Silhouette for Bows + Giveaway!!

I have three gorgeous, amazing, wonderful, creative, funny, and intelligent little girls. I love them beyond all reason and would move mountains for them. That being said, for all you mamas of precious, handsome, rascally little boys. . . bless your hearts. You are so lucky!

We have so much HAIR!!! And since we are diva, princess, stylin' little girls, we must have ribbons, bows, barrettes, clips, elastics, headbands, and any other hair accessory to hold it away from our face or to make the hair look MORE beautiful.

UGH! I have tried and tried to clean up and organize, however three little girls spending 5 minutes each looking for just the right hair accessory leaves a HUGE mess. I just really don't like clutter because it is frustrating and inefficient (oh. . . but don't talk to Jessica about my fabric trunk. . . yeah. . . we won't discuss inefficiency or clutter in that regard, no, definately not). Soooooooo. . . . I have been thinking of a way to hang up and display the pretty little bow collection we have going on and I came up with this idea and it is really very simple (really, I mean it)!!! Read on, see what you think and find out my surprise at the end (hee hee, its a good one).

So this is what you need:
8x10 piece of felt (25 cents at Hobby Lobby)
Frame minus the glass (I found 11x14 was a perfect size)
fat quarter of fabric (simple pattern is best)
Ribbon (at least two kinds, a yard each)
glue (I used hot glue)
pins
sharp scissors
child's silhouette

So here we go, first you need put your little girl's hair up into a ponytail or bun. It is necessary for this to work. Now to make a silhouette of your child. You can do that by following this tutorial and printing your silhouette on 8 1/2x11 white paper, or these instructions. I followed the second set of instructions and simply traced my girls' silhouettes on to white copy paper. I felt I had more control over my size this way, however this may not work with a small toddler. They tend to get squirmy.
The size of my silhouette fit inside a piece of 8 1/2x11 copy paper turned portrait position. Cut out your silhouette carrefully, getting all the features.

Place your silhouette on your piece of felt, landscape position. This position allowed me to get all of my silhouette's features. Place the nose as close to the edge as you can without touching it. Pin your silhouette to your felt well. Cut your silhouette carefully. I found it was easier to move the felt rather than move the scissors. This gives you a more seamless edge. Unpin the paper silhouette from the felt.

If you need to use your scraps to complete your silhouette's pony tail, as I did, pin your scraps to the silhouette and cut them out as well. The piecing won't show when they are glued down together. Set your silhouette aside.

Now, remove the glass and cardboard from your frame. You do not need the glass, so put that in the recycling bin.

Spread your fabric our flat. You may need to iron it so there are no wrinkles or creases in the fabric. Take the cardboard from the frame and place your cardboard on top of the fabric and trim your fabric about an inch and a half out from the cardboard's edge.

Glue one long edge of the fabric to the back of the cardboard, then gently stretch the fabric across the front and glue the other long edge to the opposing side of the cardboard. Now glue the two short edges of the fabric to the short edges of the cardboard.

Flip your fabric covered cardboard over and place your silhouette on the fabric. Arrange it so that it is a little above center. Now glue your silhouette down on to the fabric. Place glue along all of the edges and press firmly to get a good bond. If you had to use scraps to complete your silhouette, join the edges of the scrap piece to the silhouette piece first. Allow that to set, before you glue the other edges. This will insure an invisible joint between both pieces of fabric.

Now to get creative. Use one piece of ribbon to make a bow. You can tie a bow or make a bunch of loops. I just made loops and sort of squished the center together. Once you have a bow you are happy with, glue it down at the base of the ponytail on your silhouette. Now take your second piece of ribbon and fold it in half and glue it down on top of your bow and let the tails hang past the cardboard's edge. You can add a third piece of ribbon to make more tails if you wish.

It is starting to look really cute, right? So, take your silhouette and insert it into the frame and secure it. Make sure your ribbon's tails hang out of the frame. You are finished!

Hang up your bow holder and put your little girl's bows all over it! My girls adore their faces and the fact that they can see ALL of their bows at a glance.

Do you like it? Really like it? Do you think you will make one?



Would you make one, say. . . if I GAVE you the supplies? So here is my first give-away. Included is a 11x14 frame (sans glass), 8x10 piece of felt, fabric, and two spools of ribbon, each approx. 1 yard.
Leave the best comment on this post and it could all be yours!
I will announce the winner next Tuesday. Happy Tuesday to you!!!

Heaps of love,

Shannon

  

Hair care from the pantry

So this is my Miranda's surprise for me. UGH!
She created this tangled masterpiece by using one of these,

(SIGH) Thank you toy manufacturers, really. . .

So, I sit down with a comb and some detangling solution and begin to work on the mass of knots in her hair. Thirty minutes later, the knot is unphased and I am beginning to think I am going to have to cut this monster out (sniff). Then I remember hearing about mayonnaise being used as a detangler for tough knots.Willing to sacrifice my daughter smelling like salad dressing over cutting her hair, I visit the refrigerator.

 I try about a tablespoon on the knotted mess. I massaged the mass for five minutes and the knots began to relax. I combed the knots out and washed my daughter's hair. The tangle crisis over! Huzzah!! Now I want to know why mayonnaise (a food product) worked better than a detangler solution (a hair product). So I go researching and this is what I discovered.

When hair is dry (as in, without moisture), the cuticle layers (the outside part of the hair) lift up and can get stuck to other hair cuticles, making tangles. When hair is twisted and knotted together (by certain "toys"), the cuticles cling to each other making a very nasty knot. Mayonnaise has oil and eggs in it, which are lipids (or fat) and protein. When these are applied to dry hair, the protein in the mayonnaise nourishes the dry cuticle and the lipids smooth the cuticle making them less likely to stick to each other. Each hair becomes slippery from the lipids and they loosen from each other. The detangling solution was water based, and therefore not as good to smooth the cuticle and nourish the dry hair.

Mayonnaise is also rumored to be a great intensive moisturizing conditioner, although there are mixed reviews.  Do you remember Julia Roberts in the movie Dying Young? Her whole of head was slathered in mayonnaise. It may work in extreme cases of dry hair, however I would only use mayonnaise as a spot detangler, rather than whole head application. It is very heavy with oil and is difficult to remove the residue completely. Plus, if you don't get it completely washed out, it may sour. After all, it is a food product.

Mayonnaise has also been used as a home remedy for lice, rather than using the harsh chemicals. The mayonnaise suffocates the nymphs and lice themselves, although it does not kill or remove the nits (eggs). The recommendation for this application is to thoroughly saturate the head and hair with mayonnaise, the full fat kind, (or olive oil) and wrap tightly with a plastic shower cap or plastic wrap and leave in place for 2-3 hours. Comb hair well, then wash thoroughly with shampoo and comb wet hair with a lice comb. To remove the nits, a vinegar rinse will dissolve the sticky substance that adheres the nits to the hair shaft. Then another good combing with a lice comb. This vinegar rinse should be repeated for 2-3 days to insure complete removal. I have not tried this remedy and do not know if it is effective, but it does provide an alternative to the harsher insecticides you would be putting on you or your child's hair.

While I was being studious, I researched why peanut butter removes chewing/bubble gum so well from hair. It is because the oils in the the peanut butter are attracted to the oils in the gum substance used to making chewing/bubble gum. This is why water does not work to remove gum from hair, because as we all know, oil and water repel each other. The gum will seek to stick to the dry hair shaft to repel itself from water. The oils in peanut butter, however, will bind to the gum and help loosen it from the hair shaft. Thus, making peanut butter a wonderful home remedy for removing gum from hair.

Well, I hope this little bit of information is helpful to you in some application. Do you have any tested and true hair remedies using pantry items? We would love to hear about them. Happy Tuesday to you,
Shannon