oh so nifty: Flower Hair Accessory Tutorial

I FINISHED!!! Yay!

These actually were pretty quick and easy once I figured out how to make them, so I thought I'd create a tutorial to share!

This all started with a trip to a local bridal boutique, shopping for my friends wedding dress, and our bridesmaid dresses. When she went to try on veils we found that even a really simple veil was about $200! So, I told her I would be happy to make her veil for her (I made mine and it was pretty easy). Then when we looked at hair pieces for us bridesmaids they were pretty pricey too. So I thought (out loud) I could make those... and so, I made those. ;) It worked out nicely, she got the EXACT color that she wanted, and I made all eleven for the price of one from the store!

So, here it goes, my first full tutorial. Sorry for the not so awesome pictures.

First of all here is what you are going to need:

Flowers or Flower petals

Felt

Tulle

Feathers (I chose two kinds)

Rhinestones

Hair clips or combs

Hot glue

Scissors

I also used a rotary blade and mat, but that's optional

The first thing I did was cut my tulle into 6 inch squares. I did so with my rotary blade, but scissors work just fine. You will need two squares for each hairpiece you are making. I made 11 so I needed 22.

Then I cut all my felt pieces. I made them all hearts. Why? Why not! I could have just made a circle, but this was more fun!

Now comes the fun part! If you have pre-made flowers then this is an easy step for you, just glue your flower to the felt! If you are using petals like I am (we could not find a single hot pink flower) Then follow along.

Take your first petal add a dot of hot glue on the base and center it on your felt.

Now continue until you have a full flower. Tip: flowers usually have an odd number of petals, so try to do 5 or 7 if you can. I did 7 each.

Now that your flower is done it's time to add the tulle! I took my two 6 inch squares and laid them on one another like this:

Then I pinched the center and twisted it up like this:

That's what give it that nice wavy texture. Then apply hot glue on the twist and apply it to the center of your flower. When I did this I found it was easier if I stuck a pin in the twist to help hold it while I glued.

Pull open the tulle to the way you want while the glue is still hot. Also, if you used a pin pull it out now too. Press down on your center to get it as flat as possible. Warning: YOU WILL GET HOT GLUE ON YOUR FINGERS! If you want to avoid this use the back of a pen or something for this step.

Now it is time for FEATHERS! I found these feathers on a band at Michaels. I thought they were neat because some of them have little seed beads up the quill. Anyways, I played around with the amount I wanted to use, and decided on 4 or 5, so I cut a small section and trimmed the end a bit.

After I played around with the placement I glued them to the center of the flower. Now it looks like this.

I wanted a little more body in there, so next I added a 'fluffy' feather the same as the others.

Now for a little SPARKLE! I used simple and inexpensive rhinestones for the centers. They give a nice sparkle, and hide all the ugliness in the center. When you apply the rhinestones make sure to apply the hot glue to the center of the flower, and then place the rhinestone on top. When I tried to apply the glue straight to the rhinestone it 'melted' a piece of the reflective backing off and ruined it.

Almost done! Flip your flower over so it is face down.

See, the heart is super cute! ;) Even though you will never really see it, its there.

Now to add you clip. Make sure it is facing the right direction so when you put it in your hair it's not upside-down. Add a dab of hot glue where the base of your clip should be and attach.