Home Made Hair Bows - How To

I love, love, love making hair bows for my daughter and now that I'm expecting my second daughter I'm venturing into baby headbands. I love that fact that my girls will have hair accessories to match all of their clothes. They also make lovely gifts! They are really simple to make so I wanted to share how I do it. There's a few different styles I do but today I'm starting out with the basic plain bow attached to a pony tail bobble. I don't have any clips at the moment but once they arrive I will show you how to attach a bow to a clip. I've tried to explain everything as simple as possible. I know I find things a lot easier when it's put in simple form.

You will need:

• Two types of ribbon of your choice. (If you're just starting out, I recommend grosgrain at about 1" wide and 3/8" for the center)
• Glue gun
• Hair bobbles
• Ruler or tape measure
• Scissors
• Lighter

Here goes:

Measure out your ribbon. It has to be double the length you want your bow to be. So, if you want a 3 inch wide bow you need to measure out 6 inches of ribbon. Run both ends of the ribbon through a lighter to stop it from fraying. My ribbon is measured out at 8 inches.

(excuse the horrid old lady hands and chipped polish! My hands are so dry and sore at the moment. Also, please excuse the dirty oven tray in the lighter picture. Paul had just taken his dinner out the cooker!)

Fold the ribbon in half and press it hard at the crease so that it makes a visible line.

Lay the ribbon out flat, picture side down.

Put a thin line of glue right next to the crease line and fold the ribbon over. Repeat for the other side.

Turn your bow over so the picture side is facing up. Put a small dot of glue right in the center of the bow and fold both sides up. Hold in place until it's set.

Turn your bow over onto it's side and put a small dot of glue in the center and fold the side down. Hold in place until it's set. Repeat on opposite side.

Turn your bow over so it's upside down. Put a bit of glue in the center of the bow and place the end of your smaller ribbon down. Hold it in place until it's set. Wrap the ribbon around your bow and pull it until you have it looking good at the front. 

Put another bit of glue in the center of the back of the bow on top of the ribbon you've already placed. Press a bobble into this glue and hold in place until it's set. 

Put some more glue in the center and over the bobble. 

Wrap the remaining ribbon around and through the bobble pressing down into the glue.

Trim the excess ribbon off and carefully run the lighter over the end of the ribbon and you're done!

You can also add a center if you chose to. Like a button or a gem, etc. 

You can pick up glue guns really cheap on eBay. If you don't want to use eBay you can buy them from Argos and they cost £11.99 with 24 glue sticks. It's a bit more expensive but still worth it if you ask me!

Remember that practice really does make perfect. The more you try the better and easier it gets. It literally takes me two minutes to make a bow now and they are wearable almost instantly. As soon as the glue cools it's stuck!
Another little tip for collecting ribbon... when you buy new pyjamas (sometimes blankets, especially from Primark) they come folded and wrapped in ribbon. Keep the ribbon! It can be used for bows! 
Hopefully this was easy to understand and happy bow making!!

Pregnancy Update...

I haven't done a proper pregnancy update in quite a while and since I'm nearing the end I thought I'd better do one now.

(one of the very few bump pictures I have this time around. 31 weeks and 3 days. To be honest, my belly has only really started sticking out like this in the past couple of weeks. It stays sticking out like this when I first get in bed for about 5 minutes then it disappears. Certainly does not feel like I'm almost 32 weeks)

I'm currently 31 weeks and 5 days along. Things are still going great. I've had no problems at all. I'm getting plenty of sleep at night. I remember at this stage with both Keira and Logan I was in pain at night. Especially trying to turn over in bed. I don't have much problem with it at all this time. I've only just recently started to feel out of breath. This week I started getting that pressure feeling in my lady parts. (TMI!!) I think it's called lightening. I've also only just recently started getting braxton hicks. Baby is a good mover. Always giving me loads of kicks/jabs and moving around. She still doesn't feel that very big to me. I'm due my scan in 4 weeks time to check on her size.

I had a glucose tolerance test a couple of weeks ago because of Logan's size when he was born. They wanted to make sure I didn't have gestational diabetes. I went into hospital for 9.15 am and had bloods done. I then had to drink a bottle of this really sugary drink within 10 minutes. It was like flat coke but even more sugary. It was so sugary that when I finished the drink you could see sugar crystals in the bottom of the cup! I was then left for two hours in a nice little room. I was on my own so it was great. I got to read my book in peace and quite! Haha! Then once the two hours were up I got more bloods done. The second lot of bloods make me a bit ill. I think because I hadn't been allowed to eat since 10pm the night before. I got so dizzy and my hearing disappeared, which happens when I'm going to faint. However, I managed to pull myself together. Then I was given a sandwich and a drink. My tests all came back clear. As I've said before all the boys in my family have been big. Dating back 80 years. My great uncle was a twin and was 15lbs at birth. Logan is third in line record holder! Hahaha. I'm also having my weight gain supervised too. I thought I had gained some weight but apparently I have gained nothing at all! My weight is exactly the same as it was at the start. Baby is still growing and getting bigger so that actually means that as baby is getting bigger I've been losing weight! The dietitian said I will notice it once I give birth. I should be a good bit down in weight. I'm really happy about this of course! I'm on the right track!

Now as the weeks are creeping in I'm definitely feeling the fear of giving birth. I'm not scared to give birth, I'm scared of what could happen. I get to see my midwife again in two weeks time so I'm going to have a proper discussion about my birth. I'm in two minds about asking for a c-section. I'm terrified of going through labour only to end up with a c-section that goes badly again. If I'd planned on more babies after Macey I'd have been more enthusiastic for a VBAC. But she is most definitely my last baby. I won't put my body under the stress of another birth when I'll have 3 beautiful children to look after. I feel like the weight of my fear is starting to bring on a bit of anxiety again. I do not want to go through that again either. So, some tough decisions ahead!

I still haven't bought anything else. I want to finish the kids' room first. I'm buying their new carpet and hopefully the mattress for Logan's bed next week. So, fingers crossed that after that I can do a huge baby haul. All the last bits and pieces and a major clothes shop!!

Haul For The Week

Not a big haul this week due to lack of money! But what we did get were bargains. 

We got a box of Cheeky Bots nappies from Tesco. They cost £15 and there are 196 (I think) in the box. They only had size 2 left when we went to get them but we got them anyways. It's a good supply. I only have one small packet of size 1 so far, so now I need to work on getting more of them.

Today when I was on the Babies R Us website I noticed that they had the 3 packs of MAM self sterilising bottles down to £10.59. They were unavailable for home delivery and I wasn't able to reserve them, so I gave my nearest Toys R Us a call to see if they had them in store. They had two packs of pink left. When I got there I decided to just go ahead and get a green pack too. So, I saved a good bit of money on these today. 

The only other things we got this week were things that arrived in the post. I bought all of this last week. 

The light shade for the kids room turned up and is gorgeous! It makes loads bright shiny circles on the walls when the light is on. Both the kids love it!

(Picture is horrible and gives it no justice. I will get better pics once the bedroom is finished)

I also got a lot of ribbon for making hair bows. White with black polka dots, Jack Skellington, and Frankenweenie. I made bows for Keira's hair. I also made one for Macey with the polka dot ribbon. I haven't put a center on it yet though because I need to buy or make headbands first. 

I'm on huge hair bow kick at the moment. Going to be ordering tons more ribbon over the next couple of weeks. I might even post a how to for the basic hair bow. It's lots of fun to do and the more you try the better you get!
If there's any kind of haul next week it won't be much either. Money shortage for a couple of weeks! I've got so much stuff I need to do before Macey arrives!

Baby Checklist

It suddenly hit me today just how little time I have before my baby will be born. I've barely bought any of the necessities. I made a point of buying the cot mattress yesterday. Macey is having Logan's cot but obviously I'm going to throw out the old mattress. It was down to £35 in the sale at the Asda Baby Event and is being delivered tomorrow. 

This is what I still have to buy. =\

Bed Time:
Clair De Lune bedding bale
Matching mobile
Moses basket
Cot sheets
Moses basket sheets
Blankets (maybe another 2 or 3)

Feeding:
MAM Self Sterilising bottles (9 bottles, 3 to be left at my mum's house)
MAM milk dispenser
Bottle brush
Bibs
Flasks

Bath Time:
Hooded Towels 
Changing mat
Baby Wash
Baby Shampoo

Other:
Bouncy chair
Travel System
Pink coat hangers
Little storage boxes for socks, tights and shoes
Nappies
Wipes (We have two boxes of Johnsons wipes, which is 12 packs. I want another couple of boxes though!)

I think that's all the things that I really need apart from clothes. I'm taking advantage of the fact that this baby is a girl and will more than likely be my last. I'm buying as many pretty, frilly, pink dresses as I can!

I also need to start working on my hospital bag too. So far all I've bought is a toothbrush! 

NOW I'M FEELING TERRIFIED! Hah!

Wooden Star Decorations - How To

I made these wooden stars for the kids' bedroom over the past two days. It was so simple to do and they make lovely finishing touches to bedrooms. I choose to just do the kids initials. But, you could do a full name. They have holes at two points on the stars, so instead of threading ribbon up the way it could run across to make a full name. 
I bought the MDF stars and letters from eBay. The stars came from this shop and come in packs of either 3 or 10. I bought the 3 pack and they cost £1.15 and £1.35 shipping. Meaning they were £2.50 in total. The letters were from here and cost 99p for one but the more you add the cheaper they get. Delivery is free.
I bought the paint pots from Homebase. They cost £1.50 each but they go a long way. I also bought a small tin of clear varnish with rainbow glitter through it. This cost £4.99 from Homebase. This also goes a long way. I painted both sets of hair accessories drawers and all of the items in the pictures with one tin. I bought a second tin but I didn't even really need it.

All you need to do is paint the star (or which ever shape you choose) in the colour of your choice. I gave mine two coats. Let it dry and then add the coat of varnish if you choose to. 

Next you will need a glue gun. You can also buy these from eBay really cheap. There's one available here for £4.50 and free delivery. It comes with 50 glue sticks which is a great buy! Add some glue to the backs of your letters and press them down hard onto the star. You will need to work fast and make sure you lay your shape down exactly where you want it first time as the glue sets very quickly! All that's left to do then is add the ribbon however you'd like it. I recommend running a lighter over the ends of the cut ribbon to prevent it from fraying. And you're done!

Baby and Kids Haul..

These hauls are getting a bit ridiculous! I think if things continue like this I may do one haul post a week with everything purchased during that time. I will always try and post where I got things and the prices. I know next week there won't be so much because I have a large bedroom item to buy for the kids room.

We went into HMV. Mostly to get out of the rain! We ended up buying Supernatural series 2 on DVD and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Supernatural was £9.99 and POTC was only £2.99.

Our first clothes stop today was Debenhams. I saw a gorgeous 3 piece set online in their sale and I hoped to be able to pick it up today but it wasn't there. I did see a couple of other things that I liked. A lovely navy and white polka dot dress and navy and white shoes to match. I hope to go back for them soon! I did get a lovely dress for Macey in the sale. It's made from a floaty material and is covered in birds. It'll be gorgeous with a little cardigan and tights. It's by Ted Baker and was on sale for £12. I also picked up a Pluto lip balm for Keira and a Little Mermaid lip balm for myself! I forgot to take a picture of mines. They were on sale for £1.50 each.
Our next stop was The Gap. I saw a beautiful dress online that I wanted to get for Macey. Luckily they had it in store and it was on sale! It costs £19.99 online and was £12.99 in the sale! It's a pale green colour and is covered in navy sheep.

Next we went to H&M. I was so disappointed! I wanted to get a couple of dresses for Macey and a dress for Keira that I saw online but they barely had anything in store. We managed to get Logan's Kiss t-shirt (big Kiss fans in this house!) and I picked up a packet of Bambi underwear for Keira. The t-shirt was £7.99 and the pants were £4.99 for a pack of 3.

We also went into Poundland. I got Keira two new things for her hair and a packet of Lalaloopsy toothbrushes. Logan got some more packets of Peppa Pig vitamins but I forgot to include them in the picture. I'm going to go back and stock up on them!

After the scan when we got some money back we had a look around the designer area at the back on Princes Street. We went into Harvey Nicols but I was disappointed in there too. I thought they maybe would have had some nice sleepsuits or vests. But they didn't really have much suitable for newborns.
So, we went into Jojo Maman Bebe. In there I got a really cute sleepsuit, a super soft fluffy rabbit, and a name plaque for the wall above Macey's bed! The sleepsuit is supposed to be like London. It has buses and the London eye on it. I thought it was really cute! It cost £14. The rabbit is by Jelly Cat and cost £10. Finally the plaque cost £15 in total. The rainbow was £10 and then it was £1 per letter. I'm going back in a week or two to buy a plaque for Keira and Logan. The boys one was like a road with traffic lights and street signs. The letters had all different modes of transportation on them.

Then when we got home we had parcels waiting for us with a neighbor! One of the parcels was the shelves for the kids rooms. The other two were clothes.
I got two t-shirts and three pairs of trousers from H&M for Logan. The trousers were down to £2.99 a pair. The t-shirts proper price was £2.99 each.

The other parcel was from Asda and was some new school clothes for Keira. She still needs more school clothes but this is just what I got for the moment.
Two blouses (£4 each), two twin packs of polo shirts (£3 each), a green cardigan (£6), a blue cardigan (£5), a packet of green tights (£5 for a pack of 3), and a black knitted tank top (terrible picture but it was £2.50)

4D Scan part 2!

So, today was our follow up 4D scan after not having much luck last week. This week wasn't any better! I think I'm going to have a proper little madam on my hands! She was pretty much in the same position but now she's breech! I didn't even feel her flip around. Her cord is in front of her face still which makes her look all lumpy and distorted. Since we couldn't get what we had paid for they very kindly downgraded our package and we ended up getting £40 back plus a couple of extras. It was still an amazing experience. It always is! It's made me even more excited to meet my new little lady!
My next scan is in 6 weeks time. This is the big scan that will tell me how my baby is going to be delivered!

N-Spa Mum To Be Products

My best friend bought me this N-Spa Mum to Be Set when I first found out I was expecting baby number 3.   
I only just recently started using it because for some reason I wanted to wait until I was further along in my pregnancy. I wish I had used them sooner! I absolutely love them!

In the set I received Moisturising Bump Butter, Firming Bust Cream, Stretch Mark Oil, Relaxing Bath and Shower Creme, and Cooling Leg and Foot Gel.
My favourite item is the bump butter. They all smell amazing. The shower creme feels lovely on the skin and leaves it feeling soft and smooth. After my shower I use the stretch mark oil on my belly, along with the firming bust cream and cooling leg and foot gel. Although I'm pretty much too far gone to care about stretch marks anymore (I got all of mines during my first pregnancy) this oil still feels and smells lovely. By the time I wake up in the morning the oil is all soaked in and my skin feels soft. I then use the bump butter before I get dressed for the day. This sits on my skin for most of the day and leaves a lovely soft feeling after.

I'm not usually one to buy into the whole 'mum to be' thing and would probably never have bought these things for myself. But, I'm so glad my friend decided to buy it for me! I'm now going to go ahead and buy the full sized items. I would probably even use these things when I'm not pregnant!!

These products are available to buy at Asda in store and online. At the moment they have a baby and toddler event on which means the above set is on offer for £7 (it should be £10) and the individual full sized items are £3 each (which are usually between £4 and £6). They also have a Soothing Nipple Balm which would probably be lovely for breastfeeding mamas! Definitely worth a try!

Silence and Broken Silence

I went into these two books a little bit blind. I knew there was a dark background to them but I wasn't totally sure what it was. I read the first book in a day. I did enjoy it but it also made me feel uncomfortable. Not just with the fact that protagonist had some dark history involving her father but that she was 15 when the current story took place. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. I may have given it 4 but I found a lot of mistakes in the text which was off putting.
I didn't enjoy the second book as much as the first. Broken Silence takes place 4 years later where we see the female protagonist return to England after fleeing to Australia with her mother and brother. It was very obvious what was going to happen through the entire book right down to the ending. I found myself skimming some parts over. I gave this one 2 stars out of 5.
If what I've said doesn't put you off these books and you have a Kindle, these books are currently free on Amazon.

Hair Accessory Storage

I bought these wooden boxes from Ikea about 5 years ago (Mines are slightly different but the picture above is the one that is available in store right now!). They were originally used to store make up but eventually I moved Keira's hair things into them. I've never been happy with the ordinary wooden look. I painted one box with white gloss but I didn't like the way that turned out either. I really wanted to make them look a bit better so I went into Homebase and bought some small pots of paint. I got pink, purple, and a little pot of rainbow glitter finisher.

I started working on them a couple of days ago. The pink ones took two coats and two coats of glitter. The purple one took more because that was the one I'd originally painted white gloss. It took four coats. They both got two coats of glitter, although one probably would have done! I'm really pleased with the way the turned out. I'm planning on making hair clip holders so I'm going to do them to match. I still have about half a tin of glitter left. (I actually like the glitter so much that I'm considering painting my bathroom a pale blue colour then going over it with the glitter! Sparkly walls!). Now to sort out all the hair things and put them in some sort of order! I may do a hair accessory collection post later!

Another Haul!

I was in Asda yesterday doing my weekly shop but of course I had to go to the kids clothes section while I was there. I only got a few things but thought I'd share anyways. 

First I picked up a lovely cat print blouse and mustard polka dot leggings for Keira. I honestly can't remember the prices of anything but it's all available on the Asda direct website!

She also got this lovely denim polka dot shirt.

Then I got her some black jeggings because they can never go wrong! And a twin pack of black leggings. The hair grips were from B&M Bargains and were only 99p.

Logan was really needing some new jeans so he got two pairs and a pair of jogging bottoms for wearing when we're having a lazy day in the house.

He also got a Ghostbusters t-shirt (which I love so much!) and a grey quilted hoodie!

I didn't buy Macey any clothes this time but I did see a few things that I really want to get her. Probably with my shop next week! I did buy her bath seat though and a little bunny teething toy.

What I'm planning on buying...