"Silver & Gold" or "Have yourself a Metallic Little Christmas"?

One of my very favorite parts of the Holiday Season is all the wonderful music.  I play it, I sing it, I listen to it.  So when I made these cute little metallic headbands - one of my favorite songs popped in my head:  "Silver & Gold."  Love it!

Metallic ribbons are a great choice for holiday bows!  They gleam and shine, and could even sparkle.  They are soo festive!  One of the best parts about them, depending on your color choice, they also could work as a neutral accessory, and be used all year long.  I love a bow that can be worn over and over and over.  It makes me feel like the time and energy (and money) were well spent!

The black headband is actually an elastic ribbon that came pre-blinged with rhinestones.  So easy.  And it matched the fabulous Metallic Silver Spotted Black Ribbon.  That's a 5 petal Ruffled Flower on the 5 Loop Bow.

The Gold Headband was woven (easy - but it looks tricky!) from a cute gold ribbon that really worked well for weaving. For the flower on top we used single cuts of ribbon, rather than folded loops.

Of course, you can get these patterns and lots more here!

Have fun with the Holidays!  Deck the Halls, Sing Noel, and get out your Silver and Gold!!

Purple Pigtail Hairbows - finally!

My mom is always telling me, "if it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done!"  I'm always saying what a smart mother I have!

We have a pretty busy household, so even though I've been wanting to making some purple pigtail hairbows for my 4 year old cutie, it hasn't happened.  But today I fit it in.  Somewhere in between the bus and carpool.

I knew what I wanted to do, and I knew where the supplies were.  (click here for a list of supplies you will need to make a baby hair bow.)  At least the general area.

I decided to make a 5 loop bow out of a nice rich purple grosgrain that matched her shirt exactly.  We were running low on rhinestones (due to a princess party a few weeks ago) so we came up with our own bling.  I covered a button with some of the ribbon, and a layer of a beautiful purple sheer with sparkle from a pageant dress last year.  Scraps like that must be saved!  (need instructions on how to make baby hair bows? click here!)

The hairbows turned out really good, and the sizes even match!  Matching is the biggest challenge when making two identical bows.  I advise keeping a ruler handy, or making marks on your bowdabra to help keep the loops the same length.

My other advice, pull the metal loops out of the back of the button before you put it together.  Then it doesn't fall apart when you try to remove them later.  :)

All in all, I was pretty happy with the bows that came together in 10 minutes!  Here's to a happy (hectic) household that loves bows!

Making a bow that will last and last

So the past few weeks have been a little sentimental for me.  My baby boy turned 1.  My little girl turned 4, and she started Pre-K this week.  She was soo excited.  And I was excited for her, but I do miss having her around all day.  She's such a little lovey-girl.  

As you can imagine, things around here are pretty crazy in the morning trying to get all the kids to school on time, with everything they need!  It was so convenient to grab her outfit and a bow that matched with no problem. We have so many bows around here its almost embarrassing!  The great thing is that I'm using bows in her hair that she wore when she was a baby!  Talk about a worthwhile investment!

 (Learn how to make your own baby headbands and hair bows by clicking here!)

So I wanted to share a small checklist of things to help you make your baby hair bows to last years instead of weeks or months.  It makes sense to make it right the first time, and save yourself dollars in the long run!

1 - Only buy what you will use.  It's so fun to buy beautiful ribbon.  But be careful, go with a list of what you need and will make into hair bows, otherwise you end up with lots of things you don't need, which ends up in clutter and guilt for overspending.  No one needs that!

2 - Take the time to finish your ribbon in your baby hair bow properly.  Yes, it is an extra step, but it's so worth it!  Use a flame if the ribbon is sheer, or Fray Check if it's not.  Apply carefully to avoid "glue spots" in visible areas in the baby hair bow.  Apply even in areas where the ribbon is hidden, under the bow by the center line.  This helps to keep your bow tied together strong.  (click here for more information on sealing ribbon ends.)

3 - Use a good ribbon to tie the baby hair bow.  I'm talking about the "tying ribbon" not the ribbon for the baby hair bow.  (This is the ribbon you lay in the bowdabra before you loop the ribbons.)  My first preference for tying ribbon is a narrow, 1/8", white sheer or grosgrain ribbon.  This may not be easy to find, so always get a few spools when it is available.  If you can't find white, another neutral color will work.  I like sheer and grosgrain ribbon because they have a nice texture that holds really nicely.  The knot will stay strong, and not come undone, or let the Hair Bow loops slip.

4 - Prepare your clip.  Before you attach your hair bow to an alligator clip, cover the clip with matching ribbon.  It not only looks nicer, but the glue stays on longer and stronger.

5 - Make sure all your embellishments are well attached.  Not only do you not want your beautiful embellishments falling off your baby hair bow, but it's a safety issue.  You certainly do NOT want baby to get any embellishments in her mouth and possibly choke.  Always watch for anything coming loose on the hair bow and fix anything that needs fixing right away.

 (Learn how to make your own baby headbands and hair bows by clicking here!)

Yesterday was a great day for me.  My family and I celebrated the one year birthday of our youngest - Austin.

After 9 months of pregnancy (and all it's "joys") and 12 months of recovery/catch up/chasing baby on hardly any sleep - it was great to celebrate.

Here he is eating some yummy Red Beet Chocolate Cake (a Green Smoothie Girl Recipe.)  It was really yummy - and way healthier than a basic cake mix cake.

Today was another milestone, sort of.  All the older kids went back to school.  One in high school, two in middle school, one in elementary, and next week my little girl (the one in all the pics) heads to Pre-K.  It's been a bit of a reflective time for me.

Here I am, at the start of another school year . . and based on the experience of past years, it's gonna fly!
But I'm excited to get a little quiet time to catch up on my blog . . and make my girls some new bows.  Yes - all my girls.  Even my 15 year old wears the pretty flower clips.  It's been so great having lots of good quality bows around that appeal to every age group.  When they're made quality, they last a long time.  Unless they get lost because they're so pretty the kids use them to play dress up on dolls and stuffed animals.  (sigh)

Next, what I'm up to - pigtail bows for my long haired preschooler!  yay!

New - The Hair Bow Academy

I am working on something that I think will be really awesome - and I can't wait to share it with you!

It's Headbands for Baby's Hair Bow Academy!

If you want to make your own baby headbands and hair bows - you are gonna love love this!

The biggest feature of the Hair Bow Academy is the video tutorials - and there will be lots of them!

As a member, you can log on, pick which bow you want to learn to make, and watch video tutorials with a simple mouse click. (yes, I did say tutorials.) There will be multiple video tutorials for each style of bow - that means you get to see lots of variations of one style.

The best part is, anytime I create a new style of bow or headband - I can immediately post it for all of you to see! I'm very excited about this part, because I have a new headband style and a new hair bow style to share that are so new, they aren't even in my latest ebook!!

Be sure to check out this tutorial sample to see what's coming your way!! It's gonna be awesome!

Sarah

who wants to buy some headbands?

I normally don't do this. I love to design and create bows, and teach people how to make them, but something happened to change that.

I learned about a 1 year old little girl, Darby, who is fighting leukemia. It captured my heart immediately. So when I learned that various fundraisers were being organized for her, including an online auction, I immediately volunteered some of my headbands!

There are three auctions so far. The first raised over $2000! The second wraps up tonight, and the third starts tomorrow.

I have donated a Holiday Headband package that is in the second auction;

and a Holiday Hairbow for pigtails package that is in the third auction.

Please hop online and take a look, and if you'd like them, please make a bid.

Thanks for viewing - and good luck Darby!! Dollars For Darby Auction

Sarah

Super Cute Butterfly Baby Hair Bow

So yesterday I was making one of my favorite baby hair bows, The Butterfly Bow, for the new online video tutorials set to come out very soon . . and I ran out of ribbon! Ugh! So instead of making a 3 loop bow, which is what I almost always make, I made a two loop bow. Hmmm, I think I really like it!!

What do you all think?