To Pierce or Not To Pierce — Part Deux

So.. remember when I ask this? Thank you for your advice and experiences. After a few more discussions with the Hubster, we decided to pierce Jules' ears! And man oh man it is super adorable!

We ended up taking her to the Piercing Pagoda at our local mall -- recommended by both a family friend and a friend of a friend. We went early afternoon on Sunday after both kids were fed and happy. I was totally nervous. We walked around the mall for about 20 mins and finally ended up at the Piercing Pagoda kiosk. I browsed through they selection of piercing friendly earrings. I knew I wanted a pair that had the safety backs on them -- this limited my selection a bit. But we found a pair that both the Hubster and I liked. It wasn't too small that the earring might pull through the hole itself, and it wasn't too big that it looked Gotti on my little Jules. We ended up with a pair that was 14K white gold with a little lavendar stone in the center.

The piercer (is this what you call someone who pierces ears??) had me sit down in a chair and hold Jules in my lap. She put on a pair of latex gloves and pumped hand sanitizer into her hands. She grab a little alcohol swap and wiped down both of Jules earlobes. She then took a little pen and marked a dot in the center of each earlobe -- this is were it got fun. We went back and forth a few times to get the dot just right, and the entire time the piercer (?) was super patient and helpful. We finally got the dots just right. She told me to hold on tight to Jules arms with one hand, and her head with the other.

Squeeze! Cry! Cuddles! First ear done!

Squeeze! Cry! Cuddles! Second ear done!

Jules maybe cried for a total of 15 seconds before she was back to her normal self starring at all the sights of the mall.

I love it and am so glad I got them done.

DIY - Picture Frame Bow Board

Want a cute way to organize clips and bows? Make a Picture Frame Bow Board! Like all my other craft tutorials...this is way, way easy to make. And I'm sure you already have all the supplies on hand.

What you'll need:

• Picture frame
• Scrap fabrics
• Ribbons
• Glue Gun

Step 1: Remove the backing and glass front from your picture frame. You won't need the glass front for this project, but don't throw it away, I'm sure you can find some use out of it!

Step 2: Hot glue your scrap fabric directly onto the picture frame backing. (Don't you just LOVE the fabric I dug out of the reminate section of JoAnn's?)

Step 3: Lay out your coordinating ribbon in a crisscross patter directly on top of the fabric wrapped backing. Adjust your pieces to your liking. Add a dab of glue to the ends of each ribbon and glue to the back of wrapped backing.

Step 4: Put your frame back together. And there you have it! A beautiful bow board! You can even add a little decorative ribbon flower to give your board a little "oomph"

I'm so excited I get to start making cute little handmade bows and clips for Jules. If her hair is going to be anything like mine as a child, she'll need PLENTY of hair bows to tame the wildness!

To Pierce or Not To Pierce...

That is the question.

So, Jules is 2.5 months old and since that day at the hospital when the doctor announced, "It's a GIRL!", I've been debating on when to get her ears pierced.

I think it's ADORABLE to see a little baby with tiny earrings on her tiny little ears. But I am totally torn. Do I pierce her ears after her 4 month shots? Or do I wait until she's older and let her make that decision on her own? Will she tug on her ears and get them infected? If I want too long, will she be too scared to get them pierced?

I don't know what to do!

Do you have a little girl of your own? Does she have her ears pierced? Yes? When and why did you decided to do it when you did.

DIY - Barefoot Baby Bloom Booties

Try saying that three times fast!

Aren't these the cutest!? They are super soft, and super cute! Make one in every color to pair up with a little cute outfit. LOVE!

What you’ll need: (Note: I made this pair to fit just right on Jules (2.5 months). So you’ll need to adjust the measurements for your kiddos feeties)

• T-shirt (I used one purchased from Michael’s, on sale for $2)
• Glue Gun
• Coordinating Needle & thread
• Coordinating felt (you only need a little for each shoe, so go digging through your scrap pile!)

For this project, I wanted to do AS LITTLE sewing as possible, so for the straps, I trimmed off the finished hem of the t-shirt (be sure to cut as close to the hem line as possible). Each shoe will need two-3 inch straps. 

Cut out a coordinating felt circle (approx 2.5 inches) and sew on both straps (I think the picture better describes the process)

Next, create a 5 petal flower template on a piece of paper. My flower ended up being approx. 2.5 inches.  Pin the template on your t-shirt and cut out 18 flowers (9 for each shoe).

Take one petal and fold it in half. Then fold it in half again. Do this with 4 petals. Arrange each petal onto your felt circle so that the corners meet in the middle. Now hot glue the puppies on. You’ll want to also hot glue each petal fold to itself… again… the picture probably describes it better than I can.

Now take your next 4 petals and fold them the same way. This time when gluing them on, rotate your felt circle so that the new petals are lying across ½ of 2 bottom petals (yes, yes, just look at the picture)

Take your last petal piece and fold it in half. Roll one corner into the other, kind of creating a cone shape. This will create the bud of the flower. Hot glue the bud to the middle. Take the top layer of petals and add a dab of glue to the center and adhere it to the bud. This will give your flower more fluff and body.

And there you have it! SOOOO adorable! I could probably make 10 pairs outta 1 XL youth t-shirt! Less than $0.20 a pair! It would look SOOO cute on a diaper cake!