring New York Tee

Size XL
Flannel: American Eagle AE Super Soft Flannel Hoodie

Men’s Size XL

Pants: Walmart (discontinued) No Boundaries Juniors’ High Rise Pull-On Stretch Cord Flare Pants in Rusty Copper

Size XL

Outfit #5:

Flannel: Walmart George Men’s and Big Men’s Super Soft Flannel Shirt, up to 5XLT

Size 2XLT

Dress: Walmart

Shoes: DSW Chuck Taylor All Star High-Top Sneaker Men’s

Size 9 Men’s

Boho Black Paint Stroke Classroom Set

Positive Affirmations & Motivational Phrases, Classroom Rules PDF Print Poster Set

Download contains 2 files with matching trendy black paint mark pattern.

1. Positive Affirmations & Motivational Phrases Posters (41) mix of affirmations and motivational phrases in English and some in Spanish in black paint pattern.
2. Classroom Rules Set posters (16)

Print off all or pick and choose the ones that suit your classroom and students’ needs!

Both files contain digital PDF documents that are worded for middle school aged students. 

See below for posters preview

Some of the Motivational Phrases, Positive Affirmations and Classroom Rules Posters

Attendance List Sheet & Teacher Binder Covers

Attendance Sheet & some Teacher Binder Covers

Color Theory (Hybrid) Unit

Lessons and activities relating to the Color Theory Unit. Includes hands on and interactive digital assignments for Google Classroom.

This unit was set up for a hybrid schedule with students attending in person every other day, while completing assignments in Google Classroom at home. All linked documents are available for free download on my Teachers Pay Teachers page.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Stuck-In-Middle-Art

Grade: 6

Artist/Theme: Color Wheel/Color Theory

Materials: exemplars, pencils, erasers, colored pencils, sharpener, paper, Google Classroom/Google Products, device

Teacher Prep: Color Theory PowerPoint, create Google Forms

Day 1: At Home: Have students fill out the Color Wheel Pre-Assessment Google Form

Day 2: In Person: Introduce or review Color Theory with the Color Wheel Slide Presentation With the remaining amount of time, students will complete the Drag and Drop Color Wheel and begin the Color Wheel Vocabulary Google Form.

Day 3: At Home: Students will complete the Color Wheel Vocabulary Google Form and Color and Moods Google Form.

Day 4: In Person: Go through the Colors as Emotions in Artwork Presentation. Go through directions for the Color as Emotions in Art: Logos assignment. I created this assignment as a Google Form and had students take a photo of their artwork to submit.

Day 5: At Home: Students will complete their logos assignment and use today at home to complete any missing assignments for this unit.

Bonus or Sub Assignment: Creative Color Wheels: Have students create their own color wheels with a unique design

2021-2022 School Year Art Challenges

With the challenges of last school year came some innovation. In past years I collected Extra Credit from my students by having them turn in “hard copies” of their drawings, but our district had implemented a “paper free” environment due to COVID last year which caused a need to digitize the extra credit.

My students still utilized art materials to draw their art challenges, but instead of turning in hard copies, students photographed and uploaded images into a Google Form (see example below).

I demonstrated how to photograph and upload art challenge drawings, and kept the format the same for each month for consistency. I created an “Extra Credit” section in Google Classroom where I posed a folder with directions, and each month’s art challenge and Google Form. To keep things simple, I posted the Extra Credit Collection Form (Google Form) on the Monday during the following month, and closed it before leaving that Friday. Students had all month to work on their drawings, but had to keep them safe until it was time to turn them in. I offer up to ten extra credit points for each art challenge (depending on how much effort was put into the drawing), so in theory, students could earn up to 310 points for the month of September. Students can choose to draw all, none, or pick and choose which challenges they want to draw. I do not offer any extra credit during the month of June since it is not a complete month.

I post the month’s challenge on the first of each month in both our Google Classroom and on our class Instagram page. You can find them all below!

I tried to keep things easy for my students by utilizing the same format each month, and only switching out the header, date and art challenges. Each art challenge is labeled where students can upload files. I made sure to “require” the sections where students will type in their name and class section, but left the file uploads optional, so that students can upload photos of the drawings they did.

Apple Watch Band & Bumper

I was browsing in Target when I came across these Apple Watch bands and bumpers. In the past, I have bought a few different watch bands (from Target and other stores), but it always bothered me that the color of the hardware and the color of my watch device itself did not match. That was until I came across these adorable bumpers that coordinate with the watch bands from Target brand heyday.

Below are the links to the bumper and band I purchased in Leopard Print- Dark Cherry.

Band 38/40 mm Flocked Leopard Print

heyday Apple Watch Bumper

I also purchased a matching case for my AirPods and bumper in gold.

heyday AirPod Hard Shell Case

heyday Apple Watch Bumper- Gold

Art Challenge Extra Credit 2020-2021

Each year I provide an extra credit opportunity for my students using an art drawing challenge. You can read about how I have used these art challenges in past years here.

This year due to social distancing protocols, collecting the extra credit will look a little different. I have set up Google Forms where students can upload photographs of their artwork. I plan to post this form in our Google Classroom for a one week period so that students have the opportunity to submit any or all of the extra credit they may have done.

Example of Google Form

Acrylic Paint Organization

I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to come up with a plan to reorganize certain parts of my apartment. I have been living there for a few years and kinda dropped the ball on some projects that I didn’t finish when I first moved in. I started off with my art room/office.

I tackled the closet first to see what art supplies I had, and organized everything by adding in a metal shelf. I also spray painted everything gold to match the decor with the rest of the house.

When cleaning, I realized that I had QUITE the extensive collection of small acrylic paints from over the years. When it came to my acrylic paint collection, I needed to come up with a solution to find colors quickly. I ordered these plastic baskets from Amazon and spray painted them gold. I used Rustoleum’s Metallic Gold which I ordered from Target.

While the baskets were drying, I lined the inside of the closet doors with <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://&lt;!– wp:paragraph –> <p>While the baskets were drying, I lined the inside of the closet doors with marble Con-Tact paper<a href="https://www.target.com/p/con-tact-18–34–x-20–39–creative-covering-multipurpose-marble-shelf-liner-white/-/A-54345585&quot; target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.target.com/p/con-tact-18–34–x-20–39–creative-covering-multipurpose-marble-shelf-liner-white/-/A-54345585</a></p&gt; marble Con-Tact paper and marked off every 6 inches to hang the baskets so that the paints were able to fit comfortably.

Once the baskets were ready to hang, I used regular screws (keeping in mind their length so that they did not poke through the door) on either side of basket where their first hole was. I used a level to make sure each basket was hung straight.

Once the first basket was hung, it was easier to match up the sides and screws. Once they were all up I was ready to start adding my paints!

I still need to paint the screws gold so they blend in

I can’t wait to finish the rest of the office! Check my instagram this week for pics of the results!

Galentine’s Night-DIY Painted Wine Glasses

Galentine’s Day is a day for “ladies celebrating ladies”.

(Leslie Knope)

If you are not familiar with Parks and Recs, Galetine’s Day was celebrated on the show on February 13 where you celebrate your love for your girl squad.

I started the tradition a few years ago and have been celebrating Galentine’s Day with a craft night the Friday before Valentine’s Day. I gather all my closest gal pals for a night of appetizers, drinks, and crafts.

Last year, we celebrated with a DIY wine glasses night. I set up materials on a long table in my tv room and we each painted a set of wine glasses. This year, we are creating Valentine’s themed wreaths. (Stay tuned for a future post about it!)

I purchased the items from a variety of stores, (I will link where you can purchase them off Amazon) and prepped some appetizers ahead of time during the week. You can find a lot of these appetizers and some additional ideas on my Pinterest pages: drinks & drunks, galentines, paint party, sweets & treats, the savory and wine & cheese night.

Since I had a small group of ladies, each received a pair of glasses to decorate, but if you have a larger crowd, you can have each gal decorate just one glass. I purchased the glasses from The Christmas Tree Shop, but have some similar ones linked that you can purchase off of Amazon.

We used FolkArt Multi-Surface Acrylic paint, and the paintbrushes were ones I had left from college. I have similar ones linked here.

During the week, I painted individualized mini-canvases with everyone’s names that served as place markers. I covered the tables with a plastic tablecloth and butcher paper above it and scattered containers of small paintbrushes, cups of water, and paper towels around the table. Each person also had a palette for their paints. (I borrowed these for my classroom, and plastic disposable plates work just as well).

Once everyone arrived, grabbed some appetizers, and poured themselves a drink, we started brainstorming our ideas using Google and Pinterest. Once we had our ideas chosen, we used a square of paper towel with rubbing alcohol to prepare the glass to be painted. It’s super important to clean the glasses with rubbing alcohol to remove any impurities (fingerprints, dust, lint, etc) that will prevent the paint from covering the surface.

finished glasses

Once our painted glasses dried, we placed them onto a baking tray and put it into a cool oven. Once they were in the oven, we turned it on to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You want to put them into the oven before preheating it.

Once the oven reached 350 degrees, let them bake for 30 minutes, and then fully cool in the oven before removing them. You can wash (and use) your glass 2-3 days after baking them.

my leopard print wine glass being put to good use