Celebrate Apparel 2015

So, we made more shirts.

And its just still so much fun.  We are both learning how to do so much design-wise, business wise, printing wise.  I feel like this whole thing is just stretching and growing us.  We are learning that there are things we aren't very good at and things that we have to work on even when we want to quit (like the business side :/ ) But overall, the learning has been so rewarding.  

Listen to me, I sound like Oprah.  

Let's live our best lives, now.
(Or is that Joel Osteen?  Im clearly off on my inspirational speakers.)

Anyway, new shirts for 2015 are in the shop.  

We have added some kid ones and have taken down some old ones that are obviously holiday or just seem to have a more wintery feel. Whatever that means, new ones are in.

We started off with one of our very first screens.  We made a Best Day Ever.  We weren't completely sure how to do the emulsion part of screen printing so we just used a screen and some freezer paper that we exacto knife cut out our words into.  We didnt know how to fill in the B and the D, so we just left them and they filled with paint.
Then we wore them, still have them, made them again when we were trying to set Brycie up with andy (though they didnt fall madly in love, they have since found love in other people.  It wasn't the best day ever, but we did go to chuck e cheese.  So theres that)
This isn't the exact font, but close enough.

And how cute is our model Victoria?! Blue eyed red head and hysterical and fun all at the same time. And YOUNG! Spring chicken right there that I bribe with candy to hang out with me. Love her.
We also added a Tattoo Series.
Allison and her sister Anna have 143 on their arms.

Clearly we only let gorgeous red heads model our stuff.  Thank you Carrie!  You are just so beautiful.    On the inside and out.  I could go on and on about this girl.

(and, clearly I have the monopoly on the tattoo series.  Sorry al)
This isn't my exact rainbow tattoo, but its a rainbow.

I tried to model the rainbow with an emotional look out the window photo and everything, and it was rough.  ROUGH.  But it makes me laugh so much that I put it in our shop photos because, you know.
Then I have SHINE on my left arm (without the sun part)

How cute is Sass?!  She is a natural.

Luckily Sass and the hat make me look better than normal, but here is LOVE.  I have it to match Jennifer on my right wrist (and little love to match the kids.  You know how much we love to match).
I still have a couple of tattoos to include, but that wraps up the tattoo series.  Then I may go on a rampage when its over and get so many more so I can make t shirts of them...(hahahhah mom! Im kidding! Mostly.)
And another thats also good for Valentines Day-
My cousin Lindsey is amazing and just HAND DREW these adorable dinosaurs.


Then, I found a strip of paper that Avery had written Let's Go Places on.  I just loved it.  and so I paired it with a picture that Jeff and I took at Lake Louise this summer to make a Let's Go Places Tee.

and then a kid one that I wrote and then uploaded.

I feel like this line will get used a. lot.
(and these are actually the same shirt, they are just in different lights.  They are both black, but its kind of hard to tell in the top one.)

Then al made this awesome GBOGH shirt.  A phrase that we feel like definitely defines how we tend to jump in with both feet and get excited about all. most. everything...We are easily excitable.  (We should have that on a shirt, too- NOPE. I hear it, now.)
We have our tag line- Make life a Party.

We added a kid rainbow roost and we still have the adult one.

And always the Celebrate Always Tees and sweatshirts.
Thank you guys so much for always being so supportive and buying from us- even when you already have bought something.  It just means so much.
There will be more, so we will update over here better, but this is the inventory so far.
Shop away, guys!

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.

Getting the gang back together

Over the weekend, Allison and fam came in town and spent the night!
Al and I worked on the sweat shirts, and the kids, easily inspired, clearly, started their own entrepreneurial venture and made a Rainbow Loom Shop.  They spent most of the time that they were together, whether they were watching a movie or playing, multitasking by also making bracelets, rings, necklaces or anything they could out of those little bands that you can never really clean up.
Clearly they come by it all naturally.

There was also some group braiding and dress up,

movie watching on a pallet,

and a little baby feeding.

In the morning we tried to see if they kids could take our picture.
There are a lot of outtakes that I need to add to this post, but this is probably the only one where we are all in it (plus Kenna)

Thank y'all for staying with us, al! It was just so fun being together and getting to start the shirt making under the same roof.
I can't wait until you are a lot closer and this can happen muchhhhh more often.

Holiday Sweatshirts

Al and I just started screen printing holiday designs onto the softest (alternative apparel) sweatshirt and we put them in our etsy shop!

The car on this sweatshirt is a land rover Defender 110 that Jeff bought when we were first married off of craigslist. It is kindddddd of slow, so he rarely gets to drive it, but it definitely makes for a good looking tree hauler.  Funnily enough, Jeff didn't mind much about how I drew the car, but was much more particular about the tree.  He told me that the limbs would not hang over the car as much as I made them in my first drawing because the defender was so wide.  I told him it just shows how big of a tree it can carry :)
Needless to say, he took time and fixed the tree and it looks much better.

These trees were inspired by the trees drew for Shea's birthday invitations and just ended up loving.  I made her one with the trees that says happy holiday on it underneath for her favorite holiday, her birthday :)

Jeff got so excited about me using his car and the tree that he made his own rendition with the 'over the river and through the woods'.  Love that guy.

I figured we needed something to represent my love for knitting.

#celebratealways

Giving the chickens a little love.
So, head on over and grab one if you want!

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!

King George

We were some of the lucky few who got to attend George Straits final concert.  

I do not come at this post lightly.  

This was a HUGE HUGE thing for all of us (you know how much we enjoy honoring our country music legends- no matter the hurdle.  Even if it entails a quick run in with the law in vegas), and we were so thankful to be able to see the cowboy ride away. 

It was everything we could have hoped and dreamed of-and better.  I mean, the man did not disappoint.  He IS the king (mom).

Of course allison had the best shirt idea in the world! (and his first song was check yes or no!)







The back was a line from George's song "Easy Come, Easy Go"  it said "Goodbye, Farewell, So Long, Vaya Con Dios" which he sang with Eric Church. 




And bob's shirt said The Chair. (my personal favorite)
I know its the same exact picture in different locations within the same location, but I just want to remember every single one we took before he changed our lives with his last hurrah.  I know.  Life Changing sounds dramatic, I hear you, but it was.  
He only had asleep at the wheel open for him and then he, himself, came out at 730 and sang until 1030.  He had an amazing line up of country stars that sang his songs with him and we were just not even expecting that.  I mean, get out George.  You're so creative.
We LOVED it.  
We never knew who would come out next and every time it was amazing.
It started with Vince Gill and then there was Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, 

Miranda Lambert, 
Faith Hill, Martina McBride, 

and Eric Church (and his sunglasses).
No frill or fluff, just them and him and their guitars and the ace and the hole band.  It was just the best.

Except he did give away a million dollar house to a veteran who continued to fight after his arm was blown off.  It was so moving.
When he left we all screamed for an encore and they all came back out and sang All My Ex's Live in Texas and it is now written on our hearts.
Then he really ended it with the Cowboy Rides Away and I am pretty sure everyone was crying.  I mean, I can't speak for everyone, but, you know. It was emotional.
And then they dropped confetti and balloons and we all went nuts.




For some reason none of my cousins made it to my pics, but they were there and the life of the party.  Everyone left saying they were their favorite people.  So, sorry guys.  All the matching shirts and George took over my phone camera.
We love you George.  Thanks for an amazing last night with you.  I know you won't even remember we were there, but we will.  And we have NOT gotten good at goodbye.  So, if I know us, we will be carried away by the best day of our lives with a love without end.  Amen.