DIY- Band Tees

Heelloo everyone. Long time no see! Again... But anyway here we are now, and hopefully you're all having a wonderful winter! (Or whatever season you're in)
Today I'm back with a DIY band tee. Band tees and fan tees are made often in my house- what can I say we're mega fangirls! This one is for the band American Authors *insert heart eye emojis* If you don't know them, I very highly recommend you click that link up there. You can most definitely do this with another band, singer, or anything else though!
So, let's get started -

Alrighty you will need: bleach pen // tee shirt // cardboard box // x-acto knife // design of choice
The tee I got was perfect for the job and on sale for $2.50, so you don't need anything too fancy! To find your design you can do a quick google search for a bands' logo, or any design you like (you could even freehand your own), print it off to the size you want it on your shirt, I made mine almost 8x10, just so it took up the whole page.

With your cardboard or a cutting mat underneath, use your x-acto knife to cut the outline of your design and tape it to the center of your shirt. If you have a double outlined piece, like the crown, keep that little guy and set it aside for later.

Once everything is cut out you can start the bleaching! You can look at the packaging of your pen to see exact directions for the brand you have. Here I used the thinner tip because of the design but it's your choice. As you squeeze it on, brush the bleach -so it's more flat then tube-ish- with your tip. In the second picture you can see why you kept the little insert! So just set it down and trace around it.
Lastly, my wonderful sister freehanded the letters for me.

Next fill up your sink- or a nice sized bowl with water. I used warm water here. Just dunk it in there and squish and squeeze it to rinse the bleach off. After the water turned rusty orange I rinsed out the bowl, filled it up again and rinsed the shirt again. That's about it! The last thing I did was throw it in the washing machine on the spin cycle for a couple of minutes and then hung it to dry!

Super easy and nice vintage/old comfy style kinda thing haha. Who are your guys' favorite bands?

If you have any questions just go ahead and leave them below!

Stay minty,
-Juli

DIY Fandom Totebag

DIY Fandom Totebag

Hey guys, Long time no see! (I say that way too much)

So I haven't posted this here yet, and I thought you guys might like to see it! 

Me and my sister made it for a friend quite awhile ago and I took pictures, wooooo.

Also if you haven't seen/noticed yet, I redid my design awhile ago, simpler is kinda my thing right now haha.

Anyway, on with the tutorial

What you need:

Tote bag // paint brushes // fine tip sharpie // cardboard // acrylic or fabric paint

Step one: 

Start off with a plain tote bag and wipe it clean with a dry towel or rag. I got mine from Walmart in the arts and crafts section for about $3

Step Two:

I did a sketch of the Hogwarts castle (Harry potter is liiifee) on mine and inserted a cardboard box so paint wouldn't soak through. You can freehand something, or do a quick google search to find an outline of what you want. (If you do that, just print it, cut it out with scissors or a craft knife and trace around your outline with with a pencil.)

Step three:

With a small paint brush do a quick outline of your sketch- it doesn't have to be perfect, you can touch it up later!

Step four:

With a larger brush paint in your outline. Near the bottom I added a bit of water to my paint to give it a bit of a washed/grey feel. 

You can now go around your edges to fine tune any mistakes you might've made, if you haven't made any you can move on!

Step five:

I decided to add a favorite quote of my friends- "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live" 

Again, you can go online and find an outline of a banner and cut and trace it onto your bag. Once you fill it in, let the paint dry before writing on it with a pencil. Using a small brush (or fine tip sharpie) you can add your quote

Aaand that's it! 

Just let it dry, then flaunt it around! It's great for carrying books, an extra jacket, your laptop, wallet, anything that fits!

-

I've got a couple post ideas actually, so that's good news;) 

Oh and are any of you guys doing NaNoWriMo this year? Curious if there's any fellow writers around here :)

Stay Minty,

-Juli

How to Finger Knit a Scarf

How to Finger Knit a Scarf

Ah, Autumn. It's coming. I know, I know, it's bittersweet for some of us. But it was bound to happen!
In honor of the chilly weather headed our ways here is a tutorial for you- How to finger knit a scarf! If you've never heard of finger knitting, it might sound a little weird, but it's also really great, and easy too! If you're familiar with loom knitting, it's pretty similar. Just use your fingers instead.
So let's get started!

What you need: 
• Scissors
• A thick skein of yarn (the thicker the better!) I used a weight of 6
• Your fingers!

1:To begin, use your index finger to tie a slipknot by wrapping the yarn around your index finger twice, then taking the bottom loop and pulling it up, then down through the top loop.Take it off your index finger and move it to your little finger, pulling it slightly tight. 

2:From there, wrap the yarn around each finger once until you get to your index finger. Once you're there, start wrapping again back the other way to make another row.

3:Starting at your little finger, begin pulling the bottom loop over the top one, and up over your finger, continue until you get to the last loop. The last one will seem kind of loose but that's okay!

Just push the loops down to the lower part of your fingers and repeat steps 2-3. 

4: The first photo is how it should look a few minutes through, from then on you should have the hang of it and be able to get a nice long amount of rows with ease! Just keep going until you have your desired length. To see if it's long enough for you, just keep it on your fingers and wrap the tail around your neck, I like mine to go around about 7 times. Just do whatever you like!

5:Once you get it to your desired length, measure about 10 inches off your wrapping yarn and cut it. Take that yarn and weave down through the top of your first loop. Take that loop off of your finger then repeat with the next until they all have the string woven through them. Pull the string tight so your end gets a bit bunched up.

6: And finally, tie a knot or two as close to your scarf end as possible, then grab the beginning of your scarf and tie the two ends together, so you have one long loop. From here you can either wrap it around however you plea for ever, or wrap it around to where you like it once, and when it's where you like it you can add a button, or take a short piece of yarn and tie it somewhere to keep it in place!

And you're done! 

Now you can wear your lovely new creation! 

The more of these you make the easier it gets, I've made multiple ones in a day. You can also make yourself a bracelet or necklace, anything you can think of!
Hopefully this wasn't too confusing to read, but if you guys have any questions just leave a comment and I'll answer as soon as possible! 

Stay Minty,
- Juli

DIY- Flower Crown

DIY

Flower Crown

Hello everyone! Today I have a lovely project that my sister and I made for the Demi Lovato concert we went to (still miss that day asdgkn). And also, just because she wanted a flower crown to wear whenever she wanted hehe.
Aaanyway, it looks like this:

It's pretty simple and doesn't take too long to make either! 

What you need:

Fabric or felt of choice (we used an old lace t-shirt!) // hot glue gun // scissors // wire hanger or garden wire // ribbon (optional) // tea or food coloring to color (optional)

To start:

Take your wire, and measure it to fit on top of your head, then cut and twist the ends together.

If you're using a wire hanger just untwist it then wrap it around into a circle like so, until it is the right size for you! 

Next take your fabric and cut it into about 3in. circles.

Bigger if you like!

If you want to color your fabric pieces you should do that now. For the pink ones we used water and red food coloring, and with the beige ones we used a cup of tea!

Just let them soak up some color and leave them to dry while you move on to the next step!

While they're drying you can wrap your wire in a ribbon or bakers twine- you could do anything you want actually! We wrapped this one a couple times around. When you get to the end, finish it off with a dab of glue.

Tip: if you are wrapping your band in something, I recommend putting a drop of hot glue every so often to keep it from unraveling til you get to the end.

Next, take your dried circles and follow along with the photos below!

What you're doing is putting a dab of glue in the center and pinching it into a little bunch.

Once you have four of those you put a drop of hot glue onto the bottom of one circle and press it with the bottom of a second circle. Then the third, then fourth!

 //2nd pic putting glue on, 3rd pinching together, 4th adding all four together//

When you have enough flowers you can start assembling them onto your band!

And now you're done!

Oh and if you're interested in the nice lipstick she's wearing, that's a DIY too!
I did a guest post about it over at The Blog Hermit! Click here to see how to make it.
It's really quick, pretty and you probably have everything for it at home. :)

And here's a full view of the sweatshirt my lovely model and little sister Kori made in honor of our love for Doctor Who- we are MAJOR fangirls- and she says would be more than happy to make a tutorial on how to make one yourself if you guys would like it!

Okay that's all for now! I hope you guys like it!

If you make one I'd love to see a picture :) You can email me (flickeroflight4@gmail.com) or @justpepperminty on instagram!

Stay Minty,-Juli