Making Clothes

One of my 2012 goals is to make more clothes for my family. Granted, it may not be cheaper than just buying clothes from Target. And it's certainly not easier. But I LOVE wearing dresses that my granny made...seeing what kinds of patterns, fabrics, and detail she chose for herself.

I'm starting slowly, though, with simple, simple patterns. And I'm augmenting things I already own. Like this dress I've had for awhile that had slowly shrank to a weird "not quite long, not quite short" length. I chopped off a few inches, reattached the ruffle at the bottom and thats it! It's been so unseasonably warm around here that I've already worn it several times this week without leggings. February and we've got the windows open!

The boys are in a wedding tomorrow and I just had this crazy idea of making bow ties for them. How hard could it be? (haha). I'll give it a try!

Happy crafting!
Arian

Ah, Fridays.

Happy weekend! Hope yours is off to a good start! We took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and went on our first family walk to Starbucks. I survived my first week with Daniel back to work (thanks to meal, cleaning, and laundry help from family and friends--pretty awesome.) And it was good to ring in the weekend with a celebratory soy latte : )

I made this skirt today! It's still a work in progress but it's inspired me to make more like it! The challenge with clothing a recently pregnant body is finding cute outfits that are forgiving of my still-changing shape and are also nursing friendly...this combo seems to work! I'll post a how-to on the skirt when I get the process a bit more refined ; )

We're slowly falling back into our weekly/weekend routine. Tonight--Friday night family pizza and a movie night. Feels good to be back to something regular. I even got a few more rows done on the family movie night afghan. My goal--to finish it within a year of starting it. I think that gives me about one more month. I can do it!

Happy weekending!

Arian :)

Super Easy Dress

We had our third annual family Simple Portrait this weekend (last year's, 2 years ago). I love that I'm pregnant in this year's photo and that next year there will be 5 of us!

As soon as we showed up for the shoot, Jude decided he was a dog -- crawling around the studio floor and barking. Classic. It took a lot of convincing to get him to be a boy in at least some of the shots : )

I spent the morning of the photo shoot making this super easy dress out of comfy, maternity-friendly knit fabric....one more thing I can cross off my Pinterest "Things I Want To Make" list. It's basically a grown up pillow case dress--cut two rectangles, sew a tube on top of both, pull ribbon/fabric through and knot, sew sides up.  Easy. I want to make more! Maybe out of some fun, sparkly fabric for the holidays or something pretty and lacy.

I paired it with another easy DIY find from Pinterest, the hipster scarf made from one of Daniel's old shirts.

Happy Thanksgiving week!

Arian : )

Skirt to Scarf

I've wanted to try my hand at one of these hipster scarves I've had on my pinterest for awhile. This skirt had been a staple in my wardrobe for years but it was becoming a bit too short (thanks to approx. 232 trips through the dryer) and had a few little stains and holes so it was time to move on.  While Jude watched an episode of Word World and used his scissors to cut a piece of scrap fabric into tiny shreds on my bedroom floor. I used my scissors and turned this skirt into this scarf.

It's fun to wear so I will probably make another (it being scarf season and all!) And maybe I will even try making a new skirt to replace my old one! I found this crazy cute circle skirt pattern today...seems simple enough!

What is it about fall weather that turns us into crafting fiends? Must.....make.....something.....cozy.

Arian : )

And the winner is...

 Kim said...

I have two-one is crochet kids-it's similar to this one but kids in impoverished countries make hats and sell them and my other is 140 million orphans. Both great causes! Kim(who Andrea used to live with ;)

So, Kim, head to Sperantsa's site to pick your hat and then drop me an email at arianarmstrong[at]yahoo[dot]com to let me know which one you'd like and where to send it!!

The rest of you should head there too and get a hat or bookmark it for later! I think I might have to add a hat for myself into the order...can't decide between these two though...hmmm

Happy shopping!

Hats for Hope--GIVEAWAY!!

 I pretty much wear hats as long as I can...anything less than 85 degrees is still hat weather to me. A tank top, breezy skirt, flip flops, and a hat is pretty much my fav outfit to wear. And I LOVE products that help people so I 100% support my young friend, Arthur's, attempts to sell 400 Dece hats made by impoverished moms in Romania in the convenience of their own homes. Yay for "work at home moms"! His shop is called Sperantsa.

The hats are awesome, high-quality, and come in tons of styles and colors and I'm GIVING ONE AWAY!! Leave a comment below letting me know your favorite fair trade/non-profit type business. I'll randomly pick a winner on Monday and the winner can pick ANY HAT THEY'D LIKE!!

Here are a few pics from Sperantsa's website...

 (awww, Arthur) ; )

 Crazy cute, right?! So leave a comment, spread the word, and get yourself (and a friend!) a sweet hat!!

Arian : )

"Awaited" Shirts

My rockstar sister is one of the masterminds behind Crossroad's annual Christmas show, "Awaited". It's the most artistic and creative representation of the Christmas story I've ever seen. And for the past couple years I've had the pleasure of creating the 200+ cast and crew members' special thank you gift! Two years ago they got my Christmas cards. Last year I got to create a custom art print for them. And this year I got to do t-shirts! (Hopefully they are not getting tired of me ; )

The text is a collage of phrases from the show.

Here are a few pics of "Awaited" last year....its pretty wonderful. Can't wait to see the new and improved version again this year!

(photos courtesy of Crossroads)

Off to do some Christmas shopping!! (This is the time of year each year when we realize that our hopes of making all our gifts this is again unrealistic.) ; )

Arian

Busy Little Elves

It was a busy, festive weekend. My lovely assistant, Laura, and I, fueled by coffee and Christmas music, printed and packaged and sealed and labeled all day to catch up on sales. If you won a painting in the art auction, it's on its way!

A beautiful mess : )

The weekend was also spent making snow angels (the first of the season),

celebrating Christmas at the Seabird Christmas show,

 (grabbed a few of my shirts! they are super soft and comfy)

getting our first LIVE Armstrong family Christmas tree,

and celebrating Hudson's 6th birthday at his snow-themed, DIY pizza party (his request). I got tons of photos on my real camera that need to be unloaded.

All this busyness and freezing temperatures has got me feeling pretty under the weather. Any favorite home remedies for a cold that just won't go away? I'll try 'em! I'd love to just close the bedroom door, curl up in bed, drink hot lemonade, and watch about eight hours of Christmas romantic comedies. That would cure me for sure : )

Arian

T-shirt/cd Give-Away!

I just finished another t-shirt for one of my fav bands, Seabird (sweet music video here). And I'd love to give one away along with their new Christmas EP.  With Thanksgiving over, I think it's officially okay to listen to Christmas music...very loudly.

So leave a comment here and let me know your favorite Christmas song/album (besides this one of course ; ) I'll randomly pick a winner on Thursday so check back! I'll be grabbing the shirt on Sunday evening so, if you're the winner, make sure to email me with your shirt size before then.

The Girl Has Style.

My son, Hudson, got to be in a music video today! And my sister, Andrea, was the style genius behind the video shoot's wardrobe.

(above 2 pics by Andrew Peters)

The kids looked amazing and I can't wait for the video to come out. Hopefully I can show you!

The day was a fun venture into the movie-making business. It's not quite as glamorous as one would think---lots of standing around in the cold and waiting. It makes you realize how amazingly talented movie-makers are to be able to take all those bits and pieces of footage and weave them into a beautiful film.

(Hudson and one of his little co-stars, Avery).

(before)

And Andrea, being the rockstar that she is, went and got herself a rock star mohawk this week. The girl has guts AND style.

(after)

She inspires me to be a bit more adventurous in my style. I'm feelin the need for a little style re-mix of my own : )

Arian