Have a Clippie Christmas

Today we stayed in our pajamas all day. Truth be told, my fleece top and drawstring pj pants are way too comfy and I think all the early Christmas cookies are catching up with me. A newly reinstated daily exercise program has already begun to help with that.

I planned to be very productive today. It's Brad's last day of work before two weeks off for the holiday and we were going to make chocolate dipped peppermint candy canes and wrap his presents. But it snowed quite a bit; watching the snow falling was tranquil and didn't motivate me to do too much. Because of the snow we didn't go into Brad's work for the holiday party, so I declared it a lazy pajama day.

You need these every once is awhile. Even Brad joined in, well after shoveling the drive and walk ways for the second time in one day; we had pizza for dinner.

Since we didn't do any holiday prepartions, I thought I'd share some of the holiday clippies I've made for ER and her little friends. I really like doing ER's hair, but it's too short to do much but put clips in it. It's so short that you can really only put one in on one side. So she has a whole wardrobe of them, she almost always has a matching one for whatever outfit she's wearing.

I really like the ones they sell in children's stores like Gymboree and at boutiques but they can be pretty expensive. So I've done some research and found several free tutorials online. I am not going to recreate them here, just click on the links since they've already taken great pictures and taken the time to write up detailed directions. If for some reason they don't work, email me or leave me a comment and I'll try to fix them or email the websites to you directly.

I found a cute tutorial for a ribbon tree clip at Hip Girl Boutique, ER is wearing one in the picture above. They also have free directions on how to make bug, fruit, flower, and boutique bows besides some additional holiday bows. You can also buy hair clip making supplies through them. I am considering purchasing some embellishements like the hip scotties because ER is really into puppy dogs right now and I think she'd love wearing them. I saw a clippie made with one of those scottie dogs at a specialty children's store, one was six dollars and I know I could make several for that price.

I also like Girly Things: Making Riboons & Bows & Other Pretties which has a large selection of tutorials for a wide range of bows, themed clippies - I love the cupcake one, and other fun things like a bandana dress, tutu, and covering a diaper wipes case.

The last website I've used for instruction and inspiration is The Ribbon Retreat. They sell instructions but also have some basic ones for free. The link is in the box labeled Information and at the bottom of the page. I am planning on making ER some dragonfly bows and using their directions to cover snap clips, I already have the ribbon for that. That's a project for the new year.

I don't bother heat sealing or using no fray on my ribbon ends because I am not planning on selling them and ER is pretty good with hers. She doesn't pull on them. I do fold the ends of the ribbon I am covering the actual clippie with under, put on a little glue and then attach to the clippie.

I recently made some for Christmas gifts with bows as the embellishement, and I do wish I'd no frayed them. Previously, I'd only made the kind where you cover the clippie with ribbon and then attach an embellishment like a flower on top.

Now that I've shared my sources my friends won't think I'm nearly as creative, but that's okay! Happy clippie making and try not to burn yourself with the hot glue!

Below are some recent examples of mine. I made the mini Chinese take out boxes from a template from Victorine Originals, found under patterns and then 3D templates. I did manage to do one thing on my to do list, links have been added within posts! Brad showed me how, thank goodness I have such great technical support!