Easter Bonnet Headband Tutorial and Giveaway! GIVEAWAY CLOSED

I am pretty excited about this post. Mainly because I don't really want to give this outfit away which means it is pretty cute right? Also, I received so many comments and emails about Evies headband with her Butterfly Dress that I thought I could share a step by step on how I made the Easter Bonnet Headband so you can make one for your own cutie. When I was younger I LOVED over the top hats so I reveled in the opportunity to wear one to church on Easter, my own Easter Bonnet. Since I couldn't find one I loved for Evie I thought instead I could make her a headband that was as bright and cheerful as an Easter bonnet:

This also gave me an excuse to get the boys gussied up in their Easter outfits and do a mini photoshoot.

 I literally thought of this at 4pm and ran around like a crazy women so the chillins were feed, dressed and ready to go when Daddy got home at 5:30. That even meant making Sawyer a bow tie!

I used Cheri's retro pointed bow tie pattern from I am Mama Hear Me Roar. It was ridiculously easy to sew and took me no more then ten minutes once I had it cut out (which took about 2 ha!) I had the dickens of a time tying it though but I think that is mainly due to my inability to EVER learn how to even tie a tie let a lone a bow tie. Liam's tie is actually a hand me down that I made Sawyer and is comically WAY to small. You can find the pattern and tutorial HERE by yours truely although I am going to be making a next size up pattern pretty soon :)

Evie's dress will also go to the winner of the giveaway (details at the start of the tute). It was my original creation for the week in Project Run And Play where we fiddled with the Sweet Dress pattern. I loved it but it wasn't over the top enough for me, super cute but rather unoriginal. So, I set it aside and came up with the Couture Cutie or Mullet dress.

This little number ended up making it to the darkness that is Evie's dress closet and was not retrieved until this photoshoot. We just don't have opportunities to put dresses like this on her so I thought it should go to a good home where it will get worn! Her leggings are of course from We Love Colors. Oh and I totally forgot to mention last time (and received a few inquires about it) Evie's shoes, both the gold pair from before and this white pair are from Target online. I got them for a steal of deal: $2.30!!! I even ended up ordering some extra pairs for other little girls on the island ha! Okay enough about the clothes on to give away details and the tute.
Give Away Rules:
Leave a separate comment for each please:
You can be entered once by leaving a comment
A second time but posting about it on Facebook
But you MUST be willing to check back to see if you won by Saturday night USA time. I am currently in Singapore and want to get this in the mail while I am here so it will get to you lickety split as opposed to the over six weeks it would usually take. That means I HAVE to have your address by Saturday evening USA time so I can get the package in the mail on Monday morning my time. Yup, that means this is a super fast giveaway.
Now on to the Tute!!!

Now to begin with this headband is inspired by those made over on Heart Made. She does the most fabulous job of documenting her creations and every now and then will give you a little sneak peak of how she makes the amazing headbands in her Etsy shop, like HERE for example. So lets start out making our folded felt flower. I do this a little differently then she teaches on the tute I linked to above. Mainly because it makes it go faster ha!

Spinning A Yarn Necklace

 Quick Note: The Fun Funky Fleece Hat Pattern can be found HERE. I am finally getting caught up :) Also if you click the link to the right, I have updated all the links to my patterns. I WILL be organized if it kills me, or just makes me super tired. 

I love chunky comfy looking necklaces. If I could I would TOTALLY knit myself some necklaces. Big chunky knit necklaces (do those exist?). Well I still can't figure out how to knit so I thought I would try my hand at making a fun necklace out of yarn and I LOVE how it turned out:

It is so terribly simply I know I will be making lots more of these. I have some gorgeous organic brown yarn that is super thick I have been trying to figure out what to do with ;)
What you need:
Left overs from a skein of wool in whatever color of colors you like
Glue Gun
Ribbon
Flowers etc for embellishment

I decided I wanted 3 loops on my necklace but you can do as many as you like. I think my next one will have 5 (I love odd numbers).  Each rope goes up in size. The first rope is a braid with 1 piece of yarn per section, the second has 2 pieces of yarn per section and the final has 3. I tape the top section so I would have some tension and this made braiding a lot easier.

Anthropologie Hat-- The Tutorial

Here are the super quick easy instructions in order to make a knock off Yestadt Millenery for Anthropologie hat.

I have had a few people ask where I got the shrug and it was one of those walk past the store window and grind to a halt, run in and by it in all 3 colors. It was at an Urban Outfitters in Tysons Corner, Washington DC. I could see if I could copy it out to a tutorial though, it shouldn't be all that difficult... I hope ha!
What you will need:
A rectangle of felt (if you have high quality felt that is awesome!)
Extra wide ribbon (Grossgrain is used in the Anthro hat)
Ribbon (Crushed velvet ribbon was used in the original hat)
Buttons
A large plum feather such as Ostrich if it is available but I used some plucked from my feather duster :)
A 20 inch length of Bias tape, or cording or extra wide ribbon.
Needle and thread
The rectangle I used was 20 inches long and I cut it on the fold (so 10 on each side).

And he called it Macaroni....

It may be the fact that it was Halloween, or the enormous amount of "The Tudors" I have been watching (um, can I tell you how awesome it is to live in a place that edits HBO haa!!) but when I saw this hat on Anthropologie yesterday I HAD to make it.

Add to it the fact that it comes with a $228.00 price tag and I thought I can absolutely make that with things I have on hand. 

I had to switch things up a bit. I didn't have large Grosgrain instead I had wide velvet like the small ribbon in the Anthro picture. 

Fun Funky Fleece Hat

Shannon at luvinthemommyhood has been doing the most wonderful contest his month: Sewing vs. Knitting. I must admit I am a little  super amount envious of people who can knit. I have tried several times to learn but I think it is like languages, I have a mental block where it is involved. ANYWAY, since I am a sewer I thought I should take a turn in the ring and take on those chunky knits I so adore. Every winter I make these fun funky fleece hats. I get comments on them when ever my kiddos and I wear them out. 

The kids love them because when I wear them it means I am totally up for some fun. 

I love them because they are so easy and look adorable at football games, tailgates, sledding etc. they MAKE pictures :) When I made Finn his first one for William and Mary's homecoming he ended up on the front page of the newspaper AND the home page of the college:

Now thats gotta be good right? But since I try my hardest to be a mom who has a ton of fun with her kids I thought you might like to learn how to make your very own funky fun fleece hat.