OK, all you crafty people out there – I have a website for you. Maybe you’ve already found your way to the Girly Things website. Maybe not. Either way, you’ll be glad you visited. It is without a doubt the most comprehensive website on the internet for free hair bow tutorials.

A few years back, I became very frustrated when I went online to find instructions for making hair bows for my daughter. I knew that almost any other craft you can think of is well represented with websites and discussion groups freely sharing patterns, instructions and crafting tips. However, when it came to hair bows all I could find were a handful of people selling PDF files with tutorials. And, the insult was that those PDF files were often very expensive. When I finally got my hands on a few, I found that for the most part they were low quality, shoddily made and quite short on actual instructions.

So, I put together a small website offering free hairbow instructions. Over the years, a great number of helpful people have donated instructions and step-by-step photo tutorials. Because of all of the kind people, it is now the biggest site of its kind on the net.

You will find that most of the people selling instructions are now offering a few sets of free instructions on their websites. Why? Because they saw that free is what people really want. They wanted my traffic and in some cases they lifted my keywords and titles wholesale. Classy, right? In any event, although they are offering a set or three of free instructions their goal is still to get you to spend your money. Don’t be fooled, though – if it’s out there somewhere, it will eventually be available for free. Don’t waste your money of PDF files when you can spend it on ribbons and other supplies. Shop smart.

My daughter has been after me for a long time to sign her up for dance. A LONG time. A couple of years ago I tried a combo tap-ballet-tumbling class, but she cried through most it and I stopped taking her after a few weeks. I signed her up last summer for a little princess ballet camp, but I was more than unimpressed with the teachers at that dance school – even though a lot of people say it is one of the best in the area.

Besides, it seems like every little girl takes ballet. It almost seems trite.

I started looking around for something unique for my daughter. Most of the studios around her offer ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, and all of the other mainstream styles. I was bored just listening to the pitches. One city over in Dunedin, there is a strong Scottish tradition and a lot of places teacher Highland dancing. It seemed to me to be more suited for my daughter. However, when I showed her videos of people performing in the style, she was uninterested.

This week, though, a friend at school mentioned that her daughter takes Irish dance here in the area. I did a little research and found some great video clips online of the kids in that particular program competing. My daughter was enraptured. There was just enough precision, athleticism, and vigor to catch her fancy.

And so, I’m not pursuing Irish dance lesson for my daughter. For the first time, she and I both agree on an extracurricular.

Girl Scout Cookies are in for my daughter’s Daily troop! Yay! This is another first in our home and my daughter and I are both so excited.

Back when I was a Girl Scout, I had to wait to start with Brownies, which I think was second grade. We did not have Daily Scouts then. Now girls can join Scouts in kindergarten. Most of the events are really just practice for the more advanced levels, but Gigi is learning the tenants of scouting, the pride of unity with other girls, and the joy of being part of something bigger than our local community.

Girl Scouts and Girl Guides are a worldwide network. I was a Girl Scout. My sister was a Girl Scout. Both of Gigi’s grandmothers were Girl Scouts and so was at least one of her Great-Grandmothers. It’s a family tradition, an American tradition, a worldwide tradition.

And so, back to those cookies. I am going to design a cute Thank You not for Gigi to sign. She can give them out as she goes with her dad to deliver the cookies at his office this week.

I’m not much of a scrapbooker in the modern sense. I have little regard for taking a whole page in a scrapbook for just one or two pictures, just so I can add fancy embellishments, lace, buttons, fabric, and whatnot. I agree that it looks nice, but I stick more to digital scrapbooking if I want to make a clever layout.

When it comes to a tangible scrapbook, I prefer the old fashioned way of doing things. Traditionally, scrapbooks would hold everything you could paste or tape into them to remind you of your life. You would put ticket stubs, newspaper articles, postcards, photos, letters, award ribbons, dried flowers, coins, pebbles or anything else you could affix to the pages. The scrapbook might not be a work of art, but it would be a solid memento of your days.

When my daughter was born, I started a scrapbook, but I only made it through about her 10th month. I did a sort of hybrid traditional-modern style, placing four photos to a page and then adding paper embellishments here and there. I did not make full layouts. And, that reminds me that I might need to put finishing her baby books on my list of projects for this summer.

Anyway, now that my daughter started Daisy Girl Scouts, I thought it would be nice to buy her a scrapbook to use for her scouting mementos. I plan on just teaching her the traditional style of scrapbooking, but as she gets older I will also make her aware of the more modern way of doing things. That way, she can decide on her own how she wants to proceed. For now I am just showing her how to paste in her crafts and photos and trinkets she gets at meetings.

I was in college when I first became aware of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). I never became involved, but I flitted on the outskirts of the world so many of many friends created for themselves in the fantasy of Renaissance life. Along the years I have attended my fair share of Renaissance festivals in many states. I have enjoyed the benefit of having friends who have closets full of enchanting costumes and practiced mannerisms that nearly sweep one back in time.

It’s not like you can just walk into your local Galleria and find the bodices, bloomers, and surcotes you need to fully realize a believable character. A lot of my friends sewed their own costumes, or had other friends make them. Most of them, though, would locate the proverbial needle in a haystack and track down a retailer that sold the right costuming elements.

I went to college before the internet was a full-fledged phenomenon, so finding the costume retailers was a feat. Now, you can just logon and find sites like The Renaissance Store. It’s like a dream come true if you are planning a costume for a RenFest or the like. And, I finally found a believable pirate costume for my nephew that we can use for next year’s Pirate and Princess Party at Disney.

For all of you out the who make your own hair bows, don’t forget that when your girls are wearing your bows, they are walking advertisements! You need to make sure you are carrying your business card at all times, or at least something with your website on it. Of course, one of my favorite ways to let people know you make bows it to dress your little one is this cute shirt:

I’ve written before about how I love niche social networking sites. There are social networking sites for crafters, horse lovers, college students, religious groups and just about anything else you can think of. It seems to me a more interesting way to go than just joining a catch-all social networking site.

Well pet lovers, there is a site for you, too!

Take a look at AnAmigo.com. It’s a community where you can actually make a custom profile for their pet and connect with other pet enthusiasts in the United States. Membership is free and signing up is quick and easy. I did it in about a minute and then the system sent me a confirmation e-mail. At that point I was able to go in and complete a profile. I was prompted to choose a profile style for myself, a dog, a cat, or a horse. I made a profile for my Maltese, Echo. Bless her little heart. When I have more time I will put up a profile for Chloe, the cat queen of the house.

You can add pictures, swap stories, comment, keep a blog, trade tips, and sit back and have fun connecting with other animal lovers. The site is super easy to use and family friendly. The folks at AnAmigo had a launch party at the Sundance Film Festival and celebs like Jack Black and Felicity Huffman stopped by. Cool.

AnAmigo, get it? Animal Amigo – Animal Friend.

I have been interested for a long time in the concept of home brewing beer. I have several friends who do it. Some produce excellent beer. Others should just pack it in and choose a new hobby. I was given a bunch of home brew supplies recently via my local Freecycle group and now I am going to give it a try. I have a few more supplies I need to acquire first.

It’s the era of the internet, so there is no need for me to trek about looking for local stores that sell Beer making equipment. Sites like Monster Brew have everything I need available online. And, if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times – I love being able to shop from the comfort of my bedroom while wearing only my underwear.

Sometimes I just happily stumble across a web site that’s fun to look at and also has cool elements. I’m having a blast right now with the menu buttons across the top of the Piano Man, Inc web site. Not only do they look like piano keys, they play notes when you click on them. They are even accurate, though the minor notes aren’t clickable. I know. I am easily assumed, but I really find this to be an ingenious way to design a web site that is all about selling pianos and organs.

It makes me wish I had been the one to think up that design. Very cool, indeed.

The Piano Man is a Boston area business that also does tuning, repairs, lessons, moving, cleaning, and other services related to pianos and organs. When you need to have services specific to your keyboard instrument, you absolutely need to make sure you are working with professionals who know their stuff. When we moved our family piano down here to Florida from my dad’s house up north, we hired a specialty piano company up there and down here to handle the loading and unloading of the piano. We also had someone come and tune the piano after the move. You have to know what you are doing or you can damage the instrument.

My nephew is already taking lessons and I am hoping that Gigi will be ready for lessons soon, too. She is actually allowed to practice on our church organ. My sister and I took lessons on the very piano we had moved down from dad’s and that now sites in my sister’s home. I was never terribly talented when it came to the piano, but my sister was a musical genius. Perhaps her son will take after her. Who knows, maybe my daughter will even take after my sister and not end up with fumble fingers. I enjoyed playing the piano when I was growing up, I just never advanced as far as my sister did.

Sing us a song, youre the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, were all in the mood for a melody
And youve got us feelin alright
–Billy Joel

Since I mentioned earlier today that I am putting together digital scrapbook pages in order to order calendars for my parents, I wanted to also give everyone the link I am using to order the calendars, since the calendars are free. Yep, free. What could be better than a free photo calendar? I’m doing the photos for the wall calendars, since you can use one picture for each month – plus a cover, which I forgot that I still need to design!

So, here is my link for the free photo calendar. I am ordering one tonight and my sister is order another. They should round out our gift lists quite well.

Here is one page. It would be a lot of trouble to post all 12 months, plus it might just annoy all of you anyway?

I never was much of a scrapbooker, mostly because I hated to see so much wasted space on a page in my photo album. So, I usually just put the pictures on the pages and added some pretty embellishments. I think I got through my daughter’s 7th month before I stopped. Things just got too hectic – and they have yet to calm down.

My sister suggested that we have calendars made for our parents with the kids’ pictures on the different months, but I thought straight pictures would be too ordinary. So, I started playing around in Photoshop, because I really am very good with Photoshop. ? Somehow I came across some digital scrapbooking freebies and I realized I was wasting my time doing my won graphics when there are thousands of high resolution, print quality frames and templates and embellishments out on the web for free.

So, I have been feverishly collecting things I like from various sites. I will eventually burn a disk for my own future use. It occurred to me that it might be nice to share with my readers one or two cool freebies I have found each week? Would you like that?

Here is my first. It’s Gina Maria’s Gingerbread Alphabet. Click the image for a link to her blog.

Hey, all you hair bow making moms and grandmas. I have a great idea for Christmas gifts. Take a look at these cute shirts that state:

• Mommy Makes My Bows
• Bow Making Mom
• Bow Making Grandma
• Grandma Makes My Bows

Take your pick. They all make a statement and answer that question you get asked every single time you take your little angel out in public wearing those cute boutique bows you have been making for her.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas is one of my absolutely favorite says all year, right after Easter. Well, they actually might be tied.

So, are you starting to wrap up your Christmas presents yet? If so, let me urge to not go with the boring store-bought bows. Make your own. They are simple and inexpensive.

Here is a link for direction on how to tie a perfect puffy Christmas bows. I also have all kinds of other bow instructions on my Girly Things website.

‘Tis the Season…, to make Christmas Tree hair clippies for the girls in your life. Or, for yourself.

I’ve got free hair bow instructions over on my Girly Things website.  There are countless step-by-step instructions for bows and other girly accessories. And, in the spirit of Christmas, I am featuring the Christmas Tree Clippie instructions right now. It’s a very easy design and if you want to jazz it up, you can decorate it with little stick on crystals for ornaments. Kudos to Michelle Cooper, who submitted the photos and the step-by-steps.

Who doesn’t love the sprinkler of fairy dust? Tinkerbell dominated at the Halloween festivals I attended with my daughter. Disney Fairies have become all the rage, with a line of dolls, fashion clothing, books, movies, and a website.

Make a Tinkerbell hair clippie for the little girl in your life. These instructions were provided by Crystal Shaw and can be found on the Girly Things website.