DIY Life

Looking for a kid's craft that's out of this world?

OK, that was bad -- clearly I spend too much time with my own little Kiddie Crafters, and I've completely lost my mind! Bad humor aside, the alien eyes headband is a quick and simple craft project. It's perfect for bringing along on camping trips, especially if you want a fun prop to lighten up a scary campfire story.

Check out the gallery to see how our crazy alien eyes turned out, then follow me through the break for full instructions for making your own.

Look adorable -- and express your patriotism at the picnic! -- with this easy and stylish no-sew red, white, and blue hair sash.

If you dread donning predictable holiday attire, you can whip up your own originally designed homage to the Fourth of July in about an hour. You'll get full credit for being patriotic and part of the gang, but you'll have the satisifaction of doing it your own way.

You could even make these for the kids, the dog, and grandma, and turn out a matching do-rag for the hubby and anyone else who shares your distaste for manufactured stars and stripes garb; after the Fourth, you can still use these instructions to make yourself a great headband. You'll find complete instructions after the break, and a demonstration in the gallery below!

With Christmas less than three weeks away, people are crowding the stores trying to find the perfect gift. I would rather stay home, thank you. It is my goal to make all my Christmas gifts this year, with the exception of gifts for my two year old.

I love headbands, and I wear them quite often. I was pleasantly surprised when I came across a tutorial on the ultimate DIY headband collection. With five patterns and links to instructions on how to make all the headbands, I am in 7th Heaven.

The five tutorials on making the headbands come with clear and concise instructions, are very easy to follow, and are the perfect way to spend a snow day. Why not make extras to give as Christmas presents? Any pretty lady out there would love to get these gorgeous headbands as a present. (Hint, Hint.)

It's the beginning of the month, and web-savvy knitters know what that means: a new issue of MagKnits to check out. This month, there are only five patterns, but they all look good.

There's a pretty short-sleeved horseshoe lace cardigan, Rainbow Socks that exploit the properties of self-striping yarn by using short rows to turn the usual stripes into arcs, and a lace headband. The Lása Shawl Headband is basically a short, narrow lace scarf; you can choose your level of difficulty, and it would probably be easy to modify if you wanted something longer. A good beginning lace project on the easiest level, a way to practice more advanced techniques if you'd like to, and a nice gift.

That covers the wearables, but what about everything else? The Burridge Lake Afghan is a beautiful, symmetrical Aran showpiece, designed to be interesting to knit (there is minimal reverse stockinette stitch, which is ordinarily so common in Aran designs). Also, the pattern uses Trinity stitch, which is worked on the wrong side, so you won't zombie out every other row. I mean, afghan rows are long.

Finally, Bitty Boo is the issue's "whimsical" pattern: a tiny felted ghost for Halloween!

Headbands seem to be making a style comeback. This is very good news for crafters and DIY'ers. It gives us yet another thing that we can make that might actually be in style. Not that we really care but its still nice to be able to make something your teenage friends or relatives might like.

I found a collection of headband tutorials over at the Altered Cloth blog. Some are easier than others but as long as you have basic sewing skills I think that most of them would be quite easy. Currently there are five tutorials but according to the blogs writer there are more to come.

If you are a knitter that needs some new ideas for what to knit or are looking for something you can knit for summer you can make this very cool headband. While most projects are for sweaters, scarves, blankets and other warm things this one adds a season to your knitting repertoire, summer.

This headband appears to me to be a fairly quick knit as well so if you are looking for quick results from a simple pattern, this could be just the thing for you. But as we know, I am a clueless knitter so don't blame me if it takes way too long.