Headband with Chain

Angel's bf is so sweet, she lets me do her hair when I dream up something new. So I did this style a while back, and the holidays got crazy, but here it is :

To start off this style, I did a part from ear to ear and put the lower section into a ponytail. Then I parted the "bangs" slightly off-center and as you can see, I tightly twisted them and added them to the pony below, securing with a few bobby pins:

I can now work the right side. At this point, I combed that hair up and over the part so that I could braid from the right ear up to the part. I did a lace-style dutch (inside out) braid (adding in hair from only the front) so that I could keep the braid as close to the part as possible:

 I braided the right side all the way down, and could then work the left side, doing the same thing I did on the right. The 2 braids then meet in the middle:

The left braid overlapped the right, as seen here. I put one bobby pin in where they crossed to keep them secured so that I could do the "braid chain" without it coming undone at the top. As you can see, she has some flyaways, so I applied our Garnier surfer girl pomade/wax down the braids and a little hairspray up front to settle the stray flyaway hairs. Then it was time to release that lower pony and brush it out. Finally- on to the chain:

I simply "tied" the two braids with loose half-knots and adjusted them to the size I wanted. It held very well, even overnight, as we saw her at church the next day and you couldn't even tell she slept on it! I hope you enjoy this style. If you can do a dutch braid, you can do this style :)

Ever After tutorial

I have been dying to get my hand into some longer hair for some serious renaissance braiding. After french-braiding Pippy's hair for school yesterday, I realized it didn't hurt my wrist to braid, so I invited our friend miss E. over for a braid tutorial that was requested a while back on my fb page (link on the right) I originally did this braid on Angel 3 or 4 years ago, and with just 2 "x"s  across the top, trying to simulate the braid worn by "Margueritte" in the movie "Ever After" you can see it HERE (it is the last style down).
So, this is what we did on miss E. today:

(please excuse my kids' afterschool snacking mess)

As you can see, I weaved the twists across a bit differently this time. So to start this style, I separated the part that would be hanging down and secured in a ponytail so I wouldn't accidentally pull those hairs into the braid. Then I did a zig-zag part with the top. I did the braids just like I did in This Style HERE with the exception that on each side, just as I passed over the ear, I brought the hair from the top of the head (that I would normally add to the next section) down and had her hold onto it (like when I do a "waterfall" braid). I did this again about 4plaits later (on each side) as well. This gave me two sections to do tiny twist braids once each side was braided:

I used Garnier's "Surfer Girl" wax/pomade on each of these sections before twisting them, to prevent fly-aways. Now for the fun cris-crossing part:

I started with the furthest to the back twist on the right side and crossed it over. I put my small size topsy tail thru part of the braid (in front of her ear) on the left side, and used it to pull the twist thru. I did the same thing with the FRONT twist on the left, pulling it thru the braid BEHIND the right ear. The next twist is the back left: you pull it up under the previous twist as you cross it over:

It will end up going through the braid in FRONT of the right ear (at the same point as the 1st one you crossed on the left) Finally you will pull the front right twist over and pull it thru the left braid, just behind the ear. I had enough hair left over to bring all 4 strands back down into the center where the 2 big braids meet. I secured it all with an elastic and then braided on braid down the center:

If you don't have enough hair left to bring the twists down like this, you can use the topsy tail to "wrap" them around the big braids (a fun look) or just bobby pin them underneath those braids.

Finally, I took that bottom portion out of the ponytail and brushed it, leaving this the finished look:

One of my favorite renaissance braids :) I hope this tutorial makes sense and that you'll try it! If you do, post pics on our fb wall, we love to see the fun styles you do!

Bummer

So many good things have happened lately, that I hate to be a bummer. My Angel is the most selfless person I know and I feel so blessed to have her as my daughter. She made me so proud this last week. She let go of something she was PETRIFIED to ever let go. Please click HERE to read her incredible story of how she overcame a great fear. She is writing a blog about her view of Cancer, and how her little brother's journey to overcome it is affecting all who meet him. I will give you a clue at the end of this post.
Here's the bummer: my wrist and thumb are hurt again, which means no hair styling other than straightening and simple twists, and also no tutu making. I'm hoping and praying I won't need hand surgery as those don't usually have a positive outcome, and using my hands creatively is my outlet to get through being a mom to my 3 healthy children, and being the backbone to my sweet little boy who needs a strong mama.
I will be going over all my archived hairstyles and doing picture tutorials on my FB page while my wrist heals. They will be put into albums, with step-by-step instructions, as that is quicker for me to post it there rather than here. The FB page is "Dreamweaver Braids."
I am truly sorry to those who may have wanted to order tutus in the next few months. We'll see what the hand surgeon says. So enough sob story, here's some pics of Angel's very sweet sacrifice:

This is 6 weeks afer a 4inch cut, and 1 1/2 inches had alreay grown back.

6 weeks later, 3 more inches had grown. (I know, she has her dad's hair growth genes and yes, I am incredibly jealous.)  Any guesses yet:

Yes, that's 10 1'2 inches of hair tied in a ponytail, in a plastic bag for Locks of Love.

We could have cut an inch or 2 more, but it's 115 degrees here, so she needed enough left to pull it up off her neck and cool off!

The end result:

Her hair is so thick I had to straighten it so it wouldn't "poof" but she loves it, and I love her pure heart. Since I won't be blogging on here a while, please follow her blog http://www.hopeforadam.blogspot.com and please check out Adam's fb page "Adam's Hope" for updates. We could sure use the support :) I hope you feel inspired to do something great for someone today!