Ideas and resources
These Surprise balls are literally what they are called – a Ball with a surprise inside. These make for a fun alternative to small stocking filler gifts or gifts for School friends and classmates. Add a hanging cord and hang them off the Christmas tree for a fun pre-christmas count down. Watch the video or check out the photos for this simple guide. Surprise Ball Tutorials.
You can buy surprise balls ready-made on Etsy too.
This summer I’ve been sharing some fun summery crafts for kids, and while I already shared a couple of friendship bracelet patterns, there are so many out there it’s worth another look.
Bracelets are a great craft for kids because they aren’t that difficult to make but they do take some time, there are lots of possible variations and the supplies tend to be inexpensive and you don’t need a lot.
In my research on making friendship bracelets, I found that some of the easiest ones are known as the Chinese ladder (no idea why), candy stripe and chevron.
You can also call the Chinese ladder a spiral bracelet, as that’s what it looks like when you’re finished. Melanie from Artzy Creations shares a pattern for this one at Design Dazzle. She uses five colors but once you have it down you can use as many or as few as you like.
The candy stripe in three colors I think is the only kind of friendship bracelet I ever knew how to make. Sarah Maker has a good tutorial for this one using four colors.
Chevron is probably my favorite because it looks fancy and makes a nice wide bracelet. You need two strands of each color you are using so it gets big fast, but is also a lot of fun to make. There’s a photo and video tutorial at The Neon Tea Party to get you started. (Here’s another video from Simple DIYs.)
Of course these three basic patterns are just scratching the surface of what you can do with friendship bracelets.
This simple twisted bracelet from Twitchetts is great for younger kids who might not have the dexterity or patience for all of that knot tying. You can also make them with thread or yarn, and add beads if you like. Or try this one from Panda Hall, which is just made with braided pieces tied together. I love the addition of charms to this one.
Make a fun fishtail bracelet with this video from SoCraftastic. If you need more ideas, check out the designs at Marching North and Red Ted Art. Do you have a favorite friendship bracelet pattern? I’d love to hear about it!
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