For example...

One of the reasons that I wanted to make hairbows was so that my daughter would have a bow to match any and every outfit. I tend to NEVER make a plain solid bow for her. Obviously that is easy for me since I have all the supplies on hand. I am going to post her summer wardrobe(all from Kohl's, I believe) in order to show how easy it can be to customize a bow to an outfit. Keep in mind, that it is impossible to perfectly match a ribbon color to the clothing but since the bow is worn in the hair, it makes the variation much less noticeable.

Here I added a butterfly applique to a layered bow to match the butterflies on the shirt.


My daughter begged for this cherry shirt and although I was not feeling the green, I caved. I happened to have some apple green ribbon with fushia polka dots and it matched well enough for me to make a layered bow.


This outfit was easy to match...the hardest part was choosing which flower applique matched the best. This is actually 2 appliques glued together.


I added 2 stacked crocheted flower appliques to this layered bow. I did not crochet them, although I would love to learn how. I fiddled around with a hook and some yarn while watching some tutorials online, but the yarn tension kept throwing me off. So for now I will leave the crocheting to the professionals!


Ahh...the zebra outfit. Kaylie LOVED it! Mu husband was not so fond of it, but what does he know?? ;) I was just happy to have a use for my zebra print ribbon! And I happen to think it looks really cute on her! This, of course, is a korker bow.


Another korker bow.


When I made this layered loopy flower bow, I went a bit overboard on the layers. I put it on her head and immediately thought it was too big. But I was convinced otherwise, so it stayed, although I don't think I will ever make her one quite that large again!


This little skirt has gold threads running through it so I wrapped the center of this layered bow with gold ribbon.


And Kaylie first wore this outfit to the TN Aquarium so I just had to add a fish applique to this bow!


Obviously customizing a bow to an outfit can limit the useful life of the bow. It's not for everyone, or for every outfit. But I get so many compliments on her matching bows that I can't seem to rein myself in! And as for the bows that match her outgrown clothing, well, I sell them with the outfits at the JBF sale!

Appliqued Clips

I added something new to my crafting collection...fabric appliques! They make such adorable clips! And when added to a bow, they can really pull an outfit together. I have many different types of appliques and am always on the lookout for more! Here is an example of some of the appliqued clips that I made for the spring JBF sale this year.



These were all sold as singles but I can also make sets. Any of these appliques can also be added to any bow as a center. These are very spring-like but I will be ordering a few fall/winter ones in the near future!

I just LOVE custom orders!

A good friend of mine recently sent me some pictures of her daughter's winter wardrobe. She gave me the privilege of making the bows to match! I finished them this morning and got the box in the mail! I am so eager to hear what she thinks of them all and whether they match as well as I think they will!

She wanted some regular basic bows and layered basics.

I threw in a layered loopy bow just to mix it up.

And of course she wanted some korkers!

And I think she will LOVE the ponytail streamer! As with any bow or streamer on a pony-o/elastic, you should pull the hair back tightly with a plain elastic and then put the decorated elastic on top of the plain one. This will ensure that your decorated elastic doesn't get all stretched out.

And now on to the ribbon sculptures/clippies. Several of these were my first attempts!

She wanted a reindeer and I wasn't happy with the ones I have seen online so I combined a few techniques and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the end result! This was my first attempt at a reindeer but definitely won't be my last!

And then there was the cupcake. Once again, I liked parts of two different designs so I combined them and this is what I ended up with! This was also a first attempt.

I have seen so many different character clippies, but I have never really been wild about them. My daughter isn't a big Disney Princess fan so she hasn't asked for any. But Jen told me that her daughter was crazy about Tinkerbell. So I HAD to try my hand at that. As with making any clippie for the first time, there is a learning curve. I destroyed several pieces of ribbon before I got this one down! The instructions weren't the best, but the result is pretty darn cute!!

And I can't forget the turkeys! I made the traditional one first. And then she sent me a picture of a pillowcase dress that had a turkey applique on the front. It had the multi-colored tail feathers and the straps of the dress were orange and white polka dot ribbon. So I felt inspired to make a custom turkey to match!

Custom orders are so much fun! I really NEED the direction when putting together color combos! Thanks for inspiring me Jen and I hope you like them!!

Sweet as candy.....Peppermints, that is!

I bought the instructions for making a peppermint candy clippie recently! It's my first attempt so it isn't as exact as I would like but I think it turned out well! My little model was being a little cheesy though! Gotta love her!

I attached this one to an upside down clip so that the candy would lay flat. It would also work well on a barrette and it is definitely large enough to do so. The candy is about 4 1/4 inches long and almost 2 inches wide.

More Korker Color Combinations

I made these korkers recently. They are so much work but I really love the look of them with a ponytail! These are on a french barrette but I can also attach them to an elastic band, to go directly on a pony tail. However, if they are attached to an elastic, I highly recommend using a plain elastic to hold the hair back tightly, and then putting the korker elastic on top of that one. That way the korker elastic doesn't get all stretched out.


From left to right, red, white,& lt pink/ hot pink, orchid, & mint/ red, white, & green/ lt pink & hot pink/ lt pink, brown, lt pink & brown polkas/ hot pink, white, & hot pink polka/ lt pink, white, & lt pink polka/ and orange, white, & orange polka.

Bar Bow Sets

I first began selling my bar bows in pairs. However I soon realized that I typically only used a single in my daughter's hair. So I started making packs of singles in a variety of colors. Pairs are still nice because even if you only need one, you will have a spare in case one gets lost. These are the variety packs I put together.

Popular Variety Pack - lt pink, hot pink, red, white, and brown.



Bright Variety Pack - hot pink, shk pink, orchid, turquoise, and apple green.



Pastel Variety Pack - lt pink, lavender, lt yellow, mint, and lt blue.



Primary Variety Pack - red, royal, yellow-gold, green, and orange.



Neutral Variety Pack - white, cream, khaki, brown, and black.

Printed Bar Bows!

Here are some of my bar bows made from printed ribbon.


From left to right, colorful cupcake, cupcake, sock monkey, ballet shoes, bright flowers, support our troops, and Gymbo ladybug.



From left to right, hot pink crossbones, white crossbones, beach club stripes, lt pink crossbones, orange crossbones, and Christmas stripes.



From left to right, lt pink with brown polka, hot pink polka, brown with pink polka, & orange with black polka.
I have several other colors with the traditional white polka (like the hot pink polka). I also have red with black polka.