best snazzy pattern source + printable knot-tying cheat sheet

Just a short post today -- in case you're in the mood to venture beyond chevrons, friendship-bracelets.net is totally rad. There's tons of free patterns, but figuring out how to read them can be tricky. Here's a really useful tutorial on how to do just that.

You'll need to know a few basic knots before you can tackle most of the patterns. 

I've bumbled my way through a few of them so far, but I still need a little cheat sheet! 

Here's a little one just for you; you can scale it down to make it whatever size you prefer.

{download the cheat sheet}

Now go get snazzy -- and don't forget to visit Jenn to see what she's got for today! 

guest blogger: jenn from ruffled sunshine + friendship bracelet packaging printable

Happy Tuesday! Today Jenn is visiting from Ruffled Sunshine, aka the brains behind this operation! 

Jenn and I are pretty new friends, but we clicked right away + I was totally thrilled when she brought up the idea of doing a friendship bracelet swap together. If you haven't already subscribed to her darling + totally inspiring blog, you need to! Anyway, enough from me. Here's Jenn with a great post on packaging your friendship bracelets (and a free printable, to boot)!

Hello Friends!  I'm so excited to be here!  Amanda and I have been on pins and needles waiting to share the friendship bracelet swap with you guys and I'm so happy that you all are so excited about it too! My name is Jenn and I blog over at Ruffled Sunshine.  I share a little bit of what I've been up to from time to time.  I have a spunky little girl, Ivy that keeps me on my toes, but she is my biggest source of inspiration. 

 

Somehow our summer seems to be getting busier and busier.  It is our favorite time of year so we try to spend as many hours of the day outside as possible!  So I know when it comes time to mail my bracelets I'll be scrambling to have some cute packaging.  I took a few minutes this weekend to come up with a simple way to package up your friendship bracelets to your new friends.  Then you won't be scrambling if your summer is anything like ours!

{click here to download}

I got to practice my photoshop skills {cuz they definitely need practicing} and used this letterpress tutorial from Pugly Pixel to make a sheet of cards.  

All you have to do is cut them up.  Easy peasy.

This one is for one of my good friends from college.  I wrote a little note too, to let my friend know I've been thinking of her.  

Then I used some of my Modern Marigold fabric tape to stick my bracelet right to the card.  It fit perfectly  in a card envelope so I sealed it up with a little more fabric tape and mailed it right away.  I got a little excited to send it so I forgot to take pictures.  Oh well!  

Sooo...

Don't forget to sign up for the bracelet swap!  And be sure to stop by some time.  I'd love to have you!

{and thanks Amanda for having me! xoxo}

Thanks for coming over, Jenn! Don't forget to email us to sign up for the swap!

it's friendship bracelet week!

Welcome to Friendship Bracelet Week 2011! {fireworks! applause! emotional hugs! yaaaaay!}

Are you excited yet?? I totally am. Jenn totally is. So let's talk about the swap so that you can get going on some rad bracelets, shall we?

Everyone is welcome to participate in the swap, whether this is your first swap ever
or whether you're a seasoned swap-vet, whether you're 9 or 99 years old...everyone.

To sign up, email us at

braceletswap@gmail.com

with your

NAME
email address
{and}
blog URL, if you have one

...and then get your knot on!! You will be making THREE bracelets to send to THREE new friends (so you'll send one bracelet to each person). Jenn and I will send you an email letting you know who your swap partners are, along with their contact info. It will be up to you to contact your new friends to get their snail mail addresses.

Signups are open through July 27th. We send you an email with your partners' info by July 29th,
and you'll need to mail your bracelets no later than August 5th.

We'll have lots of tutorials and links to some great friendship bracelet stuff over the week, but here's some resources to get you started!

Basic Chevron at Honestly...WTF
Stripes, Chevrons + Diamonds at The Purl Bee
Jenn's bracelet board
My bracelet board

Part of our goal for this swap is that everyone makes some new friends!
So let's all get to know our swap partners + get some happy new connections, mkay?

Spread the word! We want to get lots of new friends in on this! Grab a button for your blog, Facebook it, Tweet it, whatevah.

Don't forget to read Ruffled Sunshine and The Modern Marigold all week long for tons of friendship bracelet awesomeness!

Now get out there and get knotty! (bwa ha ha)