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Hey everyone!
Vale and I just got back from our vacation to Disney World and I wanted to share this easy mouse ears tutorial with those of you planning yours! I was on the hunt for unique ears before we left and while there were SO many beautiful ones on Etsy, I really wanted to use specific colors and sort of plan out our outfits for pictures. I am aware how ridiculous that sounds but it was Vale's birthday and I pride myself on being extra.
As usual, I got on Google (because there's nothing new under the sun) and I started researching how I might make them. There were a bunch of great tutorials online, so I picked out my favorite steps from each of them and got to work! You're going to have to excuse these pictures. I was incognito on the floor upstairs hiding out so Valen wouldn't find out about these and the backdrop is the area rug covered in ribbon glitter.
You'll need:
Comfortable headband: I bought a plastic two pack from Joann Fabrics and they ended up being very comfortable and lightweight
Wire: I used jewelry wire like this
Ribbon: Pick one that coordinates with the wire you chose. I wanted my silver wire to show, so I picked a sparkly silver ribbon to match, because Pixie Dust.
Faux Stems: I bought way too much. You'll need about six flowers total and you can use the greens from the floral stems.
Scissors
Hot glue gun and glue
4" coffee mug: You'll use this to wrap the wire so the ears are the same on both sides
Tape
You could use:
Vines: if you want to make your ears more visible you can wrap the wire before attaching your flowers. I really wanted the focus to be on the flowers and the ears to be subtle so I skipped this, but I can imagine how special this would be for holiday ears!
Embellishments: you can add a bow, rhinestone castle/carriage, butterflies, gems, a Happy Birthday, etc.
What to do:
Make your ears. Take your craft wire and wrap it around the coffee mug. My wire was thin so I double wrapped it and sort of twisted the wire on itself. Leave some extra on the ends so you can tape the wire to your headband.
It should look like this:
Attach the ears to your headband. I saw one awesome tutorial where she used glue, but the wire I used was a lot thinner so I opted to just tape the crap out of them and it worked great. Less finger burning, too. Tape the wire ears on nice and tightly. Don't worry about it showing! We're going to cover the tape up.
Ribbon-wrap your headband. Next you're going to take your ribbon, starting at the bottom on an angle, and wrap the ribbon up the headband, gluing as you go. I wrapped the ribbon tight to the wire ears and you couldn't see any part of the headband even though I was going to be covering the top with flowers anyway.
It should look a little something like this:
Add your flowers. Pull flowers off your stems and plan where you're going to place them. I began by gluing down some greenery, then starting with the front center flower and fanning out to the sides. I did some cute berries so they went on the back after the main front flowers, and then I filled in more flowers on top of them. I ended up flipping the crowns around because I liked the way the big flowers looked on the back of our heads and sort of did a peek-a-boo in the front. You have some time to move the flowers around before the glue hardens. Don't be afraid to sort of scrunch the flowers down so they don't take up as much space!
Front and Back:
In action at the park:
Et Voila! You have some gorgeous, unique ears that will get you a ton of compliments in the parks!
The best thing about these ears is that you can cater them to each different park, to different holidays, seasons, or events throughout the year, etc. I knew I was making mine for Magic Kingdom and had already ordered Vale a cute t-shirt, so I picked shades of pink and grey with some periwinkle accents. There are so many ways you can put your creative spin on these so they're uniquely you.
Another bonus -- the ears were very comfortable to wear. I usually get a headache when I wear a headband and these were so light that they didn't bother me at all, even walking around for 12 hours in the Florida sun. The heat on the other hand turned my hair into a full lion's mane. My kid was gracious enough to wear these for pictures and dinner, but that was about it. They held up great in a shoe box in our suitcase; but, full disclosure, Vale's didn't last the day in my backpack being crushed by my butt while we rode rides. Thankfully we got all of our pictures out of the way first thing in the morning.
Is anyone going to try and make these?? I would LOVE to see what you come up with! Or, is this something you would buy?
Also, for those of you who are interested in help booking your Disney Vacation, contact Chelsea Sweeney with Smart Moms Travel via her Instagram @csweeney.smartmomstravel or message her on Facebook! She streamlined the entire process for me and helped me to make the most out of this special birthday trip.
Bon Voyage, and Happy DIYing!
xoxo
Alyssa
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