Does your pooch have the personality of Fred Astaire? Does he pose perfectly for photos looking stoic and classy? If so, then this is the DIY for you! We’re about to take your pet’s wardrobe from drab to fab, starting with a hot pink bow tie, an electric blue necktie, and adorably ridiculous french cuffs. Perfect for Easter Brunch ;)
Materials:
– VELCRO® Brand Fabric Fusion
– fabric! (we chose pink, blue, and yellow)
– thread
– two snazzy buttons (for the cuffs)
– fabric stabilizer
Tools:
– hot glue gun + glue
– fabric scissors
– scissors
– needle
– iron
– measuring tape
The top hat is an obvious must.
Every dashing dude needs a bowt ie, so we’re making one puppy-style. This is an easy DIY, but it does take a lot of little actions. Follow the steps below to see how it’s done.
BOW TIE COLLAR
1. Measure your dog’s neck.
2. Determine how big and floppy you want your bow tie to be (we went huge!).
3. Cut a rectangle of fabric–the short end will be the width of the bow tie.
4. Fold over and glue each side creating a hem.
5. With the rectangle seam side up, fold in each end–they will meet in the middle.
6. Hot glue both sides down.
7. Pinch the bow tie in the center and add hot glue to create a bow tie shape.
8. Turn the tie over and add a bit of glue to the center to reinforce the shape.
9. Cut a strip of fabric for the center of the bow.
10. Wrap the strip around the bow and glue it in place.
11. Using the measurement from step 1, cut a piece of fabric for the collar.
12. Fold over the edges creating a hem.
13. Iron the hem and then hot glue all four sides.
14. Cut a small piece of VELCRO® Brand Fabric Fusion and add to each end of the collar taking care to place it on the correct side of the collar–wrap it around to check.
15. Flip your collar over and iron the VELCRO® Brand Fabric Fusion in place by pressing the iron to the back side of the fabric. If your pet’s a wiggler, feel free to reinforce the VELCRO® Brand Fabric Fusion with a dab of hot glue :)
16. Hot glue the bow tie in place and strap this fine looking accessory to your dog!
Charmed, I’m sure ;)
Not a bow tie kind of guy? How about a necktie for your Don Draper dog?
NECKTIE COLLAR
1. Cut a long strip of fabric (we cut ours 15 inches x 5 inches)
2. Starting at the middle point at the bottom of your strip, fold up each side creating a triangle shape at the bottom and hot glue in place.
3. Fold over each side until your tie is the width you want, iron and the hot glue those suckers down.
4. Now fold the top back and to the right.
5. Bring it back under to the left.
6. Fold it down so that it is parallel with the length of the tie leaving about a half inch space between the piece you are working with and the tie.
7. Fold that entire piece over until it sits on top of the tie.
8. Hot glue your folds and cut off the excess fabric.
9. Using the measurement from step 1, cut a piece of fabric for the collar.
10. Fold over the edges creating a hem.
11. Iron the hem and then hot glue all four sides.
12. Cut a small piece of VELCRO® Brand Fabric Fusion and add to each end of the collar making sure to place it on the correct side of the collar–again, wrap it around to check.
13. Iron the VELCRO® Brand Fabric Fusion in place by heating the backside of the fabric.
14. Hot glue the necktie onto the collar and strap that puppy onto…your puppy!
Sooo dapper!
FRENCH CUFFS
And finally, no man’s high-fashion outfit is complete without French cuffs. We’ve got some mini ones for your furry little friend.
1. Measure the circumference of your dog’s front legs, his ankles if you will.
2. Cut two rectangles of fabric, one for each leg (we cut ours 3 inches x 4 inches).
3. Fold over the edges, iron and glue them down to create a hem.
4. Place your rectangle on top of some fabric stabilizer and cut out a piece that will fit flush with your piece of fabric.
5. Iron the fabric stabilizer in place. Make sure you don’t iron the wrong side. The waxy side should be facing the fabric.
6. Thread your needle and a stitch your buttons to the edges of your cuffs–they should sit right in the middle.
7. Cut a piece of VELCRO® Brand Fabric Fusion for the ends of each cuff. Cut that in half to use for both cuffs.
8. Add theV ELCRO® Brand Fabric Fusion to the cuffs and iron in place.
The tramp doesn’t stand a chance next to this hot little hound. He’s going to get all the ladies. All he needs is a single malt whiskey and a 3D printed rose in his teeth and he’ll be ready to take this look out on the town ;)
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures