Four-leaf clover headband for St Patrick's Day

Since I dyed my hair green in January, I have had people telling me that I'm "a bit too early for St Patrick's Day!". So I decided to just embrace it and make myself a huge and slightly ridiculous four-leaf clover headband to wear! If you want to make your own, it is quick and easy and you could most definitely finish it before St Patrick's Day ^___^

 Materials needed:

• assorted green yarn (including a fluffy novelty yarn)
• crochet hooks to match yarns
• yarn scissors
• tapestry needle
• scrap cardboard
• pencil
• paper scissors
• hot glue gun

To start, you will need some green yarn. I went through my stash and pulled out as many different shades of green as I could find. They are all different weights and are a mix of acrylic and wool - and that is ok! You will only be using small amounts of each colour, so small stash balls are perfect for this project. Also, make sure you pull out a selection of crochet hooks so that you can match the hook to the yarn.

I used Twinkie Chan's free lucky clover pattern to make my clovers; it's a nice and easy pattern and once you've made a couple, you probably won't even need to read the pattern to make each one. I had six different yarns for my clovers and I made three clovers for each colour so I had eighteen clovers total. The amount you need will depend on how big your clovers are and how extreme you want to go with your headband ~___^

Next, you need some scrap cardboard; I pulled a small box out of our recycling bin and cut it into an arch shape. I used the top of the headband to determine the bottom curve of the arch but then free handed the rest. It's ok if it is a little lopsided, but the closer to even you can get it the better ^___^ 

 

Use hot glue to attach the cardboard to the headband and then wrap the headband and cardboard arch with more yarn. I used Moda Vera Honey Joy (100% polyester, colour number 08) which is a fluffy novelty yarn which reminds me of moss. I don't know what project I originally had planned for this yarn, but I was pleased to find it in my stash! I put a small amount of hot glue on the end of the headband, stuck the yarn down and then began winding it all over the headband. You may need to add small amounts of hot glue on the cardboard arch as well, to prevent the yarn from slipping down.

Once your headband is completely covered, you can begin to stick the clovers on with hot glue!
 

 Ta-da!

I had much more clovers than I needed so I added some to the back as well! I still have one large light green clover left so I may make myself a matching brooch ^___^

I'm not going to lie - this headband is pretty massive! But I really love it. Good luck and no pinches, what's not to like? ~___^

- Lisa xx

Glittery antler flower crown

It's the middle of summer here in Australia, so I'm dreaming of cool spring evenings and lush woodland groves. Recently some friends and I were planning a crafternoon and trying to decide which project we would make. I'll show you what we decided on next week, but I couldn't resist recreating one of the other suggested projects - an adorable antlered flower crown by Georgina Doull, featured here on Mollie Makes.

Creating the antlers was definitely the trickiest part of this project; Georgina makes it look so easy, but I made and remade mine several times! I also wasn't sure if I was going to glitter them or not, so I didn't follow her instructions to press the glitter into the clay before baking. Getting the glitter onto the antlers after baking was quite difficult, so if I was to do this again, I would listen to Georgina ^____^

My headband was already covered with white ribbon, so I left it as is. I did use some baby blue ribbon that was originally from a bouquet of flowers to help attach the antlers, but it's barely visible from the front.

The flowers I used are all foam roses. I was originally planning to use some of the larger size roses, that you can see in the top corner in the photo above, but then decided they were too big and instead stuck to the medium and small sizes instead.

 

I cut off the wire stems with scissors and then attached all of the flowers with hot glue. There is a patch were a bit of glue leaked onto the front of the band, but when I'm wearing it the glue isn't visible.

 

The back of the band isn't as pretty as the front; I'm considering making some felt leaves to cover up the backs of the roses.

 

 

I feel like I should be waiting for some fairies to drop by for a tea party while I'm wearing this! ^____^ Despite the clay antlers, it's quite light and very comfortable to wear. I'm thinking it would also be lovely for a Christmas outfit or a casual party costume.

Considering that 2016 starts in two days (whhhaaaatttt??), this will be my last project for the year. Thanks so much for spending time with me; I hope you've had some fun and maybe even found a little crafty inspiration. As always, I love to hear from you; what you enjoyed, what you'd like to see more of, what you created this year, and what you plan to create next.

Enjoy the rest of December, and I'll see you in the new year!

- Lisa xx

Hipster Vulcan cosplay for SupaNova Perth

Hello! Scott, Rebecca, and I weren't really planning on going to SupaNova this year ... and then the week before we decided to anyway! We missed out on Oz ComicCon earlier in the year, so I'm really glad we did end up going ^____^ Of course this meant that we needed cosplays! I was being a bit indecisive about repeating one of my old cosplays, but in the end decided to make something new. The WA roller derby grand final was the night before and even though I was just spectating, I knew I'd want something simple and comfortable to wear the next day - that much screaming and cheering takes a lot out of you, you know! ~_____^

So I hurriedly threw this costume together, 100% from things I had lying around my house. As I awkwardly explained to one girl at the con, "it's like a hipster Vulcan, like on shore leave kinda thing, like just casual?" Ugh, words. Anyway, from head to toe, here's how I put this costume together ...

 

 Flower crown: I made this a couple of years ago at my "it's my birthday, let's make flower crowns" party ~___^ I used two bouquets of foam roses, one white and one pink, and thin floral wire. The foam roses come on bendable wire steams covered with florist's tape so all I had to do was bend them into a circle shape, alternating pink and white roses, and add small amounts of floral wire to hold them into place.

Eyebrows: I think I went too subtle, but I did actually change the shape of my eyebrows so that they were more straight (mine usually curve down a lot more!). To do this, I put a small amount of glue stick on the end half of my eyebrows (which, despite the internet assuring me this would be fine, I was very nervous about!) and then did layers of powder, concealer, foundation, and then more powder to cover up my eyebrow. Then I used an eyebrow pencil to draw them in again, but in a more Vulcan like shape. And, wonderful news, it all washed off really easily that evening, and my eyebrows weren't harmed at all - yay!

Jewellery and accessories: My glasses are my regular ones that I wear everyday, my necklace is one of the galaxy necklaces I made a while ago, I brought the Saturn pin from One Happy Leaf, my Starfleet brooch is made from sculpey, and my pointy ears are from The Reject Shop - I actually found a whole Spock costume there! Unfortunately, it's for children so the top doesn't fit ; _____ ;

 

(This pose displays what Rebecca calls my "angry model" look! ~____^)

Shirt: I had an old t-shirt in my drawer that I never wear anymore because it's a bit too big. I used a stencil from Typo to paint on the L,O, and E, and painted in a little Vulcan hand in place of the V ^____^ The shoulder ... things ... are from Spotlight and all I had to do was fold up the sleeves so that they were a bit shorter and then sew the shoulder thingies on top. I also cut the shirt into a cropped style, with some ties at the front. I wish I had have cut it just a little longer though, because I was a bit worried about it riding up at the back!

Skirt: This skirt had been in my mending pile for aaagggggeeeesssss because once when I was doing some cleaning, I got some cleaning spray on it which left little bleach marks - ___ - I had been planning on dyeing it so the marks weren't visible anymore but instead I did the opposite - more bleach! After bleaching it, I washed the skirt in hot water and left it to dry. Then, I got out my fabric paints and a sponge brush and went to town creating myself a little galaxy ^____^ I'm not 100% happy with it, but I think it's pretty good for my first try at galaxy painting. The only thing I wish I had have thought of was that most of my old clothes are too big for me now - including this skirt. I wore a belt but it was also slightly too big so I spent a lot of the day trying to tug it back up! All I need to do to fix this is take in the waistband slightly, and then I'm sure this skirt will get a lot more wear! ^____^

 

Tights and shoes: I also wore blue tights (they match my hair!) and, although they don't show up in any of these photos, my Doc Marten Mary-Janes. Cons always involve a lot of walking and standing, so comfortable shoes are a must!

Bec revisited her Princess Mononoke costume this year - she made her entire outfit save her earrings and shoes! Her cape is faux fur, her jewellery is made from sculpey and faux leather cording, and I believe her dress and top and made from cotton.

Bec also made a gorgeous sculpey mask ... which got a bit up close and personal with the floor and broke ; _____ ; 

 

Scott was really unsure about doing a cosplay this year but last minute he decided that he would be a Hooded Figure from Welcome to Night Vale. He wore black jeans, black shoes, and a black t-shirt, then added a hooded robe, a tactical vest, black gloves, and a ninja hood (basically a snug fitting hood that covers up the front of your neck). He started off also wearing a black gas mask but found it a bit too hot in the convention center; with the hood of his cloak pulled down low his face wasn't visible anyway. His sign is made from balsa wood which I just painted onto with acrylic paints and attached to some cotton string with hot glue. His outfit was very popular with other convention goers and he was asked to have his photo taken several times ^____^

 And, of course, I couldn't resist having a photo either. Scott and I don't really have any photos of ourselves up in our house, but I feel like this one needs to be framed ~____^

As you probably know, last week I was the Crafty Superstar on Cut Out + Keep and now all seven projects are done and up on their website! Yay! It was a lot of fun seeing my projects revealed each day and I'm so glad I've finally been able to share them with everyone - it was so difficult keeping the brand new projects a secret! If you have somehow escaped seeing my daily Twitter and Instagram mentions of this feature, go and check them all out now!! ^____^

I also picked a winner for the beanie giveaway, using the highly scientific method of flipping a coin ~___^ Congratulations to Molly who is now the proud new owner of a tiny, tiny hat! ^___^

Next week I've got a fun jewellery tutorial for you, and hopefully I'll have an update on how my next knitted hat is going - my aim this time is to make it so it actually fits an adult! ~____^

- Lisa xx 

Easy loom daisy flower crown

Hello! Today I had my first day back at uni - I can't believe this is my last semester ever!! I only had one class today, but it did go for three hours (gah!). It was totally fun though; I'm doing a cultural studies unit as my elective and for this class we get to spend the entire semester analysing fantasy and sci-fi texts! I'm so, so keen to get properly into it. I decided today to try and blend in with the cool kids on campus who are all wearing '90s fashion (it's everywhere now!) so I made this quick and easy daisy flower crown to wear ^___^

To make it, I wove five daisies using my largest round loom and some white and yellow wool. I have a Hana-Ami loom, which is really easy to use; making this headband took me one viewing of Coraline ~___^ If you click on "Hana-Ami", I've linked to a short video showing what it looks like and how it is used. However, I did my centres a little differently to the all videos I could find; the loom comes with an instruction sheet that shows you different ways to finish off the flowers. It's in Japanese, but there are pictures so you can get the general gist of things. Instead of using the darning needle to sew from the centre of the flower, I used it to tie knots in a circle around the centre. I knotted together four strands of wool with each knot and each knot contains one strand of wool from the previous knot. Hmm. I hope that makes sense. Perhaps I should make a video to show you what I mean, what do you think?

 

I wanted the centres of the daisies to be a solid colour, so after knotting the circle I used my darning needle to criss-cross the yarn through the centre of the flower. The darning needle I got with my loom has a huge eye on it, which makes threading it super easy, but it's not great for filling in the centres. I recommend changing to a smaller darning needle, if you have one handy.

The actual headband is just a length of crocheted chain stitch; I used a 4mm hook and green yarn. The chain stitched wool is about 70cm long, and I left the 15cm tails on each end to ensure I'd have enough yarn to tie my crown around my apparently massive head ~___^ To attach the flowers, I threaded the chain stitch through the massive darning needle and simply stitched through the back of each flower. You can move the daisies around on the chain to ensure they are positioned well, but they don't move about on their own.

This would also make a really cute daisy bunting, and using the smaller looms produces flowers small enough to be worn as jewellery. Daisy chain necklace, anyone?

Since I'm back at uni now, I'll have less time to craft and blog (boo!); but you can always find me on Instagram and Twitter if you want to catch up! ^___^

- Lisa xx

Crochet BMO brooch, shrinky dinks, and a flower crown.

Hello! I had a different project planned to show you next, but it didn't end up working out how I wanted it to so I'm going to frog it, and then maybe try again with a different medium. But I really did want to crochet something, so I whipped up a little BMO brooch ^____^ Since I've been doing Novelty Brooch Friday on Instagram I've really been expanding my collection - after all, wearing the same brooch over and over would get a little boring, don't you think?

The brooch is about 6cm high by 4cm wide, and I used my tiny BMO action figure to figure out the placement of the buttons and screen. Don't they look cute together? ^___^

I used "Beetle" yarn to make the main part of the brooch, it's a cotton-acrylic mix and was luckily the perfect colour so I didn't have to buy anything ^____^ The rest of the colours only required small scraps of yarn; the green button and the grey line are done with cotton yarn, but I think the rest is probably acyclic. To make the brooch I crocheted two rectangles using a 4mm hook; I did ten chains, then did single stitch into nine of the stitches (the tenth chain becomes your turning stitch). I did single stitch for a total of 13 rows (with a turning stitch at the end of each row). The screen was done the same way, but I only did seven chain stitches to begin and a total of six rows. The buttons and face were too small to crochet so I embroidered them with wool, but I think that embroidery thread might have been better for the face. 
 

After I weaved in all the ends, sewed on the screen, and did the embroidery, I stitched a badge back onto the second large rectangle and then sewed the two pieces together. This gives everything a nice clean finish, and you don't have to worry about messy embroidery backs ~___^

 

I also made a couple of shrinky-dink brooches; shrinky-dinks are so satisfying because they are so quick and easy to make ^___^ The geometric anatomical heart was inspired by this string art project, and the hello by this wire wrapping project. The jackalope is all my own though! ~___^ 

Lastly, I made this flower crown which was so easy to do it can barely be called a craft ~___^ I found these great foam roses at Spotlight and since I hadn't seen red ones there before, I snapped them up quickly! I made a flower crown using some pink and white foam roses earlier this year, just by using some floral wire to shape them into a ring, but I decided for this one I wanted a more arch shape.

 

I've had this black headband for literally years, but I wasn't wearing it as much as I used to, so I decided some roses would spruce it up nicely ^___^ The band has small holes in it, so all I did was stick the stems of the roses through the holes, and then wrap the rest of the stem around the band.

 

They're attached quite solidly, but if I ever decide that flower crowns aren't for me (I hope this day never comes ...) then I can easily remove them without any damage to the headband.
 

I ducked out into the garden during a pause in the rain to snap a quick picture to show what it looks like on - it's big, but I like it that way! ^___^ Also, you get a peek at how my hair looks when it's not straightened; curly fringe, ahoy! If you follow me on Instagram, you will have already seen my new hair colour; I'm still getting used to it and missing my blue locks a little, but at least it still looks good with a flower crown, right? ~___^

The rain has started pouring down again, and it's getting cold in my little computer corner so I guess that's a good a reason as any to scurry back to the couch and get some more hooking done! What are you working on at the moment? And is it warm where you are? Regale me with your tales of sunny days and dry shoes! ~___^

- Lisa xx

the crochet black rose flower crown

Hello! How are you going? I've only got a week until I go back to uni (for my final year! Eeek!) and unfortunately I've fallen into a little bit of a crafting rut! You know when you want to craft, but nothing really seems right? Usually when this hits, I try to tidy up my craft storage room, but since it's still extremely summery here, that room is boiling hot and therefore entirely unpleasant to be in. Yuck! So I went to Plan B: browsing Pinterest. This can be a dangerous plan as it often doesn't actually lead to any crafting, but this time I was lucky! I found a link to this tutorial for crocheting roses and, remembering my vague, unfulfilled desire for a black flower crown, got to hooking!

I actually totally love how it turned out, and the pattern for the roses was a very simple one to follow so it was easy to make as well ^___^

I made five roses, and I tied them onto an old black headband that I already had. Since I also already had the wool (and it is actually 100% wool this time, which is a departure from my regular acrylic!), this project cost me absolutely nothing to make. Huzzah!

I've also been paying close attention to fashion blogs lately, in an attempt to imitate their effortless posing. I think I've still got a long way to go! But it is good to have some ideas of what to do with one's arms instead of getting in front of the camera and having no clue of what to do. It's certainly a lot easier with a photographer as well; one can only do so much with selfies! ~___^

Also, having a photographer makes it a lot easier to get close up shots of things on one's head without having to be a contortionist! ~___^ You can see more of the rose detail in the photo below; although using a lighter colour would show up the details even more, I'm pleased with how they look in black.

And that's that project done, so I guess it's back to the drawing board for me! I do have a big pile of mending to do ... but what do you think the odds are of that happening? ~___^

- Lisa xx

Flower crowns and crop-tops

Hello! Well, here we go; I've finally gotten up the courage to post pictures of me wearing the crop top I made! I also made the flower crown, which goes with much more things than I thought it would! But that's not what this post is about ...

The top pattern is one that Rebecca helped me make; let's be honest though, I couldn't have done it without her! Dressmaking is *not* one of my strengths! However, now that I've got a good pattern that I know fits me properly, I can use it over and over and over ....

This fabric is from the quilting section of Spotlight, and I think it's 100% cotton. It's also fully lined with a light-weight fabric.

Honestly though, I don't think I'll keep this piece as a crop top. Although I think it looks ok, it's not really my style and I don't feel really comfortable wearing it. I think I'll add a thick waistband to this and turn it into the bodice for a dress. Dresses are much more my speed! ^___^

I'm glad I gave this a go anyway ^___^ What's your take on the crop-top trend?

- Lisa xx