~ * How to Make Floral Hair Barrettes * ~

As many of you may know, I love toying around with making new things. This maybe-more-than-slightly-eccentric need to create things fueled my Do-It-Yourself attitude towards planning my wedding to Michael last year. We had such a beautiful ceremony at our favorite winery, with a fantastic tri-tip lunch, all for under $5,000 (!!!)…all because I did so much of the planning and decorating myself! It worked out quite well.

So, this article is the start to (hopefully) a long DIY section of the Katawna Blogosphere. The DIY category won’t always be wedding related, but will always be artsy   I hope I help you DIY crazies like me cut your costs on your projects and events by doing it yourself!

And now, I’d like to share with you how I made my beautiful silk orchid hair decorations for our wedding. I received so many compliments on them, I thought they’d be a great start to Katawna DIY

Floral Barrettes

Supplies (makes six barrettes):

• Hot glue gun

• 2 Hot glue sticks

• 1 Modern Romance floral accents set (comes with six on each bouquet)

• 1 Modern Romance floral sprays 6-piece set

• 6 alligator clips (or any other hair clip you would like to use)

• Scissors

• A fluffy helper (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat your hot glue gun.

2. Place newspaper, tissue paper, or any kind of disposable material over your workspace so you don’t get sticky hot glue all over the place.

3. Cut the stem off of each single flower, about a half inch before the flower’s base.

4. Also cut each floral spray, leaving about ¾ of an inch from its base.

5 .For this next step you’re going to have to move quickly, since hot glue dries pretty fast. Slowly squirt hot glue onto the longest end of the alligator clip. Make sure to cover most of that edge with glue. Then quickly place the floral spray on the clip, with the jewels pointing down past the opening end, and place the flower right on the very tip of the pinch end of the clip. If more glue is necessary to keep them together, go ahead and carefully fill in the gaps.

6. Leave to dry completely for about a half an hour before you try to put the finished clips in your hair. Voila! You’re done!

7. Celebrate!

Projected costs:

• Hot glue gun – $3.49

• Hot glue sticks – $1.25 for a pack of 12 sticks

• Modern Romance Floral Accents – $2.99

• Modern Romance Floral Spray – $2.99

• Alligator clips – $3.99 for a 12 pack

• Craft scissors – $2.00

Estimated project total – $16.71 minus tax

Looks beautiful in a loose braid: