A fun project for the gals in your life!

Hi all! Well, last week I promised that I would take some time every now and then to share some of the craftiness other than stamping. Today, I have a fun project that I whipped up not too long ago for my daughter and I think that these would make darling little inexpensive stocking stuffers for the gals in your life!

What are they? No slip headbands in all kinds of colors and styles! What makes them "no slip?" The inside is lined with a strip of velvet helping the headband to stay put. My daughter plays sports and it used to be a common problem -- slippy slidey headbands that would literally fly off right in the middle of all the action! Not any more!

So, let me share how I made them! This is what you need:

-7/8" wide grosgrain ribbon
-7/8" wide velvet
-1/4" black elastic
-glue runner
-black thread or color of choice
-tape measure

Step 1: Pick out some fun ribbon and cut off 16" of ribbon. Cut 15-1/2" of velvet.

Step 2: Using a glue runner, run a strip down the center of the ribbon and fold down the ends. 

Step 3: Lay the Velvet down allowing it to stick with the help of the strip of glue. 

Step 4: Sew 1/8" down each side of your headband.

This is what it will look like when you're done with that last step.....

Step 5: Slip the 1/4" wide black elastic between the two ribbons and sew it in place using a 1/8" seam. Do this on both sides. 

This is what the headband looks like finished!

Finished it is 20" wide and fits my daughter's head and most of her friends. So, the ribbon, folded and seamed is 15-1/2 and I used a 5" piece of elastic that I tucked in on both sides leaving about 4-1/2" exposed -- again -- making the finished band about 20".

Here's a peek at what I did in less than an hour.....

And here is one of them in action! ;-)

Easy peasy lemon squeezy! Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial -- these headbands are so easy, so inexpensive (less than $2 per band) and super fun! My daughter now has about a dozen to go with any and every outfit she owns!

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow for Flourishes first day of sneak peeks! There's lots of fun planned and, of course, lots of beautiful inspiration from the whole Flourishes Design Team! Stay tuned!

~Julie

Seeing Rainbows & Rubber Bands!

H all and happy Tuesday! I was doing some thinking over Thanksgiving when my daughter and I were enjoying some crafting time. I thought that every now and then, I really need to share our crafts here! There are so many moms and grandmas out there that have a sweet little girl in their life that they love to spend time with -- so why not share what we are doing and maybe give you some crafting ideas? From now on, I'll just put them under the Crafting label here on my blog!

So, today, I'm going to share a fun new book my daughter and I stumbled upon with patterns for one of the new crazes -- the Rainbow Loom! Have you seen those crazy rubber band bracelets that all the kids are wearing these days? This fun loom is a hit in our house and we've literally given it away as birthday gifts for tweens about a half dozen times! And, on top of that, now the kids in my daughter's class are "putting in orders" for bracelets for her to make them! Too fun!

So, now when we buy the loom as a gift, we'll be putting this book with it! It's called Totally Awesome Rubber Band Jewelry. We found it on Amazon HERE and it has more than 12 different project ideas for you to try!

This is what the Rainbow Loom looks like right out of the box. They give you a crochet hook, some bands and then the loom. We bought our loom at Michaels. At Hobby Lobby -- they have one called the Cra-Z Art Ultimate Rubber Band Loom. 

FYI... Michaels sells single color bags of bands that we've stocked up on and we've bought an organizer to hold all the bands as well! (It was only a couple bucks, which makes it nice!)

So, what I loved about this book is the fact that the instructions in the book are so very visual. They not only give you different color schemes as inspiration but then give you step-by-step instructions that are very easy to follow! My daughter needed my help for the first bracelet of each pattern and then she was off and running on her own.

She started with a simple "Fishtail" pattern here....

And then, followed the instructions for how to add beads. This was fun because she used some small pony beads I had stashed in my craft room (and didn't have a use for). I hadn't seen folks add beads, so that was a fun pattern from the book that we've loved! 

 And... this is her in action! :-) Here she's making the Triple the Fun Bracelet from the book!

And, this is what she did in just ONE afternoon!

What fun! We thought this would be a fun post to share because of the fact that we know this would make a FUN Christmas gift as well! The loom and the book add up to a little less than $25 for the two. Add in some extra bands (about $4 a bag) and an organizer ($2.50) and for a wee bit more than $30 you have a gift that is sure to be a hit with a girl in your life!

Hope you enjoyed this post and I'll be back soon with more crafting fun! 

~Julie