Cute & Cheap Combs and Barrettes

Back on July 19 of this year, I showed you how to decorate inexpensive headbands to make some really cute ones for you girls or for your Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Today I'm going to show you how to make cute barrettes and/or combs. It's very similiar to what we did in July and you might have already been experimenting and figured how to do this.

Here are some of the combs and barretts that I've done.

Buy some plain, inexpensive combs and/or barrettes at Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby or other craft store. I was able to buy 12 combs on a card for $3.97 which averages out to 33 cents per comb. The plain barrettes were 6 for $2.97. If you watch for sales and/or coupons, you might be able to get them even cheaper. You will also need silk flowers and your hot glue gun.
****I've said it before but it bears repeating. Hot glue guns are very hot and can burn your hands, even leaving blisters. Be careful with them. Hot glue guns should not be used by children without adult supervision.*****

For barrettes, I've tried several different ways to keep the two prongs from getting glued together with the hot glue. You will definately want to be aware of this. I've tried plastic boards, rulers, cardboard pieces, etc but have trouble with the hot glue sticking to all of them. It can be pulled off but can leave residue on the barrette. The best thing that I have found for this is a silicone craft sheet, like SU! has (#127853). I love it and any glue that sticks to it peels right off. It's great for hot gluing flowers, etc onto things.

1. Decide what flower/leave/ribbon combination you want to use on the barrette and have your materials ready.

2. With the plain barrette clipped onto the craft sheet, put a bead of hot glue the entire length of the barrette, even onto the pinchy part that you put your fingers on.

 3. Place the first layer on to the hot glue. You might want to use a toothpick or something similiar to press the petals/leaves down into the glue so that you don't burn your fingers. Add some hot glue in  the center of this layer and add your next layer.

 4. Add a bead, button or pearl to the center of the petals.
If you want to add a leaf to this, you will probably want to glue it on first. I usually do 2-3 layers of petals because I think it looks better if it is fuller but that is up to you. You can also cut 6-10 inches of ribbon to add to the barrette, if you like.

This is what it looks like from the back of the silicone craft sheet.

Pull the barrette off the craft sheet and check to make sure the glue is dry. If it's not quite dry, you can leave it clipped to the craft sheet as long as you need too. Hot glue dries fairly quickly but it will not stick the barrette to the silicon craft sheet.

Now let's do some combs. They are basically the same way. Just hot glue a strip across the top of the comb and add your petals/leaves/ ribbon/ etc to the comb.

Adding a gem, pearl, button, etc to the center fo the flowers gives the comb a more finished look.

Hope you enjoy doing these and use your imagination to come up with all sorts of combinations of combs, barrettes and headbands that any  young girl will love!