Handmade Hair Barrettes

It's Monday again! Here's a tutorial for a really fun and easy gift I made this weekend.

See, Tim and I have two couples in our life, each of which have two beautiful little girls. So adorable, affordable, and easy to make little-girl-gifts is kinda becoming my specialty.

Usually, I just go for something edible, but this time a birthday present was in order and so I was compelled to make something they could keep...

I've been seeing a lot of people dress up bobby pins by hot gluing ribbons or pearls to them. I only had very small colored pearls, so I decided to go with what I had. The result, I must say, turned out very pretty. And the princesses loved them!

Disclaimer 1: Took these pictures around 9 am with lots of coffee in me. Blurriness abounds...

Disclaimer 2: I am a total noob at wire wrapping, please experiment and let me know if you have any suggestions! 

All you need is jewelry wire (pretty light gauge, as it will have to make tight bends), some small beads, and bobby pins.

I also had an assortment of jewelry making tools on hand, but as long as you have some way to cut and bend wire, you can make it work.

I started by putting a kink in the bottom of the wire so the beads wouldn't slide off the other end. Then I lined up 10 beads of my chosen color (you could do a pattern too!) on the wire.

Then I held the beads so the kinked part of the wire was pointing away from me. Leaving a little extra room at the top, I put a 90 degree angle bend to the right in my wire. This is where I'm going to make my first attachment to the bobby pin. It reminds me of how I wrap earring hooks a little...

Next I slide the bobby pin onto the wire where I just made the newest 90 degree angle. I put the bumpy part of the bobby pin towards me (facing the opposite direction of our first bend). This makes it so the beads end up on the straight part of the bobby pin.

Just as I would attach an earring hoop, I hold the bobby pin upright and with my hands bend the right angled wire down and twist it around where we left room above the beads. Now we have both spare wire sections pointing the same way. Go ahead and trim the extra wire up top by the bobby pin once you've made a nice tight twist.

Bend the beads over the straight part of the bobby pin, towards the opening. Pull the remaining extra wire from back to front through the pin itself.

Bend the wire up, back over the pin, and through under the beads and pull tight. If you can, wrap it like this a second time. Otherwise, trim the extra away and fold the end underneath. You're done!

Here's some of the variations I did. You could get really creative with it, though! I was really pleased with these little gifts and I intend on making more of them for friends and family in the future!

I would have tried to snap a shot of the girls wearing them, but they were on birthday cake overdrive, it just wasn't a possibility. Maybe later I'll catch 'em!

P.S. Linking up at a couple creative parties here!