4 Towel Animals Tutorial

Today, as summer is approaching, we decided to show you how to make towel animals for all the fun vacations/staycations coming your way. The four towel animals I've decided to teach today is the classic swan, peacock, elephant, and a stingray.

To make a SWAN towel animal, you will need one hand towel (although I assume you can do it with a regular towel), and lay it horizontally. Then find the middle, and roll both sides in towards eachother. After that, flip it over, so the rolled together parts are on the bottom, and fold up the neck and fold down the head at the top. It won't stay very easily, so I held it down and pressed hard for a few seconds and that seemed to work. If you are having trouble with it staying, an alternative would be to put hair elastics around the folds to keep it folded. 

To make a PEACOCK towel animal, follow the same steps as the swan, except you'll need an additional towel the same size. Fold the second towel in half vertically, (aka hotdog style, aka the long way) and begin folding the shorter side over under over under, like making a fan. Once that if folded all the way down, wrap a hair elastic around the bottom to hold the folds in place, then gently rest it on the swan's back. 

To make an ELEPHANT towel animal, again make a swan (but this time it has to be out of a hand towel sized towel), but don't fold the swan just yet. First, take your larger, regular sized towel, and fold it in half horizontally (the hamburger way) then roll the folded side and the ends side toward eachother (sort of like a scroll). Now take it and sort of just lift it onto both ends to stand up like a rainbow. It stays pretty well. Now take your unfinished swan, and flip it to the side with the rolls on the bottom, then where the towel comes to a point, bend it back, sort of in a circle like how an elephants trunk is and hold it there with pressure. Then on the opposite ends, just sort of flop the ends out, making the ears more visible and placing it on top of the rainbow thing we just made.

Lastly, to make a STINGRAY towel animal, take your larger towel and fold it in half the horizontal way, (the way that makes all sides more even then the other way), then fold one corner of the sort of square towel down to the corner across to make a triangle. From here, lift up the center and push it together, then roll up a smaller towel and put it underneath to complete the tail. 

That is all! I hope you enjoyed my towel animals, and maybe even make your own!

Cornrows (For Beginners)

Hey yall! Today's blog post, I am going to show you how to braid cornrows. This tutorial is only for beginners, because I'm no expert in this field, as you can see from my loose messy job. 

Anyway, to begin, divide your hair into as many sections as possible. The smaller sections though, the harder it is. Today, I did only three sections, because it is quicker, but the most I've done in the past is seven. The way to part hair is by using a rat-tail comb, a sharpened pencil, but I just use my finger. Start at the hairline, and "draw" your way straight to the neck in the way you want. After you divide each section, I recommend holding each one in an elastic, so they don't get messed up. Also, while braiding, clip the sections around the one you're working with, pulling the roots the opposite way, to get all of your space, make sure it's tight enough, and be able to center the braid in the section.

The next step, is just Dutch Braiding all the way down. I did a blog post a few weeks ago further into the technique that you can find here. In general speaking, divide the hair into three pieces, and take the middle piece over the left, then take the NEW middle piece over the right, and add in hair from each side every time.
When you pick up all of the remaining hair, continue braiding down and secure with an elastic.

It's harder to braid with smaller pieces, which is why I do it with bigger sections, and I like to practice on people with really thick hair to get the hang of it. If you want to be more familiar with this, first get really good at a regular Dutch braid, then move to two Dutch braids, and further more. This is a fun one, and can save you a lot of money on a tropical vacation!

Fishtail Braid

This hairstyle is another classic braid, but I couldn't do it for a long time, so I thought I'd share. 

This hairstyle looks really cool, but it takes so long to do, odds are, you'll quit half way through your first try. That's probably why I couldn't do it until like 3 years ago. Anyway, persevere!  

To do the basic version of the braid, divide your hair into two sections. Start by picking up a piece of hair on the outside edge of whatever section you choose to begin with, and cross it over, and combine it with the opposite section. Then, pick up a piece of hair on the other section (the one that just received the last piece of hair) and cross it over into the other division of hair. Continue these steps, and if you keep going, it will look better than when you started.

To make it a French braid, do the same steps, except when you pick up a piece from one section, add a piece that is not in the braid into the piece that you are crossing over.

It is a lot easier than it seems, but it does take a while, so plan accordingly. Have a nice day!

Rope Twist Braid

Today I am going to show you how to do a rope twist/braid. It is a very easy hairstyle, but I know many people who don't know how to do it, so I thought I'd put it out there. Also, please excuse the pictures, I was using self timer :)

To start, divide your section of hair that you'd like to braid into 2 pieces. Twist both pieces (separately) one direction, then twist them around eachother the opposite way. For example, if you twist each one to the left, you'd twist them around eachother to the right. If you twist them separately to the right, twist them together to the left. 

That's really all it is, but some people think you just twist them together, without twisting them by themselves the other way. If you do it that way, it will just unwrap. 

Other ways to wear this hairstyle is in a french rope braid, which is the same thing, just adding in hair to both sides, braiding the two front sections of hair and tying them together in the back, braiding your ponytail, etc. I love doing a lace rope braid (which is where you only add in hair on one side) in the front of my head, because it's cute and gets my hair out of my face!

Flag Banner

Hello! Today I am going to show you how to make a flag banner. I make these quite often, and there are multiple ways of doing it, so I'll show you two!

The easiest version is to go to your craft store or even Target, and in either their party or scrapbooking section, you can buy a flag banner just plain, but comes with the flags and a string to hang it on. Then go and get lettered stickers and just stick them on the paper flags. When buying stickers though, make sure that the pack has the certain amount of letters you need, because some only come with one of each letter. 

To spice that way up a little bit, you can buy scrapbooking paper and cut out paper flags (so you can choose the pattern). You can also cut out your own letters and glue them on.

The last way (and most challenging/time consuming), is making a fabric flag banner. We just bought a package of burlap flags from my craft store, but I assume you can cut some from scratch. You will also need fabric paint, copy paper, scissors, and tape (or letter stencils), and a stencil paint brush. And yes, you HAVE to use that certain type of brush. I also reccomend paper towels to go under, since burlap has holes in it. Now I don't have stencils, but if I did that'd be a whole lot easier, but all I did was draw a block letter on copy paper, cut it out, use the the piece of paper with the cut out in it and tape it to the burlap, then paint it. I squirted out fabric paint onto a paper plate, then dipped my brush into it, then tapped it around a little so the paint isn't all clumpy. Now I just dabbed the paint onto the burlap, using the stencil so I keep the shape. Then remove the stencil, and let the flags dry. 

That is all! This project is not very hard, and perfect for special occasions such as, parties, etc.