Craft Club Applique Shirts...

One of the great things about GCS Mom's League is our Craft Club. Jessica Roberts of Jessica Roberts Designs (http://www.jessicarobertsdesigns.com/) is our coordinator and she does a fantastic job!

This month we did applique t-shirts. Which I'm totally in love with! I posted my first one on facebook and had several friends ask if I would teach them how to make them, so here are my instructions. Enjoy!

Supplies needed: T-shirt (Walmart and Target have great ones), material (I've been having them cut 1/2 a yard and it's more than I'll ever use on one shirt), a template (you can buy them on etsy for about $1.50 each or create your own out of die cuts or images online), steam a seam sheets (found in the sewing area at Hobby Lobby or Joanns), scissors, embroidery thread, and embroidery needles...First cut out your template.

The steam a seam is like double stick tape that has to be ironed to activate. There is also a sheet of parchment paper to seperate the sheets. Discard the sheet of parchment paper.
Trace your design on the back of the steam a seam as a reverse image.
Iron it onto the back of your material for about 10 seconds.

Cut the shape out following the pattern on the back of the steam a seam...
Add some contrasting fabric if you want (I just used small pieces of steam a seam to add them on)...
There is a peel on the back of the steam a seam paper that will need to be removed before you iron it onto the shirt...
Take your embroidery thread and needle and add a loop stitch around the entire border, this gives it a more "finished" look...
Here are some of my other creations this weekend... Milla LOVES alligators so I made her an alligator shirt (I used her purse as the pattern)...
Seriously how cute is this?
She LOVED it!
Super fun for the zoo!
This is the shirt I made at craft club...

These are so easy to make and I've found the hand sewing portion of it is oddly relaxing before bed. Happy shirt making! Feel free to comment with any questions!

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!