One of a Kind Ribbon...

So surely you figured out that right behind the new custom shirts, would be new custom ribbon prints right? It was my challenge for the month of August. Milla had several cute sundresses hanging in her closet that were not getting worn for ONE reason... NO bow to match!

After several test runs I've figured out how to print ribbon and you can now have a bow with ANYTHING on it. Your daughter's name: no problem. High school logo: no problem. Barney: no problem. I'm really in love with this new concept and I simply CAN'T stop printing!

Here are some examples:

I had a custom circus shirt made for Milla on esty (would love to give you the incredible designers name, but she has closed shop to deal with a family illness). The shirt was SO cute! But I couldn't decide what to put in the center of the bow! Answer: I took a picture of the clown and made a bottlecap center with it for the center of the bow...



When I saw this dress it just SCREAMED Milla! Brown zebra stripes and green and brown polka dots, how super cute. But what to match it with?
I was able to print brown zebra ribbon and brown polka dots! A perfect match! (this is when the addiction started)...

Next, this beautiful sundress from Gymboree that had never been worn because it had no bow. Solution, I took a picture of the fabric, tweeked it a bit and printed a bow with the exact same image:
What's great is Milla has several pieces of this Gymboree line so it can be worn with several different outfits.
My sweet sister sent Milla this boutique camo dress, SO cute! But I couldn't match the fabric with any camo in the store... I was able to use the same technique to print the ribbon.
I wish I had a better close up of Milla's 1st day of school bow (I'll steal it from her room tomorrow and post)... I made her shirt and printed 2 layers of apple ribbon to match. She had a glitter apple in the center of the bow. So cute! There's no way your child's teacher will forget their name on the first day of school when it's on their shirt!
Our television set is all of the sudden turned to football (this is when I become a bow making machine, it's the perfect background noise to craft). I decided that Milla definitely needed a Dallas Cowboys bow. I am in LOVE with this bow! It can be made for high school, college or NFL teams...

So what did Miss Miss (my new nickname for her for some reason) wear to school today? Elmo of course!


This girl would SERIOUSLY wear a character shirt every day if I would let her... Her other favorite is Minnie Mouse, so I made her a Minnie Mouse bow too...
Interested in getting your own one of a kind bow? Have a dress in the back of the closet without a bow or a birthday celebration coming up that you need a spectacular bow for? Email me, challenge me, it's why I love doing this!

Oh and some bows I did for a baby shower a few weeks ago...

Sale!!!

You may remember that last fall I did a crazy craft show... I probably spent 80 HOURS making bows leading up to the event and I'm still sitting on a ton of inventory from it... Originally, I thought I would save the inventory and do another show, but Roger and I have discussed it at length and decided our weekends are way too important to us as a family.

Now it's time to get rid of the inventory! On average I have 3 to 5 of each of the bows listed in this sale...

Next week... Back to School Basics Sale! Woo hoo!

Big Animal Print Bows... $4 each or all 3 for $10

Pink, pink, pink... $4 or all 3 for $10

Medium sized basics... 1 for $3 or 3 for $8 (you choose your colors)

Triple layers of fun $5 each... or 3 for $12

Here's what they look like close up, super cute... big sellers for me last fall

Boutique bows $6 or 3 for $15

For our older girls... Pony-o's $3 or 3 for $8

Close up of the pony-o... so cute!

Hair streamers... $3

Ready to place your order? Email me at ashleedfort(at)yahoo.com or send me an email on facebook.

Know me in real life and want to look at these products before you buy? Let me know and I'll bring a bag the next time I see you with whatever you are interested in.

Hope everyone is enjoying these last few weeks of summer!

What's New at Cupcake Clips???

Hi friends...

I'm not sure what to call a hiatus from March to August... somehow Spring Break turned into Summer Break and although I have made LOTS of bows and cupcake pops and personalized t-shirts... I keep forgetting to photograph them!

Tonight I had a friend call wanting to order a bow that I had done for a baby shower a couple of months ago, but she couldn't find it on my blog or website. Sadly, I never took any pictures of the bows I did for that shower which is SUCH a shame!

Here is the bow, it's the perfect baby shower bow! 3 layers of baby pink! It can also be done in any other solid colors you need and the headband is included.

Baby Girl Bow - $8

Side view

Another friend saw all of Milla's new personalized shirts and asked me to make her one for her daughter. This was SUCH a fun project because as I kid I went to Camp Grandpa every summer. I hope Ella has a wonderful time at Camp Grannie Z!

The personalized shirt is $8 and the bow is $6.

Close up of the shirt...

Close up of the bandana bow...

Since I was making a shirt, I decided to make Milla a leopard print one. I'm SO bored with her summer wardrobe right now so it's fun to have some personalized shirts to mix it up...

Close up of the shirt...

Close up of the bow...

Leopard heart bow... $8

I will be announcing a back to school sale soon. Lots of basics and Made to Match Gymboree. I'm also hoping to redo my entire website (wish me luck!)...

Mexican Casserole Recipe...

I'm so excited to hear some of my friends have tried the fried rice recipe! I thought I'd share some Tex Mex favorites...

KING RANCH CHICKEN
We have LONG been fans of King Ranch Chicken... I have fond memories of it being served at camp when I was a kiddo... it was always my favorite dinner at camp. I have several friends from south Texas and we all make it differently (some use flour tortillas, some use noodles, some use tortilla chips and I use flour tortillas)...

2 chicken breasts (I use rotesserie chicken from the supermarket)
1 can rotel (we don't like it chunky so I blend it for a second in the blender)
1 can cream of cheddar soup
1 can of cream of chicken soup
4 flour tortillas
1 cup of mexican cheese mix
2 ounces of velveeta if you have it on hand

Mix together rotel, cheddar soup, chicken soup, 1/2 c mexican cheese and shredded velveeta
Shred chicken breasts into small pieces
Tear tortillas into small pieces

Mix all together in a casserole dish and cover with the other 1/2 c of mexican cheese

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350... serves 4.

King Ranch Beef
1 pound of ground beef
Taco seasoning
1 can rotel (we don't like it chunky so I blend it for a second in the blender)
1 can cream of cheddar soup
4 flour tortillas
1 cup of mexican cheese mix
2 ounces of velveeta if you have it on hand

Brown beef with taco seasoning (don't use too much... it ended up pretty spicy)
Stir together rotel, cheddar soup, 1/2 c mexican cheese and velveeta
Tear tortillas into small pieces
Stir everything together and cover with other 1/2 c of mexican cheese

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes... serves 4.

Both are GREAT with Megathin tortilla chips...

Oh also if you are on Facebook... become a fan of Cupcake Clips and Bows... I'll be doing some giveaways and sales exclusive to fans...

Click here to become a fan...

"It's a Girl" Cupcake Pops...

I had such an exciting order come in. One of Roger's co-workers is going to be a grandma to a new baby girl! Paisley! She is coming today or tomorrow and Grandma Paula is SO excited! This is the first girl for several generations, which makes her even more special.

Paula ordered 3 dozen cupcake pops, which meant I needed to make 5 dozen to have 3 dozen that I was happy with... oh darn, I guess we'll just have to eat the left overs. :)


Loving the new depth of field feature on my camera...
How cool is that?
All wrapped up and ready to go...

Recipe Share: Chicken Fried Rice Hibachi Style...

I've told several friends lately about my awesome Chicken Fried Rice recipe that our family has been enjoying and I finally decided I would do a little photo demonstration to share the recipe with everyone...

Here are the ingredients:
2 cups of cooked white rice, cook beforehand and cool in fridge
3 eggs, scrambled
1 rotisserie chicken (we only use the white meat)
Green and yellow onions chopped
Butter
Soy Sauce
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Fried Rice Seasoning Packet (found at Walmart with the oriental food)
Sesame Seeds (found on the spice aisle)

This can be done in a large frying pan or a wok (I finally bought a wok pan at Kohls for 1/2 off)...
Scramble your 3 eggs in the wok and set aside...
Sautee onions and garlic in butter and soy sauce (I don't measure either, probably 2 tablespoons of each)
I add a little more soy sauce and butter before I add the rice
Add white rice and stir well
Add chicken, egg and a little more soy sauce
At the very end sprinkle sesame seeds on top
We also make this with beef, for it I use 1 T-bone cut into small pieces and marinated in soy sauce and pepper, I stir-fry it first before the egg, it's WONDERFUL as well.

Enjoy!

Look how far we've come!!!

Today Milla walked out of her room with a ziploc bag of bows...

No, this is not how I normally store my bows...

What she had found was a bag of my "prototypes"...

Bows made before she was even born...

Bows that NO one should have bought...

But my sweet friends supported me and bought them... man do I owe them some free bows!!

How it all began...
On October 19th, 2007... I was put on strict bed rest for signs of pre-eclampsia after a trip to the hospital at 30 weeks pregnant (read about the journey here)...

On November 1st, 2007... I had posted my first bows online for sale... So much for bed rest!

Here are my first bows... looking back at them now they look HORRIBLE to me! The loops are bad, the proportions are off, I didn't know my "secret fold" technique back then... NOT GOOD!

But fun to look back and laugh at...



My first model... (life before Milla) My second model (my sorority little sis' baby daughter Teaghan) the first day I met her on November 17th (getting a little better)...

The first picture I can locate of Milla wearing a bow - Dec 20th (I don't have her hospital pics) and life was WAY too busy to locate a bow those first few days after coming home...
By February, I was turning out a few products that I would still use today...


In March , I launched the official Cupcake Clips & Bows website and in April I mastered the large loopy bow... (Whoa that's HUGE!)... It's amazing how far my little bow business has come...

I never thought I would get text messages asking for me to bring bows to my Little Gym class or to playgroup that day...

I never thought people would stop me at the mall and ask me where I got Milla's bows...

I never thought I would be asked to make birthday bows that are so personal and special that they make me swell with pride...

I stand amazed by my supportive friends and wonderfully supportive husband (I need to post about the bow organizational system he bought me for Christmas)...

I can't wait to see where this journey leads me next!

Be Mine Valentine...

All the Christmas decorations are put away and if you've been to a craft store (or department store) lately you know they moved right on to Valentine's Day! I LOVE Valentine's Day and last year Milla ended up with 14 different Valentine inspired outfits and we started dressing for the occasion on February 1st.

So here is our Valentine collection... exactly 1 month before Valentine's Day. Order this week (through January 21st) and receive 25% off your order.

How do you order you ask? To take advantage of the discount, the best thing to do is email me which bows you are looking to buy and I will send you your discounted total and either bill you through paypal (my preferred option) or you can use snail mail and send me a check.

If you have a special Valentine outfit that you need a bow for, just send me a picture of the outfit and I will make a special one of kind bow for you for the same price!

Looking for a bigger bow? Just let me know and I'll be happy to make a custom Texas sized bow for your little princess.

Here is the Cupcake Clips & Bows Valentine's Collection 2009!

Petite Bows (measure 2 1/2 inches - great for pigtails) $4 or $6 for piggies

Medium bows (measure 4 inches) $5

Layered bows (measure 4 1/2 inches with 3 layers) - $7

Here are the details on each bow...

Layered Conversation Heart - $7

Layered Cherry Heart - $7

Layered Paisley Heart - $7

Layered Classic Heart - $7

Layered Love Bug - $7

Layered Black & Pink - $7

Medium Conversation Heart - $5

Medium Classic Pink - $5

Medium Paisley Heart - $5

Medium Heart Camo - $5

Petite Classic Red - $4

Petite Cherry Heart - $4

Petite Paisley Heart - $4

Petite Conversation Heart - $4

Petite Camo Heart - $4

Petite Pink & Black - $4

Petite Love Bug - $4

Petite Sweet Heart Piggies - $6 (also available as individuals at $4)