Happy Thanksgiving

From the Barstads.
We have so much to be thankful for this year and it just keeps getting better.
Hope you are all having a warm and content thanksgiving as you have hope for whatever comes for the rest of the holiday season and next year.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

How the Holiday Sweatshirts actually made it to the shop

Allison and I have been making shirts since 8th grade and screen printing since we first started lullaby lubbock when the twins and Ella were about 9 months.


 We made these horrible hibiscus flowers and these terrible snowmen shirts for the kids.  And we hand dyed all of those babies.  We were pretty obsessed with RIT dye at that point.  And we loved how adding those buttons added to the entire look.  Its hard to say what exactly they added.
OH, we thought they were so cute.  We have since improved the entire look…
 We always want to put our shirts in the shop (looking back, I am glad some of them we didnt), but we are always a little late on it or lose steam before we actually put them up.
Thats where Sweet Tees came in.
A few months ago, my friends Jennifer and Brandie started a tee shirt company called Sweet Tees Shop.

Isn't that the cutest name ever? (You can follow them on instagram and they are on etsy too.)  I love it all- they knew they could design shirts so they found away to get them out there and created a company. It was truly the most inspiring thing for me.
They were so inspiration for me- they just did it.  They figured out all the little things and just did it. They are doing so great and I could not be more excited for them! (Go check out their cute holiday shirts!)

This was around the time I started making thanksgiving tees for my kids. And I actually made them before the night before thanksgiving, like usual.  Huge thrill over here.  I know the gizzard thing is weird, and the sweet as pie is recycled and renewed from last year, but I thought I was hilarious, and luckily my kids wanted to wear them.

I didnt sell them in the shop, but it got me excited to be making shirts before the night before their wear.
Along the way, I started dreaming about having Rainbow Roost sweatshirts and putting them in the shop.  I had bought the hello sweatshirts last year and realized that was all I was wearing this fall and winter.  I tried to find the actual sweatshirt online and figured out how to buy them wholesale with a tax ID.  So I ordered some, printed off a million ideas of how I wanted to make the logo on the shirt and then actually printed one.  I was critical of it at first, but now I love it.

I had more fun doing that than I have had in a really long time.
This summer has been a hard one for me for a few reasons and I was in the biggest creative slump of my life.  I prayed and prayed for more creativity and ideas. I lost my appetite (not weight, of course.  that would required actually not eating instead of just loosing my appetite and still trying everything just in case it sounded good once it was in my mouth), couldn't sleep, or wanted to sleep all the time, and just was having a hard time.  I loved making the leggings, but the sewing part is hard for me.  My favorite part is designing them.  So, I ended up with a lot of swatches of fabric and not enough motivation to make them into anything. Making shirts was one of the first times that I have come alive in a while.  I remembered why I love it so much and I am just so thankful for the creative outlet that it gives me.  It is truly an answer to prayer for me.
SO after the shirts came in, I just kept dreaming of holiday shirts.  I tried printing off and making a lot of different options and eventually felt like I had a few I loved.  I told Allison about the shirts, and she, of course, had tons of amazing ideas for shirts she wanted to put in the shop. My cousin Lindsey came over and made some with us and came up with the cutest ideas ever for shirts and we were all set to make them (until the screen didnt burn due to the incredible cold front that came in and warped my light that I burn screens with). It was still fun.  Then, Al came in town and we stayed up until 3 in the morning printing shirts.  We got so excited and had so much fun being together and making shirts.  It was just like we lived down the street from each other in Lubbock again, or were at our parents house making shirts again for lindsays 16th bday.  It was so much fun.
All that to say, holiday shirts are in the shop and we are so excited.  I want to add my kid leggings and headbands and am testing some patterns to see if they work, so be on the lookout for those, if you want.  You can almostttt call me stella.  I think I have almost gotten my groove back.
Thanks to Sweet Tees for your creativity and for the incredible inspiration.
Thank you guys for buying scarves from us, good kid jars, crochet hats, and whatever we have put up in the past.  We hope you like the sweatshirts!

Turkey Time

I can't believe I am actually posting a holiday post in the current month. I have been a little behind lately and I don't think there has ever been a year where my annual Turkey shirts were posted before Thanksgiving Day. I haven't printed the girls Thankful list on the backs yet so I guess I shouldn't give myself too much credit just yet...

I have changed up the turkey through the years and have still never really settled on one I love. This one at least looks happier than years past shirts. I have switched back and forth from screen print to vinyl each year. Overall the screen print look is my all time fave on a shirt but sometimes the heat press vinyl is more predictable and faster. I did my turkey and words using a screen this year and heat pressed the heart with glitter vinyl. So, it's really the best of both worlds for a tshirt making gal.  

Every. single. year. Kristen and I talk about maybe putting some of our Holiday shirts in our etsy shop but every. single. year. we can't get our act together in time. Even though Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I am going to make a few extra of these Turkey shirts if anyone is interested. They will be in our shop. And I'm not just talking kid sizes. You know how much we love to wear a cheesy themed adult tee. Too much.

Speaking of Turkeys, Ella had to come up with a Turkey disguise for a school project. She wanted it to be all about the hair and for it to have a crazy hair do. I educated her on what a perm was and then this fabulous Turkey was created. Ella is also very intrigued on perms now and would love one. Maybe I should tell her the story when I permed Kristen's hair. From a box! How crazy are we?! It ended in a very short haircut for Kristen. Perm in a box is not the best route to go.

Happy November everyone! 

Let's get to Thanksgiving since we have Christmas music playing in the background

Thanksgiving was amazing.

We started out at Isla's and Kinley and TyTys on monday.

Then we went to Minnie and Jake's where Blair came over and joined us for a day of the dermatologist and chick fil a.  (Yes, that is what I do with my friends for fun.  I know-I am kind of out of control.)
Then, we headed out to my in laws lake house to see my sister and brother in law and niece and nephew.  I am the craaaaaazy aunt that gets so excited that she silently cries when she sees her niece and nephew because she is so excited.  Luckily my kids are the crazy kids that get just as excited, so I can hide behind them.




The kids spent the morning playing and fishing while the adults (besides me, I was no help) made thanksgiving dinner.


There were some successes.



And a few celebrations.


There was lake wading,

Snapping turtle finding,


and lots of playing.
Oh, and so much eating.

I have yet to recover from the stretching that I put my stomach through.  It was a true training week.  Just getting ready for birthday/christmas/eateverythingbecauseyouareabouttohavetohavearesolutiononnewyears.  I am nothing if not a prepper.
After dinner there was crafting.  Even the boys got into it.




And after that, resting.

My sis and brother in law had to leave early to get home the next morning.

So, we mourned their leaving the only way we know how-eating and crafting.  And combining the two.






I know its not ergonomically correct or to scale or even looks like a real train- I know.  But it was fun.  and good.
The next day we went back to Minnie and Jakes where we found some horses.

Turns out my mom is the horse whisperer and she called the horses to her and the kids fed them out of their hands.  The things you learn about your parents...


Then my brothers and sister in law came over for some full on family fun time.


The kids tortured patrick the whole time and poured cold water on him over and over.  Dont worry, he loved it.


And, it turns out, his belly pillow is the ben whisperer, and it pulled ben in like Odysseus to the Sirens.  We called it a day.
We were overflowing with gratitude for everything about this week and could not be more blessed.  I would say it was definitely a successful Thanksgiving.