M&J Trimming Blogger's Challenge

I had the pleasure of participating in M&J Trimming's Blogger's Challenge this year - which I was thrilled about, because M&J Trimming is the most spectacular trim spot in NYC.  I loved going to that store, and Jared dreaded it, because I always wanted to look for "just a few more minutes" (a.k.a. hours on end).

Each blogger received a mystery box (pictured above) and we had free reign to use it however we liked.  I have to admit, some of the materials had me totally stumped ... but I pulled it together in the end.  Head over to the M&J Blog to check out all the blogger's projects (complete with instructions!).

Here's a peak at one of my projects...

Also, leave a comment (with email contact) on the M&J Challenge 2 post for a chance to win the same box of supplies.

headbands, headbands, and more headbands

I got a little crazy with the hot glue gun this weekend and made a bazillion baby headbands.  Don't worry, they are not all for Ruby.

 Not needing to re-invent the wheel, I used a bunch of tutorials from around the internet:

the purl bee - felt rose barrette
little miss momma - scrunch fabric flower pom pom tutorial
little birdie secrets - fabric rosebud tutorial
not martha (on holidash) - felt dahlia
i am momma - hear me roar - rolled felt flower

These are my favorites:

 After all that hot-gluing, I am a bit short on fingertips.

In other news, I inherited the crafty contents of my ward's Relief Society (the women's organization at my church) closet.  Which means I have a big box of vintage supplies.  Actual vintage, not "vintage."  I'm so excited.  More to come on that later.

simple headband

This is about all I can manage to sew these days ... a few hand stitches to make an easy headband.  I unpacked the sewing machine over the weekend to give me some motivation, but for some reason, crafting after midnight doesn't have the allure that it used to.  Bare with me!

hospital headbands (aka, how to avoid post-surgical bedhead)

I must have a built-in "get ready for the hospital" sensor.  Last night I made a batch of headbands to bring along to the hospital in hopes of avoiding several bad hair days (just two weeks to go!).  I also made headbands when I was pregnant with Oscar, coincidentally two weeks before going into labor.  Maybe it is part of my nesting instinct?  :)

To give me a few options, I made three varieties of braided headbands using this tutorial by Rubyellen of Cakies (found on the Smile and Wave blog).   My favorite is the single gold braid made using ribbon, with the double braided fabric band coming in at a close second.  The black and white one is kind of "meh," but it will be serviceable.  Also, I am not so good at the self portraits.  It took me about 40 shots to get a decent angle on these three headbands.

While I was at it, I made two headbands for baby Ruby.  Just some simple satin flowers on very soft, stretchy elastic. 

Looking for a cute headband tutorial?  Check out this great one by my former bookclub comrade, Heidi, who recently showed how to make zipper rosettes on UCreate.  It is on my to-do list.

purl bee rose clips and cupcakes

This weekend I tried out the Rose Barrette tutorial from The Purl Bee:

Talk about a quick and satisfying project!  I attached one to a clip as directed, and one to a ponytail holder, which I am far more likely to wear.  I'm always amazed at how pretty felt can be.

The majority of this weekend, though, was spent baking.  Then baking some more.  I made over 6 dozen cupcakes as a reminder for a church party this week.  Despite some hiccups in the kitchen, they turned out really yummy.  And when I say hiccup, I mean this:

Making buttercream frosting with a toddler is NOT a good idea.

I took notes from Kristin at the Blonde Designs Blog and tried the 1-2-3-4 Cake recipe from the back of the Swans Down Cake Flour box.  It was really good! (I loved the flavor from the almond extract.)  For the frosting, I used Wilton's Buttercream recipe, which never fails.

This photo is horribly fuzzy ... I forgot my camera and had to take one with my phone.

All in all, my weekend was tasty (though sticky), and my ponytail has never looked so good.  Hope you had a great weekend, too!

getting aquainted with hair clips

With a baby girl on the way, I decided I'd better start getting acquainted with hair accessories.  I've never really known what to do with my own hair and it generally looks kind of pathetic.  And I've definitely never put much effort into accessorizing my hair.

My point is, I have a real fear of my daughter looking like a rag-a-muffin, especially if she gets my curly hair.  You know who says, "you're so lucky to have curly hair!"?  People with beautifully straight hair.  I've never had a curly-haired person say to me, "I feel so grateful to have curly hair, don't you?"

I spent an hour yesterday afternoon making a couple of hair clips (for me - these are big clips).  The pink flower buds were made from leftover scraps from my cardigan refashion.

The white rose was made with satin ribbon.  I used a wide ribbon and folded it in half so the edges wouldn't show when I wound it up into a flower.

All of the flowers were hand-stitched together and hot glued to the hair clips.  So easy!  Plus, the clips were only $1 for the pack of 6 (found at Michael's), so this is a very cheap project.

I'd love to hear about your favorite tutorials or homemade hair accessory ideas (for mamas and kids!).

Flower Headband Tutorial

First item of business - the EZ View Desktop Giveaway ends at midnight tonight! Don't forget to enter. :)

Next, lets make something new. Something easy and cute. Something for the little girl in your life (or if you've got flare, for yourself).


Yay, headbands! It's a nice, quick project with minimal sewing for all of you non-sewers.

First, gather your supplies.

Next, deconstruct your silk flowers. They should come apart easily. Start by taking off the stem, and separate the layers of petals. I organized mine by size, because I am obsessive.

A nice full flower for your headband will require the petals from two or three (or get crazy and use four) silk flowers. I combined my flowers into blossoms with a single petal color.

Start hand sewing the petals to your headband, one at a time. I recommend placing the flower off to the side a bit, because flowers directly on top of your head will look silly. All you need is two little stitches through the petal and headband.

Continue adding petals to your blossom. I used about three petals of each size before moving on to the next smallest petal. Two stitches per layer does the trick (but make sure your stitches go all the way back through the headband).

For the last petal, you want to bunch it up a bit so it doesn't lay quite flat. I folded the petal in half, put a stitch through, folded it in half the other direction, and stitched through again. It turns the petal into a little bud. Attach the bud to the center of your blossom.

It will look like this:

If you saved the plastic stamen from your silk flower and want to add it to your headband, now is the time. Place a dot of hot glue in the center of your flower bud, and attach the plastic stamen. Like so:


That's it! Repeat, repeat. I made one for each of my adorable nieces.

aww ... cute!

p.s. this also works great on ponytail holders! :)

quick craft: 20-minute headbands

Another quick project for the labor bag - headbands! I'm not usually much of a headband girl, but wanted something to hold my hair back at the hospital. I like these so much that I wore one to work today. :)

You can find the easy tutorial and pattern here at Savvy Seams.


The second go round only took me 20 minutes - super easy!

2 weeks to go ...


p.s. don't forget - the sock dog giveaway ends at midnight on Sunday!