Christmas Bling!

I love something shiny!  So does my daughter.  I take full responsibility for her shiny obsessions and any"crazy" she may manifest in the future.   She is five and I love her to death.  That little girl is my little buddy in every since of the word.  She has a great desire  to help me with my projects (she is quite the little helper…wink,wink!) Her heart is always ready and willing for a trip to the craft store, her little brain is constantly coming up with ways I can improve, and I can count on her to have my back! Aggie is the first to tell me I am beautiful, that my pants are too tight, or I have spilled something on my shirt!  She is always watching out for me...Love you Aggie! My only problem,  I have to hide my shiny things from her...Shoot! Her love of all things “bling” has been  my inspiration for the following Christmas Crafts!  I figure If she has her own… she will leave mine alone!?! Probably not! But, it's worth a shot.  These are fun, fast, and fantastically shiny projects will attract bling lovers of all ages. 

The Christmas Headband…Love!  I was standing in the kitchen hot gluing these babies together and “AG” ( as we lovingly call her) walked in and said, “Mom, are you always going to make me crazy headbands!?!?”  Of course my answer was, “YES, my dear.”  She just smiled her beautiful smile and walked out of the room.  I don’t really know if that was her way of showing approval or disgust. Either way, I keep making them and she keeps wearing them.  Until she won’t wear them anymore…I’m gunna keep hot gluing crazy headbands together! 

The supplies are bits and pieces of random shiny leafs and tiny balls.  I use velvet ribbon cuz it looks "RICH" :) I have also used ornaments from the "Mart".  Most of the things I have purchased are readily available and fairly cheap!  I use a lot of floral picks in my headbands. They seem to be the perfect scale.  The red glitter headbands came from the dollar section at Joann’s.  I cut the small plastic stand from the bottom of the bottle brush tree.  Then I hot glued the tree on the head band to sit slightly off center.  A word of warning, the hot glue melts the tree a little, don't worry...just smash it on and hold for a few seconds.  Then, I tied several simple bows from red glitter ribbon and hot glued them to the headband underneath the tree.  Gluing the knot "inward" pushes the loops and tails facing "outward" making things look fuller.

  TA-DA! Done!  When I showed this headband to Aggie she said “Where am I going to wear THAT?”  My reply,…”Where WON"T you wear this!?!”  Cookie party at our crazy Aunt Tamara’s house...here we come!  I am also thinking an Ugly Sweater Party...HECK YEAH!

 And for my next trick...an ornament hat!  I bought this top hat ornament hat at the "Mart".  Thank you Walmart...your ornaments were darling this year!

I pulled the ornament hanger out of the top of the hat, clipped the glitter leaves from a white poinsettia flower, snipped some red velvet, and green glitter holly.  The leaves were glued on the headband first.  Then the hat, ribbon, and last the green holly. 

Where to wear this one?....Oh, her Kindergarten Christmas performance!  She has to wear jeans and a white t-shirt.  This will top it off grandly! Can't wait to hear those little Kindergarteners sing Rudolph!  :) Don't worry Ag, even if you mess the words up...you will look fantastic!

This next headband happens to be my favorite...just a touch of pink!  Very girly and yet...still very merry! I double over ribbon and tie it in the center to make bows then layer different textures and colors.  Then hot glue the bow onto the headband followed by bits of green glitter holly and red glitter berries. This also happens to be  Aggie's favorite! You are adorable AG!

Last but certainly not least...the fancy headband.  Admittidly it is a bit large...but, COME ON...it is Christmas! I ordered bling "belt centers" from saveoncrafts.com.  They were really cheap.  I got 12 for under 4 dollars.  I will be using them on packages, on headbands, and what ever else this season that screaming for bling. They are easy to use! 

 Using a continuing length of ribbon, I fold the ribbon over several times. This creats  three loops to each side.  I make sure the loose ends wind up at the bottom.  I slightly pinch the ribbon so it will fit through the belt buckle.  Once it is in, I re-fluff the loops and it makes a fantastic giant bow.  This is a super fancy bow...it will probably be the bow she wears to Church on Christmas.

 She definitely will not be lacking in the headband department this holiday season! Give me a break, I only have one girl...I am gunn live it up!

Excuse my ignorance but I don't even remember what this next stuff is called.  All I know is that it is like 3 or 4 bucks a yard in the store.  I found it on line (same place as the buckles) The whole spool was  about 5 bucks!  It is fun stuff! I bought both red and silver! I figure I can use it in wrapping, maybe a belt, or a little Christmas wrist bling.  This stuff makes quick work of a holiday bracelet!  All I did was cut a length a little smaller than my wrist and threaded ribbon through the tiny holes on both sides. The ribbon can be tied together for a beautiful bow closure.

I have also been thinking this would make a great wrist corsage for a dance.  You could attach the flowers right on!  DARLING!  Too bad Aggie is only five...No Prom for this girl!