Wire Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas, my friends! Today is my first week of my CreNativity series! Get it? Creativity, Nativity? I came up with it on my own, too! Oh, and I have no idea why the pictures come out blurry, but if you need to see the detail in a clearer picture, go to my Facebook page. 

Anyway, this week's blogpost is a Wire Christmas tree decoration, but I also added a few special items. Before you start, you'll need wire. I just bought craft wire used for jewelry and stuff, but it was a real difficulty for this project because it wasn't strong enough. Anyway, I got it in green and it was 8 feet and there was plenty, so no need to get more. You can use that same wire, but if craft projects are more difficult and stressful for you, or you need to do it quicker, than just buy copper wire, that you would find at a hardware store. Even though it's not green, it will be just fine! You will also need wire cutters (you can good ones for a dollar at the Dollar Tree), a star or snowflake charm from the jewelry department of your craft store, sparkly green tulle, a  foam cone similar to this one from the floral area in your craft store, and battery powered LED Christmas lights. I found mine in the dollar section at Target and I really like them because they are wire, a good size for this project, and the lights are small. If you get ones with bulbs, they will be really big, compared to the tree. Oh, and you'll need batteries to power your battery powered lights. Mine needed 2 double A batteries, but check with whatever lights you have before. 

Ok. Now for the tutorial. If you have strong, copper like wire, you should skip this step, but if you have the same wire I got, follow along. Take out your wire and fold it into three different parts and cut them with your wire cutters. Now twist all three pieces together to make one thicker piece of wire. 

Here's where you join back in if you had the copper wire. Take your styrofoam cone and wrap the wire in a complete circle at the base of the cone (the bigger end) and twist it to the beginning of the wire to make it be able to stand on its own. Now take the rest of the wire and begin wrapping it up the cone. Try to make the space between each rotation small so that it doesn't lean over to one side. Once you've wrapped it all the way to the top, twist the end into a small loop and twist it to secure the circle. 

Next, we will add the lights! You can twist the strand of lights in with your wire since it is also wire but I think it looks like there's more lights if you do it a different way. First, make sure you put in batteries. Now cut a small piece of green tulle and wrap your battery pack in it, and use a small piece of tape. Don't close up the sides though, so that you can still easily turn it on and off. Take your strand of lights and put the battery pack in the center of the wire tree, in the circle at the base. 

Here's where it gets a little tricky. Take the lights that come directly from the battery pack and pull them all the way to the top of the tree, and through the loop we made. Then take the end and go down
 the other side. Now, wrap the lights once around a part of the base to keep it held together while you wrap it around up and down the other sides. If necessary, use a small dab of hot glue to keep it in place. Do not glue the bulb, but glue the wire part of the strand of lights to the wire tree. Repeat wrapping the lights until you run out of lights. When there is not much lights left, make your last line going UP THE TREE! If there isn't enough to go back up, then undo one more to make sure it finishes up. Wrap the end around the loop at the top to keep it in place. Now string the star charm onto the end of the lights and twist the wire lights into a little loop around the charm to keep it on. I pointed mine up so that it doesn't blend into the tree. Now if you have any left, bend the rest down the  tree and since its wire lights, it should stay put easily. Lastly, just take some tulle, wrap it around the tree, and use small tape at the bottom and top to keep it in place, but tulle sticks to itself pretty well. I only used a light layer of tulle, so you can still see the wire tree and the lights.

 

That is all! I am so excited for this year's holiday crafts!!!! If you recreate any of my Christmas crafts, send me a picture via Instagram or Facebook, or use the hashtag #CreNativity!

Turkey Hairstyle

Today is the Sunday before Thanksgiving!!! I am doing my last Thansgiving blog post for this year, which is a hairstyle that looks like a turkey.

Before you begin, you'll need this SPR!TZ party favor bag kit for Thanksgiving. It's from Target, and it comes with paper turkeys, paper feathers, and a few other things that we won't be using. If you can't find it, you can always print out cartoon turkeys or something, and use real craft feathers. And if you want to use feathers ONLY, it can change from a fun turkey hairstyle, to a realistic Indian/Native American hairstyle that you could also wear for Thanksgiving. 

To start, part your model's hair from ear to ear (like how a headband would lay) and put all of the hair  that's on the back side of the head into a low ponytail to keep it out of the way. Feel free to make the part line a little farther back on the head, because you want a good amount of hair on the side closer to the forehead. Now brush the section that isn't in a ponytail towards the back of the head, and divide the hair into six sections. Divide each of the 6 sections into three sections and braid each one normally (not French braids or anything. Don't add in any hair). Now you should have 6 braids. Pull all of the braids together and put them in one elastic. Now, put the ponytail of braids and the low ponytail into one low ponytail and take out the other elastics. Now twist the ponytail into a bun and use bobbypins and hair pins to keep the bun secure. 

Then, take a paper or regular feather and put one in between all of the braids except the spot in the middle where the turkey will go, so there are four feathers in the hair and Bobby pin each one in. If you don't have a turkey, put a feather in the middle section too, and you'd be done. If you do have a paper turkey, take the turkey and put it in between the two braids in the middle and bobbypin it down. Now you'd be done with both the turkey or the Indian hairstyle.

If you don't have accessories, it would still look cute like this.

If your hair is thin, and you don't think the braids would look good, you can pancake it (pull out the sides) and it will make it look fuller. If you still don't like it, you can even do it without the braids, but you'll have to Bobby pin better than if you did do the braids. 

Happy thanksgiving and let me know if you do this hairstyle!

Ulta Beauty Haul

Hey guys! This week, I'm doing my very first haul! I went to Ulta Beauty and bought a few hair things that I will show you! I really like these products because they are super easy, inexpensive, and stylish!

Note: This is not a sponsored blog post.

First off, is a Pompadour Comb. When I bought it, the price was $4.99. You comb forward a section of hair in the front, top, of the head, slide the pompadour comb in right behind it, then flip the hair back over, and pin! That's all to it! Plus, it comes with bobby pins.

Next, I will show you a Bubble Ponytailer Kit. At my time of purchase, the Ulta price was $5.99. You put your hair into a ponytail, divide the hair in half, then sort of just put the bubble in and secure it all
 with an elastic. Do that with all of the bubbles, but if your hair is too short, you can even remove/add a few bubbles. On the last bubble of mine, I didn't add an elastic below the bubble, to add a more fluffed/thick tail.

And of course, this cute boy had to be included ;)

Lastly, is this jeweled headband type thing called Part Art. When I bought it, it was $7.99. You put it in your part line and gently push down and it will stay secure, adding a little fancy to your part. But that's not all! You can also wrap it around your ponytail, or bun, or wear it like a headband! I'll show you. 

Here is the regular way to wear it.

On these, I just combed it it like a headband, pulled hair from the sides to hide where it ends, over to the back of the head and tied the two pieces of hair together with an elastic.

Here I did a Princess Bun and just put the part art around the front of the base of the bun. It has little grips, so it shouldn't fall out.

Below, I did a regular bun just by twisting the hair and wrapping it around and securing with an elastic. I put the jewels in the middle of the bun this time and just tucked it into the middle.

DIY Thanksgiving Place Settings

Today I will show you how to make a few things for Thanksgiving dinner that will add a little something special to your everyday place settings. Also, I'd like to apologize for my use of plastic silverware and plates! Haha! It's not thanksgiving yet!

For all of these things, you will need a burlap place mat (I got mine from the Dollar section at Target for $3 each), a brown paper bag or brown paper bag or brown paper, additional orange construction papers, a yellow or orange paper napkin, a package of fake fall leaves, a sharpie, a hit glue gun, scissors, tape, twine (I found my gold and white sparkly twine in the Christmas section at Target for $4), and orange sparkly tulle (the same one I used for my Fall Tulle Pumpkin).

First, I will show you how to make a really cute Turkey Napkin Holder. Cut the brown paper or paper bag into a rectangle that is 1 inch tall and 4 1/4 inches long. Somewhere in the middle or the four and one fourth inches, cut an oval instead of a straight line across to be the turkey's head. On the oval, draw two small circles with a black sharpie and color them in for the eyes, then cut off a small piece of orange paper, food it in half, and cut a triangle, so that it ends up in a diamond like shape. Glue the bottom half below the eyes, so that when the top half folds over, it will look like a beak. Now, take both sides of the brown turkey we just cut out, and tape them together in the back into a circle shape. When it is taped, the circumference should be around 3.5 inches, because we used the rest to overlap and tape. Fold the extra construction paper four times and cut it so its around 3.5 inches, and put that inside the turkey for extra stability. Now just unfold your yellow paper napkin once, so instead of a square, it looks like a rectangle. Fold it back and forth to create a paper fan, then put the part that is held together inside the turkey and construction paper, and let the rest fan out.

For the cup, I just cut some orange tulle and rapped it around the middle of the cup, then used some twine to tie a bow around the two sides of tulle, holding it together. If you are using paper products like me, I would even just hot glue them to the plastic cup. Also, when you cut the twine, it will fray, so I recommend putting a dap of hot glue on the ends.

For the silverware, I punched a hole in a fake fall leaf and threaded the twine through it, wrapped it around the stacked silverware a few times and tied it. And of course, I recommend the hot glue at the ends of the twine, but adult supervision is recommended.

I wrote my name on another fake fall leaf to mark my place. That is all. Enjoy your place settings and if you use this post as inspiriation for your settings, send me a picture! Who knows... Maybe you'd even be featured on The I in Creativity's social media! 

Mary Poppins Costume

I know Halloween is over, but I realized I never got a chance to show you my Halloween costume. I went as Mary Poppins.

First, I found a parasol. They sell them on Amazon.com, but I saw a white rain umbrella at Target, so I got that one because it looks like a parasol and we wouldn't have to wait for shipping. The link that I put up for Target is the same brand and style of umbrella, but I got it in white (which is not showing up on the website) but I added it just to give you the details, etc.

My mother and I sewed my dress, that I wanted to look like the white lace dress Mary Poppins wore in parts of the movie. We bought a pattern from Joann's Fabric and Crafts, which you can find the exact pattern here: http://www.simplicity.com/p-1992-costumes.aspx
We made that dress out of sparkly white cotton fabric, then sewed on some red bows and flowers, and made a ruffle type thing by sewing two rectangles together inside out, but leaving a little undone, so you can flip it inside out, back to the good side. Then I sewed down the middle on a basting stitch (no back stitching), and gently pulled the ends of the thread to gather it. We sewed it to the dress, and that part was finished.

I wore some of my sister's boots for these pictures, but any boots will work really. That is pretty much all, so I hope you all had a happy Halloween, and remember to turn your Fall Tulle Pumpkin to the side with just a bow to get in the spirit of Thanksgiving!