Small Business Spotlight: Mommasbows!

1. What is the name of your Business?

     My business name is Mommasbows.

2. Where is your business located?

     We are located in Savannah Ga and ship anywhere in the USA!  Please ask about Canada and APO addresses:)

3. Business' Website:

    Facebook: www.facebook.com/Mommasbows

   

4. Are you the owner?

     I am.

5.  Briefly tell us about your business:

     We sell quality, handmade hair bows, head bands and more.  I offer boutique clothing and just added a line "Mommasboys".  

     I love to do matching sets and custom orders.  We have done pageant hair pieces, bow ties, clip in bows for shoes and bow holders.  

6.  How did you come to be in this line of work?

     I decided to stay at home with my children.  As a Military spouse I have found that its not easy to find childcare for my work hours and my husbands!

7. How long have you been doing this? 
     I have been "crafty" all of my life!  As a little girl I made my dolls clothing, furniture and so on.  I decide to start this business three years ago when I found out we were having our first girl!

8. Who would benefit from your product?

     Anyone and everyone!

9. How can our fans place their order or contact you?

     Contact me on my page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mommasbows or email at mommasbows@yahoo.com

10. Any current specials or event you want to share with our fans?

      I would like to offer a few specials for your fans:

      $3 bows as seen in the photos!  
     Buy 10 or more and we will ship free!  This week only!

     Any order over $40 will ship FREE this week only!

If you follow us on Facebook you probably already know that I've recently purchased a few bows, headbands and flower clips!   

(She also made a set with the saying "My daddy is a Police Officer"!, and that set quickly became Daddy's favorite bows!) 

This lovely lady is very talented, just tell her what you want and she will do it!!

Don't forget to like her page, so that you won't miss her auctions and/or sales!  

Want to be Featured?? HERE IS HOW!

We truly enjoy and appreciate our fans' participation... and here are more ways to do it!  

Cover Page:

To be featured on our Cover Page, simply provide me with pictures of yourself or your little one, NO, it doesn’t have to be a girl!! it can be a boy too!  Send all pictures to caramelcurlznswirls@yahoo.com, make sure you use the subject line "Cover Page".   

When submitting the pictures, make sure you answer the following questions:

A. If you are submitting photos of your little ones:

1. Name and age;

2. Products currently using;

3. Their hair routine;

4. When and/or why did you decided to keep your child's hair natural?

5. Does your child love their curly hair?

B.  If you are submitting photos of yourself:

1. Name and age;

2. How long have you been natural?

3. What was your worst mistake?

4. Have you established a routine? If so, what is it?

5. What products are currently working for you?

6. What made you go natural? 

7. How do you feel about your hair now?

Tutorials:

If you want to share your style with step by step instructions, simply send all the information with pictures to caramelcurlznswirls@yahoo.com, make sure you use the subject line "Tutorials".

Pictures from all angles are always helpful;

Make a list of all tools/accessories used to accomplish the style;

Make a list of all products used.

Good Bye to our Protective Style #1

Wow, Ms. Bree's protective style lasted 24 days!! 

But I think is time to say good bye to the box braids and is now time to do a pre-poo wash treatment and band it for a couple of days in order to style it.  

This is a quick post summarizing the last four weeks.  If you missed our original post, make sure you read Back to School and Box Braids as our Protective Style  which was posted on January 7th, 2013.

DAY 1

Day 4:

Box Braids in a single pony tail (flower hair clip)

Day 5

"Box Braids in 2 Pony Tails"

Day 9:

Lose box braids with crochet hat.

The important thing to remember is that while box braids are a great protective style, you must remember to continue to care for their hair as you  normally would do.

If you missed our post on how we maintain our box braids, please read our post here: How to Maintain Box Braids

I always used Bee Mine Natural Hair Products daily to keep her hair hydrated and to give her braids a healthy and shiny look.  

Also remember to massage the scalp every so often and check the braids at least one a day to make sure they are not too tight and causing stress on the scalp.

Day 20

Day 24

I will be washing her hair tonight and most likely I will band it and keep it that way for a day or two until I have enough time to style her hair again.

Our Christmas Celebration in Pictures!

2013 is here! Christmas and New Year's have passed and now we are trying to get back into our daily routines.  While my  husband went back to work on the 26th, I had the opportunity to stay home with the kids until January 1st.  

Ms. Bree's first day back to school was January 2nd and Lil Man's first day back to school was January 3rd.  

We were able to do a lot of special things with the kids this year and I am so glad my  husband loves to capture these moments in pictures.

"Making Smores"- more like burning marshmallows!

Who doesn't like to make S'mores?? I think every child does, I personally never had one before and after this I will probably never will!  

My son had the great idea of making some and my husband just went along with it.  

After I had gathered all the necessary ingredients to make the infamous S'mores, the children decided they didn't need any cookies and/or chocolate.  

Okay, so the kids really loved the idea  but EUK! The mess and the taste .. enough said.. lets move on.


"Our Christmas Village"

The assembling of our "Christmas Village" is something I do with my children every year.  

This can be fun but a headache is always guaranteed with this as well.  Every year my husband buys me a house (or two) to add to my village and now I have a total of fourteen building (i.e. Churches, Lighthouse, Fire Station, Grocery Stores, etc.) a Musical Carousel, Trees of all sizes, people and all animals.  


"The Night Before Christmas"

The reading of "The Night Before Christmas" is another tradition that we started a few years ago.  

On this night each child gets to open one present (not a toy, we give the kids new pajamas with matching slippers and a book), we drink hot cocoa and eat cookies.  

   

Little Man is now 6 years old and he knows exactly what kind of present he gets the night before Christmas and always looks forward to it.

"The Presents"

"The Opening of Their Presents"

Or what I like to tall "the aftermath" (in my most dramatic voice). it took them approximately two hours and several "you can play with it later, open the next one"...to open all their gifts and there are no words for the mess afterward.  

"Christmas Dinner"

This year we invited another family over to share Christmas Dinner with us so we set up the table a bit different from previous years.

The adult table:

and the children's table:

"The Outfits"

The girls decided to wear their new "Brave" dresses.  While Ms. A. decided to wear her hair lose adorned by a single flower clip, Ms. Bree wanted two simple buns with a "zig-zag" parting.  Simple right!

The boys ...well, they were too busy playing!

We truly enjoyed staying home with the kids for almost two weeks, but now it's time to get ready for our next big event, "Ms. Bree's 4th Birthday Party"!!

Don't forget to share all your amazing pictures with us!!  

Our Thanksgiving Styles

This post was meant to be published the day after thanksgiving! Sorry about the delay...

Since we traveled to Grandmother's house to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, I am behind on a lot of things and now I'm playing catch up.

One of the many things  I completely love about my husband's family is all the family traditions they have and how important it is to be thankful for the great memories we are able to build every time we are together.

This Thanksgiving was very special for so many reasons.  We had plenty of time to spend with each other because we did the cooking ahead of time allowing us to have an early dinner and plenty of time to sit and reminisce.  In all honesty, I never get tired of hearing my sisters-in-law talk about the old days.

I also got the opportunity to spend extra time with our niece's daughters... they are twins!  Due to the great distance between our families, we don't get to see each other as often as we would like and I believe the children also miss each other, since Lil B and the twins are only a few weeks apart.

I have said it a million times before, doing hair can be a bonding experience, and this is exactly how I bonded with my beautiful twins nieces.

Ms. Bree opted to rock small cornrows into rope twists and medium size rope twist on the back (this lasted for almost two weeks).

We only used the following products to create this style:

1. Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer / Bee Mine Curly Butter;

2. Eco Styler Gel (Argan Oil) - to make the cornrows.

I maintained her twists and cornrows with Bee Mine Juice Daily Moisturizing Spritz.

After doing Ms. Bree's hair, Ms Jai (twin #1) wanted to get her hair done and to my surprise she let ME do it!!    Ms. Jai;  she wanted something very similar to Ms. Bree's hair style and I was more than happy to oblige.  I made a few changes to each style in order for the girls to share but yet have their own unique style.

While detangling her hair, we talked about what was her favorite colors, what she likes to do and she was so relaxed and very talkative.  I loved it!  

On Ms. Jai,  I did two small cornrows on the center and rope twists all over.  The twins hair is less curly than Ms. Bree's.  I would say their hair is a combination of a 3b with a few 3c curls in between.

Twin #2: Ms. Jia 

On Ms. Jia I created two cornrows starting at the middle and along her hair line.  She also had rope twists all over.  

These are the products I use on them:

1.  Kinky Curly Knot Today to detangle their hair;

2. Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer and Bee Mine Curly Butter to do the Rope Twists;

3.  Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer with Eco Style Gel with Argan Oil to do the cornrows. 

As you can see on the above pictures, the girls are having so much fun in the kitchen with Grandmother (Great-Grandmother) and it is one of the most wonderful memories they will always have.

The children had so much fun together and they were very sad when it was time to say good bye!  

I know our children did not wanted to say good bye to Papa and Grandmother either!

Ms. Bree's First Trim

I have been paying close attention to Ms. Bree's ends for weeks now and wondering if it was time to trim her hair.  

A lot of us wonder about the same thing, when its the right time to trim our children's hair.  Curly hair is not like straight hair where you can easily identify when the hair is experiencing split ends.  

Trimming their ends, especially those dry dull tips, will help to keep their curly hair looking neat and healthy. 

During my research I came across one of my favorite blogger's recent post, "When To Trim My Child's Hair" and it provided me with the answer I was looking for. 

"Trimming should be done when the hair needs it", Kandy Land Kurls states on her post and it made sense.  

I noticed my daughter's hair needed it a trim because of the following:

1.  I noticed that I had to moisturize her ends more than usual;

2. Detangling process required a little extra time;

3. I was only noticing one or two splits ends while braiding or twisting her hair.

After noticing these and after reading Kandy Land Kurls' post about when its the right to trim your child's hair, I decided that it was time to trim those rough ends.

The next step to take after you determine whether or not your child needs a trim is who is going to do it?? Should you do it yourself? or go to a Hair Salon?

Trimming the hair is very simple because the only thing you are doing is taking the very ends off.  You are not looking to make the hair even or trying to give the hair layers, you are simply getting rid off those dry ends.  

Trust me when I say this is something you can do at home.  

How I did it?? I did it by simply following the steps on Kandy Land Kurls' Post "Trimmed N's Hair". 

1.  I washed Ms. Bree's hair with Creme of Nature Argan Oil Moisturizing Shampoo;

2.  Used Herbal Essence Hello Hydration;

3.  Moisturize her hair with our favorite moisturizer- Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer;

4.  Banded her hair.  She wore her hair banded like this for almost two days.

Why band the hair??  Curly hair suffers from shrinkage, and its better to trim the hair while its dry, it will give you a better idea as to how much you are taking off.

As you can see on the above pictures, Ms. Bree's hair is quiet long. 

Trim the Hair:

1.  Make sure you use the right shears.  By that I mean, shears that are sharp and easy to cut with.  Dull and rusty shears are probably are not a good option.

2.  Work in sections:  Do not take all the bands out at the same time, instead try Kandy Land Kurls' technique by unraveling each section and trimming it, once you are finished move to the next section.

Once we were finished with the trimming process, these were the results:

I only took about 1/4 of an inch and in some sections I took even less.  Remember you are only taking off what is damaged.  

After trimming her hair, I decided to style it in Box Braids.  

1.  Sprayed a bit of water and applied more Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer with a bit of Bee Mine Curly Butter.

Do you have any cool tricks to trim your child's curls?? Come and share with us, we love to hear your comments and or suggestions.

A Royal Weekend...

I'm going to try to make this short but I doubt I will be able to succeed on that!

As some of you may know, we went on our last vacation before two of our biggest and busiest holidays arrive.

Although my husband and I have an amazing time with our kids during the year. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the most busiest holidays for us.  We have started following his parents' family tradition as well as our own family traditions, which includes a lot of decorations, not just indoors but outdoors.  The planning of the Thanksgiving Dinner is a special event as well as the Parent-Child activities that we have during Christmas holidays.

For our last vacation, we choose to go to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, where their Dreams Come True!

Ms. Bree's last style were cornrows and box braids.  You can see our 2nd Attempt- Cornrows Post.  The day we left, I took her box braids out and I only sprayed the cornrows with Bee Mine Daily Spritz.

Florida weather did not agree well with my daughter's hair.  Now, I can add that to my list of things I don't miss from Florida!  Ms. Bree's hair got frizzy as soon as she got out of the car and so did my hair.

Before Ms. Bree went to bed:

1. I co-washed her hair by using Herbal Essence Hello Hydration and lightly rinsed it out;
2. I applied Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer and Creme of Nature Argan Oil.
3. I section her hair in 2 by parting from ear to ear.
4.  I banded each section.

Disney's Downtown Marketplace

The next morning, our family decided to go to Disney Downtown Marketplace for the girls to have a little fun shopping while the boys were at Disney's Magic Quest.

I took the bands out of her hair and pick a style that I could easily modify the next day and do her "Cinderalla Bun"..

1. I parted the bottom section in two (from top to bottom);
2. Each section was secured with a pony tail by using Goody's Ouchless Bands;
3. I sprayed a bit of water and applied more Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer and created two twists in each pony tail.
4. On the top sections I parted three small sections around her hair line, used very small ouchless bands to secure each section.
5. I braided each section and combine them with the top section in order to create a big pony tail (Veil style).
6. I then created three twists on the top pony tail.
7.  I accessorized each pony tails with Yellow Bows to match her "Belle Dress".

These were the results:

After a long day out at Disney's Downtown, we went back to our sleeping quarters for a good nights rest before our big day at Disney's Magic Kingdom.

Before bedtime: I removed the bands that secured each pony tail (without removing the twists) and put her satin sleep cap on.

Our visit to Magic Kingdom

On Saturday morning, Ms. Bree and I got up a bit earlier than the boys and because her hair had already been sectioned the night before, I was able to save time on that part.

It took me about 35-40 minutes to finished the style and that includes adding all the accessories:

I created the curls by using the flat iron.  Instead of flat ironing the hair all the way to the ends, I stop at the middle then wrap the bottom of the hair around the flat iron (like you would normally do when using a Curling Iron) and brought the flat iron to the ends and these were the results:

The butterflies clips (clear in color) helped the tiara stayed in place.

Saturday Afternoon:

Due to the cloudy, breezy and humid weather I had to secure the back portion of her hair in a lose pony tail.

Ms. Bree's hairstyle was not affected at all by doing such adjustment.

Sunday Morning:

Going home.... the only thing I did to her style was undo the Bun and do a big twist and pin it with hair pins.