Stress Jar

Now at the end of the quarter, it is safe to say that the past few weeks were very stressful. Homework, tests, and essays piled up and got finished leaving me with minimal sleep and therefore, a short temper. Well, maybe not a temper, per say, but definitely leaving me a little less patient. For this reason, my project this week has to do with relieving stress. Apparently, a stress jar is a commonly used craft in many Preschool-Kindergarten classes because it gives kids something to focus on making them forget what they were mad/stressed about. Basically, a stress jar is a jar with glitter or other shiny/interesting things suspended in fluid. When you're stressed, you shake the jar creating a snow globe like effect and wait. You wait until all the floating glitter is back at the bottom of the jar, by which time, you should be little bit calmer.

I don't know about you, but I would feel a little silly shaking a glittery jar in the middle of a classroom to get rid of my anxiety, but hey, if it works it works.

What you'll need:

Note: NO CORN SYRUP :D

• a jar (glass or otherwise, I'll be using a cheap plastic one)
• glitter
• water
• superglue

What you may want that is completely totally optional:

• Sequins or something else glittery to put in instead of/with the glitter
• food coloring
• nail polish remover (for those of us who are scared of glueing our fingers together)

Procedure:

1. Get your jar. (Like I said, mine's a cheap one I got from Staples for fifty cents because I do love a sale. You can most definitely use a glass jar, just make sure it's not huge.) Then, if there are any labels on the jar, get them off. Clean. No one wants icky residue on their jar when they're trying to de-stress. 
2. Once you have about 75-90% of your jar filled, stop and put in glitter. It's completely up to you how much glitter you want in it. I like glitter. I got a bunch of glitter at the same sale I got my jar at--I love sales. 
3. When completely satisfied with the amount of shiny in your jar, the tough part of this tutorial arrives. We must glue the lid of the jar down. With jar lid and superglue in hand, beware, because you don't want to glue your fingers together. (No worries if you do though, just use nail-polish remover to get it off. Just use a cotton ball or q-tip and rub the spot that's glued gently until the glue is gone.) Now, line the inner rim of the jar lid with super glue--you're going to have to squeeze quite hard on a superglue bottle--and screw the lid on. Give the lid 1-5 minutes to dry, depending on how cautious you are, and then lightly tip it on its side to see if it's sealed.
4. If it is, tada! You're finished. 

Have fun de-stressing! 

Friendship Bracelet

I've never been real big on the friendship object trend. It just never struck my fancy. This is probably because it'd be really awkward to get/give a friendship bracelet and then start hating each other or something and have to ask for it back. That would completely ruin my friendy mojo. That being said, a fabulous bracelet doesn't have to come from a friend, so I made one for myself.

What you'll need:

• String or yarn
• hex nuts, beads, or anything with a hole in it you feel would look nice on a bracelet (Have fun with it!)
• tape
• a clasp if you really want it

PROCESS:

I'm serious. Tape that sucker down.


1. Cut three equal lengths of the string.
2. Tie these three in a knot 
3. Tape that knot down. Firmly. With the tape. It's going to want to come off the table once you start working with it so this is actually a very serious step. (Actually it's not life-or-death so don't sweat it.)
4. Start braiding. I don't really know how to explain braiding, but there are lots of great tutorials on the internet and if you ask around I'm sure you have a friend who knows how to braid. 
5. Once you've braided a bit of the string, maybe around a third, tie another knot separating the braided section from the rest.
6. Slide a bead/anything with hole onto all three strands or as many as possible.
7. Knot it off again. 
8. Repeat 6 and 7 until you have as many bead things as desired. 
9. Braid the rest of the string until it's the length you want it to be.
10. Now it's honesty time. I'm horrible at tying of things. I just can't do it. So, if you got a clasp, just tie it on to the strings and you're done. If you didn't, I just tied my bracelet onto my wrist loose enough to be able to untie it.

'




 
 VOILA! A bracelet that will forever mark your friendship. Or at least validate it's there because they're wearing an... interesting... bracelet that you've made.
 
 
 
A couple notes: 



As you can see some nuts are closer together than others

• There are different ways to do this. One way I tried was to follow the original tutorial where you don't tie any knots on except for the ends. You just braid and slide the beads/nuts on as you go. This looks good, except it's really hard to space them right (it's hard to make them look even). You have to keep track of the strands you are braiding and make sure they stay tight as well as maneuver beads on.
• I used cheap plastic thread on my bracelet, which I am ashamed of, however it was for a good reason. I did a couple bracelets to see what would work best and did not want to waste good string. 
• I realize there is a distinct lack of pictures in this post, I was having formatting issues. I will post an update blog with lots of photos I promise! In the meantime if you have any question feel free to post them in the comments.