The Sewing Mom

Hair bows are a must have accessory for any softball player in Texas! In fact, the high school team assigns dates to each player that they are to bring in hair bows for the team. My daughter’s first date is this Thursday, so I spent the weekend making 18 bows. Now they can be any design, but I like to go with something the girls prefer because then I know there is a chance that they might actually wear them more than once!

This is my tutorial on making a “stacked” hair bow.

Supplies for each bow:

• 2 1/2″ grossgrain ribbon, cut 2, 11 inches each
• 2 1/2″ or narrower ribon, cut 2, 9 inches each
• 1/4 inch wide ribbon, cut 1, 3 inches
• hair clip of choice (I use a 3 1/4″ curved hair clip)
• button or other decoration of choice
• floral wire
• wire cutters
• glue gun

Step 1: Using glue gun, glue together ends of each cut ribbon to form 4 circles of ribbon

Step 2: Put the 2 like pieces of ribbon together, using a piece of floral wire, approx. 6 inches in length to tie them together in the middle. Repeat for both sets of ribbon. You will now have 2 pieces. From the larger set (in this case, the black/white checked), use the wire cutter to trim off excess floral wire.

Step 3: Place smaller ribbon set on top of larger ribbon set and use the excess floral wire to tie the top to the bottom. You will now have 1 piece.

Step 4: Turn ribbon set upside down, apply hot glue to center and press hair clip into hot clue. Let this set for about a minute before going to next step.

Step 5: Using one hand to open hair clip, place a dot of hot glue inside clip and immediately press wrong side of 1/4″ ribbon onto dot. Place a 2nd dot of hot glue on top of the ribbon now attached to the clip and immediately wrap 1/4″ ribbon around the bow and back to the clip pressing the opposite end of 1/4″ ribbon into the glue dot inside the clip. Cut off any excess 1/4″ ribbon.

Finally, and this step is optional, add button or other decoration to hair bow using hot glue.

This post brought to you by I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. All opinions are 100% mine.

As I’ve mentioned on this blog numerous times, I have high cholesterol.  I manage my cholesterol through diet and prescription medication.  One of the items in my refrigerator that I probably use more than any other ingredient, is butter.  I have sticks of real butter for use in some recipes, but for the most part, I use butter that comes in a tub.  In other words, it’s not exactly real butter.  But, that’s okay, because it tastes like butter and it’s way lower in fat and all the things that can cause my cholesterol levels to go up.  I started out using a certain brand of tub butter, but recently switched to I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spread.  Even my husband noticed the difference and we really like the taste!

Imagine my surprise when I learned about the Toast to the Red Carpet – LIVE, presented by I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! inviting movie fans to watch the live stream on Facebook, February 26 from 3-4pm (PST).  Celebrities will be dishing about the red carpet fashions plus there will be a culinary expert dishing real yummy foods along with recipes so we can make them at home too.

Speaking of recipes, here’s one I enjoy making because it tastes good and is super quick & easy.

First, cut chicken breasts into cubes.  Do the same thing with veggies like yellow squash, zucchini and bell peppers (use red, green & yellow).  Spray all of the ingredients with “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” cooking spray, making everything good and wet.  Toss everything with rosemary and lemon zest.  Put it all onto skewers and pop into the broiler.  Cook until the chicken is cooked through, turning at least once.  After removing from the broiler, spray again lightly with the cooking spray and sprinkle with lemon juice.

I like to serve my kabobs with brown or dirty rice and a side salad.  This is a quick, tasty and low fat meal.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter is giving me a coupon for a FREE tub of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spread and I’m passing that coupon along to one lucky reader.  To win, leave a comment on this post telling me why you will be watching the Toast to the Red Carpet – LIVE, presented by I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!

All comments must be posted by midnight February 26 (CST) and only 1 comment per person please.  Also, you must have a mailing address in the U.S.A.  Don’t forget to leave your email address so I can contact you if you are the lucky winner!

If you are the parent of a teenager, you can probably relate to this. If you are the parent of a teenager who is learning to drive, you can probably relate to this even more.

Teenagers are EXPENSIVE!

Our daughter will be driving on her own soon (as soon as we can find time for her to schedule her driving test) so we purchased a 3rd vehicle. My husband and I brought it home on Friday afternoon. On Saturday, my daughter drove it to her softball game with me in the passenger seat and my husband in the back seat. She parked the car.

Because she had parked in between 2 very large SUV’s, we recommended she back out and find a different spot that would cause the car to be less likely to get a door ding. She promptly put the car in reverse, backed out about 2 feet, and we immediately looked in horror as the front lower bumper lay lifelessly on the sidewalk in front of the car. Yep, the car was now without bumper.

Today my husband & I took the car in to get an estimate on having the bumper repaired. Well, it also took out the under carriage safety shield which protects all things underneath the car, so that will also have to be replaced. All totaled, it’s going to be close to $800.

I have to say, I’m just glad my husband was in the car when it all happened because he wouldn’t have believed that our daughter actually did nothing wrong to cause this huge expense. This is a used car and we knew a corner of the bumper was loose when we bought it. We just didn’t know we were going to have to get it repaired so soon after buying the car.

Oh well, the trials & tribulations of being a parent to a teenager, they really are expensive!

This post brought to you by dealnews. All opinions are 100% mine.

I do a lot of shopping online.  I don’t like fight traffic and crowds at stores, so online shopping suits me just fine.  However, I don’t like the amount of time that can be sucked out of my day when trying to comparison shop, especially when I’m trying to find the best deal.

If I know exactly the item I want and where to get it, I can be done within minutes.  Unfortunately, that’s not typically the case.  For example, I know I want to purchase some new luggage for my husband.  I don’t know what brand, although I have a few top contenders, and I never know who has the best deal.  Seriously, everyone from department stores to warehouse clubs sell luggage, so I need help to save time and money.

Thankfully, I was just introduced to  dealnews, an online service that does all the time consuming legwork for me.  They find the best deals and put the information into one neat, concise website.  Plus, if you’re looking for a particular item, you can set up an email alert.  dealnews will send you an email as soon as the deal is available, even if you are looking for a specific deal at a specific store.  That’s pretty cool in my opinion.

So anyway, I visited dealnews and in their search box, I simply typed “luggage”and in a flash, I had several deals to choose from.  I chose the American Tourister deal and I really like that it tells you exactly what retailer is selling it at the “deal” price and even gives a couple of options that may be at a similar price.  I was thrilled with the result so took a screen shot to share with you what I saw, and by the way, this was listed under clothing deals.

Try out dealnews if you’re in the market for some online shopping and come back and let me know what you were shopping for and if you found their site to be useful.

I really hate when I find a so called blog that is doing nothing but copying other people’s posts. I honestly don’t care that they are pinging back, it’s still not their work and they shouldn’t be passing it off as theirs. I am not going to say who it is or provide the blog address as that would just be giving them a free link, something I am NOT going to do.