Hair Accessory Tutorial

This is a tutorial on how to make a large flower hair accessory. These can be worn by children as a hair decoration and some ladies I know wear them as a hair volumiser under their hijab. Many I have seen in stores / online were large flower clip ones which looked just like one of the flowers I had in my house!

So, I decided to make one myself from the materials I already had at home - so a completely free project yeah!

Requirements

• Large Flower (not real one obviously!)
• Hair Bobble / or a Clip
• Needle and Thread (optional craft glue)

Instructions

Step 1: Remove the stem or any other attachment
Step 2: Hand Stitch where any part may need securing after removing stem etc.
Step 3: Hand sew the bobble onto the flower - securing tightly - or use craft glue (If using Clip - either hand sew or use craft glue)

As you can see this is a really quick and easy project to do and saved me quite a lot of money!

Added Notes:
I am not an islamic scholar and I know some people have commented that the hijab volumisers are haram so I am sorry if I have upset anyone. I don't personally wear these flower accessories as I like a simple hijab but I do know many ladies who wear these and a friend of mine asked me about making one and this was my solution. I am not here to encourage people to wear them as a volumizer that is a personal choice.  These can simply be worn as a hair accessory which as far as I know isn't haram.  Thanks for your feedback.

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How To Cut Onions Without Crying - Great Ideas

I watched a children's cooking program on the TV the other week and this young girl was wearing some special onion goggles! I had never heard of these before and thought what a brilliant idea. Then I went online and saw the price of these goggles and thought they were a bit to pricey for me!

So me being me, I tried to think of an alternative cheaper way and after realising how these goggles worked thought about using my daughters swimming goggles!  I hated chopping onions because my eyes have always been so sensitive.  I also wear glasses for everyday use and I couldn't wear them immediately after chopping onions as I couldn't see properly due to the irritation and tears! To my amazement these goggles actually worked!

Yes I may look a little silly in the kitchen for a couple of minutes - but believe me they are worth it if it means I don't have to suffer!  I have tried this maybe 6 times now and they have worked perfectly and since trying this I have noticed that quite a few people have done this in the past and all agree they work.

In the past I have tried chewing gum when chopping onions, which for some reason it does seem to work occasionally but not all the time! I read on a site that if you breathe in through your mouth it catches the onion gases before they reach your eyes, so maybe the chewing gum part is the fact you may open your mouth and catch the gases!

Has anyone else tried the goggles method or have you got any other solutions for no tears that you would like to share?


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Felt Gingerbread Man Tutorial

 

This project was made by my 10 year old daughter and is a quick and easy craft for children to take part in. They can experiment with many different materials to make up the buttons and eyes, but we just stuck to using different colored felt. The orange felt came from an old jumper that I felted so another upcycling project completed.

 

Requirements

 

• Cut out shape of a gingerbread man (either download or draw around a cookie cutter)
• Orange or brown color felt
• Varied colour felt for button shapes and face detail (or you could use real buttons)
• Stuffing / wadding
• Rick Rack (zigzag ribbon)
• Fabric Glue (optional)
• Needle and Thread. 

 

 

Tutorial:

 

Step 1: Using the cut out shape of a gingerbread man draw and cut out 2 pieces from the orange/brown felt.

Step 2: Cut out some shapes for the eyes, nose, mouth and buttons.

Step 3: Attach the pieces to one of the gingerbread man pieces. (Use either fabric glue or sew a couple of stitches to secure each piece).

Step 4: Sew together the other gingerbread man to the first piece - leave small gap so to insert some stuffing and then close the gap with stitches. (blanket stitch was used for this)

Step 5: Sew on the rick rack around the wrists and ankles of the gingerbread man.

 

You now have your very own gingerbread man. These can be used as children's toys or as decoration for the house.

 

 

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No More Naked Barbies Tutorial - Great Ideas

If you have children, then you will probably know that children just love removing the clothes from their dolls and very soon you have plenty of naked dolls lying around!

I saw a photo on Pinterest (sorry I don't have the link as I forgot to Pin it!) which explained you can fix this with some nail polish - I couldn't believe I hadn't heard of this before now! So I decided to try this out for myself to see if it works.- AND IT DOES!

This is so easy and quick to do that really you don't need much of a tutorial for this but I thought I would give a super quick one just for you.

Requirements:

• Barbie (or similar doll)
• Nail Polish (any colour)

Instructions:

Step 1: Hold the doll or place her on a piece of paper on flat surface (I tied the dolls hair up so out of the way!)
Step 2: Using the nail polish paint an outline of a swimming suit and then completely colour the suit (you can do one side of the doll at a time if it is easier)
Step 3: Place the doll on all fours, as in the photo below so that the polish can dry easily.
Step 4: Once dry do another coat (this may be sufficient depending on the polish - if not add a 3rd coat after allowing time to dry)
Step 5: Barbie doesn't look naked now and is ready for the child to dress if they wish!

You could even add some glittering stickers to make the swimming costume look more jazzy. I have even seen online that people have used Sharpie pens to cover Barbies nakedness.

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Money box from a plastic bottle - great upcycling idea

 

Here is a tutorial on how I made some money boxes from used plastic bottles. I actually prepared the bottles but the decoration was actually done by my 10 year old daughter.

 

My daughter just raided the scrap fabric bin and printed off some designs on the printer to make these lovely money boxes, so this was a very inexpensive project.

 

 

Requirements:

 

Plastic bottle and lid

Printed pictures

Ribbon / Lace

Glue / Double sided tape

Knife / Scissors

 

Instructions:

 

Step 1: Remove all labels and clean the bottle.

Step 2: Puncture a hole into the lid (I used a knife but you must be very careful this can be dangerous!) I used a screwdriver to make the hole wide enough for coins.

Step 3: Decorate your bottle. New labels added using double sided tape. Ribbon was glued around the neck of the bottle.

 

 

Below is another money box that my daughter decorated. This really is an easy project that the children can join in with. As long as the hole in the lid is done by an adult the rest of the money box can be decorated by the children.

 

 

 

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Eid Mubarak - Happy Eid 2012

Eid Mubarak - Happy Eid to all

Today is Eid Ul Adha celebrated by all Muslims across the World.

Here is part of the Wikipedia explanation and the link: wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid al Adha

Eid al-Adha, also called Feast of the Sacrifice, the Major Festival, the Greater Eid and Bakr Eid, is an important 4-day religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to honor the willingness of the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his young firstborn son Ismail (Ishmael) as an act of submission to God and his son's acceptance of the sacrifice before God intervened to provide Abraham with a ram to sacrifice instead.

Different cultures celebrate Eid differently but most celebrate today with either new clothes or gifts for the children. Many people spend Eid visiting friends and family.  I think it is important to inform the children of why we celebrate Eid otherwise I think it would end up similar to how I believe Christmas is celebrated for the Christians where most of the children automatically expect all the presents but don't celebrate the meaning of the day itself.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Used Tissues Bin - Great Ideas

I saw this idea on Pinterest a while ago and thought this would be a great idea, as my kids seem to leave used tissues wherever they wish! To give credit, here is the original link: www.meckmom.com
 

This is such an easy thing to do, just two matching tissue boxes and one elastic band. To be honest I don't normally buy the nice decorative boxes of tissues but because I wanted a nice photograph for my post I bought these cute black and white tissue boxes especially for my blog!
 

I really do like this idea especially as winter is coming and the kids will no doubt be coming home from school with colds very soon.
 

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