Make a Watercolor Flower Barrette

This watercolor flower barrette makes me so happy. I made it for my daughter after a few failed attempts at making paper flowers. I spent several nap times carefully folding and cutting tissue paper and folding and snipping regular paper only to find that my creations were not exactly centerpiece worthy.

I wondered if I made the flowers smaller and used a heavier paper like watercolor paper if the flowers would look better. And then I remembered the alligator clips I had used for the rosebud barrette tutorial I posted around Easter. That was it—a watercolor flower barrette!

No, they’re not something your munchkin can wear in the rain, but then again we have several hair accessories that are fairly fragile and wouldn’t survive in the rain either. I decided to try this idea, and I’m so glad I did.

Making a watercolor barrette isn’t very difficult. In the images below, I used a heavy card stock that is watercolor-friendly but isn’t a true watercolor paper. You can use something like that too.

How to Make a Watercolor Flower Barrette

You Will Need:

Template (see download below)
Pencil
Watercolor paper or heavy “watercolor-friendly” card stock
Watercolors, water, brush
Scissors
Small alligator clip
Colored “gem” sticker that has a flat back

First, print out the template and cut out the shapes. Trace the shapes onto your paper. You can also draw these shapes freehand if you’d like.

Paint the entire page. It doesn’t matter if some areas are darker than others. If you would like more detail, you can paint each flower individually and add darker color in the middle. (That’s what I did for the lighter pink flower on the right on the top image.) Let the paper dry completely.

Flip the paper over and paint the back. Detail doesn’t matter as much on this side because it is the bottom of the flower. Double-check the front of the paper to see if the paint goes to the edges of your templates. (You don’t want white spaces on the bottom of the flowers.) Let the paper dry completely.

Now, cut out the flower templates out. In the picture above, I drew more than I needed. For one barrette, you will need two large and two small pieces. You can also add an additional piece if you want a fuller flower.

One by one, fold the petals into themselves as shown. Stack two large petals on top of each other and two smaller petals on top of those, arranging the petals so they look like a flower. At this point, you might notice that some petals are longer than you’d like. Carefully cut them down to a size you prefer.

Taking pictures and using the hot glue gun is a little difficult, so I don’t have a picture for this step, but it is really easy. Once you have an idea of how you want the petals arranged, glue a dot of glue on the back of one of the larger petals and press the paper onto the clip. Continue doing this with the rest of the petals you are using, being careful to turn the petals just slightly so they look like a real flower. Once you are finished, press the gem sticker into the middle of the barrette.

Now isn’t that sweet? I made a couple of these and love how they look in my daughter’s hair.

Here’s the template for you to download:

Hope you have a lovely {and creative} day!