Saturday, March 29, 2014

ONE LOOM Long Checkerboard Bracelet Tutorial



I absolutely excited to put this tutorial out! It is for my Long Checkerboard bracelet on ONE loom. And it gets better...One NORMAL set up loom, so that means any loom! AND I don't take apart my loom! 

It's a little tough at first with the initial laying out and moving of bands, but after that it's pretty easy and so is ending it! 

I love for everyone to be able to make my designs and this one definitely works for everyone. SO SO excited!!


Give it a try!





EASIEST Beaded/Banded Single (Adding Bands/Beads to Dippy Dot Bracelets)




I made the super fabulous Dippy Dot bracelets awhile back, however, I really was disappointed in how difficult it could be to make the center stripe of dots. I had been trying to figure out a way to do this...and I totally nailed it! 

So, I present a mini tutorial on the absolute easiest way to add beads or bands to a single chain! Hope that it helps! 

Enjoy!




Thursday, March 27, 2014

Beaded Wagon Wheel Bracelet Tutorial (Also on one loom)

This bracelet was just completely made for fun! I love how it kind of acts like bubble wrap...push the beads one way, push them back...back and forth...back and forth...lol. It has a super cute profile that really pops out. You could say that it has a flower appearance at times, but I think that really just depends on what your beads look like. It doesn't take that many bands to make and I have made two versions, that way they can be made on the regular two looms or one. I call it the Beaded Wagon Wheel because when it's on the loom, that's what it reminds me of, lol.

We also put on the beads after we do the looming, so they aren't trapped in the banding, which I think gives it a super neat appearance. I hope you'll give one of them a try! 

Also, I just want to add that I know that many of my designs haven't been as ornate as people seem to expect from me, but a lot of times, I'm working on something and because it's so detailed, it takes longer to perfect it, but I still want to share other ideas that I have rolling around in my head. 


You can find the Beaded Wagon Wheel here:







And the One Loom Beaded Wagon Wheel here:





Side Wrap & Mini Side Wrap Bracelet Tutorials

I'm definitely a little behind posting things here, I can't even begin to start with how much has been going on lately, lol.

I wanted to make sure that I shared this tutorial here because, honestly, I think it is amazing! As far as I know, a new technique of wrapping the bands on the loom and the result is absolutely fabulous. It looks like a paracord bracelet almost, or a macrame bracelet. I still need to show how I would add beads to it, but I think it just looks fabulous on it's own. I made a regular and mini version and eventually I will make the regular bracelet on one loom too.

You can find the Side Wrap tutorial here:




And the Mini Side Wrap here: 




I hope that you enjoy them! Sorry I'm late posting them here! 



Wednesday, March 19, 2014

My Son's 3rd Birthday!

Yesterday was my adorable son Greyson's 3rd birthday! He was so super excited, especially after having just gone through his sister's first birthday and not understanding why he didn't get to open any gifts. :(


He definitely went through his presents with a determination...brow furrowed, fingers trying to get into any crack left in the wrapping paper to tear it off. He loved it and we all loved watching him!


Of course, I had to make him an adorable cake too! For his, he wanted a dinosaur, so I had to oblige. I stared by using Wilton's stand up teddy bear cake pan. And I'd love to show you the process of how I hacked apart that teddy bear and turned him into a dinosaur, but it's just too gruesome!.... or the images accidently got erased when I was making room on my phone for more pictures/tutorials.... I'm going with too gruesome!

I cut off the bears ears, cut a wedge shape out of front of the face where the nose was for the  dinosaur's mouth and then removed the forehead area to give the dinosaur set back eyes....gruesome, right?


But the images below are the end result of my reconstructive surgery on the bear. I think he turned out pretty great! I had a few issues with the fondant, but nothing too noticeable...besides, we ate it like 4 hours after I finished it, so no one will notice now, lol.








Sunday, March 16, 2014

My Daughter's 1st Birthday!




I just wanted to share what I made for my daughter's first birthday. It was so super fun to make and I absolutely LOVE this and the fact that I am finally getting to make girly things after 3 boys, lol.



I started by using Wilton's large Wonder Mold. I could have used a bit more batter, but it worked out since I added ruffles to the bottom of the dress so I didn't have to really even the bottom of the cake which would have shrunk it quite a bit.




Then I just threw on some awesome pink buttercream icing!





Then added some fantastic neon pink fondant. This stuff is so fun because it's like play-doh! 





Next came adding all the details. The ruffles, bodice, ribbon and of course the flowers! So, so many flowers! I should have actually have made more to account for breakage as I was trying to get them to stick to the cake. It all worked out though, thankfully!





I also added her name along the front and piped white buttercream into all the middles of the flowers. 






The back view. I had so much trouble with the ribbon, first it had started to dry and get crackly, then I over moistened it so it wouldn't hold it's shape right...and probably when I was just about at the point I could add it...my adorable 2 year old Greyson snatched it up and broke it in half. (My fault since I left it too close to the edge of the counter.) Eventually, I was able to get it on the cake and it looked pretty good! 






This is the top down view of her cake, just for fun mainly! 

We had a great day celebrating her birthday and I get to do it all over again in a few days as it is my son's 3rd birthday on Tuesday! So busy, but loving it! :)




Kaleidoscope Basket Tutorial

It only makes sense that I make a Kaleidoscope basket. I've made enough other things with it so far. I'm hoping that I don't make everyone sick of it, lol...more hoping that people will be in awe of all the designs that can be made with it, lol.

I like this version because you don't have to worry about closing the bottom like in my other baskets and it really is pretty quick and simple to make. Especially since so many people have been making other designs with the Kaleidoscopes already.

I hope you enjoy this cute little basket too! I promise that I only have like maybe one more basket to publish the tutorial on lol....

For now, you can find the tutorial for this basket here:


Metal Hook Anyone?


I keep on breaking my plastic Rainbow Loom hooks. I've gone through 6 in the last 4 months or so... I had hoped to wait it out and get the metal hook from Rainbow Loom, but they kept on pushing the release date out. Now, I've been using crochet hooks, but I found that the one that I really liked (inline), that had a deep hook is cutting my bands if I pull it through too many and the other hook (tapered) doesn't have enough hook to hang on to the bands. So I got this brilliant idea the other day. I turned a latch hook into a pretty reasonable substitution. A latch hook is used for fixing carpets or making the pillows/rugs that come in the little kit boxes.





This is a Caron bent latch hook with wood handle. I picked it up from my local Jo-Ann's craft store. It was $3.99. It was the only style they had, but apparently there are straight versions which would have saved me a bit of hammering, lol.





The middle piece simply unscrews from the base. It's in there pretty good too, but I needed to remove it so that I could straighten the hook. I held the metal with a pair of pliers (wrap your pliers with tape or something if you don't want to scratch the hook all up) and just kept twisting until it came out.





Now the fun part! I simply held it down on the floor (carpeted) and used a hammer to get the bends out of it. I had tried to use the hook without hammering it, but it was way too awkward. Once I had it as straight as I was going to get it, I screwed it back into the base of the handle as tight as I could get it. Then I took pliers and twisted off the latch part. I couldn't get it all the way out, but it broke off close enough to the shaft that I don't even notice it. I also ended up bending the hook backwards because I found that as I loomed, the bands were sliding to far up the shaft and it made it hard to get them off. It seems to work a little better, but it could just be how I hold it too. To bend the hook back, I just grabbed the shaft right next to the hook with the pliers and bent it back. For metal, it wasn't too hard, lol.


And this is the difference in the hooks, before and after. So far, I'm really liking it. and it was CHEAP...cheaper than I imagine the official hooks will be. Give it a try if you're looking for a new hook!



One Loom Kaleidoscope Basket

In my quest to make every basket possible it seems, I have this One Loom Kaleidoscope Basket tutorial for you. It's awesome! You don't have to worry about closing the bottom and if you've made my turtle this will be a breeze! It's pretty quick and simple to make and I even do the transfer needed instead of taking apart my loom. Hopefully once more people see it how easy it is, they will give it a try!

You can find this tutorial here:


Mini Fishnet Bracelet Tutorial

We've had a bunch of network issues in our house which has made it difficult to get the editing, rendering and uploading done that I usually do. I did have this tutorial uploaded so instead of it being a add on to a more ornate bracelet, it's headlining the show today!

This design is just a downsized version of the Fishnet bracelet. It's fun, cute and colorful without being too overwhelming or wide. Plus it's super simple to make! You do need to have even pin bars to do it though. I hope you enjoy it!

You can find the tutorial here:


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Decorative Basket Tutorial

I can't seem to get enough of making these baskets. I'm sure you'll be sick of them before I'm done. But they are just so darn adorable! My kids love these things. I can barely get them off the loom before they have run off with them!

I know that I originally thought of the baskets because of Easter, but I also thought of the fact that May Day is coming up and these baskets would be adorable to use for that too! Either way, I just can't get enough of them right now, so that means more tutorials on awesome little baskets!

I hope you'll check this one out. It's a little more time consuming, because of the rim of the basket, but it's so worth it in the end!


You can find the tutorial here:




Adorable, right? :)



Dippy Dot and Mini Dippy Dot Bracelet Tutorials

This bracelet is awesome! It's a little fussy to make because of the middle stripe, but it is so worth it! It just has a certain amount of sophistication to it that makes it a great wear!

I have made two versions of it. The Dippy Dot and the Mini Dippy Dot. The Dippy Dot is done on 5 pin bars, while the Mini Dippy Dot is done on 3. They are both done with the pins offset, so anyone can make one!

This is the tutorial for the Dippy Dot:






And here is the Mini Dippy Dot:





Enjoy!!





Monday, March 10, 2014

(Easter) Basket Tutorial

I love this little basket! It's adorable and perfect for Easter, especially with the Easter grass inside and a quick little how to on making a little egg to go in it! It's all made on one loom so that anyone can enjoy making it! (Which is the best part!)

I have some other baskets I will put out tutorials on in the near future as well, just a variations that make them adorable! I hope you like it!

You can find the tutorial here:



Enjoy! :)

Turtle Shell Charms

This will be kind of a one for two post....one design and two tutorials. After I made my Kaleidoscope Turtle, I had a lot of requests to have just a tutorial on the shell because they liked that so much. And as I'm always happy to oblige, I whipped up two tutorials on how to make the shell without listening to me talk about the turtle parts. One tutorial is on the 5 pin bars and the other is a one loom version so that everyone can make it!

Most people really like the idea that it is a little pocket to put things in...bracelets, gifts, bad rubber bands, etc. It may lead me to making something a little bigger next time that still has the same effect. I'm pretty impressed with how it turned out!


Here you can find the tutorial for the Turtle Shell Charm on the 5 pin bars:






And here you can find the one loom version:




I hope you enjoy the cuteness!!!



Ruffle Bracelet Tutorial

So, I got a bit behind posting tutorials on here that I have released on YouTube. It's crazy how much goes into everything! I have the tutorial for my Ruffle bracelet to share first. I think this is an awesome bracelet, mainly due to the simple fact that it is all made on one loom and it looks like it took two or more! It can be very flashy with the sides pulled all the way out on one side or just a neat thick bracelet to wear.

I called it the Ruffle bracelet because when I first looked at it, it reminded me of the ruffled tuxedos that men used to wear back in the day. I did get a comment on the tutorial saying that I should have named it the Garter Bracelet because it reminded them of a garter belt. ...I think I'll stick with my name since I don't want little kids running around saying they are wearing garters, lol.

I hope you enjoy it! You can find the tutorial for the Ruffle bracelet here:







Friday, March 7, 2014

Official One Loom Kaleidoscope Tutorial




I am super excited about the response I've gotten for my regular version of this adorable little guy! I thank every one of you for your support in my making all sorts of things, and not just bracelets....course it does help that this little guy is fantastic! 



Because I like everyone to be able to make my designs, I have put together a one loom version that can be made with any loom. I really hope to see more of these guys tottering around out there. Once you make one,...you'll have to make the whole family!





ENJOY!






Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Beaded X'd Out Bracelet Tutorial








Just a quick little tutorial showing how to add beads to the X'd Out bracelet. I think it looks great with a little bling! 



I'm working on getting my tutorial finished for making the Official Kaleidoscope Turtle on one loom. It should be done soon! 


For now, you can find the tutorial for the Beaded X'd Out Bracelet here:








Enjoy!

Monday, March 3, 2014

Official Kaleidoscope Turtle





How about something adorable?! That's right! It's time to share my amazingly cute and adorable turtle! I had been working on this little guy for awhile and when I finally got him done I couldn't wait to share him so I posted pictures on Instagram and Facebook which received some very awesome feedback! I'm hoping that my tutorial will receive that same feedback, lol! It's the first time that I have made a figure and recorded how to do it, so I'm hoping that it comes out alright!


I hope you enjoy this little guy! I may make a one loom version if there is enough demand for one.







Enjoy!






Saturday, March 1, 2014

X'd Out Bracelet Tutorial

I came up with this bracelet a long time ago and ever since, I keep thinking I see it done by others. So far, I have not seen an exact copy of mine with the same banding. But I am not so naive to think that someone else didn't come up with this pattern too. So, even though I made it long ago, I didn't publish it, so if someone has come up with it in the mean time....I'm just doing a tutorial on it.


Anyways, I do think this bracelet is great because you can add a lot of colors to make it pop out and you can also add beads to it as well. Doubling it makes a very nice cuff too!


I'm spending the morning turning a spare room into a little crafting space for me! I'm excited about it because with a family of 6 having your own space is something I haven't seen in awhile, lol. I'm hoping that it will give me more time to create!


So enjoy this easy little number to make! And I might just have something this evening to share that will rock your socks off, lol!