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Project: A headband to hide a haircut

It's a rite of passage for all parents and children. The day they cut their own hair. This is followed by days and months of how to cleverly hide the renegade locks such kiddo creativity produces.

Because of how our charming 3 yr old chopped her hair we have been sentenced to two styles: The headband or clippies on each side. It wasn't enough to chop one area, she got two. I can't entirely blame her. She had an accomplice. Our 5 yr old son apparently helped with her new hair style. She gave him the scissors and held still long enough for him to use them. Yes, this earned them both big fat timeouts.

Today were making another headband that I thought added some fun funky style, plus it hides more of the areas she chopped off than just a flower.

Supplies:
24 inches of 7/8 ribbon
*we used 7/8 white swirls on bubble gum from www.AllAboutRibbon.com*
Embellishment of your choice
Hot glue gun
Lighter
Scissors
Ribbon covered headband (instructions on previous blog entry)

Heat seal your 7/8 ribbon and loop it over to about 1 1/2 inches. Crease and tack underneath with hot glue.

Continue making as many loops as you like, we made 5, and the trimmed any excess off and heat sealed with our lighter.

Hot Glue your loopy strip to your ribbon covered headband and embellish as desired.

(Someone loved it so much we had to make a second one with candy embellishments!)

Project: Boutique Bloom Headband

We're making THIS today!  

What is so addictive about crafting? It's making something out of nothing!

Looking around my office yesterday I was overwhelmed. I have enough craft supplies that I am confident I could make Martha Stewart cringe. What should I use? I had been cleaning and dejunking my office most of the day so I was already in the mindset of finding things I no longer needed and ditching them.

My eyes settled on this random bag of synthetic flower petals. Nothing special about them. They have long since lost their original packaging to a toddler. The were one of those things I picked up on clearance, two Valentine's Days ago, thinking that they were some great find for a project I never got around to. This is otherwise known as the crafters curse. Even if you aren't a packrat you transform into one!

I was determined to make them into something special from the nothingness they were in the abyss of my office.

Things you need:
Flower petals
3/8 headband or any skinny headband of your choice
3/8 ribbon  *We used 3/8 white with hot pink swirls from http://www.allaboutribbon.com/*
Button or some kind of center embellishment
Marabou puff (optional)

Hot Glue Gun
Lighter
Clothes pin
Scissors (not pictured~ya all know what these look like)
E6000 glue (optional)

Covering your headband
1. Take your 3/8" headband and glue tabs on both ends so that the plastic ends are covered.

Heat seal the end of your ribbon by running the flame of your lighter along the edge of the ribbon. By melting the end of the ribbon this prevents fraying. You will notice a slightly glossy look as it melts.

2. Glue the ribbon on the inner side of the headband straight across at a 90 degree angle from the headband.

3. As you start to wrap, try to angle it at a 45 degree angle. Normally I have a very slight overlap for the first 1 or 2 times around the headband. The goal here is to get the ribbon to be wrapped next to each other not on top of each other. Wrap the full headband to the other end.

To finish place a dot of hot glue on the headband, trim to the appropriate length to allow it to wrap around, heat seal this ribbon and hot glue to finish.

Making the flower
Most things in nature grow in odd numbers. If you count most flowers' petals they will almost always be odd numbers. For making things more naturally pleasing visually you want to make sure you use an odd number of items.

Arrange 5 petals with the pointy tips overlapping on each other as little as possible. We want to make this bottom layer as wide as we can with our petals. Hot glue in place by tacking them together with a dot of glue on each petal. Repeat this step on the next layers. For each additional layer try to glue the pointy end of the petal further in so that your petals overlap more and are making a slightly smaller layer. I used 3 layers for my flower. Glue your layers together.

Now all we need to do is finish your flower. Add your embellishments to your flower. I added a puff of marabou because feathers are in style right now. I also wanted to use something soft to balance the very hard metal presence of the blingy button I selected. You could embellish your flower with regular buttons stacked, acrylic rhinestones, bottle caps or anything else that says, "USE ME!" that you have sitting in your house.

(Optional tip: When attaching metal buttons I am a bit of an overachiever. I apply an outer ring of hot glue and then fill the center of the circle with E6000.  The hot glue helps it stay in place while the E6000 sets up. I always worry that the button will get pulled on and pop off so rationally I use the type of glue that in my 20's was also used to reapply my Mazda emblem back on the front of my car.)

Attach the flower to the headband with hot glue. I use both hot glue and E6000 to secure it to the headband by alternating a dot of hot glue with E600 then another dot of hot glue. Fold a couple of the lower petals back under on the headband and place your clothes pin so that it can hold your flower in just the right spot while it sets up for the next several hours. If you opt to use only hot glue you can skip the clothes pin.

*Poof*
You now have a finished flower headband. Pretty unique as well as a perfect way to customize special occasion hair accessories. You can easily blend several colors of petals for a custom look. These petals are available in all craft stores year round in the wedding supply isle and you can use your coupons on them!

Big Shout out to Silly Frilly Kids for the beautiful dress our model is sporting!  

Calling all Muses:Where do you find your inspiration?

According to Greek mythology there are these ladies... nine to be exact. Goddesses who inspire artists, musicians, writers and poets. Nine. For the whole world. I'm not sure how I feel having to share my muse with the likes of James Cameron, Heather Ross, and Shinedown. Are they getting the best of my Muse's inspiration, or am I honored to be in their company? Let’s go with honored for the sake of my neurotic tendencies.

I am sure that I am no different than any other form of artist seeking inspiration. I wake up in the morning with the sun is shining (or not) and at that point the day goes one way or the other. Sometimes I get really lucky and I get dealt an inspiration bender where for days and weeks everything is roses and sunshine. Then the yen yang of the universe hits ya right upside the head with days filled with dreary struggling to keep your momentum going to be productive. Forget inspired. I just need my project list smaller at the end of those days.

What's necessary to pull yourself up out of a funk when your Muse is on Vaca? Here's my go to list. It may not always take the funk out of total funkiness but it lightens the ick.

Indulge your inner adolescence. Embrace you. Find New.

Watch your favorite old TV. shows. Dharma & Greg, Sex and the City, Trading Places
Never underestimate the power of music. Load up the mp3 player. Throw the 8 tracks on. Do what you gotta do. I like a lot of new music, but my soul seems lighter when I listen to music from high school and college. Don't forget to dance. Ok, I don't really dance but I have been known to get busted nodding my head and on rare occasions.... singing to myself. Boy is that embarrassing. If you are dancing kind of person, dancing is required.
Dig for Oldie Movies. Dirty Dancing, Moulin Rouge, Meet Me in St. Louis
Your nose knows. Wear perfume even if you aren't going anywhere. Light candles. (If you haven’t been introduced to Scentsy yet~ FIND THEM!)
Buy yourself flowers. Buy a bud vase. Even just having one stem of a daisy makes everything more cheery. On your desk. In a window. On the bathroom counter. Just somewhere you see it.
Go somewhere new. New coffee shop. New grocery store. Walk down a new street.
Surround yourself with your favorite colors. If you find a picture frame that is "you" buy it and use it even if it doesn’t match anything. Comfy throw blanket that is just the right colors you love even though it matches nothing in your house? Buy it. It may not match your room, but it matches you.
Go see the experts. Go look at work by people you admire. What do you love about it? What is breathtaking? Take that with you and think of that when you sit down to work. Picasso wasn't the first person to pick up a paint brush. It's ok to be inspired by others. It's even ok to make your own version of your favorite (insert artsy whatever). Inspired by and copied from are two different things. As a bow maker, I know you can give 25 bow makers the same ribbon and every one of those bows will be different. It's called artistic license, or inspiration.
Let me introduce your new best friend, Google. Google something you like. Click on images. Browse. Get lost on the interwebs... just don't wander down those shady dark alleys. I have been known to Google kittens, puppies and rainbows. Lack the ability to Google? Try StumbleUpon, equally rockalicious.
Take a virtual vacation. Find a pretty place. Put it on the desktop of your computer. Download new music and play it all day. Make food from there or even better... takeout! I took two vacation last year: Key West and Hawaii. They were wonderful. I didn't even have to bikini shop.
Keep a tidbit book. A scrap of a design here. A color combo there. A happy sunset. Whatever. I like to include quotes that speak to me. I love that book. I have been known to gift these books for friends having a hard time. Buy a happy quote book, flip through it with a highlighter, some stickers, and a few doodles later... perfect.

What am I really suggesting you do when your Muse is MIA? Remember who you are, what makes you you, and find some new you.