Vacation Crafting. Suzanne McNeill
all you need is hemp and the knowledge of a few basic knots to create some magical jewelry. You can also incorporate beads of any stripe into a hemp project. Hemp can be a good project to take in the car. See the notes for friendship bracelets, below, for more of what you might need.
Almost every project in this book requires a pair of scissors, a ruler, or both. So make sure you don’t leave the house without them! (They’re not listed in the individual materials lists.)
FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS: For any friendship bracelet project, you just need two things: embroidery floss and something to hold the bracelet down while you work! This can be tape, a safety pin, a heavy stack of books, or even something sticking out from a surface in the car or on a desk that you can loop the bracelet around. Wherever you are, you are sure to be able to whip your thread out of your pocket and get knotting.
PLASTIC LACE: Much like making hemp and friendship bracelets, you basically only need plastic lace and something to hold your project down while you work. You may want to incorporate lanyard hooks or key rings when making some projects. All the projects in this book use the flat kind of plastic lace, not the round kind. You can experiment with the round kind if you want, but most of the projects will look quite different with round lace, and some may not really work.
RUBBER BANDS: To make the rubber band projects in this book, you’ll need one or two rubber band looms, such as a Rainbow Loom′, plus the hook that comes with the loom. To make your life easier, you probably will also want the little plastic clips that come with loom kits and rubber bands, though you can use other found materials like paper clips if you need to. Other than that, all you have to buy is a collection of cute little rubber bands in all your favorite colors!
PONY BEADS: You’ll be amazed at how quickly projects made with pony beads come together! For most pony bead projects, you’ll need some kind of cord, like plastic lace, hemp, yarn, elastic, or really anything. You’ll also often need glue.
FUSIBLE BEADS: There are many brands of fusible beads out there, such as Perler Beads®, but they all pretty much work the same way—use a hot iron to melt them together! You’ll need special plastic pegboards (in various shapes) to create and hold together the designs you make, plus protective ironing paper like parchment paper. Be careful or get help from an adult when using the hot iron. Tweezers can be helpful for picking up and placing beads, but aren’t essential.
TIE-DYE: Get ready to get messy with tie-dye projects! Besides the dye, water, buckets, and other materials, you’ll want to make sure you are wearing clothes that you don’t mind getting a bit stained, and you should probably grab some rubber or plastic gloves to avoid staining your hands, too. There’s a lot more info about materials in the tie-dye section.
DUCT TAPE: To get the most out of duct tape, you’ll need a cutting mat and a craft knife to make clean cuts and keep your duct tape sticky. Be careful or get help from an adult when using a craft knife. You can also use scissors to make many cuts.
LADYBUG VISOR
Clever and cute, this ladybug will complete your super summer look.
MATERIALS
•4" (10cm)-wide red foam visor
•Black permanent marker
•1 black chenille stem
•2 wiggle eyes
•⅛" (0.3cm) hole punch
•Glue
1.Using a black marker, outline the visor edge and draw random circles. Fill in the circles.
2.Glue wiggle eyes in place. Draw eyelashes above the eyes.
3.Punch two holes 2½" (6.5cm) apart into the top rim of the visor. Bend a chenille stem into a U shape, poke both ends up through the holes from the underside to the topside, and curl the antenna ends with your fingers.
DAFFODILS VISOR
Keep the sun off of your face when you’re working in the flower garden.
MATERIALS
•4" (10cm)-wide white foam visor
•Yellow silk daffodils
•White mini brads
•Pushpin
1.Using a pushpin, poke 15 holes evenly along the top rim of the visor.
2.Attach a silk flower to each hole with a brad.
3.Open the legs of each brad on the underside of the visor to secure the flowers in place.
CATERPILLAR VISOR
This bright visor is easy to make, adorable, and will add a touch of whimsy to any outfit!
MATERIALS
•4" (10cm)-wide green foam visor
•2 green foam pom-poms
•Adhesive-backed foam sheets in red, green, and light green
•Green permanent marker
•1 red chenille stem
•3 lime green chenille stems
•2 wiggle eyes
•⅛" (0.3cm) hole punch
•Glitter glue
•Glue
1.Cut adhesive-backed foam sheets into the following ½" (1.5cm)-wide strips: three green, two light green, and two red. Trim them to size and adhere them to the visor.
2.Cut chenille stems to match each strip and adhere them in place.
3.Add a wavy line of glitter glue to some of the strips and let dry.
4.Glue eyes onto the visor. Draw eye details below the eyes with marker.
5.Punch two holes 2" (5cm) apart into the top rim of the visor. Bend a green chenille stem into a U