Let’s talk about Crafter’s Problem #136: Coming up with a project idea at the very VERY last minute! Anyone else? 
Despite that Mother’s Day 2021 has passed, I still think this craft idea is worth sharing because you should celebrate motherhood ALL the time, not just for one day!
I’ll be honest, this pair of Mama & Mini hair barrettes was troublesome to make. I’m hoping it was just a bad craft day, where my Silhouette machine decided to take the day off. Plus, I know I definitely was trying to do too many things at once. #multitaskingmama
Follow along below to see how I made these DIY hair barrettes.
Step 1: In Silhouette Studio, draw a rounded rectangle. The Mini dimensions were 5.25″ wide by 1.3″ tall. The Mama dimensions were 6″ wide by 1.5″ tall. You can, of course, make your hair barrette any shape you want! Note: I know these shapes look large on your Silhouette Studio design space but remember, we are working with shrink plastic and it WILL shrink a lot.
Step 2: In the Fill Panel, choose Fill with Pattern. There are some default choices but I chose ones from The Silhouette Design Store, specifically Design ID #299755 by Kristin Magee (one of my favorite artists!)
Step 3: Create an internal offset of 0.125″ with the rounded rectangle shape.
Step 4: Then, I added colored text “Mama” and “Mini,” mirror imaged them, and then centered them over the rounded rectangle shape and within the smaller of the two rounded rectangles.
Step 5: On the Send Panel, select “CUT” only on the smaller rounded rectangle. Select “NO CUT” for the text and the outer rounded rectangle.
Step 6: Turn on registration marks and adjust the placement of your designs as needed. Make sure your designs are within the registration marks.
Step 7: Send to your printer to print, followed by setting it up to cut with your Silhouette machine using the proper cut settings.
- This step is where I had trouble on this project but there was an easy workaround. My printer has trouble picking up thick paper/material which then printed the registration marks too high up on the paper, which meant my Silhouette had issues reading the registration marks. Long story short, I just cut out the hair barrette shapes by hand using good ol’ scissors. Thankfully my barrette shape was a simple shape.
Step 8: Preheat your oven to about 290-300 degrees. The temperature listed on the instructions were too high for my oven (another hiccup in this project) so I advise setting it a tad lower to avoid wasting material.
Step 9: Follow the provided instructions. Insert into oven and watch your shrink plastic shrink!
- Suggestion: I noticed that it was best to lay the rectangle shapes horizontally. When I set it vertically, it never shrank down or it would collapse on itself and never shrink properly.
Step 10: Once the plastic shrinks down (the piece will try to slowly flatten out and you’ll notice the shrinking motion slowing down), immediately remove the cookie sheet from the oven and place the measuring cup over it and press down to flatten.
Step 11: Once cooled, squeeze hot glue along the top of the hair clip and place the newly shrink plastic piece over it. Hold down for a few seconds to secure. You’re done!
