Five Strands? What happened to Fishtail?

This week I stumbled upon a unique and relatively simple hairstyle which completely swept me away with envy. How I wish I had known about this before I chopped off my long, wavy tresses! I could bemoan cutting my hair until it is long enough to style it this way, and I probably will, but onto the main attraction. The Five Strand Braid is an intricate eye-catching style which is very likely to become more popular than the near impossible Fishtail Braid. Now, I'm not really one to jump on upcoming trends or see them long before the insane fashion bloggers who spend every waking moment trying to wear/do/style/eat/medicate/exercise the "in" thing; I usually am late to the game and continue doing whatever I thought was comfortable and fashionable. This braid has kinda rocked my world though, and I am seriously excited to give it a try(although it's probably gonna have to wait many moons till my hair grows out). 

   

So for all you ladies out there who just can't decide what to do with your long hair, be it straight or curly, layered or one-length, this look is most definitely for you. This Five Strand Braid is swept to the side and can be done with or without bangs, whatever your preference or current hair situation. (I consider it a "hair situation" because half the time my hair cuts don't turn out right, and I assume others experience this weird/funky hair phenomenon). The video tutorial lady suggests pulling out a few strands and curling them a bit for a more "romantic" look, but I don't think it's really necessary unless that's what you're going for. If you don't have any bangs to speak of I'm not sure the wispy curls would look that awesome, but that's just me. This braid would really pop with a unique headband, perhaps a DIY cloth one like these:

   

Obviously the girls in the photos have big, swooping bangs which look fantastic, and I suppose the braid would look great coupled with that. I just have this thing against bangs 'cause I've never been able to get them done right; curse of having curly hair. I've all but given up on ever getting bangs to work for me, so don't even try to tell me anyone can have bangs; it simply isn't true.

The Five Strand Braid does have a certain fantasy flair to it, reminiscent of Lord of the Rings or some other medieval costumed story, but I think that's what I love about it. Who doesn't want to look like Arwen or Nynaeve once in awhile? 

If you stumble upon my blog or have been reading it, please leave me a comment or suggestion, I'd love to hear from you! Check out what I'm currently liking on Pinterest or my crafts on Ravelry by following the links.

~OpalStitches~

Miss Noncommittal Strikes Again!

So ya'll know that I have absolutely no consistency and can't commit to projects I post on my blog; my bad, I apologize, I'm a terrible person. No seriously, I know that I suck at this.

To make up for my suck-at-blogging syndrome, I thought I'd try something different and post about my recent Pinterest finds. I know that everyone probably does this, and you could just find me on Pinterest, but heck no one reads my blog anyways so here we go. To start us off, I'd like to present the awesomest DIY t-shirt upcycles ever! WOBISOBI is fantastic and has VERY easy tutorials on upcycling those crappy t-shirts that never fit you right anyway(or it gives you an excuse to raid the man-closet and steal those super soft tees!). 

I am absolutely in love with the racer back tees on WOBISOBI and this one is super cute with the braid in the back. I like that most of the shirts she redesigns can be used for us regular ladies or for those of us with buns in the oven! Having clothes which work either way is a great money saver, of which I am always a fan. Now I'm not going to say "Next week see my version of this great tee" because I don't want to lie to you blog readers out there, if you exist. At some point in my existence I will likely make one of these awesome shirts, but no promises they'll make it to my blog. 

I'm hoping to get some readers by posting about other great blogs, on the chance that someone out there finds my rants unique or interesting or whatever. If I was more motivated I would probably read up on how to get more views and readers, but that's probably never gonna happen. So for now I'll try this format and see what happens. If you stumbled upon my blog, please leave a comment about what you think, I would LOVE to hear from you! 

Happy Pinteresting!