Tutu Giveaway Time

PINK PRINCESS TUTU GIVEAWAY
Jan. 21 through Jan. 26



Pink Princess Tutu



To celebrate reaching 500 Facebook Fans I am hosting a giveaway on my FB Page!  To enter you must "like" my FB page and share the contest on your own FB page by clicking the share button under the post. Leave a comment under the giveaway post letting me know you've done so, and that's your entry!

The winner will receive a Pink Princess Tutu (pictured) in the size of their choice from NB to 5T. The contest is open to the U.S. and Canada only.

For those of you with Pinterest accounts you can earn an additional entry by posting one of my tutus from my Sweet Baby Tutus shop on Pinterest.com.  There are "pin it" button located on each items page in the right hand column.  Leave an additional comment if you choose do this too.  I would love it if you left a link to your pin.

Only the entries under the giveaway photo on my FB page will be accepted.
The giveaway is open now and will end Thursday at midnite est, Jan. 26.

I got a sewing machine!

Yep, that's right! My mom surprised me with a sewing machine this Christmas and I am itching to make stuff.  Last weekend I went shopping and bought a few items, like thread and cheap material, to start practicing.  I bought pre-cut fabric from Walmart ($4.00) and got started. I like to jump in, to heck with actually taking real lessons!

So far I've made a purse for me and an "easy" skirt for my daughter.

Here are my first projects:



My clutch! I didn't add any of the "extras"
like a snap or buttons because I honestly wasn't
expecting it to resemble a purse when I finished.
I think it turned out pretty darn cute!



This is my daughter trying on the skirt
for the final time. Excuse the threads hanging down, I hadn't trimmed them yet. This was rough, but wearable. She LOVED it which is all that matters. Yes this is leftover material from the purse.



Here are the tutorials I used for the bag, which is called the Buttercup Bag, and the Circle Skirt. The bag took me a couple of hours and became a clutch because the strap didn't turn out that great and the skirt took about an hour and a half. Remember, these were my first projects EVER so if you have a little practice sewing you can knock these out in no time.

In case you haven't guessed, I don't know how to sew.  I can do a little by hand but that 's it. Nothing fancy, just a button or two. For the past week I have been scouring the Internet for tutorials to teach me the basics. Hopefully, I'll be able to take a lesson or two in the next month. I'm a visual learner and there are only so many angles you can watch someone sew a hem on YouTube before you need a person in the same room to actually show you. 

Thanks to Pinterest, I've stockpiled my sewing pin board with tutorials and patterns I hope to try once I get a little better. My goal is to have my little girl some pretty awesome clothes this summer. I also plan to go all "Martha Stewart" on our house.

If you know of any websites I can visit to get a few beginner sewing tutorials or free, simple patterns, please share!

Love and Logic and an Enchilada

For those of you not familiar with Love and Logic, it’s a somewhat popular parenting technique that has been around for years. Personally, I like the concept and use some of the techniques but I don’t think there is one single “technique” that can work for a family. Instead it’s usually a combination of best practices that you work into your family’s style.

Having said that, Love and Logic basically teaches parents to take care of their kids while taking care of themselves and teaching kids through the consequences of their actions. No helicopter parenting here. My husband and I witnessed some awesome Love and Logic parenting at a restaurant over the holiday whether the Dad involved realized that’s what it was called or not.

Recently, while home for Thanksgiving we stopped at a popular Mexican Restaurant in our hometown (Mi Casita’s YAY!!) to get our fix before heading back to Virginia.  It was a pretty scarce crowd but there was a family with three boys sitting near us.  They were pretty well behaved for three boys J

Put one of my kids in timeout and the
other sits with them for for moral support

As they were finishing up their meal the waiter came over and I heard the Dad say, “Yep, little Johnny has to wash dishes. He didn’t touch his food.” Without skipping a beat the waiter took the seven-year-old (my guess) by the hand and led him to the kitchen.  About a minute later a waitress comes out giggling and said the waiter was showing him how gross washing dishes can be.  A few minutes after that, the waiter brought the boy back and sat him down with his parents and they left.  The dad pretty much made the kid pay for his meal since he didn’t eat it and because a seven year old will not usually have cash, he paid by helping out.  No time outs, no yelling or badgering the kid to eat.

Keep this in mind, it was obvious they were regulars at the restaurant and knew the waiter.  For those that have taken a Love and Logic class this is the perfect example of one of his “plan ahead and call the neighbor so she doesn’t call social services” plans to help end one of your kid’s bad habits like refusing to eat what they’re given.

If you are curious about Love and Logic Parenting, click here.  Your local library probably has some of their books so don’t feel the need to buy anything.

It works well on spouses too!

Pinterest is my new love

A few weeks before Halloween a friend asked if I could make a Halloween costume she saw on the site.  So, I went on to look at the photo and ended up browsing the site and before I knew it, I was requesting a membership.  The rest is history!

If you aren’t familiar with Pinterest, it’s a great place to capture things you like instead of placing everything in your favorites. See an awesome picture on a blog? Instead of saving the entire blog in your favorites, “pin” the photo onto your virtual pin board under fashion. Find a great recipe? Pin it on your recipe board until your ready to make it. Plus, you get to see all the awesome stuff other people pin!

I try not to make it a complete waste of time.  I have made two Christmas wreaths and a personalized canvas for my daughter’s room from tutorials I found on there.  I have also tried several new hairstyles (including one with a sock, see the link below) and even made an AWESOME potato soup recipe someone pinned. I am not a crafty person AT ALL! So I am very proud of my creations, though they are a far cry from Martha Stewart.  The fact that I even tried them, should tell you how easy they are.

Here are a few examples of my Pinterest adventures and links to my favorites. Feel free to follow me. I’m under Sweet Baby Tutus (of course). It would also be pretty awesome if one of my tutus or two were pinned! I don’t like to self promote on those sites, it’s not good mojo.

Happy pinning!!

 

  

                              

                           



My version, waiting on the ribbon to hang.



Pinterest idea



 






                                           

What I made. This is so easy it's scary. I still have to make the bow,
but cute.

The tutorial from Pinterst

 

What I found on Pinterset. I made a green version
for my living room wall.





Happy Anniversary to Sweet Baby Tutus!!

This summer has been crazy and my blog was put on the back burner but I'm back and plan to stay that way.

Our family has experienced a lot since May. Preschool graduation, summer trips to Tampa, Boston and Myrtle Beach and the start of kindergarten for my son and daycare for my daughter.  A crazy emotional roller coaster is what we have been on for the past five months.

Sweet Baby Tutus is gearing up for the Halloween season.  The 22nd of September will mark the one year anniversary of the start of my business!  I'm offering a special discount for my Facebook fans so become a fan to get the discount code.

It's amazing that just one year ago I started selling on Etsy in hopes of making some extra money to get us through the Holidays.  Between my Etsy shop and other custom orders I've made almost 300 tutus and birthday outfits! Wow!

Thank you to all of my customers!

One of the things I've added to my shop for Halloween is a Mini Witch Hat. It's become pretty popular and I have limited quantities. If you want one, order now.

I also have some new designs this Halloween so check them out.

Tiny Black Tutu / Black Tutu with Mini Witch Hat

Tiny Orange Pumpkin Tutu with matching Flower Hair Clip



Halloween Cutie Tutu with Mini Witch Hat



Sweet Chick Tutu

B's 2nd Birthday and Mother's Day

Egg hunt

The last month has been a lot of fun at our house! We had baby girl's second birthday party at the end of April and a great Mother's Day weekend visiting our family and friends back home.

B had a Toy Story extravanganza for her second birthday party.  Her birthday also fell on Easter weekend so we had a few egg hunts thrown in there.  Mimi, Papa and my sister came up to spend the weekend with us.  Saturday morning was spend at our church egg hung followed by nap time and then a small birthday party with some little friends of B's and our Roanoke family.

The child is nuts about Toy Story so I order her this adorable shirt and matching hair bow from Etsy and I made a tutu to match for a few pics ;).  She sported a jean skirt instead of the tutu for the party.

Birthday fun

Fast forward to Mother's Day weekend we decided to make a quick whirlwind trip home.  Friday was spent visiting family and taking my mom out for Mother's Day dinner at our favorite place, 316 Oyster Bar.  Saturday we spent the morning at a fundraiser at our home church visiting with folks we hadn't seen in a long time.

That afternoon we attended a wedding reception for one of my good friends from college.  Unfortunatley, we didn't get to stay the whole time because we had to make the four trip back home that night so my hubby could be at church to preach Sunday morning.

 All it all it was a fast but great weekend!

My big 2 year old!

A little girl, a fall and a couple of staples

Last Wednesday night was an eventful night in our house. We go to church every Wednesday for dinner and bible study and get home close to bedtime.  So, last Wednesday I had to give baths to both kids while my hubby ran home from church grabbed a bag to begin a three hour drive to an out-of-town conference. Things were just a little hectic with baths and telling Daddy bye.

Waiting

My daughter got her bath first and as I was helping my son get his bath my daughter comes in, slips on some water on the floor and nails the trim around the floor with her head. OMG!! I just knew when I picked her up there would be lots of blood and a nasty cut. She cried while I checked but I didn't see anything. Whew! She stopped crying, I got my son out of the tub and sent him to put is PJ's on and took her to her room. I layed her on the changing table to put on her diaper and PJ bottoms, sat her up and there it was, BLOOD!

Now, for a little background. I do not do blood. I can handle little scrapes but that 's about it.  A few months ago I accidentally busted my lip playing with the hubs and kids and I almost passed out.

So, I'm home alone with what I now see is a small gash on her head and blood matted in her hair. Yikes! Now, I must do the brave thing and part the hair to see exactly how bad it is. Fortunately, my mommy adrenaline is going and I'm not swooning.  She isn't crying but she does not want me messing with her. All I can make out is where it is but I can't tell how deep.  Luckily, my husband had left about 10 minutes earlier so he wasn't too far away. I called him and he came home to help me judge the severity. 

The staples

On his way home he called a friend of ours to meet us there who is a trained EMT (I think) to help us out. My hubs get there first and we are standing in the kitchen so he could take a look. It's like my brain said, "He's here now so you can fall out." While I'm holding my daughter I turn green, feel faint, pass her off to my husband and go sit down.

Long story short since she seemed okay I send my husband on his way, I take her to the ER and our friend stays with my son and his wife meets me at the ER to help.  This entire time my daughter is just tired and could care less.  We get to the hospital and are waiting to go back and my daughter is playing and having a good time. Asking to go to the store for donuts and suckers.

We find out she needs two staples and, get this, the nurse tries to convince me to go ahead and do it instead of waiting the 40 minutes for the numbing cream to work.  "She'll cry either way." She was crazy! We waited for the cream to work and she didn't feel a thing and she didn't cry.  The only time she cried was when the nurse was cleaning it.

After the trip our friend bought her a bag of donuts for being so brave!

Today, we had the staples removed. Painless. So it's over. I survived. She survived and the first thing she did when we got home was climb on the dining room table. Geez!