DIY Hair Mask

Hey guys! First of all, sorry I haven't posted recently, but I have still been crafting/hairstyling, so I will share them all with you soon! With it being summer and I have a ton of time on my hands, I've decided to try and grow my hair out longer and healthier. I've researched a ton on Pinterest (follow me @elephantalivia) and finally tried a hair mask I thought sounded reasonable, so that's what I am sharing with you all today.

Instructions: 1 egg, 1 tablespoon coconut oil, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and 2 tablespoons of honey. Combine them in a bowl and mix well, then apply it all to your hair when dry. I just scooped it with my hands onto my head and rubbed in circular motions (apparently that makes it grow faster). It will get really messy, so do it in a bathroom and wrap a towel around yourself. Leave it in for at least 30 minutes (the longer the better) then rinse it out and wash your hair normally in the shower. 

Whether or not it actually makes your hair grow, it will leave it soft and feeling extremely clean. I am going to try to do it twice a week. Some Pinterest pins say to do it every day, and some say once a month, so I decided since I wash my hair like once a week normally, but I want to apply a mask more frequently, I'd try for twice a week. Again, I am just starting out on growing my hair longer, but if you want to try it with me, I will be testing a bunch of these somewhat weird tips I found online. Give yourself a scalp massage upside down so the blood flows to your head making your hair follicles grow out, leave your hair down as much as possible (I KNOW! HOW CAN I NOT BRAID?) so the hair can be relaxed and grow quicker, lessen use of heat products (I have stopped this a while ago and  I do not nearly have as many split ends), and eat healthy as well as staying hydrated.
That's all for today! Good luck with growing healthy hair!

Cardboard Doll House

Today I will show you all a doll house I had to make for an English project. It is supposed to be Anne Frank's Sectret Annex. It is the perfect size to house smaller dolls like polly pockets, etc.. 

What you will need are two cardboard boxes, or one cardboard box and a bunch of large scraps (the size of the box will be the size of the house), a ton of hot glue and a hot glue gun, an X-acto knife, scissors, a ruler, a pencil, and a ton of interior decor. I used a dish towel for the carpet, silver cardstock paper for the stairs, cute wrapping paper for the wall paper but you could paint it if you'd rather, and I got a ton of little wooden furniture from the Dollar Tree.

To start, face the box so the wider side is facing you, and cut off just that one wall so you can see inside. Now angle the two flaps on the side to close the box on a diagonal so it makes a roof shape. Mark the diagonals on the back flap with a pencil, then cut the extra cardboard so it actually looks like a house. Cut a piece of cardboard to fill in the space at the top for a ceiling. Now you should have the outline of your house. Oh, and hot glue the edges in place.

Now you want to decide how many floors you want. If your dolls are taller, you should have less floors so they don't hit their heads ;) I wanted three floors including the ground level, so I cut two more pieces of cardboard the same size as the base of the house. Always cut bigger, because sometimes the box's angles are not a perfect 90° and you can always slightly trim it down to size. Once you have your floors, mark where they will go, and measure to make sure it is straight, then hot glue them in. 

If you want to cut out a door or windows, do that now with the X-acto knife. Again, measure and mark for perfection! 

To add stairs, we will cut the cardstock into like one inch strips, then fold the cardstock back and forth like a fan to get the stair shape. Now hold it in front of the house and mark where the stairs land on each floor, then cut slits there. We will glue it to the bottom floor, then stick the paper in the slit to hold it in place. Glue at the top as well. 

Now add the wall paper. Simply do it like you are wrapping a present. It's a little tricky, but just try to keep it in the least amount of pieces possible. For example, cut one big piece and fold it so it covers the side wall, ceiling, and oppsite side wall. Once it is all covered, cut the carpet to the right size (cut out a space for the stairs) and hot glue it into the house. 

Add your finishing touches, and you're done! May your home be blessed with peace, love, and a happy doll family! <3

Hair Bow

Today, I will be showing you how to make this big, cute, hair bow! As some of you know, I am a cheerleader, I made it specifically for that, but it can even be worn regularly.

All you will need is a spool of ribbon 3 inches wide, a spool of ribbon 5/8 inches wide, matching thread, a hot glue gun, a needle, fabric scissors, and elmers liquid school glue.

First, arrange the thicker ribbon into a cursive lowercase L shape (with a loop). My mom compared it to making an X without cutting the ribbon, but anyway, it should be this shape. Leave the tails about 6 inches, so we can cut them to the right length at the end.

Now, once you like how it looks, cinch the middle by threading your needle through the center of the ribbon, then wrap the rest of it tightly around it and knot it off, through the ribbon. After that, cut a piece of the thinner 5/8 in ribbon and loosely tie a knot in it. Wrap that around the center and hot glue the ends together in the back, with the elastic underneath it.

Finally, to finish off the ends, I cut my ends to about 4.5 inches from the center, and cut a triangle out of it to give it a cute finish. Now to seal the ribbon so it won't fray. Take your elmers glue and lightly squirt it onto the ends of the cut ribbon and let it dry. Now you're finished! Enjoy your cute bow!

Diagonal French Braid Ponytail

Happy 100th blog post!!!!!!! I know it's been slow lately, but today marks the one hundredth craft/hairstyle I've shared with you over the past few years! If I ever don't post and you miss me, there are 99 more to look at! Odds are, you weren't with us from the very first day, so you'll see something new!

Today, I'm sharing one of my favorite hairstyles as of right now. A diagonal French braid, pulled into a side low ponytail. I've redone it and worn it like three days in a row because I love it so much, but each time, it's a little different due to the way I cover my elastics. I have a blog post on a ton of ways to do that, so check it out here.

To start, part your hair on one side. I've never tried it in the middle, but it would probably look really weird because the diagonal would be off centered... Anyway, on the light side of your hair, (you part your hair on one side, and it's the side without the majority of the hair) you pick up a section right by the part line, divide it into three sections, and start French braiding. If you want a tutorial on that alone, let me know. Just take the right side and cross it over the middle, then the left side and cross it over the middle, then add hair to the right side and cross it over the middle, then add hair to the left side and cross it over the middle, etc.. If you're having trouble with that, I suggest you wait on the diagonal, and do it on the side, right against your hairline, so you can see it. 

Braid it like a normal French braid, although make sure to start off pointing it straight back, then curve it over, rather than going down and around. Sometimes when I get to the front, I don't like how my front pieces of hair fall when they're in the braid, so I don't add them in, and just pull it over the braid as I put it all into one ponytail. 

Enjoy this hairstyle! It's a classic one for me!

DIY Scrunchies

First of all, happy Easter! Second of all, I'M BACK!!! I haven't posted over here in a while, just because I am so busy with school. I've still been crafting often, but I didn't have the time to write up the directions, take photos, and post to Instagram and Facebook all by myself. I am so happy to hear all of the recent questions about my next blog posts though, while I was inactive on here. 

Anyway, now onto the craft. A while ago, I made a scrunchie in basically the middle of the night to wear for 90's day at school. It was super easy and quick, so here I am to share.

You'll need cotton fabric, sewing elastic, and all of the basic sewing necessities like a machine, thread, scissors, etc..

To start, cut a piece of fabric in a rectangle about 5 inches by 25 inches. Lay it out right side up, and fold the shorter side in half, so now it is about 2.5in by 25in, and the right sides are touching, and wrong side is facing out. Pin it like that. Sew a basic stitch (with back stitching) along the edge (the open side) down the long 25 inch side of the scrunchie. Because we folded it over, we only need to sew that one side. Now flip it right side out so the stitches are on the inside. 

Next, we will cut our elastic to size. I think mine was about 11 inches. I didn't measure when I originally sewed it; I just eyed everything because of my lack of time. It should stretch most if not all the way from one end of the fabric to the other. Thread the elastic through the tube of fabric. Be sure to push down all the fabric so the elastic makes it out both ends. When it is all the way through, overlap the ends of elastic, and sew them together across the short side of the elastic. Be sure when doing this to make sure no fabric is sewn with it. Now, we will sew the fabric. Do the same thing we did with the elastic, by pulling the ends to each other and overlapping them. Except fold the top layer of fabric underneath, so it is a clean edge that will not fray. Now sew them together, simply straight across, with the elastic being sewn again inside as well. Try to use a color thread that matches the fabric so it blends in.

That's all! Enjoy your scrunchies! <3

Heart Bookmark

Today, as it is Valentine's Day, I am going to teach you how to make this origami heart bookmark. I'm not that good with origami, so I learned to do this from a Pinterest tutorial, but I thought I'd share the basics anyway.

You'll need origami paper, which I do not have, so I tried it once with construction paper (which was sort of difficult because of the thickness), and then again with copy paper, which is still as big, but easily bendable, so I'd recommend that more. Either way, you'll need the paper to be a square, so I folded one corner across the paper, until two sides were matched up, then cut off the excess. 

To start, fold the square diagonally, then unfold it and refold it diagonally the other way. From there, fold the top point (but only the top layer of paper) down, so that it touches the bottom edge. Now, fold the two side corners in, so it touches the folded down part. I think of it to look like an envelope during this step. At this point, unfold those to edges, and pull them up, and tuck them in where we folded down the top corner. Here, it should look like a diamond with a pocket. 

Flip it over so the pocket is on the back, and now simply cut the top curves of a heart onto the top part. 

Now you have your heart bookmark! Just slip it onto a corner of a page of your favorite book, and it will hold your spot perfectly!

DIY Glitter Box

Hey friends! Today I am going to show you how to decorate a simple box to personalize it. I used glitter to do it. It again, took me like two hours at the most, so it's easy to do! 

All you will need is a box (I got this cute pink one for $5 in the Target dollar section, but they sell some at most craft stores), fine glitter, mod podge, a paint brush, sealing/finishing spray, a stencil for the design you want ( if you don't have one, what I did was use painters tape, a cutting board, and an Xacto knife. I'll explain how, below), a piece of copy paper and paper towels.

To start, if you have a stencil, skip this part, but if you don't, get out your cutting board, and lay down rows of painters tape overlapping each other to make like a big sheet of painters tape. Only make it a little bit bigger than the size you want your design to be though. My box is 7x7in so I made the image like 3.5x4. Next you are going to want to draw the design on the painters tape, and fix and sizing issues, than go over it with an Xacto knife, cutting it out. Take the outside part, and stick it onto your box in the center or wherever you want it to be. The design I did was a letter A.

Now, you stencilers, here is where you'd come back in. Begin by painting an EVEN layer of mod podge over the whole design, and quickly dump a bunch of glitter on there. Fold your piece of paper in half, then dump the excess glitter into the fold, so you can easily put it back in the glitter holder. Let that dry for a long time, or else you'll mess it up. Now take it outside and spray a layer of finishing spray over it, then immediately dump more glitter on, and reuse it with the same paper trick. Be sure when working with spray paint or anything of the sort, to take precautions. I was crafting with a friend who has never used spray paint before, and she did not know to read the instructions, and that the odor is toxic, so be sure to cover your nose and mouth, and apply it outside. 

Leave that layer to dry, then do it a few more times to get a strong coat of glitter on there, but then, just finish it off with a layer of finishing spray (don't add more glitter), let it dry, and you are done! Have fun with your personalized box!

Valentine's Day Window/Mirror Clings

Today, I will be showing you how to make more window clings, but this time Valentine's Day themed. To see my fall window clings blog post, click here. 

It is basically the same thing, but you draw different designs. 

You will need clear vinyl that you can buy from Walmart at the sewing area cutting counter, and a bunch of colorful sharpies from anywhere. 

Just freehand a drawing of whatever shapes you want onto the vinyl, (I did hearts, arrows, a ring, and flower), then cut it out! If necessary, you can print out a picture and put it under the clear vinyl to trace, or draw it on a piece of paper first, then trace your design.

That's all to it! It should stick on its own, but you can put a squirt of water on the window so it will stay better. The only thing is, that could make your window streaky if done consistently. Have fun with this craft!!!!

This picture is taken of the mirror ^

10 Minute Headbands

Hello to all! Today, I will be showing you how to make an easy headband in under 10 minutes, because as like all of you know, I have like zero free time during the school year. 

All you will need is a roll of ribbon ( mine is 5/8 inch thick), a piece of elastic the same thickness, and a sewing machine, and the sewing necessities such as pins, thread, and fabric scissors. If you want a blog post just on basic materials you should have in your craft closet, be sure to leave it Ina comment.

Ok, now on to the crafting. Cut the ribbon the size of your head and then some. I added on probably 3 or 4 inches, but I ended up cutting some off. I cut the elastic like 3.5 inches. All in all, the ribbon was about 25 inches for my head. Now I overlapped the two ends just a bit so they would stay together, and pinned it there with the middle of the elastic. Now, take the two ends on each side and stretch it as far as it can possibly go, then pin it to the ribbon there. Do that on both sides. Make sure it fits the way you like it to and is tight enough, but be careful of the pins while trying it on.

Now take the elastic part and put it into the sewing machine, sewing down the center of the ribbon and elastic on top of each other. While sewing, pull the elastic, stretching it as far out as possible, so after you sew, it AND the ribbon together should scrunch back up. Sew like that all the way down the elastic part and don't forget to backstitch at the beginning and the end. 

That's pretty much to it. We sew it with the elastic so when you wear it, it is tight against your head. Also, if you want to, you can make a cute embellishment on it, or add a bow or flower, but I didn't have time today due to school etc, so it'll have to wait ;( best of luck to you all! <3 -Alivia