Hey everyone!!
Wow has there been a lot going on lately. I know it’s been a while and I haven’t been updating lately but I promise there are a BUNCH of posts that are overdue. I have lots of recipes I want to share and other random stuff. But for this post I want to focus on what consumed my life for the past two weeks!! That’s right. TWO WEEKS. And I’m not joking either. This took about 5 trips to Michael’s and all my time outside of work.
Some of my dearest friends graduated this past weekend and rather than buying flower leis or flowers, I decided to make ribbon leis using tutorials online. If you remember what I did last year, I made simple ribbon leis featured in this blog post. However, I wanted to step it up a notch this year. And man, was it a lot of work. But it was totally worth it for the people that I love!!
Alright, enough small talk. Let me go through all the ribbon leis I made and how I did it and how much each cost.
- WHITE / TEAL
- Tutorial here
- Instead of making loops the length of the needle, I created loops 1.5 lengths of my needle. I didn’t realize this til later but this takes longer to measure!! Next time, I’d probably rather buy a longer needle to make this one.
- *TIP: It’s easier to do this with the ribbon loops bunched up right at the bottom of the needle. Don’t pull the needle and thread all the way through; follow the tutorial and keep the needle at the base near the looped ribbon.
- White ribbon – 5 spools 3/16in thick, 6yd long – $0.50/spool
- Teal ribbon – 5 spools 3/16in thick, 6yd long – $0.50/spool
- Total cost = $5.00, Total time ~6 hours
- TEAL / GREEN
- Tutorial here
- I made loops the length of my needle.
- For some reason, with smaller loops, the loops don’t seem to be as randomly placed. So I decided to go with a spiral pattern. Every time you loop, nudge the loops to either the right or left and continue pushing them in that same direction throughout the whole lei.
- *TIP: It’s easier to do this with the ribbon loops bunched up right at the bottom of the needle. Don’t pull the needle and thread all the way through; follow the tutorial and keep the needle at the base near the looped ribbon.
- *TIP: If I were to do this style again, I would probably need 2 more spools of each color to make it a longer, fuller lei.
- Teal ribbon – 5 spools 3/16in thick, 6yd long – $0.50/spool
- Green ribbon – 5 spools 3/16in thick, 6yd long – $0.50/spool
- Total cost = $5.00, Total time ~5-6 hours
- PINK / CORAL ORANGE
- Tutorial here
- I made loops the length of my needle.
- For some reason, with smaller loops, the loops don’t seem to be as randomly placed. I did this one half spiral half random.
- *TIP: It’s easier to do this with the ribbon loops bunched up right at the bottom of the needle. Don’t pull the needle and thread all the way through; follow the tutorial and keep the needle at the base near the looped ribbon.
- *TIP: If I were to do this style again, I would probably need 2 more spools of each color to make it a longer, fuller lei.
- Pink ribbon – 5 spools 3/16in thick, 6yd long – $0.50/spool
- Coral orange ribbon – 5 spools 3/16in thick, 6yd long – $0.50/spool
- Total cost = $5.00, Total time ~5-6 hours
- BLACK / GREEN
- Tutorial here
- I tried doing this with 1.5in ribbon and 1/4in ribbon but the color of the 1/4in ribbon barely stood out and I wanted it to. So I opted for 7/8in ribbon and 5/8in ribbon to make both colors stand out.
- Black ribbon – 2 spools 7/8in thick, 7yd long – $3.99/spool
- Green ribbon – 1 spool 5/8in thick, 20yd long – $3.99/spool
- Total cost = $11.97, Total time ~5 hours
- BLACK / RED
- BLACK / ORANGE
- BLACK / BLUE
- Tutorial here
- I made loops the length of my needle.
- For some reason, with smaller loops, the loops don’t seem to be as randomly placed. I did this one half spiral half random.
- *TIP: It’s easier to do this with the ribbon loops bunched up right at the bottom of the needle. Don’t pull the needle and thread all the way through; follow the tutorial and keep the needle at the base near the looped ribbon.
- Black ribbon – 3 spools 3/8in thick, 10yd long – $1.79/spool (on sale)
- Blue ribbon – 3 spools 3/8in thick, 10yd long – $1.79/spool (on sale)
- Total cost = $10.74, Total time ~3-4 hours
Well now you know what kept me busy for the past two weeks. It does take time for the more complicated leis, but I feel like a gift says way more when you put more effort into it. Oh and here’s a snapshot of the really simple, quick cards I made for my friends. With leis taking up all my time, I didn’t have time to make anything fancy.
I hope you enjoyed this post and that you find it helpful for future graduation ideas! Also, congratulations to everyone who graduated this spring!!! Here are two of my favorite verses for you all:
“For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
Wishing all of you recent graduates all the best!! 🙂
Love,
AMANDAMLIM 