Inside Out Braid or Dutch Braid Video Tutorial

Alright ladies....this has to be my favorite video, not necessarily because of what I am trying to teach here, but because of my little gal, who is the star of the show. This was hairdo number #6 and video number #75 this particular day, (it's a big setup getting the stars ready for the videos, complete with bribery and art tools, so we try to maximize our time), and she was DONE, as you'll be able to tell by her parting comment. I just have to say that I enjoy doing my little gals' hair so much because this is when we chat and spend that necessary girly time together.

So don't be sad if you are expecting a fabulous teaching tool here, rather enjoy it for what it is....a moment to chuckle and appreciate these sweet little people. They are precious blessings and I'm so incredibly grateful for mine! Have a super day and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Double Side Braid 7-10 Min

This is a great school do, since it's fast! Just a slight variation on the regular old side braid.

Gave her a side part, and dampened the hair.

I braided the smaller side into one braid.

I divided the larger side into two sections and clipped off the top section.

I braided the lower section, starting my braid up high in the section, by pulling the hair up when I began.

Start of lower braid.

Next I braided top section.

I clipped in a flower on the top braid. This adorable flower is from and B&B's Buttons and Bows. I love these colors. Go check out their flowers on their cute beanies!

I then round brushed the back of her hair and let it hang down.

And front view again.

KayteBug Boutique

Just wanted to pass this along from the gals at KayteBug Boutique! Go check out their darling darling stuff!

From the gals:
We are also offering 15% off on the internet until Nov. 25th. Just enter gat15 in the discount code during checkout. Now's a great time to start shopping for Christmas and we have tons of great stuff that will make great socking stuffers and even friend gifts!!

CraziBeautiful!!

Have you visited http://www.crazibeautiful.com/? It is a FABULOUS website for all us gals, most especially for those of us who live in Utah. They offer amazing recipes, tips for women and mothers, business advice, and put you in contact with enterprising and smart women who have some really incredible stuff to share. My excitement today is because they are featuring my wee blog!

I feel honored, blessed, and a tad bit emotional, because I love love love their site! Go check them out and take a peek at my little bit--it's under Honoring Womanhood.

Thanks ladies and have a wonderful day!

The Criss Cross with Braid Handles 20-30 Min

This one was a doozy! BUT I had fun, and that's the point right? After I do something elaborate like this, I feel the urge to go out SOMEWHERE and just show off my little girl, which for us, usually means something exciting like a trip to Walmart. My husband and I thought this one was funny though because the braids on the end of her ponys look like handles....not something to point out to other siblings if you do this 'do on one of your gals!

I started off with WET hair, and parted off the bottom third and pinned up the rest.

I divided the bottom into 4 ponys.

And braided the ponys down as far as I could. The criss-crossing does require a lengthy braid, so if your gal's hair isn't that long, you could skip the crossing and pull them straight up into the ponys.

Next, I zig zag parted the top and back sections of her hair. You could just part it down the middle, or at least just do an angle part up top. After I finished I think I should have parted it straight down the middle in the back. UP TO YOU!

I clipped off one section, and combed the other side up, ready for a pony.

Then I grabbed two braids, choosing alternating braids like so.

Do the same on the other side, weaving your braids. I actually weaved the braids like this before I secured them in the first ponytail, so they wouldn't loosen them after I had them in the elastic.

Prepping next ponytail.

Hopefully you can see how I weaved them here.

Secured in ponytails.

Next I began braiding pony down about halfway, then secured with elastic.

Next I split the remaining hair into two sections, and did two separate braids.

I left long ends on her ponys, to make it look like three separate sections.

These cutie pie bows are from Angela's Accessories. I really love the matching bows, since I do so many hairstyles with two ponys/buns/braids. These were perfect and go with so many different things!

Fancy Easy Updo for your big or little gal! 15-20 min

This is a fun fancy updo that most of the time you probably WON'T want to do on your 3 year old. When I have to rely on bobby pins alone to hold up the hair, I know the hairdo just ain't gonna last through the somersaults, frequent wardrobe changes into princess wear, and jumping on the bed.....SO you might want to save this for your older, more 'sophisticated' gals, who need something a little extra special. I had to use my most available model however, so here we go. Fortunately, she has mounds of hair to demonstrate on!

I started off by quickly curling all her hair.

I gave her a side part on top.

I took the front section, and twisted it down low by her ear.

I secured the twist with a bobby pin, in a bobby pin roll.

I did the same on the other side, creating a headband effect in the front of the hair.

In the back of her head, I pulled all the hair up, including the front pieces that I'd bobby pinned off,

and twisted it all into a large twist.

At this point, you want to roll the hair, in this case, from the left side, over and 'tuck' it over the twist, enclosing the twist. This gives you a french twist.

Next I took several bobby pins and 'combed' the hair that I pulled over with the tips of a bobby pin, and tucked it down under the twist, and pushed it all the way in. It's out here so you can see how it is holding that top hair.

More angles to try and illustrate how to place the pins to hold in the twist.

Bobby pin all the way up and down the twist until it's secure and tight.

After the twist is secure, then I flopped the hanging hair back over the twist.

After combing through her hair, I had to retouch up her back curls quickly.

Stick in a big bow on top (I got this one from KayteBug Boutique)

One thing with this updo is you can make it look sleek and tight, or loose and soft. I did a looser softer look here, with her little wispies all curled (since I knew this 'do wouldn't stay in long anyway), but I love the soft loose curls.

Perfect for prom, parties, special nights out for your big or little princesses!

Angled inside out french braid 5-7 min

Something simple, but cute! My gal here asked me to do this, since she really likes anything that gives her a bun or pony on the side.

I combed her wet hair over in the angle I wanted to do the braid.

This is my beginning point. For me, I have to really make sure I start in the right spot for anything that goes across the head on an angle. If you don't start out right, your angle ends up...not at an angle. I've done many a hairdo that end up looking slightly off.....rather than at an angle, and believe me, it ain't cute. So map out exactly where you want it to go, and reevaluate where you are braiding as you are going down the head. I had to restart this one twice because I got off track.

I did an inside out french braid here. You can see my video tutorial on regular french braiding if you prefer that, or I will be posting an inside out french braid video soon.

Doublechecking where I'm at here.

She preferred to have a ponytail hanging over the shoulder today, so who am I to disregard what my princess prefers? I braided it down a little bit, so it wouldn't pull on the baby hairs at the back of the neck, and left it in a pony.

This darling match-everything-flower is from B&B's Buttons and Bows. It just goes with anything pink!

If your kids are like mine, they frequently lose those cute cute bows, especially when they are off at school. So here's what I do to (try) help them NOT lose them. I stick the clip of the alligator clip down inside the elastic.

Side view

Her hair is slightly curly, so we do the old twist it around my finger when it's wet trick, and her hair will somewhat stay in a long ringlet like this throughout the day. This is a trick that my Mom used to do on me, and it works great! I spray it all lightly with hairspray, and she's off!

Video Tutorial: French Twist Braid

So here's a quick one for these cute little twists that I use in many of my styles. See this one for an idea.

Free Doll Giveaway for your little dolls!

I found this today as I was perusing some of my favorite blogs. Hoity Toity Baby is featuring darling handmade dolls by their friend Angelica, at Tygrlilies.com, and you can enter to win one of the dolls! I am personally vying for one of them for my gals, since they saw the pictures and thought they were adorable. Check them out and see for yourself!

Twist Braids and Stuffed Bun 7-10 min

Here's a cute and fast one that we did before school the other day. The darling bow is from KayteBug Boutique, and we just had to showcase it!

I angle parted her wet hair, back to the ears.  I secured two ponys on top, and put in twist braids. Then I combed all the rest of her hair back into a pony, grabbed the top twist braids and laid them on top, and then put in my elastic. I did a stuffed bun here, since I like the way the big bows sit on top of the bun. It was all done in less than 10, and she was ready to go!

                                  

 I seem to do many variations with this basic style: twist braids off small ponys, into a stuffed bun. Forgive me if they aren't imaginative enough, BUT this is what we do! Sometimes basics with a touch of variety is enough for me in the craziness of life--hope it's enough for you today!! Have a good one!

Beanie with a flower! 5-7 min

B&B's Buttons and Bows sent me this DARLING beanie and flower. I just LOVE it, and so do my girls! This one got worn for about 3 days straight after we first got it. The best thing about these is my little gal could wear it school, where she can't normally wear hats.

There's lots you can do with these, but she wanted two low curly ponys. I parted her hair down the middle, put them in ponytails, and did corkscrew curls in both ponys.

Go check out their other darling beanies!!

Crazy Halloween Hair!! 20-30 min

Here's some CRAZY hair for Halloween!! My daughter's school had crazy hair day yesterday, so we got a little kooky. Here's the final result:

This is what we used: Pipe cleaners! Brilliant! I wished they had brown ones to match her hair better, but the black worked nicely.

I just braided in the pipe cleaners into each separate braid, clipping off the excess at the bottom of the braid. I tucked the tip of the pipe cleaner into the elastic at the top, and bent the edge over, so it wouldn't poke her head. I used two pipe cleaners per braid in her two back bottom braids, since they were thicker.  Then of course, we added some pink spray to make it nice and sticky.

We had fun bending and twisting her braids in any direction.

This was our favorite result, twisted in curlicues.

Two top twists with stuffed bun 7-10 min

I had to show off my cute Halloween bow from Madibu Bows again, since it's Halloween week!!

I started with wet hair (and--this one I did before school, so it's a fast one!), and did a little zig zag part to the crown of her head.

I parted off a small section, about an inch deep, and did a twist braid (you can put it in a pony first, which makes this a tad bit easier to keep tight, but I was eliminating a step today).

Clip that one off, or have her hold it for you, and then do another small section with a twist braid below it.

Two finished twist braids on first side (this looks weird because I had to take the picture with my left hand).

Do two twist braids on other side, and comb rest of the hair back away from the part.

Comb hair down to point where you want the bun/pony to be. After getting it smooth, lay your four twist braids evenly on top and secure it all with an elastic.

Here's an important tip when trying to put in a pony anywhere but the very top of her head (if you didn't do this already...), have her tip her head forward ( I say, Chin on the chest please!). This will help keep the pony smooth and tight (and so much easier to put in!).

My stuffed bun. If hair is too short, leave in a cute pony or halfway pulled through.

Side view

Top. I just love those big bows on top of the bun!

Happy happy girl! And she's off to school!

Twist Braid with Ribbon Video Tutorial

The ribbon I used--so easy to make and you can add as many pieces of ribbon as you like!

What I did with the front of her hair: Zig zag part with two pull through ponys.

The Daisy Chain Braid 20-30 min

I am not sure if there actually is another real name for this braid, because I looked all over Google, and didn't find anything else, so I guess I get to be original here. It's actually a series of knots, instead of braiding, and I just liked the sound of Daisy Chain for this. All girly and flowers work for me!

And, I WILL be posting a video of this one. Sometime. Soon.

There's that cute bow again from Madibu Bows!

I did two here, but of course you can do just one, which saves you a bunch of time. I do prefer the smaller chain braid myself, which is why I am showing it in two. Begin with one side, other side clipped off. I did do it with wet hair here.

Take your usual section , just like when you start a french braid, and divide into two pieces.

Tie a knot and pull it down tightly. I have done the knots in all different ways, and it all ends up looking the same. The important thing is to be consistent in how you tie them, always putting the same side over/on top.

After you tie the first knot, take sections from BOTH sides, one side at a time, and add them to your existing sides of the knot. Then just tie another knot. Continue to add pieces from both sides and then tie, keeping it tight. It also helps to comb out the hair frequently, and keep it wet, to keep the small hairs from sticking up when you knot the hair.

This is showing how I've added in the hair from both sides, and am tying another knot.

Folding over the hair, and pulling it through.

I tied off the braid once I reached this point, as it is harder to knot the rest of the hair, even with hair her length.

Both sides finished.

Knotted Laces with a Twist Braid 10-15 min

This shot doesn't show the laces, now does it? Hmm. Scroll down to see them at the end.

Start with WET hair. I parted down the middle, then put two small ponys in the front to begin the laces.

I first parted off a second section, the same size, on the right. Then I picked up the two ponys. Have your little person hold out the parted off section or clip it off.

Another shot showing the parted off section.

Knot the two ponys on top.

Take right section after knotting, and pull it into second pony on the right side. I had my little gal hold the other piece so it stayed tight while I secured it. Part off left second section.

Secure left side into pony.

Repeat again, and then on 4th set of ponys, leave in ponytails (or whenever you get to this point on your gal's head). I wish I had knotted the last set of ponys as well, instead of just bringing them straight down here.

On pony tails, wet thoroughly, and then knot them together.

Once you have your knot, then just begin a regular twist braid down to the ends.

Side view

Top

And my favorite!