Braid Hairclip

Hi! Have you ever fancied having one of those colourful hipster string braids in your hair? You know, the ones they offer at little stalls near the beach? Not near one of them right now? Not allowed them for school or work? Never fear. Today you will learn how to create one of those colourful braids...that is attached to a hair clip, so that you can put it on, take it off, or relocate it whenever you please! How about that? And the best part is, it's really easy!

You will need:

-1 ordinary hairclip

-3 strands of colourful string/not too thin thread (I recommend them being about the length of the distance between your hands when you spread them out horizontally, but you can change it to suit the length of your hair.)

-1 pair of scissors (which you have probably already used to cut your string)

-1 quite heavy item, e.g. a thick book or, in my case, a snow globe

-1 mirror (just to look in, not cut up and stick anywhere - don't worry)

Step 1:

Put your three strands together, and make sure that at one end, they are all the same length. Roughly 10cm from this end, tie a knot. Just a normal knot. Do two on top of each other if you're really worried it's going to come loose, but it will be fine with just one.

Step 2:

I recommend doing this part on a table. Put your heavy item on top of the 10cm strip of string just above the knot. Now move your heavy item and its piece of string as close as possible to the edge of the table, so that the strings are not lying on the table, but are in the air. If you know how to plait, great: go ahead and do so until you're nearly at the bottom of your three strings. If you don't know how to, I'm sure there are many websites that would teach you how (it's not hard). Don't worry about making mistakes in your plaiting - it adds to the character of your braid hairclip. I know that I made plenty!

Step 3:

When you think your braid is nearing the length of your hair, go to a mirror. Grip, with a finger and thumb, where you are up to with your plaiting, and with your other hand, hold the braid against your hair, with the top quite near to the parting. If your braid is nearly the length of your hair, you can stop braiding. If not, keep doing some more plaiting and some more checking until it is nearly the length of your hair. The reason why I say nearly the length of your hair is because when you tie the bottom of your plaiting, there will be the three strands of string poking out at the bottom, and they will make the braid a bit longer, and make it the actual length of your hair.

Step 4:

I realise I've given you a bit of a spoiler, but oh well. Tie a knot (the same kind you tied at the top of the braid) where the plaiting finishes. Now cut the extra strands to size, to make the length of the braid more similar to the length of your hair.

Step 5:

Remember that 10cm strip of three strings at the top? Take it, and push it upwards through the middle hole of your hairclip. (See the picture for more clarity.) Pull it nice and tight, until it is stopped by the knot on the underside of the hairclip. Now tie a knot there, and make that tight, so that the hairclip can't move much between the two knots on either side of it. You might want to do an extra knot on top of it, just to be safe. (I did - I think this knot has more of a chance of untying than the one I said didn't need an extra knot earlier.) Now clip off the extra string on top of this double knot, leaving about 1/2cm of string remaining.

Step 5:

Clip it into your hair and wear it with pride.

And there you have it! Your very own reusable braid hairclip that should last you ages! It wasn't that hard, was it?

Issy

Sunglasses Case

Hi guys!

Do your sunglasses always get scratched and damaged? Well today I am going to teach you how to make a sunglasses case.

You will need:

A cotton fabric

2 different colours of felt

A needle

Some thread

1) Cut out all your pieces of fabric. Have two pieces of cotton and two of felt, each more then big enough to fit you sunglasses in. You also need two strips of felt to go around the top.

2) Sew three sides of the big piece of felt to the back of the cotton, then turn inside out and sew the final side. Repeat with the other pieces of cotton and felt.

3) Fold each strip of the felt in half, and place on top of the exposed edge of the cotton. Then sew this.

4) Sew both pieces of fabric together along three sides, leaving a gap at the side where the felt strips are.

By Annie

Nutella cookies

Hi Guys!

Today I am going to teach you how to make Nutella cookies. This post is in memory of Michele Ferrero, the creator of Nutella, who died last week.

Makes 15

You will need:

One egg

300g Nutella

150g flour

115g caster sugar

1) preheat the oven to 180 degrees. line two trays with baking paper.

2) mix together all of the ingredients in a bowl.

3) put the cookies on the baking tray. You should be able to make 15 cookies.

4) cook for 15 minutes, then let them cool down.

By Annie 

Cute little elephant

Hi guys!

This post is going to teach uou how to make this super cute stuffed elephant. It takes barely any time and you can do it by machine or hand

You will need:

A cotton fabric

Felt

Some wool

Thread

Stuffing

A needle

1) cut out two shapes of the elephant. Put the patterned sides together and sew, leaving a gap for the stuffing. Then turn it inside out, stuff it, and sew up the gap

2) cut out the two ear pieces, and stitch them on to each side.

3) sew the eyes by doing a few stitches in black thread on either side.

4) cut a small bit of wool, and tie a knot about 1 1/2cm from the end. Fray the small bit. Then sew the other end onto the rest of the elephant.

By Annie

Finger knitted snood

Hi guys!

Today I am going to teach you how to make a striped snood, using finger knitting (Find out how to finger knit at http://m.wikihow.com/Finger-Knit) It does not take very long, as the loops are relatively loose. I made it in one day.

You will need:

1,2 or 5 different colours of wool

A needle with a big eye

Scissors

Fingers!

1) finger knit five different strings, each of them big enough to fit around your head comfortably. This is how long your snood will be.

2) sew two of the strings together threads in a diagonal formation. Use the colour of one of the strings. NB: I used orange here so it would be easier to see. Continue sewing the strings together, until they are all sewn.

3) once all of the strings are sewn together, then sew the two ends together, along the width. This will then mean the snood is all joined together in a loop.

There you have it, you have made your own snood.

By Annie

Decorating your stationery

Hi guys!

Today is just a short post with a few ways you can happy-ify your stationary

1) Cover your boring old clipboards with washi tape!

2) Make your paperclips heart shaped. You can do this by bending the middle bit, then when you put it on paper the other way round it looks like a heart.

3) Make your staples brighter by colouring them in with sharpie pens.

By Annie