Rubber band bracelets-no loom needed!

Last week I saw on a rubber bands posted on a deal site. I checked it out and was curious what they were for. It turns out you can make pretty awesome little bracelets out of rubber bands! I ordered my rubber bands from the rainbow loom website, but only ordered rubber bands and "c" clips, no loom. You don't need a loom to make regular rubber band bracelet or the fishtail rubber band bracelet. My 8 year old and her 10 year old friend had a blast making them.

So you need a bunch of rubber bands (I ordered the mixed pack but will be ordering more in specific colors) and clips. Each back ordered from rainbow loom comes with 25 "c" clips.

Pick out your colors, if doing an alternating pattern 2 take the 2 different colors and lay them on top of each other.Then loop them through each other and pull tight.



Then take your next color fold it in half and slid it through one end

continue doing this with alternating colors until you reach your desired length.

Then slide a "c" clip on the one end, then the other.

A variety of colors

Alternating colors

All done!!

To make a fishtail:

Take one color and put it on your middle finger, twist it once and put the other side on your index finger.

Then place 2 more rubber bands on you finger, no twisting (I chose alternating colors, but have also done a rainbow).

Then take once side of the bottom rubber band and pull it to the middle, taking it off your finger. Do that to the other side. You should now have 1 rubber band in the middle and two on your fingers.

Add another rubber band to your finger (NO TWISTING AFTER THE FIRST RUBBER BAND!) and pull the bottom rubber band to off and to the middle.

Continue, and you begin to see the fishtail!

Continue to you desire length and attach a "c" clip.

A pattern of 3 colors

Alternating colors

Rainbow!

This is a great craft for any age, for boys and girls, preteen, teen and adult. Buy rubber bands in your school colors, holidays, the sky is the limit!

Linked up at: The Girl Creative, Classy Clutter, sugarbeecrafts, Ginger Snap Crafts

Ric-Rac Flannel Baby Blanket

 

A friend is having a baby boy soon and I needed a gift! I like to make something for baby gifts because it's so much more personal. I pulled out a piece of flannel from my stash and started sewing. It was 2 yards so I just put right sides together and sewed until I just had an opening left to flip. Once it was flipped I was ready to top stitch and I thought it needed a little something more. I happened to have some orange ric-rac that went perfectly with that fabric. I didn't quite have enough to go around the entire thing so I just did 2 sides and I love how it turned out. Just a little something to punch up the interest!

Happy Sewing!

Simple String Art

I've seen a lot of string art floating around Pinterest and decided to take a stab at it. It was quick, I had all I needed on hand and a great result!

To make your own you need:

• A piece of wood (I used a piece of scrap 2x8 and quickly painted it with craft paints)


• Nails (I used 3/4 inch, they are $.97 at Walmart)


• Hammer


• A large printed letter (I printed it from word font Lucida Handwriting size 500)


• String, Yarn, Embroidery Floss, whatever you have

First I measured my wood to see how big I wanted my letter and then used Word and printed a large "K" (for my last name). Then you place you letter on you wood and nail through the paper in each corner of you letter. This holds the paper in place

Then continue to nail about every 1/2 inch or so until you fill your entire letter

After that you rip you paper off!


Then tie your string to one nail and start wrapping!!

I used a pencil eraser at some points to help hold my string down as I was wrapping

Tie off your end and tuck it under and you're done!

This project would be great for older kids learning to use a hammer and nails!

Girls Camp T-shirt-Iron on vinyl

The girls in our Young Women were in need of T-shirts for upcoming girls camp. They drew up a design and the I made the design in my vinyl cutting software.

When using iron on vinyl you have to remember to do the mirror of the image. Otherwise your words and design will be backwards!!

Once it's all weeded you place the vinyl onto the shirt

Then place a piece of parchment paper on top

then iron away!

All done, super easy and fairly economical!

I have a Roland Stika 15 inch vinyl cutter and I used Endura Tex Iron on Vinyl.

Apricot Blueberry Banana Smoothie

My neighbor always brings me his extras from his garden. Right before we left on a trip he brought me a big bowl of apricots. I knew we would get them eaten and that they wouldn't last until we got home. So I pitted,sliced them and threw them in a ziploc in the freezer. Let me tell you, they make a fantastic smoothie!

Here's what you need:

Apricot Blueberry Banana Smoothie

• 1/2 C frozen apricots


• 1/4 C frozen blueberries


• 1 fresh or frozen banana


• a splash of OJ


• a few cubes of ice

Blend it all up and it tastes like you just went to Jamba Juice! So good!

Crockpot Applesauce

A good friend happened to have an excess of apples and I was happy to take some off her hands. I knew I wanted to make applesauce with them.

Here's what I needed:

Crockpot Applesauce:

• 12 apples peels, cored and in chunks (I can't remember what kind of apples they were!! But they were sweet and crisp reminding me of a honeycrisp)


• 1/2 C water


• 1 TBSP lemon juice


• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon


• 3/4 C brown sugar

Put your apple chunks in your crock and pour everything else on top. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. They are down when you can break up the apples with a wooden spoon. I prefer a chunky applesauce and used a potato smasher to smash the apples once they were done. Store in the refrigerator. Make approximately 4 cups.

Peanut Chocolate Caramel Chex Mix

I was looking for a quick, easy and fun snack to make my kids that did not involve the oven. It's HOT here and I didn't want to add to the temperature. I came across a recipe for PAYDAY Chex Mix and thought I would give it a go, with a few adjustments for my family.

A very Simple recipe:
Peanut Chocolate Caramel Chex Mix

• 8 Cups Rice Chex


• 14 oz bag of Caramels, unwrapped


• 1 TBSP Milk


• 1 1/2 C Roasted Peanuts


• 1/2-3/4 C Chocolate Chips

In a large bowl place Rice Chex and peanuts. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. In a microwave safe bowl place unwrapped caramels and milk. Microwave for 1 minute and stir. Continue in 30 second increments, stirring after each 30 seconds until caramel is smooth. Once smoothly quickly pour over Chex/peanut mixture and stir until coated. Pour in chocolate chips and mix. Spread onto wax paper lined baking sheet and let set up. Enjoy & Eat!