BABY TIME Guest Post--Hair Bow Bouquets & a GIVEAWAY!

Note: Read all the way to the end for a fun giveaway!

Hello to all of Kendra's readers! My name is Heather, and I am a mom of three, a stepmom of two, and the wife of one great guy. I am fairly new to the blogging world, but not to the crafting world. I've been making hair bows and clips for about six years now, and have a little business called Lulu and Junebug. To say that I am honored to post at My Insanity would be a major understatement. Kendra's blog is one of my daily reads - she has such a knack for finding the best projects and inspiration in blogland, and she is so creative, even with three kids and another on the way! So, when Kendra asked me to be a guest blogger, I may or may not have squealed out loud {just a little bit}.

Today I'm going to share one of my favorite baby girl shower gifts - a hair bow bouquet. When I bring these to baby showers, everyone goes crazy over them! I am all about presentation when it comes to gifts, and this is just about the cutest way to spoil a new baby girl (and a mom to be) that I can think of. The great thing about this gift is that it can be used as a hair bow holder once the shower is over. I try to coordinate the gift to the colors or theme of the nursery. Even if you don't know how to make your own hair bows, you can still pull this off. This project is so quick and easy, and can be made with things you might already have in your stash.

Here is what you need:

- Small bucket, pot, or other container of your choice (for this tutorial, I used a little galvanized bucket from the Target Dollar Spot)

- Floral foam

- Wooden skewers

- Hair bows and clips, either handmade or purchased (basic hair bows can be purchased from Target, Walmart, and many other retailers, or on Etsy or Ebay)

- Hot glue gun

- Scissors

- 3/8 inch ribbon in coordinating colors (I chose a sweet red, pink, and aqua color scheme for this bouquet)

- Paper shreds (I purchase mine from the Dollar Tree)

- Ribbon/fabric/other embellishments (optional)

Now that you have gathered your materials, let's get started!

1) Cut your floral foam to size, and insert into your container.

2) Next, using a small amount of hot glue, you will wrap and attach your 3/8 inch ribbon to your wooden skewers. Glue the top and wrap around the skewer about 3/4 of the way down, covering the wood completely. Put a few dabs of hot glue on the way down to secure the ribbon. You will use as many skewers as you need to hold the number of hair bows you are working with. I normally put 2-3 hair bows/clips on each skewer. I think it is best to use an odd number of skewers, but do what looks best to you.

3) Push your skewers down into the floral foam and arrange them in a way that looks pleasing to you. Depending on the size of your container, you might need to cut or break off the ends of the skewers. In this example, I am using a fairly small bucket, so I had to cut off about two inches from my skewers before I put them into the foam.

4) Now for the fun part! Clip your hair bows, clips and flowers on to the skewers. There is no right or wrong way to do this - just do what looks good to you. Once you have the clips placed on the skewers, cover the floral foam with your paper shreds. It's starting to look pretty cute, huh?

5) This next step is optional, but I simply can't help myself from embellishing the heck out of these things! For this example, I simply took extra ribbon, tulle and leftover fabric in coordinating colors and tied them on to the bucket handle. I then hot glued ribbon to a clothespin, and used some paper and a chipboard letter to make a cute little monogrammed tag. Ahh, so sweet!

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial, and that I have inspired you to go make your own bow bouquet! Although they are the *perfect* baby shower gift, they also make a wonderful gift for older girls. I'll close out with a few examples of bouquets I've made in the past - have fun creating one of your own! I just want to give another huge thanks to Kendra for having me today!

GIVEAWAY:

Kendra here! Heather let me know that she would be willing to giveaway the beautiful bow bouquet she made for the tutorial! Lucky you! She will change out the monogrammed tag for the winner.

All you have to do is leave a comment, either about your favorite hairbows here, or your favorite gift to take to a shower! That's it! If I am in a position to, I'll pick a winner next week, so leave your comments before midnight on Monday, May 10!

Thanks Heather!