Sienna's Bow Holder

I made this for Sienna's birthday -- she really needed a place to put all her bows, instead of just letting them wander around one of her drawers. It was made to match the color scheme in her room. I got the idea from my friend Alyssa, the same one who made the amazingly cute invites in my previous post. She makes these for the farmers market, which is what made me want one, and later, want to make one.

What's nice about this, is that it didn't cost me anything. And since Sienna dies over anything that displays "pretty" things, this worked out for everyone.

I just used scrap wood we had lying around, paint I already had, fabric, paper, and embellishments I already had, so just to reiterate -- this costed me nothing.

At the end of each strip, you put a side of velcro on the tip, and the other side about 4-5 inches up the strip, so you can loop it up to hold headbands, as pictured.

I used fabric for the strips but it is easier and quicker to use thick, grossgrain ribbon. I didn't have any on hand that I liked with this particular design, so I just sewed up some strips and stapled them onto the back with a staple gun.

Fathers Day Cards, I know, Long Overdue

Just some card ideas...you can alter them to fit any occasion...but I made them for Fathers Day.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

I recently threw a baby shower for my friend, Allison, who is having a baby boy in less than a month! It was a fun theme, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". The color scheme was a deep purple and light yellow, with silver accents. All of the food was on silver platters. Here are some pictures, and I'll explain some of the details as the pictures come up.

Here are the invites

Here is the main area

Here is the top of the piano -- the side table area. I used batting to resemble clouds

Side table. The CD player is playing a soft instrumental version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

The favors

The ice cubes - star shapes!

The main table - I always end up taking the picture when there's something left undone. This time, I have the big ol' gallon of milk sitting on the table. Argh. Oh, and you will NOT be seeing a close-up of the cake... talk about cake wreck!!! I had intended on giving it the "rough" look like plaster on a wall, but it ends up looking intentional and nice...well, i definitely got the rough look, but without the "looking nice" part. I ran out of time, and there wasn't much left I could do. Oh well, better luck next time right?

Milk and cookies sans milk, which as pictured earlier is sitting on the table unused. In the background are homemade star chips and salsa.

So I looked for weeks for star fruit in the store, but for some reason, as it usually happens, when you actually go looking for what you know you've seen over and over, it's nowhere to be found. But I improvised, and cut pineapple with a star cookie cutter.

 This was a fun and inexpensive shower to plan. I'm thinking about doing a post about throwing cheap showers and parties...at least things that I, personally do to save money while planning parties. So stay posted!

Alyssa's Invites for Kardynn's Birthday

My friend Alyssa (alyssabittybowtique.blogspot.com) has a daughter who is really close to Sienna's age. We were privileged to be pregnant together, welcomed our little girls together, then have gone through the stages of our little girls' lives together. It's been a blast. Since Sienna just turned two, Kardynn, (Alyssa's daughter) is coming on two in a couple of weeks. She came by yesterday to drop off these invites, which I just had to post on here, because I just about died when I saw them! She made them for her daughters "Sweet Shoppe" birthday party. So cute!!! Anyway, here they are:

Colson's Blanket

This Blanket was made for my sister-in-law, Shasta's new little boy, Colson. I'm pretty new at quilting (if you could consider this real quilting), so please don't mind the mistakes. I loved the color combo of this though, which was totally accidental.

Bow Head Band

I love the look of big bows on adult heads! Maybe because it reminds me of getting all dressed up for church when I was little in the late '80s-early '90s time period. You just weren't finished getting ready unless you had a huge bow! I wanted to make one on a head band for myself, so here's the instructions, (though it's pretty straight-forward).

(Sorry for the lack of pictures, I completely forgot to take pictures in the process, but hopefully the instructions will be clear enough)
What you need:

Fabric (in color of choice, and amount depending on how big you want you bow)
Sewing Machine and thread

Headband

Hot glue

Step 1: Cut out two rectangles that are just a little bit bigger than you want the bow to be (for seam allowance)

Repeat this step if you want a smaller bow on top as pictured, using appropriate measurements.

Step 2: Place the 2 sides together, wrong sides out. Sew around the edge, leaving a hole so you can turn it inside out.

Again, repeat this step with the smaller bow, if using.

Step 3: Turn inside out, and stitch over hole. I would make the hole in the center, so that the band covers up where you are sewing over the outside.

Repeat for smaller bow.

Step 4: Cut out a strip of fabric that is about1 1/2 to 2 inches in width, by 3-4 inches in length.

Step 5: Fold in half length-wise, wrong sides out. Sew up the length of the tube

Step 6: Turn tube inside out

Step 7: Iron all your peices so they lay flat. Remember to use a low heat if you are using synthetic fabric.

Step 8: If you want to use tulle, as I did on the top, Cut out a peice that is the size of the smaller bow, or if you didn't use the smaller bow, cut it out a tiny bit smaller than your main bow.

Step 9: Place the Big rectangle flat, then place the smaller rectangle flat on top of it, then the tulle on top of that. Sew a straight, large seemed line down the center of the rectangles. Gather the bow by gently pulling on the ends, and pushing the edges of the fabric toward eachother in the center.

Step 10: Wrap the tube peice around the center of your gathered bow as tight or as loose as you prefer. Cut of the excess, if any, and hand sticht together.

Step 11: Put a dab of hot glue on the very front and center of the bow, behind the tube, and secure the tube in place.

Step 12: Slide onto your prefered headband, and you're done!

  

Sienna's Watermelon 2nd Birthday Party!

Lots of fun, and pretty simple this party was. It was a bright, summery theme, and worked out perfect for my fruit-loving little girl! Here are some of the details:

The main table

The cake and cupcakes

Deviled watermelons - I hard-boiled the eggs, seperated the yoke from the whites, then dyed the whites in green food coloring over night. Meanwhile, I added pink food coloring to the yokes, though in the picture it looks orange. I then sprinkled coarsly ground black pepper over the top to resemble seeds.

Watermelon jell-o bites: Cut limes in half, gut them out, then pour in pink jell-o, and refrigerate. Once hardened, cut halves in half again.

The favors, goody bags, and personal watermelons to take home

Cake pops

The 2nd table

The spread of table #2, including watermelon salsa (and no, there are absolutely NO tomatoes in it!)

The drinks

The craft table: making watermelon music makers (shakers, with watermelon seeds on the inside)

Outside: The activities - First was this contest...

then this one. I used the rind rings for the ring toss, but if you do this, make sure they get used almost right away. Ours were sitting out for awhile, and got soft and soggy, and fell apart after tossing them.

The invites

The inside