Beaded Bracelet

Although on Pinterest, we all see the really cool pictures of the fun summer crafts, in a picture taken by the water in some exotic destination, odds are, not all, or maybe even any of our summer will be spent the perfect way, so today I'm sharing a fun craft that you can do just about anywhere, with few supplies. It is a beaded bracelet, which is perfect to make with kids, but it can also look really professional if you use fancier beads, etc.

All you will need is two pieces of string about a few inches more than your forearms length (including the length of stretched fingers!). It's always better to cut extra for tying the knots, etc. you will also need beads. I'm just using craft beads from the children's section or something, but to make it look more "realistic," you can use beads from the jewelry section at your craft store. Just make sure the string fits through hole in the bead. 

All you do is tie a LARGE knot (make sure it is a thick knot) and tape it to a table or something. You don't need tape, but it will help hold it steady while adding the beads. If you don't have tape, I sat with my knees up and put the knot under my foot to hold it. Be creative! 

Now, add the beads. It is very simple. Just take a bead and thread it through one of the two strings. Then take the other string, and thread it through the bead, going in the opposite direction. Pull both strings to tighten it and slide it up to the knot. Continue this until the bracelet is mostly filled with beads, then make one small knot just to hold it in place. 

Using the leftover string, take both pieces of string and wrap them around your two fingers, then pull the ends up, but not all the way through to create a loop. Gently pull to tighten the knot down. Now your bracelet is very convertible. When you want to put it on, just pull the large knot through the loop and it should stay pretty well. When you want to take it off, just push the knot out of the loop. An alternative would be creating a slip knot on each side, or buying the jewelry clips from a craft store and tying them on. You could just tie the bracelet regularly, but then it's not removable. 

That's all for this week! Have fun making this cool bracelet!

4-Strand Braid

Today I am going to teach you how to do a four strand braided hairstyle. Again, it goes along with all of the other simple hairstyles I've posted, to teach the basics. This one looks better as a side French braid, than just as a side braid, but do with it what you like/what you're capable of.

To start, make sure your hair is parted to one side, then sweep all of your hair onto your shoulder where the majority of the hair on your part falls (the heavy side). Pick up a tiny section of hair right at the top of the part line, and divide it into 4 even sections. I usually do this by poking 3 of my fingers into the large section of hair. 

Now, we can get onto the braid. Take the piece of hair farthest from the hairline and cross it under the strand next to it, than over the next strand. Hold it there, while you take the piece of hair closest to the hairline over the strand closest to it, than under the next one. Repeat these steps, except add hair into one strand before you cross it around the others, each time, to the side that you will be maneuvering. 

Continue this down. You will notice as you go further that one strand in the middle never gets hair added into it, which adds a cool effect of lacing it through the braid. On the other hand, it makes the piece significantly thinner than the others, which is why you can't go all the way down, making it simply an accent braid. If you decide to not do it as a French braid, and just do a side braid, it won't look the same because all strands will be the same size. 

This is a really easy braid and I suggest you try it. I did this hairstyle on request, so if you want to see some hairstyles you don't know how to do, let me know. AND... I just got out of school for the Summer so hopefully I'll have more interesting blog posts!

DIY Hair Bow

Today, I will be showing you how to make a hair bow. It is fancier than your classic tying of a bow, because it has many different color ribbons, and a smaller bow in the front. It is pretty easy, so let's get started!

Before you begin, you will need  two different colors of 1.5 inch width ribbon ( I chose two different shades of purple), a 5/8 inch width ribbon (for the bow in the front), and a little thing of rickrack to connect the two different color ribbon (I got gold rickrack that is 1/2 inch width). In addition to the ribbons, you'll need a hot glue gun, fabric scissors, a sewing machine with matching thread, and a needle and thread.

To start, cut the two 1.5 inch ribbon as long as you need it to make the right size bow. I probably cut about 1 foot or each ribbon, because you can always trim it shorter. Remember to cut the ribbon on a First, take the two thickest ribbons (the ones that will be in place of my purple ribbons) and using your sewing machine, sew them together (slightly overlapping, on a zigzag stitch), so that it is almost double the width. Don't forget to backstitch to lock the seams. 

Now to hide the seams, plug in your hot glue gun and glue the rickrack right ontop of the seam. Let it dry. Once it it dry, which will be pretty quick, you can start folding it to the size you want it to be. Lay it out, face down, horizontally, then fold one side over, then the other. Turn it back around to the front, and squeeze it in the middle to get an approximation of the size. When you find the size you would like it to be, grab your needle, thread it, making sure one end of the thread is knotted, then take your needle in and out of the center, and pull tight to scrunch up the middle. After that, wrap the thread around the middle a few times, then pull the thread through the hole to secure it. 

Once that is done, cut a small piece of the 5/8 ribbon for the little bow in front, and do the same method we did before where we laid it out and folded each side over. Once you like the size, use the same needle and thread to sew it to the bigger bow. Now to make the tie that goes around the center, cut a small piece of any ribbon you would like (you may need to fold it in half or so if it is too large) and wrap it around the center. To hold it in place, either hot glue it down to the back of the larger bow, or hand sew it in place. 

Now to attach it to your head, you can purchase a hair clip or headband and glue it on. That is all to it. It's a lot easier than it sounds, and comes out way cooler than just a regular bow. Have a good week! (I get out of school on Thursday!!!)

Paper Fish - Kids Craft

Today, I will show you how to make a very simple, but fun fish made out of a paper plate! I know my nephew loves Nemo, so this would be a great one for a toddler's Finding Dory party, as well. 

The materials you will need is a paper plate, which you can find just about anywhere, some medium such as markers, or crayons for kids, but I used acrylic paint, scissors, glue, a pencil, and any accessories you'd like to add, such as glitter, etc. 

To start, draw out your design on the paper plate. First draw a triangle where the mouth will be, so when you cut it out, it will be an open mouth. Also, you will use that cut out piece and glue it to the back of the fish as its caudal fin, or the tail. Where the edges come up around the plate, that will be where your dorsal fin (the one on top), the pelvic fin and the anal fin (the two fins on the underside of the fish) are, so trace that part around that area (but still connected to the body). Once you like the shape, cut it out, and glue the triangle piece to the tail. Also, cut out a fin out of the scraps of paper plate, to glue to the side, as the pectoral fin. If you want to do it scientifically, it needs all five fins, but feel free to ditch the ones you don't find necessary. This was for another science project, but I doubt your baby will want to glue the organs to the other side ;)

Now once you have your fish all cut out, color or paint it in whatever way you want. Don't forget to color the fins that are not attached yet as well. Once you have fully decorated it, now glue the extra fins on. For the tail, put a tiny bit of glue at the end that comes to a point and stick it to the back of the fish. For the side fin, only glue a line at one end and stick it on, so that you can lift it, and it has extra realization.  

Now when everything's connected and colored, now it the time to decorate! I decided to make my fish a princess fish, so I glued glitter to the dorsal fin (the one on top) so it looks like a crown, then I decorated the other fins, the eye, and mouth with silver glittery washi tape (which is just decorative scotch tape that you can find in a variety of colors at Target). 

That is all! It is as easy as that, perfect for your little tyke, or even your child at heart! Who knew that this would be a craft we still do in middle school! To see the other craft I made for my science class, click below

http://theiincreativity.blogspot.com/2016/04/stuffed-animal-part-1.html

http://theiincreativity.blogspot.com/2016/04/stuffed-animal-part-2.html