DIY: Bedazzled Bobbie Pins

I think a hand-written letter is one of my favorite things in the world. Not only do I keep just about every note I've ever received, but I also have a thing for collecting the letters of others. In fact, last year I was inspired by old letters to create these two paintings. My favorite line in the letter above: You must surely write to me here as sometime the time hangs heavily passes slowly and I like to then, more than ever, read something from U.S.A. So poetic, that Fred!

 So, have I ever told you the story about the time I got busted taking photos inside of Anthropologie? I don't even remember what I was snapping a picture of but I do recall attempting to be all stealthy-like with my camera phone. You know, pretending to dial while preparing to snap away. The prob? I had never figured out how to silence that stupid fake camera click. And as soon as I took a couple pictures sounding every bit like a crazed paparazzi outside Lindsay Lohan's latest rehab clinic, I knew I was done. The once super-sweet Anthro girl who was arranging the two hundred dollar dresses on the rack froze and turned around slowly with one eye brow raised and lips pursed.

"Excuse me, but are you taking PICTURES? Because we do not allow people to take PICTURES in Anthropologie."

"Oh! So sorry! Um, it was my phone. It makes picture-taking sounds..."

"You mean when it's taking PICTURES."

"Um, yeah. I guess."

Eye roll and sigh. Don't ask me how she managed to do that with her eyebrow raised. Must be an Anthro thing. "Please, do not take any more PICTURES." 

 Oh, look, sweetie, I don't need to! I can just pull them from your website. These clips are currently going for $28 for a group of four. Which is too much for something I will most likely lose to a coat pocket, counter top or down the sink drain. And I wonder why the doggone thing gets stopped up.

On a recent shopping trip to Anthro with a buddy (having one less than a mile from my school has become super duper dangerous), I was recounting the above tale. Because I'm a notorious loud talker, one of the Anthro girls, who'd yet to perfect her snotty face, interjected, "You can take all the pictures you want in here!" 

Wait, what?

"Yeah, we were told to allow people to take pictures of whatever they want. I mean, it's not like they are going to open up their own Anthropologie."

"Ha, right? Or copy everything and blog about it!"

"Exactly!" 

A friend at work gave me a huge bag of old broken jewelry. I didn't have a clue what to do with it until I saw those hair clips. Armed with my hot glue gun and jewelers tools, I set to work with some ribbon, babbles and bobbie pins.

 But not just any bobbie pins. I picked these up at the craft store. Because I didn't think that wee circle would be large enough to hold my bedazzles, I also bought small cork circles to attach to the bobbie pin circle. This gave me a larger surface to glue my jewels to.

 For some reason, as I was creating these, I made them into miniature groupings. Probably because that's how they are sold at Anthro. When they were finished, I thought: How sweet would a grouping of these be as Valentine's Gifts? The above are apart of the Shy Bathing Suit Girl set.

 Little back story: hubs saw this photo and informed me that the long lost key hot glued to one of the clips was one that belonged to his grandfather. Apparently one of the few things he brought back from World War II was this wood crafted box from Africa that can only be opened with, you guessed it, my hair clip key. Oops.

 Last year, I bought a grouping of vintage teacher Valentines off etsy. Each one is painstakingly signed by a student with a name like "Marsha" or "Deborah" on the back. These bobbie pins were created with beads from an old necklace and velvet ribbon from my stash.

 

 And I think they might be too cute to give away. I kinda sorta have a secret love affair with red and leopard print. I'm trying to keep it on the down low but it's really starting to show in my wardrobe. Whatcha gonna do? Ya can't stop true love.

Oh! And P.S. the right is a sneak peak at next week's DIY, eep!

 If you look closely at the blue jeweled piece, that is actually two different broken pieces of jewelry put together. Because they were both pretty unstable, I attached a cork circle to the bobbie pin, covered it in pink ribbon and glued the jewels to the top. The dog looks pretty happy. The awkward placement of the boy's foot is kinda freakin' me out though.

I scooped up these vintage postcards of Nuremburg during my trip there this summer. I love this grouping of hair clips with the velvety moss green and the pale pink. You'll notice that many of these hair-cessories are just broken jewels glued to the 'pins. Easy.

 Put a bird on it. Seriously, do I ever NOT put a bird on something? It's a disease, people. I'm bird-anorexic.

So let's say you wanna make some bedazzled bobbie pins of your own...you see it's super easy. And the best places to find broken jewels: the thrift store, your junk draw and your mom's old jewelry box. Just avoid anything that looks like an old key. Trust me on that one.

And the next time you are in Anthro, remember to snap a couple pictures for me!