Accessorizing with Hair Pins

I think I recently mentioned that Goose turned 8 years old this month.  Which also means for us, that she'll be getting baptized soon. Anyway, I recently begged enlisted the help of my ever so talented BFF Jenn to take some pictures of her in her pretty white dress we got her, so I could make up some invitations for my family.  Plus I needed a new picture of her for my wall here at home.  And Jenn was kind enough to humor me and play photographer!

In my search for a dress, I, of course, was thinking hair accessories as well. I was torn - do I do a flower, bow, what???  After looking around at several of the local craft stores I decided I'd do something myself.  Well - sort of.  I thought they turned out so cute, I had to share.  I hope you don't mind I don't really have a new hair style for you today, but being that Easter is coming, and you may be trying to figure out how to accessorize, this is a quick and easy way to do it.  And pretty cheap too.

First I'll show you what the little flowers are like on her dress (sorry they look a bit yellow in the pic - they're really white.)  

 I was so excited to find these darling little things at Joann's.  Not exactly the same - but oh so close.

I also picked up a package of these cuties - they've got pearls and a bit of bling goin' on!:

I also had to buy some hair pins - because I decided I wanted to try attaching them to hair pins instead of regular old bobby pins.  I've gotten frustrated with things I've attached to bobby pins in the past because I feel like I have to shove them into the hair precariously to get the whole pin to hide, or put it just right to get the accessory to actually show at the angle I want it.  Maybe that doesn't make sense, but either way, I went for hair pins this time.

The one on the left is how they look when you pull them out of the package.  I didn't want it so wide so I squoze the top of the pin a bit to look like the one on the right.

Grab your trusty glue gun & put a dot of hot glue on the back of the flower.  Press the hair pin into the glue for a second.

Then once you're sure it's pretty stuck, add another dollop of hot glue on top of the hair pin, to ensure it's secured really well.  Jenn suggested covering it with a bit of fabric so the glue didn't pull the hair, but I opted for the easy way out and didn't add fabric.  I didn't notice hair pulling - but it is an option to give it a more finished look on the back side.

 

 Once I did this to all my flowers, I ended up with a ton of pretty little accessories that I love love love!

And here's how I used them in my Twisted Flower Girl hairstyle I did recently:

I just loved that I could stick them in wherever I wanted and didn't have to worry about the angle of the bobby pin.  I was so excited!  Here's a few shots from our fun time with Jenn as well.  I hope you don't mind me sharing them!

I was so excited to have her wear the dress in the next pic because it was the dress my mom sewed for me to be baptized in ages ago.  I wore the white dress that's underneath, and then the next day I wore the pink pinafore over it.  Can't believe she fits in it now!

Anyway, you can attach pretty much anything to hair pins and stick them any which way you want in the hair.  So if you are struggling as to what to put in your dd's hair with her fancy Easter dress, stop by the craft store and pick up something that will match and whip a few of these out!  We love them.  These would work great for weddings or any fancy dances your girls might attend as well!

P.S.  I know I've had several of you write me about "baptism day hair" - and my vote is keep it simple.  I plan on doing a few pull through's up in front to keep all those wispy hairs secure, and then just have it in a ponytail in back.  Once she's dried off and all that, I'll probably quickly braid her ponytail and wrap it up into our quick & easy "Almost a Bun", and then stick a bunch of these hair pin flowers I made all around to pretty it up.  I'll save the "really fancy hair" for the following Sunday!  But braids are good too.  Anything that will hold up to water!  Hope that helps.

Quick Waves from Braids

I've been trying to get my computer files organized, and get hair pictures, that have been posted in files of their own - totally separate from my family pictures.  As I've been "cleaning house" here in my computer, I've come across several things I never posted - basically because they got buried in the middle of family vacation photos, and other family stuff!

Anyway, this was one thing I goofed around with one day - not in any hair style - just as a way to achieve waves from a braid quicker.  Maybe you've done this before, or maybe it's pointless - I don't know .... but thought I'd share anyway!

Begin by braiding a section of hair.  The thicker the braid, the looser the wave will be.

 Take your flat iron and slowly run it down the braid.  I imagine you could use a regular curling iron for this too, but I don't know that it'd give as good as a result since they don't get as hot.

You may want to run the flat iron down it a couple times just to make sure you've heated the whole braid through.  Then unbraid the hair and voila - you've got waves.

 I then tried it with a really skinny braid ...

 Ran my flat iron down it a few times...

And we got more of a crimped look than the nicer waves like I first tried.

I know I've seen older girls with straight hair and a few sections randomly in their hair with waves or crimped hair through out it.  So if you don't have a double barrel curling iron or didn't hang on to your crimper from the 80's (cough cough - like I did LOL) - here's a quick solution!  Just remember the thicker the braid, the slower you'll probably want to go with your flat iron - and you'll probably want to repeat it several times.  So if you love the waved look you get from sleeping in braids, but don't want to wait for it -- I guess this is the answer!

Monthly Hair Share

I know I've been slacking in my monthly hair shares, and I've meant to get one posted over the past several weeks.  Then I got a ton of pictures from one fabulous hair doing lady named Jami that made me remember it'd been a while since I did a hair share post.  So as I got looking back through my old e-mails, I realized I had a lot more hair share pictures than I thought.  So I apologize to all of you who sent me pictures and it's taken me so long to get these posted.

These first ones come from Amanda - who used Curlformers on her darling little girl.

Can you see how long it's been since I posted some of these?  I'm so sorry!  This cute one is from Pam of her 4 1/2 dd Miss M.  They did my Fun Turkey Bun months back for Thanksgiving.  It turned out so cute.

Elayna sent me this cute shot of her 14 month old.  She made 2 little pig tails on top and didn't pull them all the way through the rubber band the last time around.  So cute.  I almost miss this stage of hair on Bee. 

These next few come from Amanda who did the Combo Toddler 'Do - but instead of doing straight ponies around, she twisted the hair before securing it all with rubber bands.  Darling!

This darling 4 leaf clover comes from Stephanie and she did this on her 2 year old daughter's hair for St. Patrick's day.  Can you believe the amount of hair she has and she's only two!?  Amazing!

Debby sent me these of her 5 year old Miss B. - this is one they made up that is one of her dd's favorites & they call it "Diamond Hair."  It's so pretty - and the fun ribbons dress it up just perfectly!

You may or may not recognize this cute little head from behind, but Jenn did our "Almost a Bun" on Beans recently and sent me a picture of it.  I love it lower down by the nape of the neck in her picture. This truly is one of our favorites and one we do when we're short on time!

Here's another head you might recognize -- it's the little princess from Hair for my Princess.  They did our Dressed Up Headband for one of her dance recitals.  I love the bright pink headband underneath it all.

These next several pictures come from Nancy who lives clear in Portugal.  I think it's amazing how the internet makes the world so much smaller, and it's so cool to know people clear around the world are trying out our hair styles!  She was kind enough to send me pictures of her beautiful children.  She's had so much fun doing her daughter's hair, and in one of her e-mails said that her dd's teacher even stopped to take a picture of her hair with her cell phone, because in Portugal, it is rare to see hair done in styles like you'll find on hair blogs!  Fun stuff!

 

And just so her son doesn't feel left out, I'm including the pictures she sent of him too!  What a handsome little guy he is!

And the final pictures I'm sharing, are from the gal I first mentioned at the start of my post.  Seriously, she's one major hair doin' diva!  She sent me countless pictures, and it was hard to choose which ones to share.  But these are some of my fav's.  Take a look at her talent:

I just love the zig-zag part on this -- don't know why - I just do!

This one reminded me of our Ear to Ear Pull Through's, except her pony is off on the right side, instead of in the back.  So very cute!

 

She can make this knots like nobody's business.  So clean & precise. For the video on how to do these - head to this old post of mine HERE (the video is about half way through the post.)

So very cute.  I love how this has so many different techniques in it.  Love it.

I'd of loved to see her whole costume that she was wearing.  Simply beautiful.

She sent me several hairdo's where she'd done French braids.  Seriously Jami - you've got talent -- especially in the braiding department!

I think this is one of my favorites.  I'm seriously going to have to try this one. 

Phew -- I think that's all of them.  At least I think I got them all.  Thanks so much for taking the time to send me your pictures.  It's always so fun to see what you guys are up to.  You do amazing work, so keep it up!  Remember practice makes perfect! :-)  Have a great day.