No Sew Clip-on Bowtie Tutorial

I love dressing my boys up in bowties!

A few weeks ago I had posted about making them for our church pictures.

A few of you mentioned you wished you knew how to.

So, here it is ladies :)

They're SUPER inexpensive.

All you will need is a very small piece of fabric, hot glue and an alligator clip.

All of this can be found at your local craft store.

Happy bowtie making!

*excuse the next typo* :)

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Make sure to enter yesterdays giveaway!!

If you have any questions about the tutorial please ask away!

End of January Giveaway!

Oooo you guys are in for a treat today!!!
If you haven't the blog/shop Take the Cannoli you are missing out!
Nat is the writer/designer behind all of it.
She has just opened her shop...full of beautiful hand embroidered hoop art and other goodies!
Every single piece in her shop is so beautiful!
My favorites are her "Hymnal Line"
Go check out here blog here!
And check out her shop here!
She's on Twitter here.
And Facebook here.

I asked her to give a little schpeel about her, her blog and her shop....

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Hi there, I'm Nat from "Take the Cannoli". I am twenty something (for just a little longer), wifey to Micah, mama to my two sweet babes; Elsie Pearl & Vernon Ribble, a Southern Californian girl, and a crafter of sorts. I am a lover of Jesus, coffee, the beach and pastries of course!

Until recently my blog was just used to document and communicate my life for out of state family and friends. It has since taken on a life of its own and has morphed into something so much more! Through blogging I have opened up about life as a stay at home mama (the joys and sorrows) and touched on some struggles I have gone through this past year. I talked a little about that here. This year has already been amazing and I have been blessed by new friendships and opportunities through this blog. Not only have I found my voice, I have seen who I used to be, who I am now and who I am becoming. I have also launched my new online shop of handcrafted items made up mostly of my embroidery which has kind of become my therapeutic outlet. I would love for you to stop by and stay awhile as I journey through this new chapter in my life. Though not always sunshine and rainbows, I will always be real and honest.

Check this recent post if you think I'm kidding.

So… enough about me and onto the goods! In celebration of the New Year, and wrapping up the first month of 2012, I am giving away a piece from my collection. Miss Ashley and her beautiful blog have inspired me to whip up this little piece I like to call "Friends". I am so blessed to have met Ashley and I know that our friendship will transcend the Blogosphere and materialize in the physical world too. Proverbs 27:17 reads "As iron sharpens iron, so the man sharpens the countenance of his friends." I have found this to be true and am encouraged by so many of you out there. I truly "Love my friends" don't you?

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Nat is giving one of you readers a gorgeous hand embroidered piece!
Isn't it beautiful!?

To enter to win you must be a follower of The Vanilla Tulip and Take the Cannolli.

Make sure you're following both blogs and then leave ONE comment letting me know you've done so!

One entry per person.

The winner will be announced this Saturday the 4th.

Saturday

Well...a bow tie tutorial was promised for today. It's not happening. My Internet is giving me fits...so next week it is:)
I'm using my phone right now...so this will be short and sweet!
Our weekend has been nice! Trav was gone most of it at a coaching seminar. The kids and I stuck close to home and played and crafted our weekend away!
Hope your weekend was great!

This week in phone pics...

This week we had pancake breakfasts Monday through Thursday.

It was a good week :)

 This week I made a gigantic batch of chocolate chip cookie dough.
And I ended up burning three out of the four batches of cookies.I kept getting side tracked and forgetting they were in there.Note to self: make cookies when the kids are napping :) This week Cade perfected some faces that made him even more kissable :)






 This week my sister and I made Valentine wreaths for my doors.
And speaking of holidays.
I finally took my white Christmas tree down yesterday.
Honestly I would keep it up all year round.
I don't think Trav would be too big on that though :)

 This week Emma got ahold of my phone and snapped a few pictures without me knowing.
I just found this one this morning while I was scrolling through.Morning tickle time at it's finest :)

 This week Colt continued to draw on his Magnadoodle.His pictures crack me up!
He said this one was a man (on the left) watching birds (on the right).He also draws a stellar spider and jellyfish.I'm impressed for a two year old!

  _________________________________________________________________ How was your week?
Big plans for your weekend?I'll be back tomorrow with a fun tutorial on how to make bow ties for your little guys!Bow ties with a hot glue gun ;)No sewing involved! Have a great Friday!

Be Back :)

Just checking in :)

I'll be back Friday with a real post....

I've just been enjoying these three little ones!

Hope you had a great day!!!

Project Hope Update

Goodmorning friends!

Back in November I posted about my friend Laura and Project Hope.

The goal of Project Hope is to provide care boxes for mothers who have lost a baby through miscarriage, still birth as well as babies in the NICU.

Laura has written up a follow up post of the project.
I'd love for you to head over there today to read it.

Just click here.

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It's rainy and gray here today.
Perfect weather to do laundry and cozy up:)

Have a great Wednesday!

Four

Happy 4th Birthday to my sweet Emma Kate!!!!

I love my sweet girl more than words can describe.

I love her kindness and generosity...
I love her bubbly personality...

I love that her best friends are her brothers...
I love her tender heart.

We spent her birthday at home with just our family this year.
It was wonderful :)
The day was spent playing, reading, going on treasure hunts, taking pictures, taking naps and making pizzas.

My sister Bekka joined us for half the day...
my kids ADORE her!
She walked in the door and Colt said,

"Aunt Bekka! You're home!"

:)

Not only did Bekka come to celebrate but she brought the cake.
And not just any cake.
She made a Rapunzel Barbie cake for Emma.

It was beautiful!!!

Sweet Em is not one for change.
Yesterday I made the mistake of telling her it would be the last day she was three.
She fell to the floor sobbing that she wanted to be three forever :)
She's beginning to warm up to the idea of four today...

We'll see how she feels about it tomorrow!

Here are a few pictures from her special day...

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Hope your Monday was great :)

This and That

 Happy Saturday!

I have a few random thoughts that I don't want to forget to share with you before the week is over!

So here we go :)

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In case you missed it I will be offering advertising starting in February!

AND...

If you purchase a February ad

I will give you the month of March for free!

It doesn't matter which size you purchase.

All the info is here.

If you would like an ad just e-mail me:

thevanillatulip {at} yahoo {dot} com

This is a great way to grow your blog or business!

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My friend Ashley from college recently started a blog.
As did her sister Alison.
These two are gems:)

Head on over to their blogs and follow along!

You won't be sorry!

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This week we...

Danced before breakfast...

 Enjoyed the crazy warm weather...
(it got up to 76 this particular day!)

 Played outside barefoot...
 Read lots of books...
 And also took random pictures of our fuzzy haired baby :)
 And speaking of random.
I took this picture on our walk the other night.
The area we live in has a BAJILLION buzzards (vultures).
I have never seen so many in my entire life!It's kind of hard to tell...but all the little black dots are buzzards.
And that's just a fraction of what was flying around.
 ___________________________________________________________________ I'm off to sew while the babies are napping.
The beginning of February I'll show you what I've been up to :)
What are your weekend plans?
Hope it's a good one!