Crafty Marie

This free crochet pattern for an African Flower tutorial makes up a gorgeous crocheted motif that looks stunning made up with different colors. You'll get step by step instructions on making these which will make for a long post full of photos that you can work from. The standard African Flower motif is in the shape of a hexagon which is what I'll be demonstrating in this tutorial today although you can also turn these into squares too which is perhaps the subject for a later blog post down the road. You can use the completed motifs for making up blankets, throws, cushions, pincushions, bags and even garments like scarves. I think they're best suited to bigger projects such as blankets where you can really appreciate the rainbow of colors that can be used with these and how beautiful they look when made up.

Beaded rubber band bracelets look pretty cute for both kids and adults to wear, especially for the summer season but also at party times too. They look like they're difficult and challenging to make but luckily they're pretty easy to create once you know how it's done. I've chosen a simple but effective Rainbow Loom bracelet with beads pattern design for you to follow. Apart from some beads and some of the stretchy colorful bands, you'll just need 2 pegs on any loom board. This means that you can use the mini MonsterTail, the standard Rainbow loom board or even just two prongs on a fork or a couple of pencils if you don't yet have any equipment. The easiest version of making this beaded design is to use the same color of loom bands through the whole pattern and just change the color of the beads up instead. I show you how to make two alternating colors with this step by step photo tutorial but you can choose the style you want. Either way, these finished bra...