Do you have an excessive amount of elastic hair ties lying around? Do you irritate your significant other by leaving them EVERYWHERE? I wear them around my wrist, just in case. Scads of these things are in my house. Lately, I have been hoarding ribbon like a crazy person, too. Yes, that's right, I am not buying ribbon. I am finding ribbon and stockpiling it. My basement "craft area" is swirling with weird little bird nests of ribbon. I'll even cut that shit off clothing. Oh yeah! I am fucking weird. I have a really pretty piece that came off a friend's wedding invitation and with the holidays just passing -gift bags with their ribbon handles and high-end stores have lovely ribbon handles. I've been a nutty little hoarder…

I've been pretty obsessive over headbands lately…

Flowers, bows, plain,etc… There are so many pretty and unique ways to adorn your darling little heads!

This is my BASIC BASIC BASIC headband tutorial. I will do follow-up posts with all my fun adornments!

Take a pair of those elastic hair ties that you have lying about and connect 'em. Like so:

and tighten…

Okay, there's the stretch for your headband. Now it will fit comfortably, have a little give, but stay put. If we didn't use any elastic, our ribbon would slip and slide and have no ability to be worn with your hair up and down… You could use just one elastic. That is entirely acceptable, however, I think it looks better with two and it allows you to use less ribbon.

*afterthought- as I was playing with a headband this morning – If you wear your headbands on top of your hair, then one elastic is probably better for that. If the elastic is longer, I would put a knot in the middle of it.

Moving on, pick your ribbon. Is it pretty? I tend to stick with simple because I adorn with flowers and bows but that's just me. And Grosgrain (i always say gross grain) is nice because it isn't as slippery as some of the other materials.

Measure a length of ribbon that will attach to your elastic. this is the most important part!!!!! If you measure too short, you will have a mega headache from your headband. If you measure too long, your headband will be all wibbly wobbly. I can't tell you exactly what measurement to use because your head could be GIANT?!?! Also your elastic could be more taught or smaller than mine… Lots of variables here, Kids.

Lemme show what i did… It looks really really really cool (too cool for commas even).

OH WAIT… I cannot take a picture of myself with no hands… Damn iPhone. So I suppose it is too cool for pictures too. Just wrap the ribbon and make sure it fits with your elastic the right way… *don't judge me*

Okay, now that you are all measured, you need to cut. Make sure to cut your ribbon 1/4 to 1/2 inch longer on each side – so we have room to glue. You need to use a fabric glue, like "Fabri-tac," to ensure staying power. Hot glue would probably work here but may not hold as long or as well (Plus, it's just kind of bulky).

Attach each side of the ribbon to the elastic by folding the ends around the elastic and gluing the tab of extra fabric – cut off any excess ribbon after the glue has dried. Dude, make sure the tabs are glued to the INSIDE! Or find something cute to cover it up with.

Et Voila! You have a plain jane, but AWESOME headband. You could stop here, OR (and I recommend the OR) you can add stuff! YES! Let's add stuff!

What do you like? A flower? Some hearts? How about a sweet bow? Pretty hearts? Fancy feathers?

Next time, YO!

Here's a pic or two to keep you sated.