Girls Camp - Hemp Macrame Bracelets Tutorial

My mom taught me to do macrame back in the 80's.  I love that most of these crafts we did are a throwback to my adolescent years, and the girls didn't even know it.  Everything that was once cool, then not, is cool again.  Awesome.

• I bought the hemp from Hemp Beadery on Etsy.   I got 12 spools for $55, which was more than enough for 100 girls to make plenty of bracelets.  

• The beads came from Joanns.  Both for the bracelets, and for the boards.

• I also bought some beeswax for the girls to rub onto the end of the hemp.  This made it a lot easier to slide the beads on.

For each bracelet you need two pieces of hemp.  One 24" piece and one 72" piece (3x the length of the short piece).  So essentially you use 8 ft of hemp per bracelet.  This will help in determining how much hemp to buy.  I cut these pieces before camp to eliminate that headache with 100 girls, so the tutorial below just refers to the "short string" and "long string".

PDF File

Macrame Bracelet 

Tutorial Collage 

You can use that PDF File to print out the tutorial for easy reference.

Oh Happy Macrame.

Girls Camp Crafts 2012

I was in charge of crafts this summer at Girls Camp.   I scoured the web for easy-ish crafts the girls could do that didn't require electricity (like glue guns or sewing machines) that would be useful and "cool" and would teach them something they could do at home.  Holy moly, this is harder than you think.  I became so grateful for all those other Craft Ladies who have posted their projects each year, so I'm giving back.  Thank you ladies.

Here's what I finally narrowed it down to:

• Friendship Pins
• Hemp Macrame Bracelets
• Fishtail Bracelets
• Tee-Shirt Yarn Finger Weave Bracelets
• Pom Poms

I put together a tutorial for each and printed out the pictures to mount on poster board so the girls could use those as a reference.  Then I made an 8x10 collage of the tutorials and laminated them so they'd also have instructions at their tables.  I have to admit, they didn't use the tutorials, much.  Once in a while I'd see some girls huddled around a card, but they'd eventually end up wanting to be shown. So we'd get a small group together and show them how, then once they got it they would help other girls learn.  It was great watching them teach each other.

We had the crafts available during free time - about 2 hours each afternoon. They could choose to swim, nap, canoe, hike, or craft.  We had a pretty steady flow of girls in and out each day.  I would introduce a new craft each morning but we kept the supplies out for the craft from the day before so they could choose what they wanted to work on.  They could make as many as they wanted, and they totally did.

I made these boards before camp to make it easier for the girls to work on their bracelets.  They were fantastic.  They made it so much easier, especially on the hemp bracelets.  I highly recommend making a couple of these if you ever do bracelets.


I will post the tutorials I used for each of these crafts, plus supply lists and links to where I bought most of the stuff {Our budget was $600, and I spent every penny}.  I'll link each tutorial back to this page for quick reference.

Here's a link to my Girls Camp Crafts Pinterest board for more ideas.

I love camp.  I wanna do the crafts forever.  please.

moving on.

We went to Canada this summer.  I have 10 million pictures to share but they are all stuck in Conan's computer because I already have 10 million other pictures in my computer and I don't have any more space for 10 million more and so there they'll sit, in Conan's cyber emptiness, until I can buy an external hard drive.  Or find another solution to my picture problem.  lame.

For now it's instagram.  I grabbed some for you off my phone so you could have a glimpse of what I'm missing.

School is in and Kacie started Kindergarten, which means I'm alone.  I thought I'd be excited about being alone, but I pretty much feel...well...alone.  I don't like it much right now.  All my kids are in school, and so begin the days when all my time management dreams are supposed to come true.  It's a new chapter of motherhood I will embrace by watching every available season of The Wonder Years.  alone.

Theoretically this means I'll have more time to blog.  I have some good projects to share {Girls Camp Craft ideas, a few bags, Dani's Hogwarts replica made of clay and cardboard, and something exciting for Sarah Jane}, so lets hope my theory holds true and I can make a sweet bloggy comeback.

I miss our vacation.  And our babies.  They're gone.
sniffle and sigh.

super guy softie.

For Mandy.  and Little Footprints in Houston.

Help her out HERE.

she's awesome.

I call this one..."Happy Family at the Top of the Wet Mountain."

school just threw up on my table.

happy summer!!

snaps. Just in case you want 'em...

I made a car seat cover for a sweet lady a while ago, and she requested "wind control", so we added snaps!  nice.  Now the blanket fits the car seat nice and snug if it needs to.

Here's a weak diagram of where I placed the snaps (M = male side of snap, F = Female side of snap). First I attached the cover to the carseat and then pinned it where I thought the snaps should go for a snug fit. Then I marked where the pins were and followed the instructions on the package of snaps I bought from Joann's to attach them to the blanket. 

It's a fuzzy picture, sorry.  Which is why I've needed a new camera.  Which is a whole other post.

car seat cover tutorial

baseball with a ballerina. and a dragon.

 

life is sweet.

holy tee-shirt saver, batman.

 batman actually has nothing to do with this post.  Except for the fact that he and I have both saved the world, on separate occasions....

So there I was, minding my own business staring at myself in the mirror when I saw them.  The infamous, diabolical tee shirt holes.  Many many many shirts in my closet have these pesky holes, I'm used to them.  But today, TODAY they have violated my all time favorite nyc comfy tee shirt!  It's gone too far.

Exhibit A:

 

The weapon of mass destruction:

the button.

Every time that button rubs against my shirt, a hole appears.  Standing at the counter, wearing my seatbelt, holding (other peoples) kids...all things that simply can't be avoided.

DRAT that blasted button!

So I took all that pent up negative energy from the sock episode, which is still festering, and I schemed up a plan to save the world from the holes.  Or at least my clothes,  I'm happy just saving my clothes.

I call it, the Holy Tee-Shirt Saver:

I've been wearing it for a week now, and I do believe justice has been served.

Here, I'll show you how...

• Measure the length from the OUTSIDE of your two belt loops, and add 2 inches.
• Cut 3 strips of fabric the length you just measured by 2 inches.  Cut one strip out of your print (use just white cotton if you have lightweight see-through shirts), one strip out of muslin, and one strip out of a cotton jersey.  The jersey is what really keeps the button from rubbing through, don't skip it.   Ok fine, you can, but you're asking for it.
• Cut off a small square of sew-on velcro and cut it in half, to make small strips.

 

• Now layer your 3 fabric strips as shown below:

• Sew around the edge of your fabric strips, leaving a 2 inch opening on one side.  
• Trim the corners.

• Turn your Shirt Saver inside out so the print is on the top and the muslin on the bottom.  Press your seams with an iron so it's nice and flat.  Don't sew that opening closed yet!

• Turn it over and lay the soft velcro strips on the very edge of the strap.  Then lay the pokey strips 2 inches in from the edge.  Tack them down with a little bit of fabric glue.  Or pin them in place.

• Sew your strips down only on the sides, leaving the very edge un-sewn.  You'll do that later.

• Once all the strips are sewn on, sew all the way around the edge of the Shirt Saver, making sure to catch the edge of your velcro.

• Attach it by just wrapping those velcro edges around your belt loops, and laugh an evil laugh because you just mastered all that evil button power.

• Pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Eat breakfast.

Take the kids to school. 

wage war.

Save the world...check.

done for the day.