Baby Bow Tie Tutorial

With a little man on the way, I have been looking for sewing projects for boys.  This little bow tie tutorial is perfect and could be made for babies or grown men.  I am thinking of making a matching one for my husband and making him wear it with the little one for some cheesy pictures.  Don't tell him, but I think that would be super cute.

I made 3 in different prints.  I figure baby boy can't always be preppy, sometimes he can be a little more stylish.  Oh, and they will probably get spit up on, so back ups are great.  :)

These take about 10 minutes each and use a sewing machine, a glue gun, and those little things we call hands.  Super fast and easy.  Beginner project for sure.

When you finish sewing them all up, you sew snaps to the back on each side as well as snaps to the onesie/bib/t that you are going to be putting them on.  That makes it easy to take off just the bow tie and wash the outfit.  Perfect!

I used this tutorial from One Young Love.  Lots of great pictures and step by step instructions.  If you think this is beyond your skill level, think again and give it a try.  It really is SO easy.

photo credit: here

Here is a little snapshot from the One Young Love blog.  She did a great job and picked some really cute colors!  What an awesome gift for a baby shower.  Love it.  Now get out there and make some adorable tiny bow ties!

Bird Mobile Pattern

Sweet little birds all perched on branches.  

 I have been wanting to make one of these little bird mobiles for at least a year.  Last week I decided to just go for it and I made 8 little birds in blues, yellows, and browns.  They turned out great.

Then I found some drift wood that I had brought with me from Hawaii and I put together this little mobile for the baby room.

I love that they are all a little different.  I tried to use boyish colors, but I really wanted to throw a hot pink one in there!  

These little birds are great as decoration around the home, pincushions, baby toys, cat toys, you name it.  If you don't have room for a whole mobile, you can still make a few to enjoy.  I am going to make one with a little bell or rattle inside for a baby toy (can't wait to see that in action!)

A quick and easy sewing project, perfect for beginners.  The pattern uses hand sewing, but I used my machine for everything.  To tie the branches together I used raffia, and I used my hot glue gun to position the birds on the branches.

I got the pattern from Spool Sewing.  They have lots of great inspiration and a few other patterns for free. 

To print a copy of your own pattern from the Spool Sewing site, CLICK HERE.

Have fun and good luck.  You will be sewing up a flock of these in no time!

Free Slouchy Hat Pattern

I have been looking for a slouchy hat pattern that was also chunky and fun for a while now. I stumbled across Give Me a Purl blog and I love her chunky hat pattern.  I made mine in Lambs Pride Bulky.  It took less than one skein and I finished it in 2 sittings.  Gotta love instant gratification.

I used a size 15 circular needle, (i need a 10 1/2 for the lambs pride but somehow didn't find mine!) and it came out great.  I wanted a looser, fun, bright hat to wear around in Arizona.  If I make it again for someone in say... Nebraska or Colorado, I would totally use smaller needles.  The pattern works great with this combo though, just a little FYI.  

{Lambs Pride Bulky, size 15 circular needles, and a stitch marker}

Here is a little from her blog about what materials she used and the skills needed to make this project.

The hat is a really fast knit and was made to use this ball of Super Bulky yarn that was living in my stash.

Materials: Pronto Super Bulky yarn, 100 g (~90 yards)
Needles: 9 mm / US 13
Gauge: 10 stitches / 10 cm (4 inches) in stockinette stitch
M1: Make 1 stitch. Pick up the loop lying between stitches and knit it, making sure to twist it to avoid making a hole.
K2tog: Knit two stitches together.
P2tog: Purl two stitches together.
Sts: Stitches.

Get the full pattern here.  Happy Knitting!

Free Printable Photo Booth Props

My wedding had an amazing handmade photo booth with props to boot.  Here are a few of the awesome props that I used and links to print your own.  If you are on the fence about having a photo booth at your next party, just do it!  The pictures are so candid and fun and people will loosen up just playing in the booth.  You can't go wrong.  All of these printables are from other blogs/sites.  Please click on the links below each photo to be taken to the proper sites to print and use them.

Get this printable from Oh Happy Day.  

These super fun staches and lips are from Catch My Party.

(click the link above to get it!)

Another seriously bomb printable from Oh Happy Day

I think the lips and the beards are so rockin!  It takes so little effort to make such a cute prop!  Print em out here at craftzee.

A few more from The Pretty Blog can be found here.

I also printed these (from The Pretty Blog) to give people as they exited the booth with our picture site on the back.  Then I uploaded all their photos instead of printing them out, saving time and money.  

You can view photos of the props we used and see which ones you like for yourself here.  My favorites were the hats surprisingly!  They were so fun.

Freebie: Thank you card printable clip-art

I made my thank you cards for my wedding and my bridal shower and I thought I would share the ones from the shower.  I got the clip art frame from graphicsfairy.  Graphics Fairy has every kind of clip art you could imagine!  Here is the image.  I just copied and pasted it into a word document, shrunk it to size, and then printed it.

Click on it to get it in its full size and then just copy it to your computer.  I put 2 per page and cut them out, but you can make them as large or as small as you like!  Have fun with it.  I stamped the back of each card with a custom stamp from etsy too.  

Free Wedding Invitations

Too bad my wedding is coming up in about 9 days, because this invitation being offered at Wedding Chicks website is incredible!  You can customize the text and colors to whatever you want.

Click here to download.

You could use this for your bridal shower, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, or the actual wedding.  The words are all fully customizable, so get on it and make yourself something cute and free for your special day!