Call It A Come Back

Happy Halloween everyone!!!!

I'm back! Yes, I have been missing from blog land for a little under a year. Let me bring you up to date with a few changes that have taken place since last.

 

In May we purchased a new home. I'm so excited!! Not just because we have more room, but because Ill have more projects to work on to make it ours. Its a clean slate. Freshly painted, newly carpeted and new kitchen cabinets. Its all screaming to be loved!

 

We welcomed our newest addition on August 14th. Isn't he just the most adorable ever!?! As with my first two I decided I didn't want to know the sex of the baby. I was sure that he was going to be a girl - only because I already had two of them. During the ultrasound hubby told the tech that he wanted to know, but I didn't. Once she was done scanning and printing everything up she handed us the envelope. In that envelope was the sex. She did it without me knowing. Sneaky huh!

Once we got home that envelope sat on the counter. Hubby decided to open it to find out the sex. I however resisted. Yes, I stuck to my guns even though that same envelope stared at me daily.

Oh and hubby? He didn't tell one soul. Yes you heard that correctly. He didn't tell anyone. Think you would have the same will power?

It was decided that this little guy would be named in honor of both of our fathers who have both passed. He has my maiden name of Elliott and has my late FIL middle name (which he had gone by).

Love that little tie? I have others available for sale. Email me at girlzncurlz@yahoo.com. I have few other styles to choose from.



So this is what made me decide to rekindle my blog. This is our mantle decked out for Halloween. Don't mind that the wreath isn't hanging straight. We were crazy busy and I never found the time to use those 3M hooks to help keep it hung on the mirror. Here is my original post talking about the Boo and Eek blocks that you see stacked.
The candle tapers and candle sticks are from the dollar store. Spiders were buy one get one free. In the center is a grouping of candles that we purchased from one of our trips to IKEA.

Now that Halloween is here and gone I'm going to be planning my next mantle. It goes without saying that I'm excited!

Stay tuned and Ill share some pictures of our front yard. Someone told my husband we are the Halloween of Griswalds.

Tips to Keep Hair Bows In

Recently I posted tips at my facebook page. After posting the tips I went to

Picnik and put together a better tutorial. These tips will work on the finest, smallest

amount of hair.

My oldest daughter was born with a full head of hair. My youngest was born with a full

head of hair as well, but it has been growing very slow.

This is the first post where I have made a collage. If your not able to read it

let me know. (It may be easier to read on my facebook page.)



Needing A Little Self Improvement!

Since the birth of my second daughter I kind of thew caution to the wind. What do I mean? Dont judge me please, but taking a shower was an effort. Im not much of a morning person, but my darling daughter is. She would be up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:30. My oldest

would get up at 8:30 - which is more like it for me. So when I say taking a shower is a

task I truely mean it.

In addition to that I have had fails on hairdressers within the past couple of years. At one point

I switched in hopes it would be better. Prior to my switch I was letting the

dreadful cut grow out in hopes that it would be repairable.

Much to my dismay that was not the case. I had 3! Yes 3 different cuts on one head.

In the evening we would be settling down and it was then that I would begin to

complain about it. Soon I just never returned to the "new" beautician.

With no one to cut my hair I resorted to cutting my own bangs - *gasp!*

I know! I know! If I had a hair dresser to make made I wouldn't do it,

but in this case there isn't one to make made.

(Ill try to do a tutorial on cutting bangs the next time I trim them)

Oh and I dont want to forget to mention that when I trim them Im stressed

and/or

tired!

Good combination right?

I decided I need a little umpf in my routine or lack thereof.

Makeup occasionally and hair done.

Last week I was on a mission to get the messy bun accomplished.

This took me all day to get it to where I wanted it. After having my second

daughter I had lost chunks of hair - literally.

When I pull my hair back I notice chunks of new growth. So putting my hair up can

be a chore. Its thin and sparse for now.

Below is what I accomplished.

I wanted to find a way to wear headbands that are super cute. The headband I have on

can be found here at Girls N Curls. These are satin lined

headbands, but you can also get the flowers on elastic.

Thanks for taking a peek. Ill be working on adding more tutorials.

First Bow Show

Few weeks ago I had my first bow show. It was at a kids consignment resale. The 2 weeks prior to being there I worked hard. This was the first time out in public with my bows. The display had to be good. Hubby layed it out online and all the materials were purchased.

My inventory was so scarce that I had to work quick to fill it up. After the 2 weeks of work we got it pulled together. Can I say that hubby even helped me cut ribbon that I needed to make the bows. He was a tremendous support and help. What a great accomplishment for the both of us. However, I was not able to make a sale. They told me it had to do with liability?? I didnt question much because I was excited for the opportunity. It also gave me some experiance before I thrust myself into the crafting world.

Speaking of which, I have a few craft shows I am lining up for the fall. Hoping that my inventory gets vastly improved before then. Im afraid that I will either be mobbed or deserted. I opt for being mobbed. Momma needs a new pair of shoes!

Fridays Finest

Tonights supper is pizza. We (really my husband) likes to go out for pizza. Well, he likes

to go out anytime. As if he is the one that cooks. He has no interest in it other than

consuming the food that is cooked.

Like I was saying before I went off on a bit of a tangent - tonight is pizza. That means

I am in the process of making the crust. Actually its in the process of rising. In a warm spot.

Outside. On the window ledge. Yes, when I went to my car earlier it said 107 degrees. Crazy!

Maybe not accurate, but crazy!! So while the crust is rising I have a few minutes on my hands.

Few minutes! Really. Who am I kidding.

My blog has been severly neglected. I thought now would be a good time to update a little bit.

My shop has been keeping me quite busy. Im beginning to gear up for craft shows. I have one lined

up so far. I need to make calls for more. And come to think of that I should have done that this afternoon.

Anyways. I have a couple bow of the month (BOTM) clubs. All the invoicing was completed for it yesterday. The bow was completed on Thursday.

It may be one of my current favorites.

Ill work on updating more often. Kid(s) are back to school so that means

Ill be getting up to help one off to school.



Marco!!

POLO!!

Here I am.

Yes, I have been MIA for quite a while.

I have been hard at work on my Etsy shop

and

on my

facebook page.

This past Saturday I had a booth set up at a childrens clothing resale. I was not

allowed to make sales (liability), but was able to take orders. Guess you could say it was a

dry run for me. After all it was my first show and a good way to get the feel of things.

If you are interested in seeing what I have avaliable stop by and visit.

Or if you just want to say hi that would be great too.

And, since I have been super wrapped up in getting my business off the ground

I havent had time to do any other fun little projects. Its been soooo long

since I have done something fun just because.

Giveaway Winners

And the winners are....

(drum roll here)

Shannon

Sarah

Tali

My first give away and not many entries.

I did say that there

would be three winners choosen. For those that entered thats a

good thing. You odds

of having won were excellent!

You win a choice of the bows shown and 45% off at my Etsy store.

Email me @ girlzncurlz at yahoo with your selection and a code for your discount.

Next time will be much better!

Planning For Disney - Part II

In Part I I ended by talking about dining options.

In planning your options there are a few different options you have.

The one that we have used is the table service, quick serve and snack.

That's not much. Oh but it is!

They take good care of you. By the time you get home from vacation I can

assure you, even with all the walking, that you may have gained a little weight

if your not careful.

Ok, so here is the deal. The table service is wonderful. Why? You have the

opportunity to dine with the characters. If you have little ones

or

even not so little ones they will LOVE it!

Some of these are more popular than others so you have to move quick in

making your reservations. For instance, Cinderella's Palace (cant remember the name of the resturant)

books fast!

Other table dining services are worth two table services. It cost 2 of

your table services to attend the meal. If you book one of these be

sure to plan carefully or budget for other food options.

Mickey's Backyard BBQ is one and Fantasmic is as well...

that is if memory serves me correctly.

Mickey's Backyard BBQ is seasonal and located at their campground resort.

All of the characters are dressed to the theme of where the dining is located.

For instance, Cape May Cafe they

characters are dressed in beach attire.

so cute!

Some of the table service with the characters also offers pictures.

Ohana will take your picture then offer it to you for a fee.

I also know that they do the same at Cinderella's palace and

at Epcot where you dine with the princesses.

If can find out what characters are where by either calling Disney dining or

looking it up on their website.

I STRONGLY suggest that you book these

as soon as you can so that you dont

miss out on one that you really want to do.

Plus booking as soon as you can allows you the best

choices. You can book 90 days prior to your visit.

First time we had gone I was going to book 2 days.

Then I thought we are going to do every day with a

character. Why not!

In Part III I will continue talking about transportation.

Give you some tips about what we had learned from

one visit to the next.

If you have any questions or need clarification let me know. :)

Planning For Disney - Part I

We have been back from our vacation for about 3 weeks now.

HI MICKEY!!

We miss you!

and

your friends.

I know this isnt Mickey :) But his tag does say
'If found return to Mickey'  How cute!!

I will make an attempt to cover all that I can to help make

planning your trip easier.

Here goes.

We have gone down there 3 times in the past 2 years.

(The one time was work/fun)

Two of those times we stayed on the resort. What does that mean?

Basically that you get catered to by Disney. You live and breathe

Disney 24/7 while you are there.

If you have kids it is the easiest route to take. Im saying this based on

having gone down with a 6 month old and 10 year old on one trip and

on another trip a 2 and 1 year old.

We have always booked our trip (except the work trip) through Disney.

They are wonderful to work with and answer any and ALL of your crazy questions.

When you book through them you have a few lot of different options.

They have 'Magic Your Way' Program that allows you to build your vacation.

This can include accomidations, food and park tickets. You build it to suit you best.

First you will need to choose where to stay. Disney has several options that are based

on cost to make it easy. Deluxe, Moderate,Value and Campground. Deluxe is the 

higher end and value speaks for itself. 

(Personally I didn't notice a difference between our one moderate stay and our value stay.)

 

Next you can add park tickets if you want. You choose how many days. In addition to

that you can add the Park Hopper. This will allow you to go to more than

one park in a day. 

 

Lastly, the important part - food. If you want to add food on you can do that as well.

The bonus about this is that you get to dine with characters based on the package you 

purchase. The one that Disney suggest and that we have gone with has been

the sit down, quick dine and snack. 

It is the sit down that you can plan character dining. Ill talk about that a little later. 

 

The dining package may not sound like a lot, but it is. 

We get the most for our money by planning a character sit down every

day we are there. It was either breakfast or lunch/dinner that we would do

and each was a buffet. Plan your meals at a off peak time. Meaning that a late

breakfast or a early dinner. In between you can do snacks for the kids. 

This last time I took some cereal, cookies and crackers with us to help

because my girls can be demanding right when they wake up.  

 

That is alot to go over. Ill talk a little more about the dining package and

food in general in the second part. Along with that I will talk about

 travel, including air and travel to and from the parks themselves.



Can I Be Honest?

We are friends right?

*heavy sigh*

Good!

I have always known that I wanted to be a stay at home mom.

It's the best!

Like any other job though you

go through good days, bad days

and GREAT days!

But, I also wanted to be able to work at home.

That is where my quest began.

What quest?

This one and this one.

Easy right?

Pfff...I thought so.

Making a bow can't be that hard can it?

Hard enough.

Its taken some practice, patience and time.

The layered bows with surrounding loops take a little

time to design then put

together.

Then to have a facebook page to promote myself.

Im trying to work with very little overhead.

My little ol' star needs to hitch to someone's wagon.

Hi, Im a mommy, to two little dolls, that

works from home.

I make boutique hairbows and accessories to sell so we can

have a little more.

(It also gives me an identity other than being just a mommy)

Ok...better. I feel like I have been working

my behind off. And you know this might sound

weird, but I can just feel it.

That feeling that its going to happen one day.

All the hard work

is going to pay off. 

Now off to find that wagon!  

Wacky Weds

Its Wacky Wed.

 Stop over and visit my facebook page

and

take a look to see what is up for auction.

Bidding will close at 9p est.

New bows will be posted throughout the day.

Don't forget about the giveaway.

It ends May 14th.

Mom...Im bored!

Boredum busters!

Do you need some inspiration?

Have you thought about

what to do once the kids are out of school?

Its not far.

Tip Junkie has some crafty bordum busters.

What a marvelous idea. I need to do a few of these for us.

She has 38 ideas in all!

That is enough to last the summer and then some. 

The crayon repurposing has been on my list

...forever!

When we go out to eat I save those crayons they

give to the kids.

You should see the collection I have of them!

The other project I want to do is the can of preschool ideas.

What a great idea!



We had purchased a finger puppet last week.

That had me thinking to make our own. Then I thought why not use

popcicle sticks and paste an image on there.

Then use a shoe box as a theater.

Great ideas to keep those creative juices following for you and your

little one. 

I'm ready to get started on them!!

Giveaway Time!

I will be giving away a bow and 45% off at my store to three lucky winners!

Each of the three winners will be able to choose from each of the bows.

Here are rules to participate:

1. Must be a follower. If you are a new follower let me know that

you are new and tell me what your favorite item is from my

Etsy shop. If you already follow let me know what your

favorite item is in my shop. (worth 1entry)

2. "Like" Girls N Curls on Facebook (worth 2 entries). Comment

below that you did this.

3. Refer someone to my page and to Girls N Curls 

Have them tell me you sent them here.
 (worth 2 entries per person referred)

4. Heart my Etsy Shop (worth 1 entry)

5. Bonus entry - let other people know about the giveaway either
on your blog, facebook or
twitter or all of them. Comment below that you
shared about it. (worth 2 entries)

Must complete 1 & 2 to be entered.

This giveaway will close May 14th. Winners will be selected by random.org
and
announced on May 15th.

New Funky Bow

This is the first one that I have made. Did this today!

You know when those little things that seem to be

big things and they get done quickly?

That was this.



Do you know how hard it can be to get a 2 yr old to hold still?



Im thinking about doing one in red, white and blue for the upcoming holiday.

What do you think?

Interested in one??





Milky Way

This was the funnest art thing we have done!!

What you need:

Shallow dish

Milk

Q-tip

dish soap

Here is what you do:

Get a shallow dish and pour enough milk in to cover the bottom.

Add random drops of food coloring to milk.

You dip a q-tip into the food coloring drops that was

dipped in dish soap. 

As the q-tip is dipped into the food coloring it spreads out.

It is so cool!

My 2 yr old had pounced the q-tip in a series.

Once she was done with the pouncing there

was a delayed reaction

with the color spreading.

This was a great arts and crafts project for a 2 year old.

Better yet use it as a scientific experiment for older kids and talk about

what may make the color spread.

She loved it so much that when I took it away

she was a very unhappy camper.

While your here check out my giveaway. May 14th is the last day!

Wacky Weds

This will be the first of (hopefully) many

of my

Wacky Weds.

What is that you ask?

I will be hosting an auction of various bows

on my GirlsNCurls facebook page.

I will have a range of bow styles to choose from

and the

auction will take place through out the day.

Hope to "see" you there.

No Cook Play Dough

We are getting back into the

swing of things after

our vacation.

Top of our list was to make some play dough.

I have had this recipe for many years (since '96),

but never made it.

Here it is:

No-Cook Dough

2 tsp cooking oil

1 c salt

1 1/4 c water

2 T cornstarch

3 c flour

In a large bowl  combine cooking oil, salt and water. Gradually add cornstarch and flour. Knead until smooth.

Divide dough into equal parts and add food coloring. Add small amounts of water if dough is dry, or flour if dough is sticky.

Give them cookie cutters, spatulas and a great imagination. Watch them take off having fun.



The best part is that if you catch them eating it (ICK!) that it is

non-toxic.

My dd has been sneaking little taste here and there as she plays with it.

Again ... ick!!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway here.

Vacation Time

Just recooperating from a week long vacation.

Vacations are suppose to be relaxing

but not so much for us.

We jam pack our vacations with activities to maximize our time.

I'm beat. Just absolutely beat.

This year we made a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando.

My 2 year olds third trip to Disney.

Later I will be providing tips and tricks

that we have learned, used

or

came up with

to make it easier to enjoy the time there.

I'll break it down so that it is easier for me

to extract all the info from my

brain and write it out.

Meanwhile, Im off to take a nap.

We got back at midnight last night...zzzzzzz

Let Them Eat

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of PBM Products for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

My oldest is 2 and is adding words to her vocabulary like mad.

I reflected early today when we had first

brought her home.

No one had ever fully prepared me for the

journey of motherhood.

 

One of the most easiest ways to maintain sanity

is to do a little shopping on diaper.com

They offer everything you need, including formula.

That little bundle of joy will be busy

eating.

Really I think that is why they are tired and sleep all the time.

After Thanksgiving who doesn't do the

same thing?

 

If you haven't decided on a formula consider trying Bright Beginnings.

It is quick, easy and available on  to buy on diapers.com 

 //www.diapers.com/products/Bright-Beginnings-Gentle-Formula-24-oz-6-pk-70341  

http://www.diapers.com/products/Bright-Beginnings-Gentle-Formula-24-oz-6-pk-7Trust me on this one....you will want easy!

 

They have organic and soy formula's available

as well as gentle formula for fussiness and gas.

 

There are some great deals going on

right now.  

When you stock up on Bright Beginnings formula 

be sure to use code: SILL9676 on your first order at Diapers.com for an additional 15% off! 

    Spend $49 and get free shipping! 

 

Be sure to stop over and visit them on Facebook.

Bright Beginnings on Facebook 

Tell them This Little Light Of Mine sent you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Limited Time

Have you "liked" me on facebook yet?

I have good news.

I will begin running specials on my bows

there soon.

As a matter of fact ...

this bow is on there now.

The price is reduced until tomorrow at 4p.

Buy it as a single or a set.

It is a made to order.

I made these to match an outfit we had bought on Etsy

for my daughters.

We are going to be visiting Mickey Mouse's house.

We needed some mouse

gear for the occasion. :)