Crochet Flowers

Hey guys! A few days ago I posted a Knitted Headband tutorial, and I've been thinking that it looks pretty plain. While I don't plan on bedazzling it or anything, I'm going to add a few flowers to make it a little more...pretty! Here's my attempt at crocheting a very simple flower! If you're knew to crocheting like me, hopefully this will help you. Keep reading to see how it turned out!

Materials:
- Crochet hook (I used a 6.5mm!)
- Yarn
- Scissors






Steps:

1. First, tie your slip knot directly onto your crochet hook. (Check out my Knit Cowl Neck Scarf tutorial for help!)





2. One of the beginners crochet stitches to learn is called the chain stitch, which I will be going through today! Start by taking the working end of your yarn and twirl it over your hook.




3. Pull your hook (with the working yarn tucked in it) under the original loop. This will create another loop/stitch! Keep on going based on the size of the flower you want. This will become the center of your flower! I had eight stitches for this part of my flower! :)

4. When you're ready to attach one end of your chain to the other, basically you do the same thing you've been doing but with an added step! Find a place where you want the two sides to attach and grab one strand of that chain so that you have two loops on your hook. Now do what you've been doing except pull your working yarn through both of the loops! Congrats! You've just made a small circle, and the middle of your flower.

5. With this concept, keep going by making chains and linking them to the center circle. You can make five or six petaled flowers based on the spacing of each link-attachment, and how many stitches your petals have. When you're done, tie the extra strings together on the back and trim them.

Congratulations! You just learned how to make a basic crochet flower!

What I've learned:

- To keep your petals the same size, count the number of stitches you make.
- Try to keep your crochet hook facing you as you work on your flower.
- If you want your petals to have a space in the middle, just all more stitches to each petal link!

I recognize that most crochet flowers are a lot more complicated than the one I'm showing you... but hey! I like that they're flat enough to add to my Knitted Headband. I ended up layering three flowers on the side of my headband and I love it! These are so simple to make and if you've never tried crocheting and want to, I highly recommend this!

Hope you liked this post,


Alison :)

Origami Box

Hello everybody! Today I wanted to share something that I've been doing for years now and that's making Origami Boxes! You can make these in any size and they are great for holding random, smalls things like... office supplies (push pins, staples etc.), bobby pins, jewelry and whatever you can think of! I use them a lot actually when I eat sunflower seeds and peanuts because you can just throw the box away with the shells!

Materials:
- Piece of paper

This is the shortest list of materials ever! I'm going to show a lot of pictures for this post, so check it out!



Steps:

1. Fold your piece of paper in half (the hamburger way!). The open it back up and fold it diagonally, leaving a little bit on the ends (check out the picture). Do this for both sides so you have an "X" in the middle of your paper when you open it up. Now push in along the first crease you made so that you can pinch the 2 sides together.

2. Now push those sides down along the diagonal creases you made. You should have a wide, "house shape" when you're done with this step!

3. Next, fold in each side "wing" towards the center of your "house shape". You'll have four "wings" to fold (two on each side).

4. Great! Now, fold those two flaps at the bottom over so that they are on opposite sides.

5. Open up your Origami Box, and its ready to be used!

What I've learned:

- Describing origami in words gets weird, so I hope the pictures helped!
- Making those creases at the beginning help a lot later on.

I like to make a whole bunch at once, so that they'll be ready whenever you need them! I love storing a whole bunch inside one opened box because it looks neat and they're easy to grab. If you want to try this, just grab an old magazine and go to work while you're on the couch watching TV.  Before you know it, you'll have a whole box filled!

Hope you guys liked this post!


Alison :)

Knitted Headband

Hey there! With fall and winter coming approaching faster than I would like, I thought I might as well get ready for it and make myself a warm, fuzzy headband! If you have already seen my Knit Cowl Neck Scarf post then you'll have a great jump start since I'll be using a lot of the same methods! I hope you try this!

Materials:
- Knitting Needles
- Yarn
- Shears
- Crochet hook

If you're unsure about some of my steps, check out Knit Cowl Neck Scarf post for a better explanation and more pictures! I didn't want to have too much repeated for this post.



Steps:

1. Tie a slip knot onto your knitting needle.              <-----


2. Cast on your yarn onto your needle. This will determine how thick your headband will be. I made ten stitches for mine.                      ----->



3. I decided to practice my knit stitch again (plus it's the only stitching method I know at this point)! I'm not even sure how many rows I knitted but I used the best measuring tool.... my head! Every once in awhile  wrap your "work in progress" headband around your head to see how much more you need to knit. Keep in mind your headband will be pretty stretchy and you don't want it to be too loose.

4. After getting my headband to the right length, I used the yarn (still attached to the ball of yarn) to weave both sides of my headband together. To do this, the crochet hook was the perfect tool! If you don't have a crochet hook, it'll just be more tedious and tricky but you can try and use your knitting needle to poke the yarn through. Just pull the yarn back and forth between both sides to lace your headband together.

And......... You're done! Here's how mine turned out!

What I've learned:

- Try on your headband before lacing up the ends together! I ended up having to undo a few rows because it was too loose.
- Knitting gets easier the more you do it!


I am so glad I made my headband wide enough so that it can cover my ears if it gets cold or windy out! I hope you guys try this out and make your own fuzzy, winter headband. It looks a little plain so stay tuned for a tutorial on Crochet Flowers to add to your headband, and make it even better!

Hope you liked this post!


Alison :)

Duct Tape iPad Sleeve

Happy Wednesday! My sister just bought an iPad and wanted to buy a sleeve for it. I decided to make her one for about $3! This was super practical and easy to do. I learned a few tricks along the way and I wanted to share them with you. Hope you like it!

Materials:

- Duct Tape 

- Padded brown envelope 

- Scissors 

You can get different colored/patterned duct tape to really jazz up your iPad sleeve!

Steps:

1. First trim the opening flap to your iPad sleeve. You're going to tuck that part in to close the sleeve and it won't work as well without this small change.

2. Now you can cover the envelope in duct tape! Use long strips to avoid wrinkles and bumps. If you have too many layers of tape it will start to look lumpy. I stuck with the classic grey/silver duct tape but you can always add your own design! Also when you're going around the top flap, try your best to fold the duct tape over the corners. Then you can cover all the messy, little pieces with one larger piece of duct tape. This part's tricky but hey, if I can do it, you can too! :)

Here's how mine turned out! My sister Lucy had some Apple stickers (they come in the iPad box) so I just stuck that onto the front of my sleeve! How does it look?

What I've learned:

- Long, straight strips give your sleeve a sleek look overall (as sleek as duct tape can be, anyway).

- Trimming the top flap so that it fits tucked into the sleeve is really important since I didn't make a fastener for it. 

I am so glad I tried this since I saved my sister from buying a $40 iPad sleeve with a cooler-looking $3 sleeve. She even got some stickers to personalize it, which you can do too! With the padded envelope, I feel better about her carrying it around in her bag. These envelopes are meant to go through the mailing system, so they should be able to survive being carried around to class etc.

If you have an iPad I hope you try this out!

Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Alison :)

Toilet Paper Art

Hi guys! Today I wanted to share with you a project where I have been saving a bunch of empty toilet paper rolls for to make... Toilet Paper Art! The final product turned out great and I am so excited to share it with you! I hope you guys try this because it was so easy and the end product turned out great. Ironically, I ended up hanging this Toilet Paper Art in the bathroom! ^.^


Materials:
- Glue
- Empty toilet paper rolls (I used six if you're going to try and save up!)
- Shears/scissors
- Push Pin


I peeled of as much of the leftover bits of toilet paper as I could before starting the project!



Steps:

1. Cut up your toilet paper rolls! Mine didn't turn out all completely even but each piece was a little less than half an inch in thickness.

2. Now start gluing each piece together! I arranged mine in a pattern that I liked before gluing the pieces together (flower shape!) to have a blueprint in my head. I glued each piece one at a time, pinching the "petals" together for a few seconds so they'd stick. For the flower part, you'll have to glue both sides of the petal. Don't add too much glue, you only need a drop or so!

3. When I was working on the stem and leaf part of my Toilet Paper Art, I pinched the pieces together a little longer since they're only attached at one spot instead of being wedged between two petals.

Here's how mine turned out! Pretty awesome right?! I used a white push pin right in the middle of the flower to hang up my Toilet Paper Art!

What I've learned:

- Elmer's glue works surprisingly well for this project.
- This artwork is super light so a push pin works great to hang it up!

You can decide to paint your Toilet Paper Art (spray paint would probably be easy) but I kind of liked the irony if it! Apparently my parents thought it was funny too because they decided to hang it up in the bathroom for sh**s and giggles (get it? hehe)! Sorry, bad bathroom jokes... You can also mount your project on a poster of some sort if you wanted to give it a different background! let me know if you try something different or have more suggestions.

I hope you guys liked this tutorial and decide to decorate your bathrooms too!


Alison :)