Red White Blue!!

{ Firecracker Hair Bow Tutorial }

Now days if you're a mother to a little girl, you know bows are IN! :-) 

So, here's a tutorial on what I call the "Firecracker Bow"! 

Here's my little girl, Madison modeling her newest bow!

Here's what you need: 

2 strips of 1 1/2 inch grosgrain ribbon, 6 inches in length (ends V cut and heat singed)

2 strips of 7/8 inch grosgrain ribbon, 7 inches in length (ends V cut and heat singed)

1 strip of 1 1/2 inch grosgrain ribbon, 18 inches in length (end V cut and heat singed)

Hot glue gun

Scissors

Acrylic jewel

Thread (matching color)

Needle (any size will be fine)

Alligator hair clip

**Tips: 

Go ahead and thread your needle, have glue gun hot and alligator clip lined before you begin. 

Be patient, especially with the folding technique. It may take a couple times until you like the way it looks :-) Practice makes perfect! Before you know it, you'll do it right every time! 
Don't forget to heat singe the ends of ribbon. It prevents fraying! 

Fold the longest ribbon like below.

Fold up like below.

 Fold down again, underneath. Below is what it should look like.

Hold it with both hands (only showing one b/c I'm holding the camera)

Pinch one side in the middle, like below.

With other hand, pinch the other side.

Then you'll be able to hold with one hand, like below. 

Place needle through the middle of where you're pinching it together.

Wrap thread around the center several times, slightly pulling each time

 and then tie it off. Trim excess thread.

Shape the bow to how you want it to look.

 Don't be afraid to do this, you've tightly secured it-it shouldn't break :)

Below is what your top bow should look like.

Place a dab of hot glue in the center of one strip.

 Lay the other on top, making an 'X' shape. 

This is your base.

Next is the middle. 

Take both 7/8 inch ribbons and pinch the centers together.  

Thread needle through the center and wrap around, pulling tightly after each wrap.

Tie off and trim excess thread. Shape it and it should look like below.

Place a dab of hot glue in the middle of your base. Place middle bow on top.

Place another dab of hot glue onto the center of that middle bow. 

Then place your top bow onto that. It should look like below.

Hot glue an acrylic crystal in the center and

~Wallah!!~

The last thing to do is to hot glue on a partially lined alligator.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial !!!

I'd love to hear your thoughts or questions! Feel free to comment :-)

Fancy Bows Boutique on Facebook is my home business if you're interested in taking a look at some other girly things I've made!

I decided to take a break from selling right now and will notify my fans when I return. 

Mirror, Mirror

We ordered Mirror, Mirror on paper view yesterday. Thank goodness for DVR because my daughter has watched several times! She read the book, so she was really excited about seeing it! It really is a cute movie. It's a great twist on the Snow White fairy tale. If you have kids, I recommend watching it! They'll love it, especially those girls who love happily ever after fairytales...like my Maddie! :)

Thankful Thursday

 I'm thankful for everyday with my children, husband, my life. I'm so thankful to be able to see a sunset like this. And, we could see it everyday because we only live a couple streets down from our beautiful lake.  It was a beautiful sight and I'm so thankful that I get to share these moments watching the sun go down with my family. Madison said, "It's beautiful" Jackson said, "Bye Bye" :)We all talked about the colors and how pretty it was and my husband said 

"Only God can make a sunset like that" and hearing my daughter agree saying, "that's right Daddy" was really a special moment for me as a mom. 

Kids in the Kitchen :)

Sometimes it's fun just to get a little messy! Madison really likes helping me cook and Jackson loves eating anything! We tried out the new cupcake genius by Debbie Meyer. It really did work great! We filled the cupcakes with chocolate frosting, frosted the tops and put silver sprinkles on them too. They sure are yummy!! :)

Cupcake Genius

A Southern Staple

Collards are a staple of Southern Cooking! 

If you're Southern by the Grace of God you know that not only is it a religion to have collards every New Years Day, along with black eyed peas and cornbread, but it's perfect for a Sunday supper too! Sundays are my families favorite day. It's always a relaxing day ended with a southern comfort meal. Today the sweet, smoked smell of Pork Butt is swarming the outside of the house (and seeping through...mmmm). Soon we'll be sitting down to eat BBQ pork, collards, mac n cheese, fresh corn on the cob, conch peas and of course that sweet cornbread we use to slop up that good 'pot liquor' from the collards and conch peas.....washed down with a glass of sweet tea. Mmmm, don't get much better than that! Except probably topping it all off will be my Maw Maw's wonderful recipe for Chocolate sheet cake!! 

When things get Muddy...

The perfect end to our date night :)

Sometimes things get a little muddy around here.....So this is what we do! 

Aww---Kisses!

 Our Mudhole!!!

Throwing some mud is always a good time!! :D