Flower Hair-Clips

So, my sister was over last week with her three little kids which all of them are super, super cute (her oldest is three, almost four). And she has tons of those enormous flower clips that are like bigger than her little baby's head (which are just adorable). So, last week, I was examining her collection while I was getting ready in the bathroom, and decided to try my hand at them. (Disasterous? Maybe.)

 After going to Wal-Mart and finding almost everything on clearance (...and spending a ton of money on craft supplies) I started experimenting.



Here's what I came up with.

Yeah, I figured out that they are actually quite easy to make, you just need a little bit of ingenuity, a little creative license, and hot glue.

(I would have pictures with the instructions, but I forgot to take them as I went along.)

So, here are the things that you'll need:

• Alligator clips (they are in the jewelry section for all those who have wandered up and down the craft aisles at Wal-Mart)
• Ribbon
• Silk flowers
• Something for the middle of the flowers (I used cute buttons I found on sale, I've seen them with those plastic blingy things, this is where the creative license comes into play)
• Craft welding setup (most people call this a hot-glue gun and some hot-glue, but it sounds better as craft welding supplies)

Here are all the instructions, and before you know it, you'll have a complete stockpile of these pretty accessories:

1. Pull the silk flowers off of their stems (try to be careful, but you might have to do some yanking, the very worst that could happen is that you'd rip a pedal off).
2. Once the flower if off the stem, pull the pedals gently off (this should separate into three or so different sections, the flower pedals themselves, the middle of the flower and then there's a green piece on the bottom).
3. Hot glue a piece of ribbon onto the alligator clip.  (This looks a lot trickier than it actually is.  I usually start at the end where you push down to open the clip and put a dab of glue there to hold the ribbon in place, then slowly work your way gluing down the clip.)
4. Once the ribbon is in place, layer the flower pedals in the order you'd like them, hot gluing the layers together.
5. Glue the layered flower onto the top of the ribbon covered alligator clip.
6. To finish it off, glue a button or a blingy thing or whatever you chose for the center of the flower to the center of your new flower hair-clip.

If you don't have time to make a few, or just want one, you can always visit my Etsy Store for this item.  Happy Crafting!