abby's crafts

winter headband in mustard yellow

2012-02-16T20:53:00.000-08:00

New item is up at the shop!

70's inspired bow necklace

2012-02-15T10:32:00.000-08:00

New item up at the shop!

happy v-day

2012-02-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

my friends weren't surprised

2012-02-13T11:43:00.000-08:00

You knew I had to do it.

color looks orange-ish on the picture, but I promise it's a dark red

In other news...

New item up at Idaho Virtoo!

get your valentine's jewelry!

2012-02-08T12:14:00.000-08:00

It's not too late to order Valentine's themed jewelry from the shop!

Visit IdahoVirtoo to order now.

a ruffle scarf

2012-02-06T16:29:00.000-08:00

While my aunt was here, she fell in love with this ruffle scarf pattern from Lion Brand and asked me to crochet it for her. I love the yarn she picked out - so pretty! The pattern was super easy and I worked it up in one evening.


(you can separate it like this or twist it together. she wears it both ways)

And what do you think about the new design? I've been meaning to change it for months, but never had any inspiration or ideas. I'm thinking this one is a keeper.

reading crochet patterns // section three

2012-01-27T07:30:00.000-08:00

section 3: spell it out

Still not getting it? That's okay! This section will help you put it all together and be able to read patterns in a whole.

If it isn't a very long pattern, you may want to spell everything out. If the abbreviations are confusing you, you may want to un-abbreviate the words. For example, you would change "ch" to "chain." Refer to section one for a list of abbreviations.

Let's do that with the first part:

ch 3, sl st in first ch
to
chain 3 and slip stitch in the first chain

Re-write the pattern using your own words and using words you can understand.

Of course you don't want to get too attached to this method. It will be very tedious work to re-write every pattern you want to try. But your first few patterns you may want to re-write until you get the hang of reading patterns.

Reading patterns really isn't that hard. It may seem so at first, but breaking it up in to parts will help. Just focus on one section, and then move on to the other.

And if you ever have any pattern you need help on understanding, you can always email me. I'm definitely not an expert, and I can't guarantee I can help you. But I can certainly try! =)

One thing to keep in mind though, is that not all patterns are correct, even if you purchase them. I have had friends who have purchased several patterns and they all had something incorrect about them (they were from different people). If you ever get in a situation where you just cannot figure it out, you may want to forget about the pattern. Whether it's the author of the patterns fault, or you're just not getting it, take a break from that pattern and move on to another. You may want to save it for later though, if you think maybe one day you'll understand it. Sometimes it just takes a fresh mind.... and sometimes it's just the pattern.

I know many crocheters who have been crocheting for 20+ years and still find understanding some patterns a little difficult. Just because you can read patterns doesn't mean you'll understand all of them. ;) Just try not to get too frustrated. Especially with free patterns you find off the internet. You can contact the author and see what they say, but most of the time with free patterns I just make up my own pattern for what doesn't make since to me or doesn't work. If you bought the pattern, I would strongly suggest contacting the author, if you know it's the patterns fault and not yours. It's very aggravating when you buy a pattern and it turns out wrong.

Let me know how this little mini series went, and if it helped you out any. =)

reading crochet patterns // section two

2012-01-26T07:20:00.000-08:00

section 2: huh?

ch 3, sl st in first ch
round 1: *ch 3, sl st in circle. repeat from * 5 times (6 ch-3 spaces)
round 2: ch 4, *sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc, in circle, ch 1. rep from * around. sl st in 2nd ch in beg ch 4 (6 petals)

The pattern above is not actually a pattern. You might get something out of it, but I've never tried it. I just wrote it really quickly to demonstrate some things patterns use. I've written quite a few patterns, but I didn't want to giveaway an original pattern since I use them to sell stuff on my etsy. Maybe in the future. =)

If you find the above pattern very confusing, don't worry. This section will be about what certain things mean in patterns, including asterisks, rounds, parentheses and the like.

So let's take a look at round 1 (color coded so you can easily see what each part means):
round 1: *ch 3, sl st in circle. repeat from * 5 times (6 ch-3 spaces)

Rounds basically mean... rounds. It means from where you start, all the way around until you get back to where you started, or all the way across until you get to the end. Patterns are broken up in rounds so it's easier to read and easier to keep track of what you're doing. (Also known as row if you aren't crocheting something in the round, but turning each time you get to the end.)

Asterisks mean that you repeat whatever comes after the asterisks. In round 1, it says:
*ch 3, sl st in circle. repeat from * 5 times.
You would chain 3, slip stitch in the circle six times (one to do what it says, and then repeat it five times). A period sometimes means that you would stop there, but usually there is just a comma or nothing at all. Sometimes parentheses are used in stead of asterisks, like so:
round 1: (ch 3, sl st in circle) repeat 5 times (6 ch-3 spaces)
You would do the same thing as you would if it had asterisks.

Parentheses can mean two different things. Like above, it can mean the same thing as an asterisk. But more often, it means what you would have at the end of the row/round. So for example, this:

round 1: (ch 3, sl st in circle) repeat 5 times (6 ch-3 spaces)
would mean that round would give you 6 ch-3 spaces. After crocheting round 1, you would have 6 ch-3 spaces. After crocheting round 2:

round 2: ch 4, *sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc, in circle, ch 1. rep from * around. sl st in 2nd ch in beg ch 4 (6 petals)
you would then 6 petals.

That's it for this section! Hope you learned at least a little bit more about reading patterns.

Stay tuned for part three tomorrow!

reading crochet patterns // section one

2012-01-25T15:09:00.001-08:00

I've gotten quite a few comments asking if I could do a video tutorial on whatever pattern they were trying to make, because they can't figure out the pattern.

Of course I'd love to do that! But, with crochet/knitting projects I'm doing on my own, I don't think time will allow that. Especially with my etsy shop.

Plus it's nice to know how to read patterns if you want to get in to crochet. So here are some of the basics to reading patterns. Keep in mind, I don't know everything and often run in to a hole and want to never come out while reading them! They can be so confusing at times. Usually I just scrap that pattern and go to another one. But hopefully by the time you have learned how to read patterns, you won't have to go my route. ;)

section 1: abbv.

Why is abbreviation such a long word anyway? =P

Crochet (as well as knit) patterns 99% of the time are filled with abbreviations. Almost every other word people find out how to abbreviate it somehow. At the beginning of crocheting I thought "why the heck do they have to abbreviate?! I can't read this at all."

But now I don't even notice the word is abbreviated, and I can read it just as fast and easily as anything else. You just have to learn them. And really, it's not that hard. I'm giving you a list of a lot of abbreviations, but you won't want to refer to the list every time you read a pattern, so I would suggest remembering these. If you crochet enough, you'll start to remember them pretty quickly.

List of common crochet abbreviations (USA) in alphabetical order (these may or may not appear in capital letters in your crochet pattern):

approx - approximately

beg - begin(ning)

BL/bk lp - back loop
BLO - back loop only
BP - back post
BPDC - back post double crochet
BPSC - back post single crochet
BPTR - back post triple crochet

ch - chain

ch sp - chain space

DC - double crochet

dc2tog - double crochet 2 stitches together
DEC - decrease

EA - each

FL - front loop

FP - front post
FPDC - front post double crochet

HDC - half double crochet
hk - hook

inc - increase

lp - loop stitch

MC - main color

prev - previous

rep - repeat

rnd - round

SC - single crochet

sk - skip

SL ST - slip stitch

sp - space

st - stitch

TRC - triple crochet

yo - yarn over

If you happen to come across a weird abbreviation you don't know what it is, let me know and I might can help you out. =)

Make sure to stay tuned for part two!

first item on etsy is up!

2011-11-30T12:55:00.000-08:00

Last night I listed my first item on Etsy! Hopefully over the next week or two I'll have a few more things up, including a couple headbands.

IdahoVirtoo

There's a deeper meaning behind the name, but I'll get in to that later.

And, just to let you know, I am shipping internationally. So anyone can order from my shop. =)

p.s.

I deleted my other account several months ago, because I was just using that account until I came up with a name for my shop. So go add me on etsy to be updated with what I'm posting!

the monkey hat

2011-11-15T09:54:00.000-08:00

I saw this hat and showed it to Amelia about a week ago. My dad calls us monkeys, and she loved the hat. xD

She wanted me to make her a hat, so last night I put together a quick little earflap hat with monkey ears! I think it turned out pretty cute. Plus, she loves it, so that's always good. ;)

I just sort of made up the pattern, custom fit, based off of the Lion Brand beanie pattern. Then I just added earflaps, crocheted circles for ears, and sewed um on! Easy peasy.

In the picture, it looks like the ears are lopsided. But I'm pretty sure it's just the angle that I took the picture, cuz it doesn't look like that in real life. =)

p.s.
Amelia wants everyone to know that she lost another tooth yesterday! on the bottom right, she smiled real big so you could see it. =)

crocheted winter headband

2011-11-06T16:56:00.000-08:00

I hate being in front of the camera, and I'm definitely not a good model for these, but they were a little big for my little sisters and my dog wasn't the best choice. So here I am.

But anyway, I crocheted (they kind of look knitted, but I promise I crocheted them) these winter headbands! I think they turned out pretty cute. Here's the video tutorial on how to make the headband, and I made up the flower pattern.

I might put a button in the middle of this flower to cover up the ugly middle. Maybe a navy blue or a black? Or something cute like pink, but this is a teen headband, and I'm not sure... haha.

And here's the turquoise one. =) (it's a little less bright in person.)

I made a bigger, four-layer flower for this one.

Thanks to Mattie for standing in the freezing cold and letting me focus on her! My last self-photo shoot didn't exactly go well cuz I had to focus on a stick, and well, yea. That didn't exactly go as planned.

I might put something like these up in an etsy shop when I open one? Would any of you buy one or think they are cute? =)

p.s.

this is how most of the photos turned out. this is pretty much all I do when I'm put in front of the camera:

name my etsy shop!

2011-11-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! So, due to popular "yea, go for it!"s, I've decided to open an Etsy shop. I'm not sure what the name should be. I have an Etsy account, but I wasn't planning on using that account for a shop, so my name is 'abby789' which is my email address, which my brother and I made up ages ago.

I've been taking a lot of showers lately (I always think of awesome stuff in the shower...) and I've been trying to come up with a cute, original name. Yea. That totally worked. =P

I've thought about stuff with my initials (abm), my name, and tons of other random things that make no since. My Pinterest is AbbyBelle, which is what my family used to call me cause I reminded them so much of the princess Belle. But I'm not sure I really like that. Plus it sounds kind of weird. "I just found this pretty cool Etsy shop called AbbyBelle!" Um, no. I don't think so.

So I'm at a loss for a name. Should I pick a cute name? Funny name? My name? Or should I stick with 'abby789'? Or am I waaayy over thinking this, and a name doesn't really matter?

So if any of you can think of a fun name, would you mind leaving it below in the comments? I'll open up an Etsy shop as soon as I can think of a name. And something to put in my Etsy shop. =P

More pictures of things I'm working on soon!

Now I'll go back to eating popcorn, crocheting, and, er, watching The Brady Bunch... and then I think I'll go take another shower.

p.s.

It snowed yersterday!

fresh off the hook

2011-11-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share with you a few things I've been working on!

These little butterfly earrings. I'm giving these away on my main blog right now. It ends Friday, so hurry and enter!

I'm thinking about putting these daisy earrings up on Etsy, if I ever open an Etsy store. =P Hah. I think they're really cute though. ^.^

I crocheted this beanie a few years back, but last night I added the earflaps! I thought it turned out pretty cute. But if I was to do it again, I would make the earflaps a little bigger and the braided string part a little longer.

(sorry for the grain in these photos. the sun was going down fast and I had to bump my ISO up a lot. and they're focused on my sweater, not my hat. =( oh well. that's what I get for having to focus without me being there and then running to make the photo in time. haha.)

I've also been knitting some things that I'll post about when they're finished! =)

meet hugo (video added)

2011-10-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

Edit: I added a video at the bottom of this post, so if you saw this post earlier, you might not have seen the video.

This is my pig that I crocheted.
(I crocheted him a few months ago just never got around to posting about him.)

the photos look like i "boosted" them up too much in photoshop, but they are actually sooc's... =)

His name is Hugo. xD

His tail is awesome and curly.

Wanna crochet a pig? (yyyesss) The free pattern is from Lion Brand.

(I used buttons instead of amigirumi eyes cuz I thought they looked cuter. ^.^ plus I didn't wanna go to the store. haha.)

candy stripe bracelet tutorial (super easy)

2011-09-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

Some of you asked for more friendship bracelet tutorials. I don't know that many, but I figured the simple ones that I do know I'd make tutorials for and maybe help some of you out? =)

Supplies:
-craft thread (or embroidery floss)
-scissors
-ruler
-clip board, tape, a safety pin, whatever you want to hold the bracelet while your working on it

Measure and cut your string. For candy stripe, I usually do around 34-45 inches (my wrist is 5 inches around and I usually make them a little bigger and leave the ends long, so experiment a little and find out what length works best for you).

I fold it in half and make a loop at the top so that there's two of each color. You can use however many colors or strands you want. I used three colors and folded them in half to get 6 strands.

Tie a knot on the folded side of all of the strings.

You can lay them out however you want - random, all the colors together (i.e. 2 blues, 2 pinks, 2 purples in that order), or in a pattern like I did below.

Take strand #1 and tie a forward knot with strand #2. (remember to tie two knots in one of the strings to make one forward knot.)

Then take #1 again and tie a forward knot with #3.

Continue making forwards knots with #1 on all of the strands.

Here's the first row.

Take strand #2 (which should now be on the farthest left) and make a forward knot with #3, and then all the rest of the strands.

After 3 rows, your strings should lay out like below.

Continue doing that until your bracelet is as long as you want. (so you would take strand #4 and do forward knots with each strand. then you would take #5 which would be the farthest on the left and do forward knots with each strand again, and so on.)

In case that didn't make since, you would take strand #4 and do forward knots with strand #5, #6, #1, #2, and #3. Sorry if I'm making this confusing... it's really quite simple.

Here's a thinner one made with two strands of each color. (a total of three knots wide)

For the thinner ones, I usually tie a knot in the end and leave the ends like below. You would tie it the same way I showed you how in this tutorial, just the ends aren't braided.

For a bracelet with more strands, you can braid the ends, like I did below.

Those colors look familiar?

Yes I'm that much of a Harry Potter nerd. xP

Hoped you found this tutorial useful! Let me know if you have any trouble with it in the comments and I'll try to help you out.

Send me pictures of your bracelets to my email to be posted on the blog!

abby789(at)gmail(dot)com

how i finish and wear my friendship bracelets

2011-09-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

I've gotten some questions as to how I finish off my friendship bracelets and how I wear them. It's really easy and here's a quick tutorial:

I never cut the loop at the top. I use this to tie it around my wrist.

When my bracelets are as long as I want them to be, I braid the strings in to two braids and tie a knot like below:

When you put it on your wrist, put one of the braids through the loop.

And tie the two braids in a knot.

And that's it! (yes I have hair on my arms. ^.^)

I also like to use them as bookmarks. =)

I'm kinda addicted to making these. =P

flowers, slippers, and the winter

2011-09-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

I took a break of crocheting. Not intentionally, but for some reason when the summer comes around I start to lose interest in crochet. I have no idea what it is.

By the time fall and winter start to arrive, my mood changes and crocheting starts to be more routine, something I do every day. I just picked it up a day or two ago for the first time in 3 or 4 months. It felt so good to crochet again. The feel of the yarn and hook flying in between my fingers. I love it.

Winter is when I like to start all my projects. It kind of makes no since cuz that's when school starts and I'm probably busiest in the winter. But winter just gives me that cozy, sit-by-the-fire-and-listen-to-a-book-while-crocheting feeling. Or any project, really.

Maybe it's because I like to crochet things like hats, scarves, blankets (although no big ones yet) slippers, and all those other warm things. Of course I could crochet them in summer and wear them in the winter, but it seems so... out of place? I'm telling you, I've got no idea what's with me and this weird perk.

Unfortunately, I'm tempted to sit and crochet all day instead of getting school done. =P At least I'm not crocheting these. Yet.

I came across these slippers on Etsy and fell in love. They're so simple and gorgeous and I love the pearl.

I attempted my own using this tutorial, but only have one so far. (one slipper, not pair, that is) I'm thinking of trying out this tutorial, even though both tutorials are easy and cute. They're basically the same, the second ones are just a bit simpler. I'll letcha know.

I used about the same color as the ones above, but my little sister said she wanted a pair so I'm thinking of getting some bright colors and making some for Christmas gifts. ^.^ Oh great. She's probably reading this. Mattie, if you're reading this, stop. Pfft. Like she'll listen to me. xD

These flowers below are probably about an inch big. They're tiny. Kinda hard to work them so small, but they're fun to make.

These little rosette's are so fun and addicting. Not sure that I'm gonna use them for anything though.

I used size 10 thread and a size 5 hook, if you were wondering. Lately I've been really loving crocheting with thread.

And I'm addicted to making these:

What kinds of things are you working on?

how to: fishtail friendship bracelet

2011-08-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

I put together a quick video tutorial on how to do the fishtail friendship bracelet. It's really quick and easy because you don't tie knots...

{you can use this picture if you want to link back to the tutorial}

Here's some others I've done (lots and lots):

If you made one (or some?) send me a picture and I'll post it on my blog. =)

p.s.

thanks to Mattie for filming!

alexa's gift

2011-06-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

One of my really good friend's (who lives more than 2,000 miles away..) birthday was last week and I'm just now getting the picture of what I made her. =P

It's very similar to other stuff I've made my friends, just... different.

Haha. wow.

(sorry the pictures are too small for the post width... I forgot I changed the format and made my blog wider. well that's professional.)

I made her this box:

Let's peek inside...

I made her this bookmark (matching the box):

(with a note inside explaining what it is, because I sent it by mail)

I made her this necklace:

With these earrings to match:

I didn't make her a birthday card, but sent her a letter instead. =)

Let me know if you would like to get this as a birthday gift or not!

christian relief fund

2011-05-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hey! 1 week of voting started today for the Chase Community Giving contest, round 2. One of the contenders will win $500,000! Christian Relief Fund has a very good chance if we help them. These guys help children in 3rd world countries by providing food, clean water, education, etc. If just 10,000 facebook users vote for them, they can win this grant! It will feed 1277 children for a year. So far we have around 870 votes, and the contest ends May 25th. I still believe we can get 10,000 votes! Or at least be ranked in the 25th position, and get a little money to help kids from starving. I was wondering if you could vote... it takes less than 90 seconds. 4 days left... let's do this!

This is for REAL! Our friend directs CRF. If you want to talk more about to make sure it isn't a scam, you can e-mail me. =)

All you have to do is click on this link: http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/510183054-christian-relief-fund?src=twitter and "like" CHASE on Facebook. Then click the green Vote & Share button. Let's do this and feed 1277 kids for an entire year! It ends on the 25th, so there isn't a whole lot of time left. Thanks so much! With God we can do this! =)

Also, if you would pass this on to all your Facebook friends, this would spread like wildfire! There's a TON of people on Facebook... let's get this going!

Thanks again!

i pulled an all-nighter

2011-05-19T05:19:00.000-07:00

Notice anything?

Psh.

Of course you do.

Well...

Anyway.

I changed some things.

Megan, please don't kill me.

I absolutely LOVED your design!

But my craft blog is a blog that I change up a lot... unlike my other 3 blogs.

And I was bored, so I changed it.

It's not completely finished though... I'm not too sure what I'm gonna do with it.

If you look over at the right you'll notice there's a new button.

Well... a blinkie.

You can still grab my old button if the blinkie gets too annoying.

Like I said, I'm still changing a few things here and there, so if it looks a little bleh, don't freak out.

=D

(Btw... I'm having some trouble with my header. I can't get it to be centered. Or aligned left. Or aligned right for that matter. I've changed the HTML a gazillion times, searched for tutorials, got my brother to help.. and we can't figure it out. :/ Maybe you might have a suggestion??)

i like icecream

2011-05-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my parents went down to where my aunt lives. My other aunt was visiting there. I made them some things, and I also made my cousin, who is in college, some things too.

I thought I would share them, cuz, uh.... well, I'm not too sure what other to post.

Yep.

K, so here goes.

For one of my aunts, I made this pair of earrings:

This box:

And a matching card... I sealed the envelope before I took a picture of the card though.

Totally something I would do. :/ (Sorry, my penmanship isn't the best....)

For the other aunt, I made this pair of earrings:

This box:

And a matching card, which I also sealed before taking a picture:

For my cousin, I decided to give her this bracelet, which I said I wasn't sure what I was gonna do with it in this post:

{tied with a knot, because I used stretchy cord}

And this card with a matching corner bookmark: (more on the bookmark later in the post)

And this box:

For one of my friends birthday's about a week or two ago, I made her a pair of earrings.

Which unfortunately I didn't get a picture of. :/

Sheesh, what's up with me and forgetting to take pictures??

I bought her some nail polish she tried over at my house that she really liked.

And I made her a hair pin very similar to this one:

Annnddd, I made her this bookmark:

Plus this box:

And this card:

I made some corner bookmarks, which I've given all away; but I'm making more right now.

They go on the corner of the page, like this:

They are really simple, but if you would like me to make a tutorial on them I can.

Also, (whew) some people were wondering if I could post an up-close picture of the bookmark I made with embroidery floss.

If you know friendship bracelets, it's just a chevron stitch using four colors in a fading effect.

{Using my Harry Potter book as a model. Duh.}

Since then I've made a brown fading one and am making a blue fading one.

I can post pictures of those if you want. =)

You can totally wear them as bracelets if you want... I like to do both. Ha ha.

So that's mainly what I've made recently... minus a few minor things here and there, but that's pretty much it.

I'm crocheting a hat right now using this pattern. More info on that when it's finished.

new design

2011-05-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

Like the new design?

Megan from Calm Water Blog Design did it for FREE!

Is that cool or what?

Go over to her blog and check out her {custom}blog designs!

They're pretty rad.

Oh, and another post of recent craft projects coming soon!

some gifts...

2011-03-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

I've had some of my friends birthday's recently and took pictures of a few gifts I made them. I can't for the LIFE of me find some pictures of two hats, and two pairs of earrings I made for two of my friends birthdays earlier this year.

But, two of my friends, who are sisters, are having a joined party. It's tomorrow, and a couple days ago I finished their gifts. I thought I would share with you what I made, just cuz I don't post a whole lot on this blog anyway.

For the first girl, I made this bracelet...

I just made a tutorial on it yesterday, which you can find here.

I also made her this hairpin...

I did a guest post tutorial on the rosette here. Then I just hot glued a pearl in the middle and a bobby pin on the back. Super quick, and like the easiest thing ever. Plus they make great gifts. =)

I made a origami box with two sheets of scrapbook paper, and then added some ribbon. Then I put some tissue paper in the box, and put the hairpin and bracelet inside.

(Hm.. thought I had more pictures of it, but I guess not)

I made this card to match the box (it's not perfectly matched though)...

I copied the idea from LittleBirdieSecrets.

I actually, I'm ashamed to say, dropped an ink pad on both the cards I was gonna use, so I had to re-do both of my cards. Ug. I still can't even believe I did that. Lol.

For the other girl, (she's a little more tom-boyish, but just a little) I made this bracelet...

And this hairpin...

And I made her this gift box...

And this card to match it....

On the boxes I attached these little cards...

And that's it!

I'm not sure if they'll like them or not, but hopefully they will.

My question to you is, would you like it if you got these gifts? It's totally ok if you say no! We all have different tastes. =)

On another note, I just finished making this bracelet... I'm not sure if I like it or not.

I just threaded it with stretchy jewelry thread and tied it. No clasp or anything, since it stretches.

basic loop bracelet tutorial

2011-03-24T21:38:00.000-07:00

I'm posting again sometime soon, so watch out for that.

I know, I neglect this blog. What I usually do is don't post for about 7 months, and then post like 4 posts the same day. I'm weird like that.


you can use this picture {above} to link back, if you wish

We'll be making this bracelet...

You'll need...

Two jump rings (I used 6mm)

A clasp

Wire (I can't remember what gauge... but I think it was around 18)

A ruler

Tools: needle nose, round nose, & side cutters (or diagonal, whatever you have)

And, of course, your beads.

I decided to do two beads on one piece of wire, just cause my beads were a little smaller.

But here's another bracelet I made where my beads were bigger, and I alternated the brown and metal beads...

Ok, so let's get started!

First, cut a piece if wire about 1-1 1/2 inch, depending on your bead size and how many beads your going to put on the wire. I would suggest no more than two or three.

Next, slide your beads to the middle...

Your gonna want to bend where the arrow is pointing to. It doesn't matter which way you bend it.

Next, go to the other side and bend it the OPPOSITE way. You should have a "Z" with your beads in the middle. Try to make have the bends right next to the bead. You don't want a whole lot of space for the beads to move around.

Now make a loop on one side...

And a loop on the other...

Ok, you've got the main part done! Now make a bunch of these. For my first bracelet I made 6 of the brown beads, and 6 of the metal beads for a total of 12 beads. I used around that many for this one, too. It just depends on what beads you use and how big your wrist is.

Now you wanna link them together. When making your loops in the beginning, you don't have to close them all the way. That'll make it easier for you to connect them all.

...

Now, open up your jump ring by using both of your pliers and twist it open...

And slide on the clasp and one end of your bracelet, and close the jump ring up by twisting in in the opposite way. Be careful not to squeeze the ring otherwise your gonna get an oval shape, and the jump ring will never be able to close all the way.

Do it on the other side.

And there ya go! You've got your bracelet!

Super quick, and super easy.

But if you have any problems, be sure to let me know! You can leave a comment, or e-mail me here.

Be sure to stay tuned for another post coming soon! It'll have some of my recent projects and stuff like that.

uummm... whoa?

2011-02-15T22:23:00.000-08:00

Yea.

What happened??

Well, I'm hoping that's a good what happened? and not a WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?!!

I totally changed my blog.

I thought it was time for a change. That was the very first background I ever put on my blog. Sniff. Now I kinda miss it. But not really. Cuz I'm kinda in love with my new one. Not really the header though. It's kinda icky. But I needed something to fill in so it wasn't just blank. I'll probably make another one tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe I'll end up growing in to this one. But somehow I kinda doubt that.

Yes, I did change my background, but I didn't change the polka dots. My bedspread in my room is full of polka dots. 3 of my blogs backgrounds have polka dots. I love polka dots. (I know, now that word is getting annoying, sorry).

Oh, I also took away all of my older posts. Don't fret, I just drafted them. So if there was something in particular you remembered and wanted to see again, let me know and I can e-mail you anything. I basically wanted to just start over with this blog, and so along with taking away my older posts, I re-did the design too. No promises yet on if this is staying - I might end up changing the template, not just the background, etc. We'll see!

I worked on the post titles for about 40 minutes, trying to change the font like I did for my main blog, but it didn't work. It's such a nit-picky process, and I was watching StarOfMay's card making videos the whole time. Love her cards. I'll probably try again sometime, maybe tomorrow, but probably not. My whole weekend is filled and I won't have any time at all to do any sort of thing on my blog, so the design of this blog might even get pushed to next weekend. Rambly me again. Nothing ever changes. ;D

I really, really wanna make some cards right now... but if I don't finish this one thing, I won't have time to read Harry Potter later. Hehe. But I so wanna go make this totally sweet card. I'm watching the tutorial right now and trying to figure out who I wanna make it for. If I try it and it turns out ok, I'll post pics soon.

I wanted to show you some recent projects, or at least something, but it's looking more and more like I don't have anything to show you guys! Sorry about that.

I will hopefully be back soon (maybe even tomorrow?) to post about some things I've been wanting to share!

Thanks so much for reading, and let me know what you think of the new design.

guest post over at Forever Feminine!

2011-01-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. (:

Camille, Forever Feminine, asked me to do a guest post over at her blog, and I thought that was a great idea! So, if you want, you can visit Forever Feminine. {And check out my post!}

Btw, the tutorial was on this rosette:

cute flower greeting card

2011-01-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

My mom and I started organizing out the school/library/craft room. As I went through our scrapbooking and cardmaking supplies, it really got me in to cardmaking again, and so that night I sat down with all our supplies and started randomly making a card. And I came out with this! I made a few more, and anyway, I decided to share it with you. Even though this is super simple and it really doesn't need any explanation, I decided to make a video tutorial. That's down below. For now you can take a look at the card. ;)

I actually went in and inked the ribbon on this also. I kinda went ink crazy.

This is the first one I made. Can you tell? Haha.

I thought this would be a cute baby card?

This blue one I decided not to put a stem.

I don't like the fact that the video is very unprofessional and low quality. But, it's all I got. :P There isn't any sound, but it didn't really need it because the card is so simple that you pretty much just have to look at what I'm doing and you can figure it out.

Btw, you can put whatever you want in the middle, if anything, and do anything with the stem - add leaves, etc. This is just to give you an idea, and after that let your creative juices flow!

Oh, and I almost forgot! If you did this card I'd love you forever if you sent me some pictures! Send them to the e-mail address below:

simplenaildesigns@gmail.com

OH, and I had a question. Again. I feel like I always have a question for you at the end of every post, but whatever. That's just how it goes. :P

Would you like to see either how to crochet videos, or how to knit videos, or both? (Or do you care?) I can't decide which one I would like to do more, or which one would be most helpful.

That's it for me. Hope you guys have a great day and God Bless!

3D Paper Snowflake Pictorial

2010-12-19T10:26:00.000-08:00

I found this paper snowflake on the internet a few years ago, and I liked it enough to keep making them every year. They are really pretty to hang up for decoration, and they look like they might be really hard to make, but they are actually really easy. (: I decided to post a pictorial, but if you need a video tutorial or more help just let me know. (: I tried to explain as best I can, but like I said if you need more help just let me know. Let's get to it!

You'll need:
• Paper. This can be any color, and you can have a variety of colors if you wish. It can also be any size. We'll need it a square though, so you'll either have to start out with a square, or cut it to be square. I'm using regular copy paper that you can find in your printer.
• Scissors
• Tape
• Stapler

First you'll wanna make your paper square, it it's not already. How do you do that, you ask?

Easy. Fold one corner so there is a sharp point. (bottom left in the pic)

Simply snip off that bottom flap, and voila! You've got a square.

Next, leave the paper as a triangle and start to cut a strip along the outside of the triangle. Make the strip about 3/4 in. DO NOT CUT THE STRIP OFF!! This step is important! You want there to be a cut in the triangle, not a piece cut completely off. Stop around where I stopped in the picture below.

Do the exact same on the other side, stopping at the same place. Imagine an imaginary line in the middle of the triangle that you can't cut through.

Cut where all of the black lines are in this pic. If you are using a smaller triangle you might not be able to cut four slits on each side, so keep that in mind.

Open up your triangle and you should have a square (or diamond) with cuts inside of it.

Take the middle piece.

And fold both sides inward to create a "tube." Put a piece of tape to secure it.

Flip the paper over. (This step is very important!!)

And start to fold up the next set of "arrows."

And secure.

Flip over once again.

And fold up the next set.

Keep going, making sure to flip it over each time.

Here is one segment of your snowflake!

...I just thought this picture looked kinda cool... :P

Make 6 of these.

Staple the tops of 2 of your snowflake segments.

Do that to each one, so you have 3 sets of 2. Make since?

Staple two of the 2 sets of 3 together.

So you'll have 4 parts stapled.

Next staple the set of two and the set of four together, as shown in the picture. {Click to make image larger}

Almost done! {But not quite} If you pick up your snowflake you'll notice it's kinda "droopy"... right? Well, let's fix that!

Staple where indicated in the picture below. (The two outside arms of each side)

Do that to each side of each segment. You're done!

Send me pics!

simplenaildesigns@gmail.com

So... what have I been up to?

2010-12-14T19:58:00.000-08:00

This post will include all types of things, including:

• My recent projects
• Crochet roses
• A haul
• About my Etsy
• And more (;

So, let's get started!

Today I made a crochet rose, out of crochet thread, using this tutorial. (Don't forget to check out part two!)
It really wasn't that hard, and it was really fun to make! I will probably make some more of these for my Etsy, that's yet to be made. I can't figure out what exactly I can use them for, but I'm sure I'll find something. I mean, they would look good on hats, purses, as jewelry, all sorts of things, right?

As you can *hopefully* see, it has three different layers. (:

It might look pretty as a ring! Would anybody wear/buy this, or is this just something that I like? LOL.

Btw, I'm not sure if I ever showed you guys this or not, but a while ago I made this fabric rosette ring! I love it. (: I will be making some more in different colors... maybe even for my friends/family for Christmas.

Since I didn't have any metal rings, I just super-glued some elastic on to it. It works fine for me, but if I did sell these I would probably attach a metal ring to it.

And this picture, that you can find in my Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in "Flawless' Review over at my nail blog.

My mom and I went to a Christmas party last Saturday with our bible study and came home with this! The family who was hosting the party made all the guests these. They are adorable! On the back it has a bible verse saying that we are God's "sheep" and He is our shepherd. (: This looks really cute on my Christmas tree.

Last year's Christmas party they made us all these crowns. This isn't the best picture, but the fabric has a weird texture to it that doesn't do good in pictures, so this is all I got. Lol. These are really cute too. (: I added that white piece of yarn at the top, btw, because I was putting it on my tree.

Each guest family brought a Christmas/winter craft. I ended up bringing my 3D snowflake (which will be up soon!) Everyone went around and did different crafts and so we all ended up bringing home some really cute things. This snowflake was one of them... didn't get a chance to snap a pic of the other things, but thought I would show you this anyway. (:

I have been crocheting a lot with crochet thread. I picked up this crochet thread the other day at Walmart, because I was wanting some thicker thread. It makes your projects just look a little bit more tighter, instead of more "loopy." It's really just your personal preference and/or what you are comfortable crocheting with. The thread is just a bit more harder to manage, but with some practice it's definitely possible.

The kind I like is size 3, in case you were wondering.

Speaking of picking up thread at Walmart, I also got some other things! I normally don't buy a lot for myself right before Christmas, but I got some beads that I L-O-V-E and I was scared they wouldn't be still in the store if I waited until Christmas. So I went ahead and got them, with a little help money-wise from my mom!

LOVE these! They remind me so much of my three aunts, which I am making some jewelry for, using these and some other beads I got another time.

And these! Aren't they gorgeous?? Definitely making a pair of earrings for.. myself! Haha. The pic is a little fuzzy but it ended up being the only good one I got. :P

And I just got some hairspray.. but that's not nearly as fun as beads, right?

Oh, and I've been making some more snowflake earrings to put in my shop! I got a pretty good response for those, so I thought I would stock up just a little. I loved them in this little red bag! So cute. (:

Just some more projects I've been working on...

I started embroidering a little bag. All I did was draw on some pictures (with the help of an iron-on transfer!) and started embroidering over it. Not sure why I am showing you this, but I thought I would show you all, or most, of my projects, and this is one of them. (:

Also! My mom and I (my mom did most of the work) added some ribbon to my curtains today! I've had the curtains for a while, and I really zebra print and my room has a lot in it, so my aunt suggested to put some zebra ribbon on the edge of my curtains. I really love it and it just adds that much more to my room.

The ribbon we used

Close-up.

Well, that's what I've been up to lately! I'd love to know what you've been up to! Drop me a line in the comments, or send me some pics to my e-mail.

simplenaildesigns@gmail.com

OH! And btw, I had another question to ask you guys!

I am having trouble coming up with a name for my Etsy store! Do any of you have some cute names that I might could do?? I would like to have it up before Christmas, but with Christmas being ONLY 11 days away (!) I'm not so sure! Plus I don't have many things to put on it right now... and I don't have many things in stock. Anyways, just wanted to ask you if you had any cute names or any ideas about my shop. E-mail me at the e-mail address above if you do. (:

An Obsession? Maybe...

2010-11-27T00:01:00.000-08:00

Yes, the title may scare you, but don't worry, I still have a life and I haven't completely gone mad. I have an obsession of jewelry making (particular earrings) and crocheting. Put them together and what do you get? Bippity boppity boo. Sorry, no, you get crocheted earrings! I have a crochet pattern for snowflakes that I really like, and so I took that pattern and made some smaller snowflakes. I used embroidery floss (the crochet thread is a bit too thin for me) and a size 5, 1.5 mm, crochet hook. It's a little harder to crochet with thread and a small crochet hook, but with some practice it's definitely possible. In fact, it's actually not that hard once you get good at it.

Using my earring making "skills" (I wouldn't call them that though) and crocheting, I made some snowflake earrings! I made them for one of my friends for Christmas, but I'm not telling who, as I don't know who reads this blog. Haha. Here's a pic or two of them.

All I did was attached a small ring to the top of the snowflake, and then attached a earring hook. That's it! It took probably about half an hour to an hour or so to make both snowflakes, and then add about 5-7 minutes to make them earrings, so that's really not that bad for a gift! I'm pairing these with a matching hat and scarf for one of my friends... I'll post pictures once they are done. I've got the hat, just gotta do the scarf. (:

You can definitely change up the earrings, if you wanted to make these. The snowflakes are very versatile. (:

Here's a question:

If I was to make these and sell them on Etsy.com would you, or do you know someone, who would buy them? Also, how much would you be willing to spend for them?

Please be honest. I don't want to sell something that nobody would want. (: If you say you wouldn't buy them, it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all.

And if you were wondering, I don't have an Etsy yet, but my mom wants me to get one to sell some of my creations... what do you think?

Well, ladies, I think you might know what your getting for Christmas! Haha. These are so much fun to make, and pretty easy. My favorite combination. (:

New Decor and Random Facts About Me

2010-11-22T16:44:00.000-08:00

This post isn't any type of craft (although I am working on it) but I wanted to drop in a line real quick.

What do you think of my new header? I just finished designing it and usually it takes a few days before I form a complete opinion on it.. so far I'm liking it. Let me know down below your thoughts on it... you can give it a thumbs down, if you don't like it. Don't say you like it just because.(: Lol.

I don't think it exactly matches the background, but when I was making it I was using my backgrounds colors, but the whole background doesn't show on most peoples screens, so like you can't see any pink dots and you can barely see any green and orange dots, and those are like the main colors. :P If you right click the background and click 'View background image' then you can see the whole background. (:

My excuse for not getting on here for a while is that I wasn't able to log in. Lol. Not that I would have done something if I had been able to get on, but for some reason Blogger wasn't letting me log in, but it's all sorted out now. (Obviously, since I'm posting this right now.)

I know I put 'recipes' on my header even though there are going to be no more recipes on here, but I'm going to keep my old recipes on, so I thought I'd put that. If you wanna see more recipes from me (and from Camille!) you can visit my collab cooking blog.

I think mainly on here is going to be crocheting and knitting. I've really been loving knitting lately. (: Btw, I may have a few fall/Thanksgiving crafts, but I'm not sure yet. Thanksgiving is in 3 days, and I've kinda missed fall to do any fall crafts. LOL. My mind escapes me to figure out what to put here next. :P

Ok, here's my 5 random facts about me:

1. I say 'lol' wayy too much.

2. I love to cook. But shhh! Nobody's supposed to know that!

3. Three of my favorite subjects in school are reading, writing and grammar.

4. I am definitely not your average teenager. (: lol

5. I love Jesus, my Savior.

hehe. yea. (:

No, I haven't been abducted by aliens

2010-10-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

Really?? It's been that long since I have made my last post? You've probably given up on me... I really am sorry. My last post was at the end of May. That is terrible!

Meanwhile, a ton has happened lately. I know this is a blog for crafting, and not about my life personally, but I can't help but tell you some things that have happened over the past....... 6 months.

Even though I almost forgot this blog, I didn't forget my other 3 blogs.

Did you catch that??

I now have FOUR blogs!! Think I'm crazy?

It's ok, I do too.

A few days ago I started a collaboration blog with one of my friends Camille.

-Side note- Camille has 2 other blogs that you can visit! She has a modest style blog, which is *awesome* btw, and also a personal blog which is private. Drop her a line on her style blog and ask her for an invite (: Her blogs are really great!

I asked her one day if she wanted to start a cooking blog, and she said yes, so we started it! Here is the link:

http://howdoweboilwaterblog.blogspot.com/

Like the name? Hahaha ^.^ There is currently one recipe on there, from Camille, but I will be posting recipes soon, and she will be posting more also.

Visit my personal blog:

http://www.followinggodeveryday.blogspot.com/

And also my nail blog:

http://simplenaildesigns.blogspot.com/

Yes, I have been posting on my other blogs, don't worry. Haha. I'm not sure if I'm going to be posting more on this blog or not. One thing I know is that the header HAS to go. Now. I'm going to design a new one very soon. (:

(Btw, if you were wondering, I designed my header on my personal blog, my nail blog, my collab cooking blog, and also on this blog. I designed this one like 2 years ago though.... I really don't like it now. Lol.)

I have been knitting a lot lately, more than crocheting. I've been making a lot of dishrags. Maybe I'll post the pattern, if you want me to. It's really simple and easy.

Wow... I have so much to catch up on that I don't even know what to say. Haha, maybe I'll leave it at that. :P You can check out my following God blog to see all that I've been up to.

Meanwhile, I'll show you just a few updated pics (: (there really random... haha, but what on here isn't??)

Haha, ok, those were basically just some filler pictures, but I couldn't find any better ones. :P Haha.

Ok, I'm done. Talk to you guys later!!