Butterfly Hair Clips

As I've stated a few times before, I love making hair clips out of various items that weren't originally intended for hair clips.  This time I totally scored at Dollar Tree!!  I was walking through the aisles when I came across these gorgeous butterfly picks.  I bought one in every color.  The package on the far right are felt butterfly stickers, found in the scrapbooking section of some store (can't remember where).

For the butterfly picks, I used wire cutters to cut the metal pokes off the back.  Then I lined some clips with ribbon and glued the butterflies on.  They're gorgeous!!

My 5-year-old daughter loves the pink and purple ones together.  What little girl doesn't?  Especially when they have sparkly "jewels"!!

For the felt stickers, I stuck them down onto like-colored felt, trimmed around them, and glued them with a couple of dots of hot glue.  Then I lined clips with ribbon and glued the felt stickers to the clips.  For the four little flower stickers, I cut out a felt leaf and glued them to it in a bunch.

For just a few dollars and few minutes of my time, I was able to make the following clips, plus 5 others that went to my neighbor's 4-year-old daughter.

Now I need to make another hair clip holder.  Theirs is entirely full.  But a girl can never have too many hair accessories, can she?

Make Your Own Hair Gel

I love spiking baby boys' hair.  But my kids all have very sensitive skin, so I didn't want to chance using some chemical-laden product on their tiny little heads.  Then I learned how to make my own hair gel (I'm sorry, but I can't remember where I got the original recipe).  It's so easy and so cheap!!

All you need is some unflavored gelatin and hot water.

The original recipe called for 1/2 cup hot water to 1/4 tsp of gelatin.  (I've always added a bit more gelatin to it than that).  Dissolve the gelatin in the water and allow to cool.  Store it in the refrigerator, or make just enough for a single use each time.

How strong the hold is and how stiff it is totally depends on how much gelatin you add to the water.  The amount in the original recipe is not stiff or super holding.  So play with it a bit.  I like to throw it in the fridge and let it set up into a gel consistency before I use it.  It's easier to deal with that way.  You can also add essential oils if you want it to smell good.

I'd love to show you a demo picture, but my boys all have hair too short.  I recently cut my hair short again, but it's not short enough to spike this time.  =(  

So, I need pics!  If you try this and like it, please email me a picture I can post here!!

Help Me with my Hair!!!

I LOVE my hair short and spikey.  It's super easy to style, super easy to deal with, no babies pulling on it, etc.  This is how I love it best:

(Totally ignore the goofy facial expression in the following pic.  Remember, we're dealing with the hair. hee hee)

There are a couple of downsides to short hair.  One is that I have to get it cut often.  My hair grows really fast, and my hair cutter lives quite a ways away.  But I can deal with that.  

The other downside I can't just "deal" with, however.  My hubby doesn't like my hair like this.  He doesn't like it short and spikey--says it's too much like a boys'.  

This is how my hair is currently, though it's gotten longer since this picture was taken.  (Sorry for the blurry picture.  It was a kind of dark room, and I don't like my picture taken, so there aren't very many very often.):

My hubby says he doesn't mind if I get it cut shorter, just not as short as I'd really like.  He suggested something like what Alice has in the movie Twilight.  But my hair has wonky waves to it, and I really don't have the time to flat iron, style, etc.  I need quick and easy.

I also can't do a whole lot in the way of bangs.  See how my hair always flows out around my forehead? That's just the way it goes.  It always has.  It won't hang down nicely in front. 

So here's where you come in.  How do you like my hair?  Short or long?  Any suggestions on a style that's not too short bu not too long that you think might work for me?

Beaded Hair - Tutorial

My girls love having beads in their hair.  It makes them feel so fancy, and they like choosing what colors get put in and matching their outfits and dresses.

My mama has this really cool machine that puts the beads into the hair.

In a matter of about 2 seconds, it can do a whole line of them.

I, however, don't have one of those machines, so I do it the good old-fashioned way having nothing but beads, small silicone pony holders, and a bit of water.  

Start by deciding where on the head you want the beads, and separate a small strand of hair.

Make that strand into a braid.

Dip the tip of the braid into a cup of water, much like wetting the end of a thread to thread a needle.

Thread the beads on in the order you'd like.

Once you have the number and colors of beads you want, put a small, silicone pony-tail holder at the bottom.  If you have beads with larger holes, you may have to do a second pony over the top of the first to hold them on.

Then style the hair as you'd like.  Sometimes my girls want the hair pulled back with the beads hanging down.

Other times they want the beads pulled back, too.

They love it when the beads kind of circle their heads like a tiara.

The beads can be left in a long time.  They can be shampooed, slept on, and brushed around.

Have fun experimenting with placement of the beads, colors, and styles.  It literally takes mere minutes, and the girls love it!

What fun bead styles have you come up with?