Monthly Archives: March 2014

30 Comments

(P.S. Make it in white as an Elsa hair braid.)

In January, I started the process of helping my friend Monica prepare for her daughter's 4th birthday party that was a month out at the time. The theme was Tangled. I did my due diligence and watched the movie the weekend before.

Rapunzel

The first project was to make Rapunzel hair for the girls (and my son, the only boy attending the party).

bright yellow yarn nothing fancySo armed with three large skeins of bright yellow yarn we got to work. Taking measurements on The Boy, we decided to go with seven-foot lengths, aiming to have a two foot braid in the back. After making the prototype we realized that braiding shrunk the length more than we anticipated. In round two we cut nine-foot lengths. It's also important not to stretch the yarn taut as you measure or it shrinks back up after cutting.

For the 4-year-olds we decided that 20 inches around their head was a good length. It has a little give if they are bigger and can be tied if need be to shorten up that part.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN RAPUNZEL HALO BRAID

MATERIALS

  • scissors
  • tape measure
  • yarn

For Rapunzel braids, use bright yellow.

To make 2 braids: Red Heart Super Saver Yarn, Bright Yellow, 364 yards
To make 4 braids: Red Heart Super Saver Jumbo Yarn, Bright Yellow, 744 yards
To make 6 braids: Bulk Buy: Red Heart Super Saver Yarn (3-Pack) Bright Yellow, 1092 yards total

For Elsa braids, use soft white.

To make 2 braids: Red Heart Super Saver Yarn, Soft White, 364 yards
To make 4 braids: Red Heart Super Saver Jumbo Yarn, Soft White, 744 yards
To make 6 braids: Bulk Buy: Red Heart Super Saver Yarn (3-Pack) Soft White, 1092 yards total

sixty 9 foot pieces of yarnStep 1: Cut sixty pieces of yarn, each 9 feet (108 inches) long.  Put them in one stack and find the center (4.5 feet from the end).

Step 2: Measure about 15 inches from the center of the lengths and temporarily tie off the yarn with a small piece of yarn.

step 3Step 3: Split the yarn into three sections and braid toward the center point until you have 20 inches of braid. Tie off the end of the braided section. (If you notice that the two unbraided ends aren't the same length, then you can untie one tie to braid further in that direction so this 20-inch section is roughly in the middle.)

step 4Step 4: Leaving the temporary ties at the ends of the middle braided section, make a loop with the braided part and join the two ends of the yarn to braid down in one fat braid.

Step 5: Tie off the end of the braid and trim up the loose ends if needed.

step 6Step 6: Untie the temporary ties that originally held the ends of the center section of braid. Tie around the top of the large braided section.  This tie can be adjusted to change the length of the part that goes around the head.  It's also kinda stretchy.

Tada!

wearing_the_braid

wearingthebraid

I LOVED all the details of the party.

The favors included the adorable satchels as well as the braids, which the kids got to decorate at the party.
The favors included the adorable satchels as well as the braids, which the kids got to decorate at the party.
Glittery, thick foam, flower stickers were available for braid decorating.
Glittery, thick foam, flower stickers were available for braid decorating.
The cookies I made, the ADORABLE cake, braided rolls and another yarn braid as decor.
The cookies I made, the ADORABLE cake, braided rolls and another yarn braid as decor.

8 Comments

Last month I posted about N's birthday cookies. Her brother's birthday is this month. When they were here enjoying N's cookies, I had the batch for M's birthday celebration on March 2nd in the freezer. I didn't mention it to him.

Last Thursday morning my sister-in-law called. She said she had asked M what kind of cake he'd like when we get together with the family for his birthday. He declared that he'd like "Auntie Sarah's cookies with the hard icing on top." So my SIL was calling to see if that was a possibility. I confessed about my pile of Ms, 4s and fire trucks* waiting to be iced.  Here's the finished product:

four fire trucks for M's 4thIt took me about an hour and 45 minutes to color the icing and decorate these dozen cookies.  (This doesn't count the time to actually make the icing, or to make and bake the cookies.) I continue to enjoy wet-on-wet decorating (used on the Ms and 4s). I'm also starting to try more designs that involve flooding one color against another color, like I did for the red on the truck around the white windows. (My most intricate example of this so far was the Rapunzel cookie.) Here are some more pictures:

fire truck cookie

fire truck birthday cookies

happy 4th birthday MIf you'd like to see how I did the marbled M cookies or the fire truck cookies, please check back. ;-)

 

*Turns out I had made truck cookies, not fire truck cookies. Ah well, iced them as fire trucks anyway.  :-)