DIY Braided Cloth Headband - UPDATED

Hey everybody! Today I thought I would share the process of how I made a cloth headband. I got this pretty blue fabric in the middle of last summer with the sole purpose of making a headband, and now I'm finally making it--almost a year later. I'm pretty bad about sitting on plans for a long time before actually doing them. I don't know why, but that's usually the way it works out for a lot of things, especially craft type things. Anyway, let's get out our fabric and scissors and get on with it!

For reference, the cloth I used was about 21 inches long and 18 inches wide. I didn't measure it before hand, so I'm not sure of the exact measurements, but you get the idea. It was a pre-cut piece of fabric that I just thought was pretty and bought. I think the length turned out to be pretty good.

To start things off, I cut two strips about 1 and a quarter inches wide and set them aside. I cut the remaining fabric into roughly one-inch strips. It's good to make the two first strips wider since they'll be what ties the headband together, and the braid will end up being wider than the strips used in it.

The left two are headband ties, and the right two are used in
 the braid

It's okay, and maybe even good, to be a little rough and/or sloppy with the cutting of the fabric depending on what you're going for. I wanted mine to look a little textured, so it was good if the cutting left jagged edges like these:

When the thin strips were all cut out, I divided them into three groups. Without trying, it ended up that I cut 15 thin strips, so I was able to make three even sets with 5 strips each. To get an even braid, make sure the number of strips is divisible by three. The fabric had a very distinct gradient from dark blue to light blue, so to get a more even, overall blue, I flipped some of the strips within each set.

Now it kinda looks like we've got three blue octopuses! I lined up the strips and sewed each set of five on one end to keep them together throughout the braiding.

Once each set was sewn, I tied a rubber band around all of them.

I also banded each set of five to make it easier to keep track of each set. I started out without them banded, and it got confusing and strips were going where they weren't supposed to, and it was a bit of a mess. Tape the sewn ends to a table or have someone hold it, and braid it like you would a normal three-stand braid. Remove the individual sets' rubber bands, and tie one around all the strips at the end.

If you braid really tightly, the braid will be really thick and stand off your head more. To make a wider, flatter braid, tug at the braid on the edges to loosen it up and make it more voluminous--like you would your own hair.

I cut off the uneven end to make all the strips even. I removed the rubber band, and then I sewed the strips together. I sewed through all of them and then around them, and then through them a couple more times, to make it as secure as possible.

I removed the rubber band on the beginning end and sewed through it a few times. I didn't bother sewing around it because each set had already been sewn together, and each set just needed to be attached to the other. On the other end, there needed to be a lot more securing.

To finish the headband, I tied the wider strips to the ends of the braids. I flipped the strips so that the lighter end of one strip was tied on one end of the braid, and the darker end of the other strip was tied to the other end of the braid. I pulled the knot as tight as possible and double knotted it, but if you feel like it needs more securing, you can sew the ties on as well. I didn't.

EDIT: You will want to sew the ties on. On the second wear, one end of the ties fell off. I'm going to have to sew it on. I will also secure the other end by sewing it.

Now we're done!

So what do you think?

I really like it. I didn't want to take it off after taking the pictures, but I had classes to go to, and it didn't go with my outfit. I'm looking forward to wearing it with an outfit that does work with it! And it feels like it will stay in place pretty well. I have some headbands that really don't like staying on, so this makes me happy :) I think the texture of the cloth gives it some grip, while the other headbands are made of really smooth material that just wants to slip off my head.

This didn't take much time, really. Definitely under two hours, maybe even under one if I was really focused on it (I was multitasking, and also interrupting myself to take pictures). I'm not 100% sure, though, because I didn't time it start to finish. If you decide to do this, I'd love to see the pictures!

Have a great day, and I'll talk to you later!

~Stacie

Bath and Body Works Haul: Hawaii Collection

Hi all! I know I've been a little MIA lately, and I want to do more than one post a week, but life happens, ya know? I had two pretty big tests last week and a big paper to write, so... forgiven? Either way, I'm back with a BBW haul! Yay!

If you haven't already guess, I LOVE BBW (Bath and Body Works). It is one of my favorite places to be. I have tried two summers in a row to work there, but I never get the job. That's probably because no one quits (seriously, I see the same women all the time). And who would want to? It's the perfect job. You get to be surrounded by great smelling stuff. I've given up on applying there because I know it is just not going to happen. Plus, I've got a job that's looking pretty positive for me this summer. I know that things can change, but I really hope that things work out for me to work at this place.

Around this time every year, BBW puts out a tropical themed collection and I always rejoice! I loooove tropical scents. They're usually right in my arena: fruity and/or fresh. I don't know why I enjoy smelling like a fruit basket, but I just do! It's better than BO. So let's take a closer look at the goodies I got from BBW when I was home on Spring Break.

Clockwise from upper left: Hawaiian Hibiscus, Red Guava Lava, Mango
Dragon Fruit

These were actually my major draw into BBW. Not these specific fragrances (I didn't know what they would have for candles) but candles in general. I have lately become obsessed with having a candle going on the candle warmer and making my room smell delicious as all get out. The Hawaii collection did not disappoint on great candle smells. It was actually pretty difficult to limit myself to three. Alas, I only had so much money, and decisions had to be made. So far I've only melted the Mango Dragon Fruit candle, and it was AMAZING! Sooooo yummy. I can't wait to try the others. I love the mini size because they're relatively quick to melt. It would never happen with one of the three-wick candles. BBW also had a city themed section of candles and they smelled really good. I would have gotten some, but they didn't have any in mini sizes :(

Hawaii Passionfruit Kiss and Maui Hibiscu Beach

Of course, I can't stop myself from buying body mists--I love them! And I always like trying something new. The Maui fragrance is quite floral and strong, so it's not for everyone. I limit myself to one spritz when I use it (I usually use around two to four). The Hawaii one is probably my favorite.

I was having a little bit of an art nerd moment. I just love when light is refracted and makes beautiful designs like this. It reminds me of a stained-glass window.

Top row: Maui Sunset, Paradise Plumeria, Wild Passion Flower
Bottom row: Honolulu Sun, Mango Hibiscus

And it was time to make my bi-annual mini sanitizer purchase. I do the 5 for $5 in the fall and spring and I'm good all year round. I find that the tropical scents are good for spring and summer, and the warm, autumnal scents are good for both fall and winter. I'm really latching on to the Mango Hibiscus scent--no surprise there--and Maui Sunset is a close second. I'm not quite so crazy about the others. That's usually the way it goes, but it's fun to experiment and try new things.

Peach Bellini Mini Room Spray

How cute is this room spray?! I saw it and I couldn't help myself but buy it. I winking bird (I'm guessing parrot?)!!! I love it so much! And it's in one of my favorite fragrances from last year's purchase of mini candles. So yummy. I need to be careful with this stuff--it make me hungry! They had bigger cans of the same three scents, but the bottles weren't as cute, and they were more expensive.

I don't have my own picture because I left it at home, but I also bought this really cute scent portable case thing. But here's a picture from the Bath and Body Works site:

Tiki Cup Scentportable Holder

Isn't it adorable?! It's a Tiki cup with a lime slice and little umbrella! In my mind, this is the epitome of summer. If you have one of these, you're good. I bought it in anticipation of one day have my own car, which will hopefully be one day soon, and I know that they cycle through these really quickly, so it was either now or never. I chose now... er, then. I recommend scooting over to BBW ASAP and picking one up for yourself. They also had a cute sea turtle holder that I was interested in as well.

Sun body lotion and Mad About You
fragrance mist

Last, and sorta least, are these guys. The only thing I'm mad about is that I bought a spray in that fragrance. It smelled pretty good in the store, but it doesn't now. That's why I like buying minis. Something about the store can really throw off your perception of a particular fragrance. I've used it a couple times, trying to like it, but I don't think I can. I need to find someone to give it to. I picked up the Sun fragrance because it has magnolia in the name. BBW used to have a fragrance called Magnolia Blossom, and it was my favorite of all time. I still have around a quarter to a third of a bottle left. I've been rationing it for five years. I thought this might be similar or at least a good replacement, but I can't detect too much of a smell really. I only picked it up because I had a coupon for a free travel-sized item and I was hoping that if I used it enough it would grow on me. I haven't really used it at all.

Even with all the deals they had going and the 20% off coupon I had, this still cost a pretty penny. I would have to have not had the discounts. It's so easy to rack up the dollars! It was funny that even the saleslady noticed how long I was taking to make my decisions. I take this very seriously! If I'm going to spend the money and be stuck with a fragrance for a while, I want to like it. I still ended up with things I don't care for too much, but it's better than complete impulse-buying. That's how I used to shop there, and I ended up with even more things I didn't like. At least I'm minimizing the damage.

Well I hope this has you inspired. I really recommend going, if only to smell the wonderful things! It doesn't cost anything to smell :) Have a great day!

~Stacie

Pic credit: http://bbw.slcprd1.gsipartners.com/graphics/product_images/pBBW1-17940106v275.jpg

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hey everyone! I'm not Irish or Catholic, but I love a reason to celebrate--plus I really like green, so I thought I'd share what I did for St. Patrick's Day.

Firstly, the eyes:

I took my inspiration from this video:

Obviously, it was just inspiration and not a full mimic. I couldn't walk around campus with black dots all over my eyes! I was attracting a little attention with just my eyes having dots. And, yes, the patterns on the eyes are asymmetrical. I did that on purpose. The left eye had a little bit of a wing, and the right eye flared up in the crease and tapered to a little tail type thing in the inner corner.

And then here are the nails I have:

I'm not sure if I like the color or not. I think it would definitely look better if I had a tan. The polish is The More the Merrier by Essie. I got it for $4 at TJ Maxx, so yay! At least it wasn't the full $8. I'm looking forward to trying it in the summer, when I'm HOPEFULLY not quite so pale.

I also was wearing a green shirt, but I don't have a picture of that.

I hope that you have a great day! If you're celebrating St. Patrick's Day, then be safe, and have fun :)

~ Stacie

DIY Tinted Lip Balm

Hey all! I think I mentioned that I would do a tutorial on DIY tinted lip balm, so here it is! Thankfully I took pictures before I left for Spring Break. I just had to edit the pictures (i.e. crop, haha) and add my commentary before uploading them! Yay!

I was inspired to make my own tinted lip balm because spring is right around the corner, and I'm feeling like sheer color is what I'm going to want to do. Also, I saw that Vaseline has a red tinted tub of stuff, and I thought, "Hey I could make something like that." So I did.

So here's what you need:

The basic idea is: Base, Color, Case. Take a lip balm or some other similar base, sprinkle in some color, mix it together, and put it in a case. Easy peasy. In the first picture, I showed the three I've already made. All three had the rose salve as their base, and their color comes from (from left to right) Maybelline Color Whisper in Berry Ready; a combination of Milani Color Sensation lipstick in Nude Crème and NYC lipstick in Petal; and Hard Candy Baked Blush in Doll Face.

You're probably thinking, "Stacie, that doesn't look like the Hard Candy blush I know as Doll Face." Well, that's because I broke it years ago and had to put it in another container. And that actually made it a lot easier to use in this process. Take a look:

So let's take a deeper look at what we'll need:

Base

As you can see, I've already dug into the rose salve. Both of these are petrolatum-based, so they're very thick and moisturizing. They also give off a very glossy look, which I like. As another plus, they're fairly malleable, so it's easy to mix them with the color. Other, more solid lip balms might not have such a great end result.

Color

Color can be anything: lipstick, blush, or eye shadow. If you use a lipstick, you'll require less product. Using a blush or eye shadow takes more to get anything to show up. A loose powder blush or eye shadow pigment is the easiest way to utilize dry pigment into the base.

Case

And of course you need something to put your concoction in. I heard a while ago about melting down lipsticks and/or combining lipsticks to make your own colors and that small pill organizers were good for this purpose. I've had this for a while, and a couple of the slots were already occupied with lipsticks I had melted down. Thankfully, I had a few slots left when I decided to try out my idea. In this picture, though, there's only one measly spot left. I better make this count! I think I've also seen little pots that you could fill with the lip balm as well, maybe at a craft store or something like that.

Oh, and let's not forget a stirring utensil! In true college girl fashion, I have a plastic-wrapped knife at the ready. It's actually a pretty useful tool for this process.

Make it:

First up, get the base ready. In my case, I just put the base in the case, but you could combine the ingredients in a separate container and then put it in the case when everything is evenly mixed. That actually would have made things a lot easier and cleaner, in retrospect. I recommend it. As you can see, the rose salve has a tint to it, but it doesn't show up at all on the lips--it might as well be clear.

For this walk-through I wanted to show what to do with a solid product. If the color that you want isn't in a conveniently crushed or powder form like the baked blush or the CoverGirl TruBlend Minerals blush I had in the picture, then you'll have to scrape whatever you want to use.

The knife I had was actually pretty useful for scraping. The non-cutting end was pretty smooth and had a slight ledge that really worked to loose the product. I wouldn't recommend using the serrated part of the knife, since it will leave ugly scrape marks in the product, and bits of the blush/eye shadow will be stuck in the teeth and wasted.

Now it's time to sprinkle the product in and mix it up. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo, but as I alluded to earlier, this was a bit of a messy process, so I was quite involved in it and didn't think to stop and take a picture. I'm sure you can figure it out.

So there you go. Just a fun way to make your own tinted lip balm. It's a really great way to use lipsticks that are too matte for you, but you still like the color, or a blush that you think would work really well as a lip product. Yay, Multi-purpose products! And those balms that I pictured just leave my lips so hydrated and glossy, I love it. I'm going to have to do this for the rest of my life, now, I think.

I hope that you have a lovely day, and that you have safe travels if you're traveling :)

~Stacie 

Petal Pusher Challenge, Day 5: Flapper Girl

Whew, I did it! I didn't know if I'd actually be able to do all 5 days in a row, but I did! So exciting. Here's the last day, and it's one of my favorite looks to do ever: Flapper. Flappers were so fearless with their makeup, and they inspire me! Once again, I forgot to take a both-eyes shot, but I did remember to take a picture of my face makeup products! Here's the other stuff:

If you need a reminder of the key elements to a Flapper look, check out my post here. I was a Flapper Girl for Halloween, so I talked about my makeup in that post.

And that about wraps things up! I've really become appreciative of all the looks the palette can produce (and there's more than just what I did), but I'm definitely ready to be able to use my other makeup! I feel like I've been neglecting it, haha! I'm about to head off on my Spring Break adventure, so I'm excited for that :) If you're also about to have your Spring Break--be safe! And everyone else, too :)

♥Stacie♥

Petal Pusher Challenge, Day 4: Sweet Smoke

Hey everyone! It's Day 4 here with another look. I failed pretty miserably and didn't take a picture of both eyes open and closed, nor a picture of all the other products I used. Sorry! I don't know what was up with that. I think I must have been in a hurry. Anyway, here's the rest of the stuff you've come to expect.

Have a lovely day, and I'll talk to you soon! Spring Break is just around the corner, and boy do I need it!
~Stacie

Petal Pusher Challenge, Day 3: Purple Smoke

Okay, y'all. This is going to be a pretty short post, word-wise, anyway. I'm pretty tired, so I'm just going to put the images up. I think you get the gist of things by now anyway. You don't need my babble.

And that's it! I hope you all had a great day! Goodnight!
~Stacie

Petal Pusher Challenge, Day 2: Whisper of Lilac

Hey all! It's Day 2 of the PPC, and I'm back with another look! Also, I can't figure out why my face looks so round in that picture. In all the angles I shot, my face looked really round. Maybe it's because of my hair. Anyway, moving on!

This look was me using this palette to do a look I'm looking forward to doing a lot this spring: subtle eye shadow, lots of lashes, and lots of blush! I was inspired by this photo in a promotion for Everyday Minerals:

The focus for her was blush, and I thought it was just gorgeous! It's more liberally applied than a lot of the gurus tell us to apply blush, and not so angular. It actually simulates more of a natural flush. I thought that thick lashes would add to the innocent look, and a subtle swipe of color would add something a little extra. I did a similar look this past Saturday with a light green shade and LOVED it. I thought lilac/lavender would be good, too. Pastels are usually associated with spring, anyway :)

The shadows I used in the look

Hey, it's another GIF! I can't help myself. I'm such a nerd.

And now for the step-by-step.

The moral of this tutorial is that I need a better camera for taking pictures! The color never shows up as vibrant as it really is :( Also, I forgot to mention it, but curl your lashes before applying mascara--it makes them even fuller looking!

So, do you get the feeling that this look was blush-heavy? Half those products are cheek-related. I had to keep adding blush, though, because it wasn't showing up in the picture. I eventually gave up. I still have to look semi-normal for my everyday things.

Well that wraps up Day 2! I hope you have a love day, and I'll talk to you tomorrow!
~Stacie :)

Pic credit: All Rights to Everyday Minerals. I don't own the picture, I just wanted to show my inspiration! https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjGTZkEkA1Z_FgZnuPEj4QtSY_io2uO_W07kdTiMsWONRNXHdO5_DQH6veTHRakptbEdClci6S0119NLKkM8sVwneBtbOyHseiXV4VPrgmXTboWprj8pBlpOhDFWFFxINaSIKNot1HJG4dxkVvAwOnGfgu9Bf5vwn-g-qHXmfTRDPZxKNld1jaJ0YtJe5UdvGKQFe-QtBncRrxF_30pvwYgdw=s0-d-e1-ft