Dressing Up Should Always Be Fun!!

I love dressing up for church.  Since my uniform tends to be jammies or whatever is the most comfy, dressing up is something I look forward to a few times a week.  Even date nights I try to dress up.  I think it's nice to look your best for your favorite person!!

Recently, in the past few months, my oldest son has been asking to wear ties to church because he wants to be like his daddy(awww!!)  He's only three and there really isn't that many options for him other than the the children's suit sets that cost an arm and a leg!!  This pattern made two ties, a small short one and a thinner larger one.  The total cost per tie was about $2, give or take some change.
I utilized my friend, Pinterest, and found a great tutorial on the making of children's ties. Click here to see how!!  This one tells you how to make it from an old shirt, but they also give you the measurements so any comparable fabric will work. I only had the woman at the fabric store cut about 1/4 a yard and was able to make two ties from it.  A very small one for my one year old and a little bigger one for my three year old.  I think next time I will use the same amount only cut them evenly so the ties are similar sizes.   I took my three year old to the fabric store and let him pick out the fabric.  He really liked that. I would advice a pattern that is small as the end result could hide the design on a lot of the bigger patterns.  Lesson learned.  It still worked out, I just had to adjust the way I folded the fabric.  I actually started out buying children's tie clips on amazon super cheap(.95 each!!).  He are some pictures of my progress.

Those are pictures of the steps I took to make the ties.  I didn't take any of the tying part, because I had to Google tying a tie to a tie clip.  Click here to watch the how to on putting a finished neck tie onto an empty tie clip.  I tried to do it with the measurements in the tutorial but it was very difficult to attach to the tie clip.  The second tie I made was much longer and thinner and I like the way it turned out better then the first.  

So make sure to get enough fabric to account for an extra tie if you don't like the first.  It's definitely a learning process as the second was much easier and I made it a lot faster than the first.  The second one I made was longer than the first and has a "tail" on it, or just like a non clip-on tie, it has the small, thin part in the back.

Here is the finished ties!! 

My favorite is the one on the right.  The one on the left was the first one I made and it's a little too wide for my liking and it was extremely difficult to attach to the clip.  The corner of the clip is still showing on the left side, but I kept it as the collar on Titus' shirt covered it up.

So there you have it!! It's not a step by step, but I have included the links for you to have the step by step.  I have more empty clips so I may have to run to the fabric store in the near future.  Be sure to check them out on a munchkin near you!! Thanks for tuning in!!

My Easy Homemade Packing Tip For Really Big Packages

Today I had to wrap and package up my little niece's birthday present.  It was very fun to wrap.

She is going to LOVE it!!

It actually didn't take up the whole roll of wrapping paper.

Here's what I did:

•  I found a grocery store in my area that still offers paper bags for groceries.  I bought a few groceries so the store would be compensated a little for the paper bags.  I wasn't sure how many I needed so I just started with four.  I will be building up a supply as I shop so I will be ready for present mailing season!
• Next I carefully opened up all of the bags and lay them flat.

• Next I taped all of the bags together making sure the side I wanted facing out(not the side with the grocery store name) had the tape on it to make it more secure.  I started with three and checked to see it it would be enough, but the package was too big so I ended up needing all four.  I made sure to tape all of the seams so the paper would be secure.
• Lastly, I treated the package like a present and wrapped it.  I used packing tape and then proceeded to run out so I found some duct tape that I knew would hold it nice and tight!  

Here is the finished product!  All set to address and mail!  The grocery store I got the bags from had handles that I removed before wrapping the package and since I will be going to the post office with the package as well as most likely carrying a small toddler, I taped two of the handles right back on the package!  Besides, the post office workers will now have something to grab on to and hopefully not manhandle and tear the package!  It's also not very heavy so if you have a heavier package be careful if you're trying the handle idea.

I would love to hear what types of things you would pack using this idea!!