Feature Friday-Wardrobe Essentials and Skin Update

I may be a little excited about writing this this week. I had HOPED to get this done last month. Truly I have been sewing a lot, but it has been for gifts or other people. No fun clothes for me. I also am knee deep in swimsuits. They said it would be EASY. Let me just say it is all a lie! HAHA I am stretching myself and that is all that matters. I can't wait to share that because they are getting done by Monday since it is going to be HOT all weekend. I digress. 

Raise your hand if you struggle finding the right tshirt to wear in the summer?!? Ok maybe it is just me. I have highlighted my struggles many times. I am smaller on top especially in the shoulders and arms and my hips are wide. We won't talk about the Mommy tummy going on. I can't be the only one out there! Consequently tshirts never look that great on me. It is frustrating. I have been on the quest to find the perfect tshirt. I threw out all my ready to wear shirts at the beginning of the season because A they were too big or B I hated them. It has forced me to sew and I am glad, because in the end I actually found a couple! I also am sewing through all my piles of fabric and by piles I literally mean piles. When you throw out your clothes you may get a little panicked and buy all the fabric you love. 

This brings me to my first point. Anybody else sweat profusely in the summer? Maybe that is just me? I think I have found a solution. MODAL It seriously has become my favorite fabric. Before last night I could mostly only get it in solids, which is a great option for your wardrobe. It drapes so nicely and is breezy. It is so soft too. Fabric is of course from So Sew English Fabrics.  They just stocked some gorgeous stripes and floral in this last night. Sadly, I personally banned myself from buying fabric so you get to enjoy it while I admire:)  These shirts are my first drafts and muslins. They are not perfect, but give me a great idea of what I need to do to make the perfect shirts.

First up Mama Ava from Made for Mermaids. This shirt was a risk taker. I wanted to really see how it would do. Some people love it or hate it. It is the shirt that needs the most tweaking. I "should" shorten my patterns, but I don't usually. I make and see how it is and go from there. I should have in this instance. Thankfully it is a forgiving shirt as it is boxy so I could just cut off the hem and not lose the shape.

So how do I feel about this shirt? I need to tweak the actual pattern for me. It is boxy and oh so comfortable. Anthony loved it. It is just loose and airy and the perfect comfy shirt. I think if I make the tweaks I will love it more. If you are bigger in the bust and smaller in the waist it is a perfect shirt for you. I made one for my grandma and she loves it. If you are bigger in the hips it may need a little adjustment, but it is very forgiving. The great thing about this shirt is it can be long sleeve etc. So this can be made any time of year. It has several hem options and neck options. This was my second vneck and it turned out pretty great. I can see this pattern being awesome for a slouchy sweater come winter.

This next shirt is just plain fun. I actually made this two months ago and have worn it a lot. The fit is not the best at the moment. I have lost more in my hips and waist so it is a bit big, but you get the idea. This is the Harbor Knot Tee . They also have an add on to make it a tank. I have not invested that as I do not care for razorback tanks, but it is a great option to have if you don't mind. They also have a second version to lower the knot and a bit slimmer.

I absolutely adore this shirt. I can't wait to make the lower knot version and slimmer version too. I love the neckline on this. It is not low, but the knot adds so much fun to it it makes it feel young and fresh. This can also be 3/4 or long sleeved. It has so many options for year round. I have another cut out ready to make.

The next shirt well, it is plain amazing. It is the Favorite T from Patterns for Pirates .

This shirt is well everything I have ever wanted in a shirt. The options are endless. Vneck, curved hem, tied hem, tunic split side, shirt split side, or just hemmed. Long sleeve, short sleeve, 3/4 sleeve and it can be made into a dress. This is seriously MY FAVORITE SHIRT EVER!! It is absolutely the most comfortable and flattering for me. I adore it. Make sure to look at the pattern hacks for it on the Patterns for Pirates blog. Needless to say this will be my go to pattern for probably years. It really is PERFECT!!

Everybody needs a tank in their wardrobe for under things and also in the warmer months. Store bought tanks are always too tight in the stomach for me. I decided to begin trying patterns. This pattern is another Patterns for Pirates Pattern. This is the Essential Tank made in double brushed poly from scraps from a dress I made Lilliana. This is the perfect scrap busting pattern and sews up so quickly.

I absolutely LOVE this tank top. I at this point have no need to try any other patterns. It also has the option for longer and a curved hem line. Lots of bang for you buck. 

If you are looking to be economical the one shirt you should buy is the Favorite T. It has so many options. I would then add the Essential Tank. After that the Mama Ava or Harborknot would be fun and bonus. These are all such great staples to a wardrobe as they can be made year round. The sleeves can be changed out for lace. You can do different fabrics for the sleeves and even bands to mix it up. The options are endless. I am working on a Part 2 for dresses soon. I need to get past swim suits!

So where are we with skin care. I tagged all the skin care posts with LimeLight or Skin Care. Check back with those to see the progress. This blog post will give you the basic history and back ground and there are two weeks since then. http://reutherfamily.blogspot.com/2017/05/feature-friday-lets-talk-skin-care.html

Today's results. I took them this morning as yesterday I had sick babies.

Lastly my photo showing these are today:)

Every Tuesday I usually take a photo with make up. Unfortunately it was a bit nuts that night so it didn't happen. If you remember from my first post I posted how I purposely photo shopped out my zits. Well, my pictures from above were taken last night. I didn't touch them in the face at all. In fact not much editing was done on those. So there is a big difference. Normally this week is the worst week for skin care during the month for me. I have no new breakouts and my old ones are healing quicker and a lot better.

Here is the weekly video since lighting can be tricky

Obviously I still have some complexion variances and some ways to go, but compared to how I started I am thrilled especially since nothing else was helping.

Here is Chelsea's information again if you need it.

 The Company  is LimeLight By Alcone . The wonderful lady is Chelsea. Her new brand page is The Barefoot Beauty . If you are at all interested at any point she can help you


*Giveaway Closed* I am going to give away a pattern of your choice from the four above. Leave a comment with what pattern you would love to win below and I will pick a winner Next Friday. Comments will close Thursday June 15 @ 12:00 P.M.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Oh and I almost forgot this post would not be made without my wonderful helper last night being my stand in to get focus. 

Feature Friday-Exercise and Skin Care Week 3

I get asked a lot how I am able to do all the things I do and keep up with 5 kids plus all the hobbies I have. So slowly I am going to pick these topics apart and share what works for me. It may not work for you, and that is great. If you can grab one tip that is awesome. If not do not feel bad. We are all at different stages in life.

Today I am talking about something many of us dread, hate. I am the first person to say I HATE exercise. I should say I USE to hate it. Truly I would much rather be sitting or not moving. It takes work and guess what I may love working in other areas, but my body is NOT one of them. Unfortunately I will talk about this in another week, but my  mentality did me NO favors. 3 years ago, I began exercising again. I started with random things. Truthfully I hated them. I would stick to a week and be bored or so uncoordinated I felt it was pointless. Then I began T-Tapp. I loved T-Tapp and it really gave my body some rehabilitation, healed hormones, and made me stronger. I get really bored easily hence why I can't stick to the same exercise for long. I also had stomach muscle separation after the girls. The last weeks I could literally feel my muscles tearing and skin stretching. It was a horrible feeling.

So that brings me to my where I am now with exercise. I happened to find a postnatal calendar and free exercises on Youtube for after having a baby. I was skeptical I could make it through the workouts, but I decided I needed to. Welcome to Lindsay Brin Moms into Fitness. I began with the 30 day postnatal slim down . It was wonderful and I had to modify, but I made it. It was hard juggling all the kids, but soon they all were doing it with me. I did that for many months. I wanted free and I was still feeling good and gaining strength. Then there was a challenge and I paid money for her monthly streaming to do a Core focused routine. Surprisingly I lost 14 inches. My stomach was smaller than it had been in years. I kept the subscription for 3 more months. I kept pushing play. How did I do that. Well, the babies took a morning nap. I knew at that point I could get in 30 minutes or less of exercise, a shower, and protein smoothy. If the babies woke up the older kids could entertain them. As they got mobile they soon were on top of me on floor exercises but that is ok. I was still moving and seeing results. Lilliana and Ari spent pretty much every day doing it with me. We would get our school done and put babies to bed and exercise. A schedule made it very doable.

January came and we were cracking down on spending so I canceled my subscription. I knew I could go back to T-Tapp plus felt confident in using some of my other DVDS as I was stronger. A week after this Lindsay was giving out a full year subscription to her workouts. I entered figuring I would never win. Guess what I did! So in the interest of not wasting it. I have pretty much been pushing play 4-5 days a week. I notice a difference and love it.

Why do I love Lindsay. There are many reasons, she is a mom and gets it. Everything is under 30 minutes. She also says hey you may have been up all night so you may need to take it easier today. That is ok. The fact you are doing it is what matters. Tomorrow you can push harder. She also is well educated in pregnancy exercise and postpartum especially for stomach healing. This has been crucial for me. I will say I don't always agree with her on food, but at this point her exercises have been worth it so I try to ignore. I may have questioned her use of Canola oil at one point and given her some information. She took it graciously and listened so that was nice. Truly though she is inspiring and very great.

The biggest tips I have for sticking with it....

-Find something you love
-Make it a priority and set expectations for everybody
-Make sure your littles are entertained
-It is ok to have to push pause during it to redirect kids
-Take it one day at a time! If you miss a day that is ok. Remember just start right back up the next day.

Lastly, the biggest thing I have found is when I exercise I eat better! I want to eat better and do better. If I am not exercising I do not eat as well. So, stick with it and find what you love. Our bodies need to move and stretch. It is so important for health

This week's skin care results. The pictures were taken today as yesterday I had 7 kids I was in charge of and so I did not have time.

I am copying and pasting from my last blog post so you can catch up! Scroll to the pictures if you don't need the catch up.

My routine at this point is using Dream Clean  in the morning and before bed. I really love this cleanser. It does not have a very huge aroma, but still smells nice. It foams as you put it on your face. It doesn't dry my skin, but feels like it actually cleans. 

Every other night I have used the Masque Of Zen. I have to say this might actually be my favorite! Seriously I LOVE it. It smells so good. It has cinnamon bark in it and I feel that really brings some oxygen to my face. If I didn't think it would dry out my skin I would use it every night because I love the way it feels. Moderation though. I think the best story I can say about this is it draws the junk out. I have had what I thought was a skin tag on the side of my nose. I gave up on it being a pimple literally 3 years ago. I used this the first day and my nose began hurting on the side. I went into the bathroom trying to figure it out. Well long story short no TMI that skin tag was a very deep pimple and it is gone. It is no longer there. That is one thing I have noticed this draws the junk out and I love it.

In the morning and evening I also use the Skin Therapist for a moisturizer. This has been great. It is not greasy. It does a great job. My big issue is I could get the acne cleaned up and then I would get dry skin. It was no good. This has fixed that. It is light, but does a great job.

For more catch up you can look at these two blog posts.
http://reutherfamily.blogspot.com/2017/05/skin-care-week-2-feature-friday.html
http://reutherfamily.blogspot.com/2017/05/skin-care-week-2-feature-friday.html

I will start with this picture. I take the same picture every Tuesday as Anthony and I go to our group. This is what two weeks of using a skin care routine has done under make up. Your make up with just look better. I am actually wearing less make up too believe it or not. Just a little powder no concealer or foundation.

Here is a video as light always can be funny.

My screenshot so you can see these are from today and not last year.

How do I still feel about it? Well I am still loving it. Honestly I have not done as good of job this past weekend using it as I was. There were a couple days I crawled into bed without make up just tired. I am ok with that. Life happens and I can't always wash my face. I also admittedly have not been drinking as much water or eating like I would like to this week. The holiday weekend brought on the use of a lot of sunscreen and immediately I broke out in the trouble areas, but that is ok. They are healing quicker and it was not nearly as bad as it has been. My face is so soft though and I really do believe it is improving. The red blotchy acne scars are healing.

Here is Chelsea's information again if you need it.

 The Company  is LimeLight by Alcone . The wonderful lady is Chelsea. Her new brand page is The Barefoot Beauty . If you are at all interested at any point she can help you

Have a wonderful weekend!