Boutique Bow Tutorial

For the last two weeks I have been linking up over at I love you more than carrots Project Pinterest! Party. Basically the premise is to complete one pin from your no doubt many boards to complete and then share at the link party on Monday.

This week I decided to tackle making a boutique bow for Violet. I got the inspiration for this bow from this tutorial from Mommy's Little Sunshine Pin. I didn't follow her tutorial exactly so I am going to show what I did. I think the boutique bow is something you can really make your own.

Supplies:

• Ribbon in different patterns & widths
• Hair clip
• Headband
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun & glue

First I cut my base ribbon and then I hot glued the ends together. I eyeballed the ribbon and cut the, to be the same size. Just cut the ribbon to the length you want.

After gluing the ends together, you overlap two pieces and glue them together. Then I took one set if the glued together ribbon and set it down and the. Took the second and laid it on top to form an X and secured with hot glue.

For the next layer I decided to use the purple ribbon to form an X, in the top picture you can see how I folded the ribbon and cut it to get angled edges. The bottom picture shows how I secured the ribbon to the bow base.

Next I cut my smallest width ribbon. Again, I eyeballed the length so I don't have exact measurements. Form a loop with the small ribbon and secure with glue.

Make four small ribbon loops total the. Secure two of them together, layer onto the bow and secure with glue.

I used another small ribbon and made two more sets of loops, here they all are glued to the bow.

At this point I wasn't sure if the bow was complete or not so I decided to attach the hair clip and tested it out on my model. My hair clip is a double prong alligator clip already lined with ribbon. You can line it yourself or leave plain if yours is not lined.

I didn't love the way it looked so I decided to add a little bow in the middle.

I made two loops and attached them together, you can see how the overlapping ribbons made a square shape.

I am not an expert in making bows like this but I do my best. I glued down one end and then the next.

The front of the bow is below, I pinched the center together and secured with glue.

I cut a pice of ribbon and used it to cover the center of the little bow. You can see in the picture how I folded the ribbon to make it narrow enough.

Tada! Pretty finished bow.

My little model was busy eating....

I love how my first ever boutique bow turned out. I have made little bows before but nothing like this. The best thing about these bows are there are so many different ways and ribbon combinations you can use!

I have special plans for this bow but you will have to stay tuned for that project reveal.

Happy Bow Making and make sure to check out Project Pinterest!

A Kick in the Rear

The last few weeks I can't get out of my own way.  I have no motivation to cook dinner, clean the house or basically do anything that isn't watching tv, blogging or crafting.  Well, I do take care of Violet too.  I don't neglect her.

My whole house, not just a room.

I feel guilty as I do stay home with Violet, so I feel like I should be on top of this stuff but I am not.  I need a schedule of some sort I think to help me tackle everything.

I am hoping if I post a plan for the upcoming week then just maybe I will actually stick to it.  A to do list for the whole week if you will.

Saturday/Sunday: Put all CLEAN laundry away.  Yes, you read that right, CLEAN laundry.  I am pathetic, I can wash it but I hate hate hate putting it away.  My bedroom is where clean laundry goes to die.  Also clean clutter in living room.  Also make sure Violet's crib gets lowered.  The little stinker broke her mobile today.

Monday: Vacuum downstairs, clean kitchen.

Tuesday: Vacuum upstairs, work on Violet's room and clothes, putting away ones that don't fit anymore.

Wednesday: Clean both bathrooms

Thursday: Finish Violet's room if not completed yet.

Friday: Rest and relax.

When I type it all out it doesn't seem like a whole lot but when I am trying to get the motivation to do stuff I just can't make myself.  Ugh.  My plan is to start housework right after I feed Violet breakfast.  Hopefully I won't get stuck in the wasteland of TV or other time wasters and will fell accomplished.

How do you tackle housework?  Have any tips or ideas to help me stay motivated?

Post-It Note Tuesday

Last week I saw Post-It Note Tuesday at Only Parent Chronicles and I love me some Post-Its so I have to participate!

DIY: Pumpkin Photo Shoot

I will admit I am a sucker for newborn photos, big headbands and any photo of Violet in general. I wanted a newborn photo shoot for her in the worst way but I just couldn't justify the money. What is a crafty mama to do? Well a DIY photo shoot of course. Over the last six months my mom and I have become pretty proficient in infant photography. By no means are we close to professional photographers but we get the job done with small budget for props.

Today I am sharing with you a photo that we recreated from Pinterest, we saw this pin while I was pregnant last fall. Pin Source: Enjoy this moment blog.

Supplies:

• Cute Baby
• Pumpkin
• Pumpkin carving tools
• Festive Fall headband & desired Fall props
• Camera
• Toys to make baby smile, foolish songs and general silliness tend to work as well

Mom and I carved the pumpkin. Well to be fair she carved I watched. I did carry the 35lb pumpkin to the counter, that counts, right?

We scooped out all the seeds and cut two leg holes. Next we stripped Violet down to her diaper. We put a receiving blanket in the pumpkin so she wasn't sitting in the cold slimy pumpkin. I was a little nervous that she would freak out in the pumpkin but it didn't seem to phase her.

My mom took the pictures with my Dad's fancy pants camera but a point and shoot works just fine too.

Here is a behind the scenes look at what it takes to get photos.

We tried photos on my back porch and front porch, in between our little model had a nap and a bottle. My biggest tip in taking infant photos is be flexible and take breaks. If you are frustrated, baby will sense it and quickly meltdown.

Here are our finished products. I do think the camera lens was the wrong one as a lot of the pictures came out blurry but I think they are still cute.

See that spider she is chomping on? Ten seconds after this picture was taken, Nana ( my mom) was fishing a bead out of her mouth Violet managed to chew off.

I took this one with my camera in between shots. This picture is pure Violet, chill baby girl wondering what the big people are doing now.

Violet did not want to give up a smile and I think it was because we were outside and she was distracted by the trees and noises. I am sure my neighbors think we are crazy but I can live with that.

My nephew is due in a few weeks and we are going to do a newborn shoot with him so I will be doing a newborn DIY photo shoot tutorial in the coming weeks. I am excited to do his because we learned a lot from Violet's, plus I won't be recovering from a c-section.

Tips for DIY Infant Photos:

• Be flexible
• It takes more than one person to photo, entertain the baby, stand near baby in case of a fall and of course someone to capture behind the scene photos...they are funny.
• Have multiple props/headbands, etc. Sometimes a look doesn't work or you will like one over the other, switch it up.
• Give baby breaks, step away and try again. We had the front porch set up for over an hour, waiting for Violet to nap and eat.
• Be aware of the sun and shadows. My porch wasn't the best area for the photos, my Dad held a blanket up for some of the shots so there weren't steaks of light going across Violet.
• Have toys, songs and such to help make baby smile.
• Snap, snap, and snap some more. Sometimes those pictures without smiles reflect little one's personality the best.
• Have fun!

Happy Fall photo shoots!

Instafun Instafriends Friday...a little late

HOST: Tori from Lil’ Mrs. Tori Leslie from Violet Imperfection     So excited to have Leslie from Violet Imperfection co-host with me today!! She has a sweet little blog about her daughter and her awesome crafts she does! Check her out!! 

**Interested in co-hosting the next party?? Email me at Tori{at}lilmrstori.com for more details!**

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Fall Fun

We had a great time at the apple orchard. Violet seemed unimpressed for the most part but hey, she is six months old. She didn't cry so I count the outing as a success.

We didn't end up picking our own apples, we saw the animals, explored the pumpkin patch and bought a few treats.

I think my favorite part were the peacocks. I am obsessed with everything peacock feathers lately. They are just so beautiful. Plus we learned that the male is the peacock, female the peahen and the babies peachicks. I think I knew that already, seems familiar.

Pumpkin ice cream, cute punkin head and fainting goat that would not faint. I was so excited to see fainting goats in person and they acted perfectly normal. Disappointing.

Violet totally unimpressed with the "pumpkin" tree. The older kids were all mystified as to how the pumpkins were growing on a tree. It was a cute touch and it made me smile.l

Our great pumpkin that we came home with. We have very special plans for this pumpkin but you will just have to stay tuned to see. Any guesses to how much it weighs? The first person to guess correctly in the comment section wins a free 200 x 100 ad space for 30 days! Please leave your email so I can contact you with the promo code!