You Probably Have No Idea How Art Affects You (and that's okay, because learning how is fun)

I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone bash artists for choosing a hobby as a career. Now joking is one thing, I do it myself, but there have been completely serious comments made by many of my own (non-art) professors, telling us that being an art major is a waste of time. Now for the time being I'm going to ignore the financial aspects to this argument and focus on one that I think goes relatively unacknowledged. The reason people bash the arts is because they don't understand just how much art is a part of their day to day life.

Art isn't just a painting in a museum, or a sculpture in a hotel lobby. It is literally everywhere. It affects you constantly. Do you own clothes? I'm going to assume the answer is yes. Where do you think they came from? I can assure you that though they may have been constructed by machines, they were not thought up by them. Those clothes you own were all designed by people. And those people were all more than likely discouraged from becoming designers. They were told time and time again not to pursue an art career. Okay, maybe you don't care much about clothes, how about the furniture in your house? That was all designed by people too, people who again, were probably told not to go into that field. Do you like movies? TV shows? What's your favorite one? Well it doesn't matter because regardless of if you watch Game of Thrones or Modern Family, without artists, that show wouldn't exist. Costume design, set design, script writing, those are all done by artists. Look around you. Literally everything has some element of design to it. The label on your bottle of coke. The design on your shower curtains. Even the way your tea kettle looks. These were not just flippant choices made by the manufacturers. These were all carefully created by artists.

Do you know what the world would look like without art? I can tell you, it wouldn't look good. If everything was created purely for function, we'd have a pretty crummy time of it. We might as well just wear Star Trek onesies, because who needs form when you can just have function? Every font you see is Helvetica. Every. Single. One. Because again, it's the most functional, why have anything else? The design on your couch, rug, guitar strap, lampshade, even your napkins... those wouldn't exist. It would all just be blank. And all those things that you live for? The things that you do with friends, that help you relax after a long day? Movies, plays, TV shows, books, video games, music... hope you can learn to do without. Are you seeing what I'm getting at here? Art and design, it's literally everywhere.

So you might be wondering what the point of that little rant was. Sure art is everywhere and we need it, but that still doesn't mean that having a career in art is actually a good idea, the market is totally risky. And you're right, the field isn't easy, but it's important. And keep in mind I'm not trying to undermine any of the non-creative fields. We obviously need engineers, accountants, lawyers, doctors, etc. But here's the deal. Those folks are what keep us alive, but it's the artists that make us want to live. You can't have one without the other, so please, let's stop treating that other half like shit. If you have kids or know someone who is creatively talented, don't discourage them from the arts. Support them. Because they are important. And support the art around you. The field wouldn't be so damn hard to get a job in if people valued the arts a little more. Go to your local museum, visit art shows. In fact, why spend money on decorations for your home at Target when you can have a one of a kind piece that was hand made? Yes, you might spend a little less at Target, but remember, you get what you pay for. And for gods sake, don't let your schools cut their art programs! I can't reiterate this enough! I was lucky enough to attend schools that had great art programs, but when I was in college I met kids who had never even had an art program in their high schools. That's absurd.

Unless you want to live in some horrid art-less dystopia where everyone miserably attends work then goes home in their box-cars to sit on their dull gray furniture and stare at a blank wall then you better damn appreciate the arts. Okay maybe I was a little dramatic there but seriously, this shits important. Here, go find some art and appreciate it. :]

DIY: Legwarmers and Boot Socks!

So the local thrift shop was having an awesome sale today. I showed up bright and early, and so did apparently half of the town. Fit as much as you can into a paper bag and pay $4, what a fricking steal! So I thought what better time than now to score some groovy sweaters to finally make some boot socks out of? So I grabbed a bunch (along with some picture frames and fluffy loose fabric) and checked out.

This is again, a pretty simple DIY, but here's the pictures and step by step anyways. 

One thing to make sure of is that the sweater arms are large enough to fit your legs through. If the arms are teensy tiny, you might be able to make ankle cuffs and that's about it! Go large.

Fold your sweater in half on a flat surface.

Cut along the upper arm as evenly as you can.

Remember the cuff is going to be sticking out from your boots, so pick sweaters with cute designs there.

Now the reason I cut so high up on the arm for this one, leaving all that extra fabric, is so I could use those as slouchy boot socks.

see?

Note the snowflakes on the white one. That was just a shirt, not a thick sweater, but the cuffs were perfect for this project. 

Happy DIYing!

Foxy Tip #2: Fragrant Undies

You know those little perfume samples that come in magazines? Rip them out, open them up, then lay them down in your underwear drawer, smelly side up. It gives all your bras, undies, or socks a subtle fragrance; which is nice if you don't often put any sprays on yourself (or if like me, you just forget to).

Foxy Tip #1: Easy Peasy Air Freshner

Don't buy sprays for a smelly house, this is way easier and way cheaper. Take a pot, fill it with water, and put it on the stove. It'll humidify your house (which is great for winter), and depending on what you put in the water, will also make it smell lovely. Some of my favorite things to add to the water are...

• Vanilla extract (or any other extract you might have)
• Cinnamon/nutmeg/cloves
• Orange/lemon/grapefruit/etc. peels
• Coffee grinds
• Any leafy herbs you like

Post any tasty smelling add ons of your own in the comments!

DIY: From Too Small Leggings To Just Right Stockings (and shorts!)

So a new little clothing resale shop opened up in town, "Phat Closet" and I thought I'd try to sell off some old things I had. Well they took a decent amount of my old clothes, but unfortunately, not my teeny tiny leggings. I've had these two pairs for some time now and I've been trying my best to sell them off, but to no avail. They're the kind that are too small on you now so the crotch is like a full foot lower than it should be but the legs won't stretch up any higher, totally useless! After getting home, defeated by the fashionistas at the shop, a spark of inspiration hit. It was so simple, so obvious, yet for whatever reason it took me this long to figure it out. So I grabbed my leggings and a pair of scissors and in a matter of minutes had two pairs of thigh high socks and comfy shorts. This is one hella easy DIY, so here's what you'll need.

• Pair of scissors.
• Leggings, the kind that go up to your waist. The ones I used were also mostly made of COTTON, not spandex. You could always try it with those super stretchy ones, but I can't guarantee the results will work very well. (if you do try though, let me know in the comments how it turned out!)

Lay your leggings out on a table or flat surface, smooth out that top leg-crotch part.

Cut the legs off at whatever length you like.

Bam! You now have cute shorts. Mind you, my other pair is a little see-through, so I'd say these are just for wearing around the house. But hey, they're super comfy so I'm not complaining.

Depending on the fabric, some might fray more than others. You can hem them if you like, I'm lazy though and just rolled the tops down on the stockings to make little cuffs. Also depending on the fabric they might slouch or stay up, in which case you'll get a pair of legwarmers instead of stockings. Either way, you'll look adorable!