5 Strand Plait

This one looks good, but you need to keep it tight while you plait, and it doesn't seem to work so well with thinner strands.

1. Take 5 pieces of hair
2. Take the one on the outside (either side) and loop under the piece next to it and over the piece next to that
3. Repeat on other side and keep repeating.

This last one is done with 2 stands instead of one to make them thicker; it made it a lot easier but there is no way I could do this on my own hair!

Follow This Blog

http://princesspiggies.blogspot.com/2010/07/ribbon-braid.html

Lovely blog all about plaits.

Also this one.


http://dostochoose.blogspot.com/2010/07/loops-braids-ribbonoh-my.html

Twisted Braid

This one is really easy and looks good.  I have taken a photo of the braid hanging loose so that you can see it hasn't unravelled.

1. Separate the hair into 2 sections
2. Twist the two sections the same way (clockwise or anti clockwise)
3. Cross the two sections over each other in the opposite direction.

Pinch Braids

I think that pinch braids are a method of putting in extensions, usually on afro Caribbean hair or those multicoloured extensions that you see, but I had a go adding some to mine, just to see.

The idea is that you plait normally, using your real hair as the middle strand and the ribbon/string/whatever as the left and right strands.

I'd like to experiment with different materials and colours with this.

 

I've tried this out on Emma instead - the plait on the right turned out better as I knotted the ribbon behind the pony tail to start of with and used thinner strands of hair with the ribbons. It would also look better with ribbon that was a completely different colour to her hair (I think anyway)

Fishtail Plaits

I've seen people with fishtail plaits and they look great, if a little complicated.  However, after looking them up on the net I found that they are actually easier than normal plaits. The one below is a good example, but since it starts at the top of the head it might be slightly trickier, more like a French fishtail.

Here is how it's done.

1. Seperate the hair into two lots (rather than three in a normal plait)
2. Take a piece from the outside of one side and take it over to the inside of the other side.
3. Repeat until finished.

 

Pippi Longstocking

We had a dress up day at work (as school kids) and I saw this 'how to' http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/10/how-to_pippi_longstocking_brai.html

This is how it turned out.

I'm reading...

Since this is my blog and I can write what I like, I thought I would include a post about my favourite books/authors - it's a free hobby and I LOVE it!  A good website to check out of you like reading is http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/




I've read this series before and really enjoyed it.  There are plenty of witches, wizards, a dragon and even some dangerous women dressed in red leather.  But it manages not to be too cheesy.

Gingerbread Men

Ok - we didn't make these gingerbread men, we bought them in Tesco and Emma (4 years old) decorated them.  But I thought that they deserved to be here, just because of the 'imaginative' decorating.

Cupcakes

I've just signed up for a cupcake decorating course, can't wait!  In the meantime though I have Emma's birthday so I have to make some - going to practise today.

Chewy Cookies/Raspberry & White Chocolate Muffins

It's a food day at work tomorrow so I decided to make some cookies and also some raspberry and white chocolate muffins.  the cookie recipe came from the internet and makes lovely chewy cookies (ultra amazing when they are hot from the oven) and the muffin recipe came from a friend.


To make the cookies you need:

250g plain flour
1/2 a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
170g grams of melted butter (I melted mine in the microwave)
150g dark sugar
100g caster sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
Chocolate Chips

The oven should be set at about 170 degrees C

Sift the flour, bicarb and salt (I buy the flour that doesn't need sifting because I'm lazy)
Mix the melted butter and sugar
Mix in the vanilla and the egg into the butter/sugar
Mix in the flour (I find it works best to fold it in)
Stir in chocolate chips

 The mixture on the right is the cookies, the one on the left is the muffins.

You then line a tray with baking paper and put dollops on mixture on it, don't flatten then and make sure you leave enough space for them to spread out a bit.

They only take about 10 minutes to cook, as soon as they start to go brown at the edges they are ready and need to be taken out to cool.

 The sign of approval!

To make the muffins you will need:

100g butter
300g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
175g caster sugar
2 large eggs
175ml milk
150g frozen raspberries
150g white chocolate
Dessicated coconut

Line your muffin tin (I just put cupcake papers in a muffin tin, I find muffin papers too large)
Heat oven to 170 degrees C
Melt the butter and allow to cool
Sieve flour and baking powder (this is your 'dry bowl')
Add caster sugar to dry bowl
Mix eggs, milk and butter (this is your 'wet bowl')
Crush your chocolate.  My husband was in a bad mood due to a naughty child, so I gave him a plastic bag full of white chocolate and a rolling pin and let him vent his frustration)
Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry bowl.
Mix in the raspberries and chocolate.
Spoon into cases and sprinkle coconut over the top.
Cook for about 20 minutes (I have a fan oven, if you have a normal oven it may take 25 minutes.

 I am quite impressed with how many this mixture makes!

Note - I let the raspberries defrost slightly before I used them; in hindsight they would have been better if I had taken them out frozen and crushed them in to little pieces (maybe inside a sandwich bag) before adding to the mix.