DIY: Custom Designed Barrettes

Apr09

Posted in Fashion / Accessories with 9 Comments.

What’s not to love about a little girl who enjoys having her hair done up in fancy finery? Perhaps it could be the price tag of the “finery” offered at stores? May Arts has just the right supplies to create custom, beaded barrettes at a fraction of the cost! The detail of the beads adds such a cute touch and just the right amount of sophistication to these barrettes.

I gathered up a few supplies to make rolled silk ribbon roses to use as the base for my custom barrettes. There are many color choices available in the 1.25” silk line, you can see them all here. I love the flexibility of this ribbon, it is so maliable and the colors so intense.

To make the small roses:

Fold a 5” length of ribbon in half lengthwise, dab a bit of hot glue on the bottom and roll the ribbon onto itself, adding hot glue as needed to form the rose.
Secure the rose shape with more glue if needed on the bottom.
Finish the rose with two beads from one of our New Releases, the String Beads collection, which also offers a fabulous array of colors.

After I made a few roses in different, girly colors, I clipped two beads off each end of a four inch length of string beads with pliers, as well as two in the middle. I then looped the string of beads around the head of the barrette, securing the middle with hot glue. Because I snapped the beads and was left with just string in choice areas, I reduced the bulk of the barrette tremendously and provided a sturdy base to glue my flower over the looped string onto the barrette.

The barrettes needed a presentation base, so I simply trimmed a piece of cardstock to 2.5”x3” inch square (rounding the corners) and stamped a design. I punched four holes in this base to insert the barrettes, just as they do in store packaging.