Love Banner

Nylon Headband Tutorial

The remaining Polka-Dot Umbrella girls are sad to say goodbye to our good friends, Carlee and Emily.  We want to thank them for all of the great ideas they have shared and wish them the best of luck on their latest adventure The Mary Frances Project.  Go check out their new blog, it is adorable.

On another note we are very excited to introduce you to the newest member of The Polka-Dot Umbrella, Meg.  We are thrilled to have her join our ranks and I am sure you guys are going to love her.  She has so many great ideas and is so creative.  Meg got married last February and is having a blast personalizing  her apartment.  She loves to go hiking and camping.  Meg also enjoys trying new things and is always testing out different ideas.  Here is a small taste of what Meg has to offer.

I don't like to spend a lot of time fussing over myself, but I don't like anyone else knowing that. I have noticed over the years that if I shove a headband on my messy hair, nobody notices my hair. However, most headbands are too tight for my head, pushing until I get a headache and have to take it off. This is why I make my own headbands. This way I look good and can be comfortable too!

All you really need is a pair of tights or nylons. I got the idea to make a headband out of my tights after I  had gotten a hole/run in them. You can also buy a new pair and it works just the same.

Cut one leg like this. You should have a toe piece that you can just throw away, a small piece (2 inches) and a long piece (22 inches). 

With the small piece, wrap it around the long piece twice, just like you would put an elastic around your hair to make a pony tail.  This piece will be used to cover where the headband is sewn together.

You can either use hot glue or your sewing machine to put the two ends together.  I have used both ways and either works great.  Make sure that when you sew them together your long piece of nylon is not twisted all funny.

Now cover where the two ends were glued or sewn together with the small piece of nylon you have already wrapped around your headband. And voila, a headband!

I have also made a flower from the top of the tights, what would go around your waist.  I just super-glued the flower right on top of the small piece covering the seam. 

Be creative! You will have a lot of material left, but I will post a nylon flower tutorial soon! 

Mother's Week: Homemade Soap

I love the idea of being able to make soap that smells and looks the way you want.  To be honest I have never made soap before.  I have always wanted to so I figured that Mother's Day gifts are a great way to start.  While researching I found quite a few ways to make soap, but if you know me, I take the easiest way.

What you will need:
Glycerin
Scented oil
Liquid food coloring
Microwave safe bowl
Mold (I bought one for $2 but you can use anything, old yogurt cups, milk carton, etc.)

I followed the directions on the back of the glycerin soap bag.  It was so simple!  I also used the directions found here on the Martha Stewart site.  Don't you just love Martha?!  I am always getting wonderful ideas from her.  I found my glycerin at Hobby Lobby, I had a 40% coupon so it ended up being really cheap.  They also had the mold and scented oil.

Here are a few things I learned about making soap:  My first batch I kept adding the food coloring.  A little goes a long way!  It ended up being a funny color.  I wanted the soap to be more translucent but it turned out more opaque than I wanted.

I added dried flowers to the soap.  It would have been better to have less food coloring so you could see the cute flowers better.  Also the glycerin hardens very quickly.  If you don't continuously stir it, it gets a hard layer on the top.  At first I tried to add the flower after I had poured it in the mold, this did not work well at all.  Next I tried putting the flowers in the mold before I poured in the glycerin.  This worked a lot better.  I used a toothpick to get the flowers where I wanted them.  I also added scented oil.  One of my favorite scents is almond so when I came across one that was honey almond, I couldn't resist.



There are so many different ways you could wrap this gift.  They would look adorable wrapped in a cellophane bag with some cute ribbon or you could make fabric sacks to put them in.

For my gifts I am going to make some dish towels to go with the soap.  Do you remember this reader's showoff post?  I love the cute fabric that Ruby used.  I am off to the fabric store, so I can start on the towels!  Have fun with the soap making!