Baby Boy Neck Tie

When we found out we were having a boy, I KNEW I had to attempt to make him a lot of ties. You can see some of the clip-on bow ties I made here. They were super easy and took no time at all, so of course I was so excited to make a regular tie. I'll be honest, this is my first attempt and it didn't turn out as awesome as I would have liked, but for my first try it looks pretty good I think.

You can find the tutorial here. She doesn't exactly tell you how long you need to make the tie, and the pattern is somewhat ambiguous--I thought--so I think that was part of my problem, my tie was just too short. But overall it worked out well.

I found it impossible to tie the tie with the method she gave; I just couldn't get the little back piece to go to the back. I worked at it for about a half an hour and was ready to give up--I frustrate easily. I went to Google to try and find a different tie method and found this. Within a few minutes I was able to tie it okay; it's still a little lopsided, but like I said, i think that might be because my tie was too short to begin with. Her method, I think, is the same as the one above, it's just a little more clear.

Here's what I ended up with:

You can see how it's a little lopsided, both the tie knot and the bottom. Be careful to really make sure you trace the pattern as perfectly as possible. I didn't and I figured it'd be okay, but you can see how the corners are off a little. I'm hoping when he wears it it won't be so noticeable. It will be to me though, of course. But as a trial run, I think I did okay. I plan to use velcro to attach the back, but since we haven't a clue as to how big he'll be yet, I'm going to hold off on that until he's actually here. 

Tips:

• Follow the tie pattern as precisely as possible. 
• If you need to retrace, do it, because as you can see, it really makes a difference. 
• Don't get too frustrated if you can't get the tie tied. It took me at least 15 tries. And that's being generous. 
• If you, in fact, can't get the tie tied, don't ask your husband to help because he'll probably just grunt and say, "This isn't how you tie a tie!" Which, lets be honest, is SUPER helpful! ;-) 

Good luck, and if I attempt again, I'll let you know the results! 

Until next time, craftily yours,

NicholleLee.

Fabulous in One

My niece is my world. And considering she lives in Michigan and I live in Oklahoma, it's torture. So I try to spoil her when I'm home as much as possible. She turned one in November, and what's better than making her little outfit for her birthday party.

Some background info: She loves Minnie Mouse; she smiles whenever she sees her. She's freakin' adorable, so she'll basically look cute in anything. But most important, her mommy is my twin so I wanted her first birthday to be unforgettable.

So I may or may not have taken it upon myself to create the outfit in which she would celebrate her first year of life. It goes like this.

While this project was easy, it did end up costing a little more than I would have liked. But it was a lot cheaper than it could have been!

Let's start with the tutu: I was totally prepared to make one; how fun would that be! But, I just so happened to find this gem at Old Navy for four dollars, so I couldn't pass it up.

Because Disney is pretty sticky on who can sell what in regards to their characters, I couldn't find a rhinestone Minnie applique like I was hoping, so I did some improvising. I ended up getting a pair of cheap Minnie pajamas from WalMart and just cut out Minnie's face and applied it to the front of the shirt with fabric spray. It took a long time to get the cut perfect, but it ended up working out just well.

I wanted to do something that made the shirt "special." I wanted everyone to know, "This is the birthday girl, and she is so special!" SO I found some glitter iron-on letters at Michaels that just so happened to match my pinks perfectly! These were the most expensive part of my purchase, at like eight or nine dollars. All I had to do to apply these was iron them on--easy enough. And I like easy. 

Once I got Minnie cut out the whole process only took about a half an hour, so it wasn't too bad! I did have some hiccups with the letters not sticking, but with some patience (which I don't really have) they finally stuck. 

I was so excited to show her mom this adorable little number and put my niece into it. So when we got to Michigan I was almost bursting at the seams. That may have been because I hadn't seen family in six months, though. Who knows? My sister loved it; my niece smiled. Life was good. 

The day of the party came and it was time for this girl to shine. And she did! My sister couldn't find any tights, so we ended up using the pajama bottoms for little make-shift leggings and it was a-dor-a-ble! 

Here's the princess:

And here are some more favorites!

Until next time, craftily yours,

NicholleLee

DIY bow ties

With my son squirming away in my stomach, I can't help but think of my imminent future. What will he look like? What color hair will he have? Will he be a bookworm like his mom, or obsess over video games like his dad? But I do know one thing: he is going to be so cool. If I have anything to do with it at least. And what does any cool kid need? A bow tie. Obviously.

With so much cute DIY girl stuff out there, I was determined to find some cute, simple DIY boy stuff. That's when I stumbled upon this awesome tutorial on, where else, Pinterest. I decided to give it a go, and twenty minutes later I had made this:

And it was SO simple, I'm not even kidding. Like four stitches simple.

I won't go into the major details of how to make it--the tutorial can do that--but I can't stress enough how awesome it is. You need a minimal amount of fabric, it can easily be done by hand or with a machine, and it looks great every time! What's even better is you can mix up the fabrics and create some pretty cool combos! This particular tutorial uses clip-on earring backs as the clip on part of the tie, and it's basically genius. Because lets be honest, who doesn't have a few gaudy clip on earrings lying around. Just me? Maybe it's just me...

Not only will my little one rock this bow tie, it will match his space-themed nursery! And I LOVE when things match! I can't wait to use it for his newborn pictures and nerd him out a little, because, let us be honest, his parents didn't exactly sit at the "cool kids table." But we do know geek. His daddy was a firm believer in Formal Friday every day, so why not start the kiddo out with the same mentality? ;-)

In case you were wondering, I made six more. And they all turned out great! I may have gone a little bow tie crazy. But a fella needs options, right?

I can't wait to show off the little guy in his newest attire when he arrives.


Until next time, craftily yours,

NicholleLee