Gymnast Bun; Lauren's from Make It or Break It

I've noticed that some of my fellow bloggers have lsited some of Lauren's hairstyles from the show Make It or Break It. She is a mean girl from what I've read, but she has great hair! I don't actually watch the show, but it pops up on Hulu's home page all the time. ;) Well my model for today is an incredibly nice girl. Really, my niece is the sweetest and most well-behaved child I've ever met! ;) And here is her 'do...

We started by pulling all the hair into a ponytail, minus the front from one ear to the other.

I made a deep side part and put the smaller side into a braid and then aaded it to the ponytail.

On the other side I did a one sided french braid. These are easier than they sound. ;) You just start with your 3 pieces and braid them over each other. But when you add hair, you only add to the front section and you braid the others as though it were a regular braid. Hope that makes sense... It gives a nice poof to the front and an "edge" to the back. This will be more defined on girls with thicker hair.

It really looked pretty and stayed up out of her face all day.

Isn't she just squeezable?! ;)

Sailor Moon

Alex had bangs once before, despite my wishes. (Drama Boy cut her hair! It is still growing out in a few places...) So, I was a little reluctant to cut them again. Turns out, I LOVE them! ;) We went with sweepy, longer bangs because of her natural wavy curl and soft/fine hair. Here's the new look...

Now, for the style: Anyone familiar with the animated series "Sailor Moon"? It is an older show, but one of the first asian cartoons to become really popular in the US. Well, this hairstyle is from the show, but the basic idea is really popular amongst children models for asian clothing stores online and Alex has requested it numerous times. 

7Right, so here it is. We started by pulling up just the front, leaving out her new bangs.

Actually, I thought it was really pretty at this step, but promised the piggies... Next, I sectioned out the remaining hair, basically into quadrants.

I put pull-through knots in the bottom two. You can do these with a topsy turvy, but I just stick my rat-tail comb through the middle and then poke the elastic through. Pull the hair tight and it comes out the same. ;)

I pulled up the pull-through ends diagonally and added them to the top section, making pigtails.

I added 1/2 of the very top ponytail in to each pigtail.

The last step is the bun. Just take a very small piece out of the ponytail and do not include it in your bun.

Use the rest of the hair, twisting it and then wrapping it around the small piece. Pin it down or add an elastic to hold in place. If using an elastic, be sure to pull the extra piece all the way through each time. That's it, you're done! ;)

(Oh, and here's another secret for working with toddlers... download a couple of games on your phone just for those really cranky moments! She has only played with my phone a handful of times, so she felt pretty special. And it entertained her well enough that she didn't want me to be finished! ;)

A Messy Mess w/ a New Bow

We were playing outside and Alex wanted her hair fixed. She brought me two elastics and a bow...

Yeah, this one is really messy, but it actually turned out okay. ;) I started by making two french braids along the front and down - some call it a braided headband, but I left a small section out.

I pulled it all together in a low ponytail.

Then, guess what... a messy bun! I know, I took you off guard didn't I?! I never do those! --Lol! That was sarcasm, by the way. ;)

We added a bow, which I managed to not get that great a picture of... But Alex added the smile and that's all I really care about! ;)

Fabulous, Step by Step

Just in case anyone missed it, there is a GIVEAWAY in the post about Alex's recital. http://tinydiva.blogspot.com/2010/07/be-my-little-baby-bumblebee.html

A pair of hairbows available to one lucky winner, so comment away! ;)

And now for the 'do that I did for Alexandra's Faboulous photos... The up close, step by step pics I took of this hairstyle...

I started, as usual, by separating two sections in front and holding them back. I put the bottom into a low side ponytail. (Oh, and please ignore the sand... we have it under their playground/fort and it's always in her hair!)

Next, I parted the front into smaller sections and started some french braids. I put three on one side and just one on the other.

I pulled everything together into a messy bun type thing. I had to use one bobby pin for that last braid that wouldn't quite stay. Then some hairspray because her hair was frizzed out!

Add a bow and some sass and there you have it! ;)

Be My Little Baby Bumblebee...

Okay, so I have just been scheduling my blog posts to start one day at a time, but I realized with this one that I am almost two week late! ;) Oh well, still the same stuff right?

Anyway, it is recital time again and my kids were all pretty excited! Mr. Cool was in a Michael Jackson dance, "Beat It". They did an awesome job and got to participate in a competition earlier this spring where they received the Top award in the division!!! Yay! ;) Then there is Drama Boy who was in "I Want It All" from HSM, very fitting. Lol! He did great, but then missed his que to go back onstage for the end of his dance... he was still adorable! ;) Okay, so little miss Alex was a Bumblebee with her "twin" cousin. They were all so stinkin cute!

This was just before they went on stage for the competition. They all danced really well and received the top award for their division, as well as 7th place overall, WOW! ;) They had a blast and Alex kept asking if she could do another competition -though I think the trophy had something to do with this!

Oh, and yes I made the hairbow antenae for the girls... and then just before the recital I lost Alexandra's dance bag!!! How embarassed was I to be the "bow mom" for the studio and not have my own daughter's hairbows. GEEZ! But, being the "bow mom", I just happened to have this bow that is the right colors. Lol.

Okay, the first performance they did, I just made two little french braids to help the bows stay in place. For the recital, I did something a little different, which worked out well, since I had to pull them together... I'll do a tutorial on the style soon; it was really cute in person! ;)

So, this is the girls on stage at the recital... Alex would be the one with her stinger in the air! She did this last year too! Go figure! ;)

Oh, here's one where she's actually dancing! Of course she never misses a chance to shake her hips!

As an aside, I am super excited to mention that this is my 100th post! Yay! Lol, I probably should have hit that mark ages ago, but there you have it! ;) So in celebration I am going to randomly give away a pair of hairbows to one lucky person who comments on this post! You will get to choose from my rediculously huge inventory! ;) Thanks everyone for following!!!

Fireworks Hair

Extra post today... I realized I better get this out right away if you all were going to see it before the 4th. ;)

Alexandra asked me for fireworks hair and this is what I came up with...

I originally wanted a flag look, but Alex fell asleep and then asked for the fireworks. Anyway, I started, as always, by parting the hair into sections and pulling back the ones I wasn't using.

I did one french twist braid and switched to traditional french braids, not sure why. ;)

On the other side of the hair in front, I made puff braids with lots of sections. Pretty simple really. I didn't have white elastics, but considered using some white ribbon to do stripes.

 I haven't had this problem before, but a few of the elastics broke. You can see the places they should be... Anyway, there is a third row here. I thought it would look neat to make rows all the way across the back and then pull it all together into a low side ponytail/bun. We ended up tossing everything up into a messy bun and then I stuck a few pipe cleaners randomly into it. They stayed on their own just fine!

In the end, it looked really adorable and fun. And we got quite a few compliments at the Wet'n'Wild days at our Zoo. ;)

Cupcake Cutie... New Bows!

I was out ribbon shopping and fell absolutely in love with all these coordinating designs! ;) We just love cupcakes at our house and this ribbon was to die for!!! The colors match several Gymbo lines and a few Gap lines too. ;) Anyway, I had a blast making these! ;)

Alex loved these too and wore them at the first opportunity! And I actually liked them with her pink halter dress. We were at a local settler's days and got tons of compliments! ;)

And then she wore them later to go grocery shopping! Lol, loved the whole outfit! ;)

Red Villa Headband

Don't know if anyone will love this headband as much as me, but I was just pleased as punch! ;)

I made this to match a new outfit of Alexandra's from the Red Villa Baby Gap line. There's a funky and simple style here too...

First, for the headband... I used organza ribbon in crimson and just off-white to make a huge bow. It is attached to a mega thin headband and topped off with a crocheted butterfly. So pretty! ;)

For the hair... This took less than 5 minutes, really! I just grabbed a section of hair, no parting, and twisted it. Fold the twist over itself and wrap an elastic around it. I did this all the way around her head, leaving pieces sticking out all over the place! A little crazy and super messy, but we got more compliments than almost any other hair style I've done. ;)

She wore this style to dance that night and tumbling... it stayed up and out of her face and everyone thought it was cute. Bonus! ;)

Can you tell who picked the shoes?! ;) ~ Alex was being really sweet that day, so I just clicked away. And then she had to throw some diva in there... yeah, this last one is all Alex! ;)