Crocheted Dog Beanie

Difficulty Level: Medium

Hello Crafters!
 Judy the St Bernard loves her new beanie! And it's pretty easy to make too! Use the same technique you used for this hat but when the top is as big as you want, don't crochet in the inside. Just stop adding stitches and continue crocheting until it's as big as you want, and omit the last step. Oh, and something else important... drop stitches on either side for ear-holes! When you're done, do one more row around, but skip every other stitch so that it's tight around the brim. If you know how to crochet, it should be easy! Have fun!

How to Make Tin Foil Earrings

Difficulty Level: Not hard a'tall! 

Hello Crafters! Today i'm going to show you how to make tin foil earrings! This is what I made for my mom for Mother's day.

Materials;

A square of Tin Foil about 1 foot across

beading wire, regular wire, or thread

wire cutters or scissors

two earring hooks

a needle that you can thread wire through

They were very simple. To start I took a sheet of foil about 6 inches by 3 inches and crumpled it up and poked and prodded it till it was a good looking ball shape. then I took another square of foil a little smaller and crumpled that up to. It actually took me several tries for me to get two that looked pretty close in size. I chose this design but you can do anything you would like to, add different colored beads, use more then one ball, color the foil, anything. I did a little ball on top of a larger one. 

Ok, once you have the four balls that you would like to use you take a peice or wire about 14 in. long and fold it in half. first string your earring hook on to the wire so it falls where the fold is. Next take your needle and thread the two ends of the wire through it and hold it so they don't slip out. Then take the smaller ball and right in the middle, poke you needle all the way through, Then slide the bigger one on, right above the little one. Take the needle off but make sure your foil balls don't fall off. Lastly tie a knot at the end of the big one. You should probably double know it just to make sure. Cut the wire and do the next one. It's really very simple once you get the hang of it. If this is confusing I hop to make a video tutorial, but I can't promise that anytime soon. 

So there you go! These are simple, pretty and stylish. They will go with anything. Thank you and Have fun Crafting!

Crocheting a Bow Tie and Bowler Hat for Dogs!

 Difficulty Level: Difficult

Doesn't this dog look ADORABLE in his new hat and bow tie? And it was pretty simple to make, as long as you know how to crochet and add and drop stitches. So let's get crocheting!

For the bow tie:
-Start by chaining eight, then crochet like you would normally BUT don't add a stitch at the end of every row. This is VERY important so that it gets smaller.
-Once you get to two stitches, add two and then do two more rows, then drop one so that you have two stitches again.
-Then, add a stitch every row until you get to eight again.
-Finally, tie off the end and then put a slip knot on your hook, hook the end through one of the stitches on the middle part and crochet all around the middle so that it's raised. Leave a bit of yarn to tie the bow tie onto the dog's collar. ONLY tie it around the collar, NOT around the dog's neck, or they may choke.

For the bowler hat
-Start by chaining three and inserting the hook through the first stitch, and crochet around the stitches so that it makes a disk, adding a stitch every row around. This will be the top of the hat.
-When it's as big as you want, stitch around the inside loops of the last row you did and keep going around, not adding any stitches, so that it stays the same size around. It should begin going down.
-When it's the right size, (if you make it bigger, it can be a top hat!) stitch around the top stitches of the last row you did, going around about three times to make the part that sticks out at the base. Leave some string to tie around the dog's head.
-(Oh, and Whovians-- if you omit the last step, and use red yarn, it can make a fez!!! Your dog can be the Dog-tor, with a cool fez and bow tie!)

And there we go! Say bye, Jack!

How To Make Popsicle Stick Bracelets!

Difficulty Level: Easy

These are simple, cute, and good to make for young kids to decorate! All you'll need are popsicle sticks, cups, and whatever decorating things (markers, stickers, paper, fabric scraps, yarn, etc.)  you want to use. 

Begin by bringing a pot of water to a boil on the stove, then remove it from the flame. Place the popsicle sticks in the hot water and let them soak for an hour or two, adding more boiling water every half hour. Soon, they should be bendy and pliable. One by one, gently bend the popsicle sticks onto a curved shape and let them rest in the mouth of the glass. Remember that they need to be the right size to comfortably fit around your wrist. Let them dry for about 24 hours, then pop them out. Now it's time to decorate! In the picture, we glued on patterned paper, but that's only ONE of the many different styles you can make! Have fun!

How To Make A Skirt Into A Dress

Difficulty Level: Difficult

I found this old skirt at the thrift store. As you can tell by the picture, it is much too big for me. But I wasn't planning on wearing it as a skirt. I was planning on re-fashioning it into a dress!

BEFORE

AFTER

This was a bit hard, but not as much as I expected. All I did was find a sash to tie around it and add the shoulder straps. To make the straps, I cut two long strips of fabric that looked good with the pattern of the skirt, hemmed each side, and then sewed them onto the top of the skirt. The hemming took a while, especially since my sewing machine was broken then, but if you don't hem, the fabric will fray over time. Another way to do this is to cut slits on the sides near the top of the skirt and hem around them to make arm holes, but either way works fine. Then find a good sash and attach it to the front with a few stitches, but leave the back loose so that you can tie it behind. And that's it! You can do this with any too-big skirt! Have fun crafting!

Helpful Hint:

Make sure to try on the dress constantly, especially while you're sewing on the shoulder straps, to make sure that the straps are even and aren't too big or too small. If they're too big, it's easier to fix than if it's too small.

How To Make A Friendship Bracelet

Difficulty Level: Easy

Hi Crafters! These bracelets, known as "snake around the pole" bracelets, are super quick and easy to make. All you'll need is some embroidery thread, (which is really cheap and easy to find at any crafts store) tape, and scissors! Let's get crafting!

 First cut about six inches of each color of embroidery thread you want to use. Three colors is the best. Fold each length of thread in half, like so:

 Gather them all together, making sure that the same ends are next to one another, and then tie a knot at the end with the loops.

 Get some masking tape and tape the end down on your work surface. This will keep the bracelet in place.

 Separate one strand of string from the others.

 Cross it over the rest of the thread...

 Bring it around underneath the main threads and over top of the first part of the thread.

Now pull it tight! Here you have the first part. You can't see it too well yet, but just wait. Do it again.

 Keep going. You should see a part rising up and twisting around. Now do you see why it's called "snake around the pole"?

 When you're ready for the next color, pull out one strand of that color and keep going with it, leaving the first strand you started with in with the rest of the group.

 Keep going. Add the other color.

 When it's long enough, you're done! Tie a knot at the end to keep it in place.

 Tie it around your wrist and voila! You have an easy snake-around-the-pole friendship bracelet! You can make these in all sorts of colors. Have fun!

How To Fold A Simple Origami Rose

Difficulty Level: Easy

There's lots of fancy, complicated origami flowers, but this is one of the easiest. All you'll need is a square piece of paper!

 Fold the paper in half lengthwise, then again, so that you end up with a small square.

 Now unfold it. There should be a + sign in the middle of the paper.

 Fold one corner of the paper down so that the very tip touches the point where the two lines intersect.

 Do the same thing with the other three corners.

 Then fold in each corner again, so that it looks like this.

 And, (last time!) fold in each corner again.

 Fold out each corner slightly like it shows in the corner. It shouldn't be completely flat out.

Then fold out the next bits inside the same way.

 And finally, the last ones. Here you have it- a simple origami rose!

How To Make Duct Tape Bows!

Difficulty Level: Easy

These simple bows are easy and fun to make! All you'll need is duct tape, scissors, and a bobby pin, (optional).

 Begin by cutting off a piece of duct tape about 2-2 1/2 inches long.

 Then cut off another one, slightly bigger than the first.

 Put them on top of one another. They don't have to be perfectly lined up, we're going to fix that soon.

 Trim off the excess tape so that you have straight end with no sticky parts coming off the edges.

 Now fold it in half.

 With your thumb and pointer finger, hold the folded tape at the very edge, across from the two flaps, and fold out the two flaps slightly.

 Push the two flaps completely back and hold it down.

 Use a thin strip of duct tape to hold it together. Congratulations! You've made your first duct tape bow! You can tape on a bobby pin or barrette so that it can go in your hair, or it can be a cool bow tie! Have fun!

How To Finger Knit!

Difficulty Level: Easy

Hi, Crafters!
Long before I knew how to knit or crochet, I learned to finger knit. I was about six. That's proof of how easy it is! Once you learn how, it's so easy you can do it without thinking! What are we waiting for? Let's get started!

All you'll need is yarn, some scissors... and your hand!

Begin by holding your hand in front of you, palm facing you, and wrapping one end of the yarn around your thumb a couple of times. If you're right handed, use your left hand. If you're left handed, use your right hand! This is just to keep the yarn in place. You'll unravel it later.

 Now slip the yarn under your pointer finger. Bring it up and over your next finger, then bring it under the next, and finally, over your pinkie.

 Then bring the yarn behind your pinkie, over your ring finger, (which shouldn't have any yarn on it) behind your middle finger, and over your pointer finger. Each finger should have one loop of yarn on it. Then do it again! Under, over, under, over, around, over, under, over. Now each finger should have two loops of yarn on them, like this:

 On your pointer finger, loop the bottom part of the yarn over the top one and then over the tip of your finger. Let it drop there. Then do the same thing with the other fingers, and it should look like this on the front...

 ...and look like this on the back!

 Then do the under, over, under, over technique again, just once, so that you have two loops on each finger again. Then bring each one over, and repeat.

 After a while, it should look like this on the back. But pull it tight and...

 It should look like this!

 Now keep going...

 And going...

 When it's long enough, bring the pinkie loop over top of the ring finger loop like this.

 Bring the loop over the top and bring the last loop on your ring finger over to your middle finger.

 Bring that bottom loop over the top and bring the remaining loop to your pointer finger.

 Bring the last loop over the top, which leaves one last loop. Take it carefully off your finger and cut the string of yarn, leaving a small amount to string through the loop and pull tight. Here's the finished product!

It's a bit skinny, but it can be made into headbands, belts, scarves... there's even a way to weave it into a hat! But that's another tutorial. For now, goodbye, and happy crafting!