A Fun Christmas Updo

Because really, I don't know what else to call this.

We did this little ditty on Sunday and I LOVED it. I curled it tighter because, well, I felt like it. Today the curls aren't as tight and I STILL love it!

Start by pulling the hair into little triangle ponytails. With Tess, I started on either side of her bangs and went to her crown, then from that ponytail (and the one on the other side) I went just beneath the ear. What was left, was one more ponytail...like so.

Then I pulled each ponytail into a knot.

A bit closer.

Next, I took each ponytail and combed it to the center. When I had them all in my hand, I went around to each ponytail and pulled a little hair out of either side. You can see them hanging down. The middle I secured in another ponytail that I didn't pull all of the way through. That's just a temporary fix for a minute while I do a few more things.

Curl each of the pieces that you had pulled from the original ponytails and then spray the heck out of them with hairspray (dumb humidity).

Now I pulled the ponytail all of the way through and curled the rest of the pieces. Then I tied a bow around the base and fluffed the ponytail.

Ta-da!

Front French Braid into Two Ponytails

I love combining elements. In this one I did a Dutch braid (inside out French braid) from her part to her ear along her hair line. Then I curled all of the hair that was left down, parted it down the middle and pulled the Dutch braid into one half in a ponytail and pulled the other side into a ponytail. To poof it up, I held onto the elastic with one hand and pulled up hair at the crown...just a little, too much and she would have looked a little too boofy.

{I am SO sorry! I just realized that I have a bunch of entries that have no pictures! My computer went crazy for a while and I couldn't upload pictures to the net. I put them all on Photobucket and one day went stir crazy on that site and deleted a bunch, not realizing that they were linked to this site. I will remedy that soon.}

Half Twists

This one is really super easy.

Using the elements of THIS twist, part the hair down the middle and pull into sections to the ears.

Divide each section in half and twist to the ends. I temporarily held the first one with a clip.

Then repeat on the other side.

Take both twists and pull together. Decide where you want the twists to end and secure with an elastic.

Finish the hair how you would like. I really like this one with a flip and with curls. It's really up to you.

Then tie a ribbon, place a bow or a flower for the weight (this one has a tendency to flip funny).

The Christmas Tree

We did this for her Christmas party at school today. Start at the top with one ponytail. Her's is triangle shaped. Then do a normal smocking style until you get to the bottom. At the bottom divide it into two ponytails.

As far as the accessories, I bought some Christmas buttons and used Jenn's fun accessory idea. Loop the elastic through the button and put on top of the ponytail.

Lily-Pie Clips Winner!

Congratulations Flutterbug! Please contact me at the e-mail address to the right with your address so I can get these darling clips to you!

Merry Christmas Giveaway---times up!

Have you ever had an "I must have it" moment with something? That is absolutely how I feel about this hair accessory!

I have to rave about this. Lily-Pie Designs is one of my FAVORITES out there! Her products are the absolute highest quality and you have never seen anything SO darling in a little girls hair!

Until tomorrow at 5:00pm MST, you have a chance to win one of your very own set of butterfly clips. They are pink with brown and white circles...an absolute MUST HAVE for your stocking!

Leave me a comment and then head on over to http://lilypiedesigns.com/ to find the perfect accessory for your sweetie pie this Christmas!

Oh, and the hair do?

Part the hair into three sections. I start at the ear and go across the head to the other ear.

Pull the top section into a ponytail on one side and the bottom one into a ponytail on the same side.

Pull both into the middle section and secure with an elastic. I pulled the hair into a messy bun.

Top off with some darling butterfly clips that are too cute for words!

Technique---Curling with a flat-iron

Finally! A new post, and a tutorial to boot! I have had many, many, many requests for this. My apologies. I have been waiting for my husband to be home long enough to take pictures. That hasn't happened...he has been a little busy with a work project, so I pulled out my handy dandy tri-pod and my old camera with a remote. Unfortunately, the remote wasn't working. You really need both hands to do this so I hope explain it well.

I put in some Garnier Curl Sculpting Creme and went to work. When I curl their hair with a flat iron, I usually curl the ends under first. I can't always get the ends the way I want and this eliminates that frustration. So start at the base of the hair and slide the iron down and when you get almost to the bottom, twist the flat-iron just ever so slightly to get a nice bent under shape, more if you want more curls.

Like so.

Take a section of hair and separate it from the rest of the hair. Clamp your flat iron on the base of the hair. I take the end of the hair and wrap it around the flat iron, if only to give it direction and keep it going in the same movement. This is where the bevel on your flat-iron comes into play. You are basically using the bevel to curl the hair. So after I clamp onto the hair, I pull the hair on the bevel in the direction I am curling. Now, keeping the iron clamped, slowly slide it away from the base of the hair towards you. As you are sliding it out, you slowly twist the flat iron like you would when wrapping hair in a curling iron

See how I have my hand holding onto her hair and it is wrapped around the iron? That is not a necessary step...HOWEVER...it makes for more control AND it keeps the hair together to make more of a ringlet. If you don't do that, the curl ends up being unpredictable.

Here is where I am twisting and sliding at the same time.

Follow this same fluid movement to the end of the hair.

And let go.

This second one shows more detail than the first.

Clamp

Twist

Twisting and sliding

Now I find as I get towards the end that sometimes the hair gets tight, so I loosen my grip on my flat iron.

Like so

Then pull your flat-iron out of the hair towards the ground.

Finish the hair

All this took me two minutes, tops.

But I didn't want to leave ringlets, so I ran my fingers through the curls.

And separated them by pulling the top from the bottom.

Then sprayed

And scrunched

Tada!

I hope this helps for those who have questions. When my husband gets home...a video as well.

I don't know what to title this

I must apologize to all of you. My creative juices haven't been flowing lately. I have some personal issues that have taken some precedence in my life. Issues that have made me sad lately. I know as women we go through times like these and I know that I will pull out of it...that things will get better...that my creative juices will start flowing again.

I have a giveaway to do...a darling giveaway. I just haven't had the energy to come up with hairstyles to go with it. I am sad about that.

I had a friend say to me that it seems like I have a perfect little life. Here is my testament that I am flawed...and sometimes my life is as well. So please, have a bit of patience with me. Things will right themselves again...they always do.

My opinion on school pictures

I have had several people ask me what they should do for their school pictures. We all know I love fancy schmancy hair and that I pull my girls hair back on a regular basis, however, this is the ONE occasion where I think that simple is best.

I learned that from experience. I tried to be fancy with my oldest dd's hair when she was in first grade. The result of that was that in her picture, half of her hair had fallen, the bows had twisted and it just looked ridiculous. I would scan and post a picture, but my computer has had a nasty virus for the last two weeks and my husband had to do some digging and in the process, my scanner/printer isn't working. Sigh.

Pictures should be timeless. The less extreme the hair, the better. I just took my dd's to have their pictures taken. Just before we left, I sat them on the front porch and snapped a picture.

See, nothing too crazy about their hair. The most "extreme" thing was the curls in Tess's hair. I do like to keep their hair modern, so we did some corkscrew curls. That was it.

So please learn from my mistake...fancy is NOT always better.

Triangles

We did this on triangle day for preschool.

Start by parting the hair from one ear to the other.

From the front to the line in the back, make a triangle. Like so.

When I originally did this, it was a lot more polished, but you get the basic idea. You now part from that first triangle, another triangle. Like so.

Repeat until you reach the ears.

Now, here is where it is up to you. I parted my middle triangle into two and pulled the ponytails from each side into one ponytail. You could do two ponytails with all of the hair...whatever.