Recycling Craft: Headbands for 18" dolls

Last week I saw a cute idea at Dollar Store Crafts for making Barbie headbands from bottle cap rings that would usually either go in the trash or to the recycling center. That got the wheels in my head to spinning, and Monday night I came home and made a recycled headband to fit an 18" doll (like American Girls, although my model is by Battat).

Here is what you need ... or anything similar, really:



I'm sure you're still a bit puzzled, so let me help you out a little bit. The original packaging looks like this:



Yep, it's the plastic ring that's left after you use all the Terrifically Tacky Tape. I had originally saved the rest of the packaging (more on that when I get some samples made), but I had thrown away the plastic rings. I've been making quite a few 3-D projects lately, so I had managed to finish two rolls within the last week.

After I found the Battat doll Monday at a thrift store for $2, I suddenly had inspiration for those rings and pulled them right out of my (non-goopy) craft room garbage can.

I held them up to the doll and saw that they should work. So I marked off approximately where her ears started:



Then I used a utility knife to cut through the rings. I was prepared for a long ordeal, but it cut quite easily. (The first one was a tiny bit short, so I experimented with the second one and discovered that a 7-1/2" perimeter is about perfect.) Here's what it looked like after I cut it:



The edges aren't very sharp, so you probably wouldn't need to cover the ends. (I didn't, but you could if you wanted to.)

I tried the second one on the doll and it looked like this:



You could stop right there if you just wanted a plain white headband. It's pretty cute all by itself. But I really wanted some show-stopping headbands, so I played around with some supplies that have been collecting dust on my shelves.



This is the wider headband (it held 1/2" tape). I hot-glued two rows of pearly beads to the top and one row to the front (to hide the actual headband). You wouldn't want to bend this one too much or the beads will start popping off, but you really don't need to bend it to get it on her head - it slides right on.



Here's the second one (which was actually the first one I cut and a tiny bit shorter). It was hard to get a good picture of this one because of the rhinestones.



I glued on three blue flower beads off-center and added tiny rhinestones to their centers. Then I glued my regular-sized rhinestones to finish hiding the rest of the top of the headband. For the front, I glued on a row of the tiny rhinestones to finish hiding the base of the headband.

These headbands could go any number of ways. You could wrap them in ribbon, glue on bows, spray paint them for a simpler look ... You get the idea.

I hope I've inspired you to try a few. But what if you don't have any of these plastic rings? Just look around your house for something round that would fit over the head of an 18" doll. These rings have a 3" diameter inside. (We don't wear jewelry, so I'm not sure it would work ... But what about those plastic little girl's bracelets that are designed to simply hook around the wrist?)

If you happen to make any, I'd love to see yours!