Pinterest Project: Silhouette Hair Bow Holder

Did you see my last blog post about my daughter's Harajuku party ? It was good fun! She received a ton of new fashion accessories (her favorite thing!) and now has quite the hair bow collection! I decided I needed to find a way to store them all, although I am she would prefer to wear as many as she could at one time:

Pinterest to the rescue! There were so many amazing ideas but one particularly caught my attention. A silhouette bow holder! (Click on the link to get the tutorial.) Check out our befores and afters:

I love the polka dot fabric used in the original tutorial but since we live in Hawaii I thought a Hawaiian/Aloha print would be more fitting. The girls picked their fabric from my stash and then painted their frames. (Thank you, Walmart for the $5.00 frames!)

It was a fun project! But now my girls want MORE hair bows!

Thanks to Jessica from "Sew Homegrown" for the step-by-step tutorial!

After the fact: I noticed that Kailani's face (blue background) should have been turned a slight bit more towards the camera....causing her silhouette to be off a bit. Of course I am going to obsess about it! (Shake it off....shake it off!)

Linked up with:

Towel Bags

We've been spending a lot of time swimming lately which is GREAT. However, who is always lugging all the stuff around? Yeah, that would be me. There really is no reason why my two girls can't contribute to helping with the load so I thought I'd give them a little incentive by making them their own beach bags to carry their towel, goggles, snacks, etc.

I found a simple tutorial to transform a towel into a bag. Simple, quick and inexpensive! One towel has enough fabric to make two bags! And if you find towels on sale even better! (The girls chose their towels from Old Navy at $5.00 a piece....)

I think they took my "Be a model" comment a little too seriously.....

Sorry Amy Knapp....time for a make over!

Every year I go completely bonkers when it's time to buy a new calendar/planner. It's a love-hate thing. It really is. I love starting the new year with a new planner but I hate the hunt. It HAS to be weekly (but it has to have monthly planning pages); the days CANNOT go horizontally across the page - they must go vertically; it's gotta be the right size, the right color, yadda yadda yadda! Every year I search high and low for this perfect planner (that does not exist) and for the last three years I always end up buying the exact same one as before.

This year I vowed to make a change. And I did. The hunt for a new one was ugly but I finally found the perfect one. So I thought. It took less than 24 hours to figure out I had to break up with it.

*Sigh*

At the suggestion of my BFF I decided to go with Amy Knapp's Family Organizer. At first I hesitated. I didn't like the cover. I didn't like the flimsiness of it either. But it was already well into January and I desperately needed something! And I have to admit, there were certain features of the planner that I liked. I really liked that it was 50% off! And having $10.00 in Border Rewards that was soon to be expired was a big plus as well! SOLD!

So I take it home and get to know it a little better. After our honeymoon phase I decided that yes, I liked it. However, I just could not get over the cover! It is hideous. I'm sorry Amy Knapp but it's true. I decided to do something about it.

The hideous cover.....

One of the moms (hi Marygail!) in my mom's club in Honolulu posted a link to a tutorial to make reversible journal covers. Time for a planner make over! I couldn't decide what fabric I wanted to use so I opted for some Asian fabric that I already had. The tutorial was great. Easy to read, easy to understand, easy to do!

While I did make it reversible I used the same fabric on both sides. I also decided to go ahead and stiffen the planner up a bit by tucking cardboard into the pockets. TA-DA! Much better don't you think?

New and improved!

Inside view:

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Hope everyone is enjoying time with their families. Please think of those that are without....for whatever reason that might be. Our family has been separated on many occasions and the holidays can be especially rough.

Yesterday we colored eggs. Out of all the choices out there, tie-dye, marbled, glitter, etc. Sponge Bob won this year. This was Mo's first time coloring eggs and boy did she have a blast. She didn't seem to get the concept of carefully placing the eggs into the dye, instead she preferred the slam-dunk method. She also preferred to put the stickers on her face instead of the eggs. *Sigh*

Months ago I had already planned to make the girls matching Easter dresses but I had a hard time getting started. I wanted to make this dress, same style but different fabric but I couldn't get beyond reading the pattern and taking measurements. Lately I've been trying to sew things from free tutorials that I find on the Internet versus your run of the mill McCall's, Simplicity, etc. Not knocking them, just wanting to explore different alternatives. And free ones at that!

I stopped in at Pink Picket Fence and was totally inspired by a skirt she posted on there. Lucky me - she posted a tutorial on how she did it! I decided to use the fabric that I already had in mind and this is what I came up with:


I think I liked it so much because it reminds me of my favorite Gymboree bikini that both of my girls have worn with the ruffles on the butt:

Oh yeah. "Baby got back!"

After finding the eggs I took all the little chick eggs and made a matching game out of it. I got the idea from a post made by Katie and Katie at ABC and 123. I tried using different color permanent markers but because the eggs and the egg cartons are different colors the colors of the symbols didn't match. While blue may look like blue in the carton the blue looked green on the egg. So I went ahead and drew some different symbols on some card stock, cut it out and then used my glue gun to glue the pieces into place. Here's how it came out:


Aren't the little chicks darling?

Be sure to check out more kid's crafts and educational ideas/information at ABC & 123!

Bibs & Blankets Update & New Deadline

First off let me apologize for not updating until now.

The most important thing everyone needs to know is the deadline change. The new deadline is June 1st (versus July 1st). We recently found out that we will be leaving N.C. about a month earlier than expected. Lots of scrambling on my end to get everything in order before we leave! Even with the deadline change I hope all of you that have volunteered to help can still help!

As far as where I am in this whole process: in addition to sewing other things I promise that I have still been working on the bibs! My personal goal is to make 100 bibs and a few blankets. I've got about 50 in progress - think of it as an assembly line of sorts. Some are bibs waiting to be snapped; others are waiting to be sewn; some fabric waiting to be cut, etc. I'm trying my best to avoid buying any fabric and using what I already have! While I've been meaning to try out different bib patterns I have still continued to use the free one offered at Chickpea Sewing Studio. So simple yet so cute!



I haven't made any blankets yet but did you know that You Can Make This is now offering a free tutorial for three different styles of receiving blankets? Here's the link to take you to the free download! (Edited to add: if you'd like this free download you have to sign up for a free account. I encourage you to do it! YCMT is one of my most favorite places to buy patterns and to simply be inspired! Don't worry - they will not spam your mailbox!)

If you've already completed your bibs or blankets please feel free to send them my way. Leave me a comment with your email address and I will happily give you my mailing address. Thank you so much for participating and helping out!

PS - Did you happen to stumble on my site and you have no clue what I'm talking about? Please see my older post regarding this project here. Hope you can help!

Little House on the Prarie.....

The other day when visiting a local quilting shop Kailani tried on a bonnet that was on display. Okay, I admit, bonnets are not my thing. However, I could not deny the fact that it was incredibly cute! Impulsively I bought the kit which included the pattern, instructions, fabric, elastic, etc. Could I have made it on my own? Probably. But the question is would I have taken the time to figure it out? Probably not.

While reading the instructions and thinking there were steps missing I decided to hop online and search the web for some clarification. I found a (FREE) tutorial with clear directions and pictures on how to make them. Pretty much the same way I made mine with the exception of the ruffles. Check it out here. Revive Sara's blog! Tell her I sent you!

The bonnets do tie under the chin but instead I tied them in the back. This makes it a bit easier to take on and off and prevents me from having to tie them again....and again....and again. If you are a parent I'm sure I don't need to explain!

In addition to the bonnets the girls are wearing pillowcase dresses that I made this morning. I got both pillowcases from Goodwill for a DOLLAR a piece! Talk about a bargain!