Circarnival (Circus Carnival) Wedding DIY: How to Make Bride and Groom Pinwheel Accessories

Jessi and Mark are getting married October 27th. 

While Jessi and Mark have been engaged-via-fortune-cookie for a while now, the wedding date was just decided upon a couple weeks ago. If you're keeping score here, that means planning a wedding in less than 2 months. And the budget? People pay more for a month's rent. To me, this is awesome. Stressful, but awesome. Which is why I'm on board.

Plans started immediately and now, two weeks in, I think we may actually be done purchasing everything we will need to purchase. Today I'd like to share one of my first DIY wedding projects: bride and groom pinwheel wedding accessories. A hair fascinator for the bride and a boutonniere for the groom.

Things You'll Need

• Double sided scrapbook paper (alternately, glue two patterned pieces you like together, patterns out)
• Scissors
• Paper cutter, optionally. If you, unlike me, can cut in a straight line, you can skip this.
• An X-acto knife. Or a hole punch. Or scissors. You're going to be making a hole for the brads with this.
• Metal brads (These can be basic circles, but if you're feeling fancy, check Michael's, they have these in a ridiculous amount of shapes.)
• Hot glue
• A hair clip (I get mine from Sally's by the box for $2.50-$3)
• A paper straw (Or any kind of straw or stick, really.)
• A boutonniere flower pin (I found mine at Michael's for around $3)

I already had almost all of these things and only needed to buy the paper and the brads. But, if I hadn't, here's how much I would have spent:

• Paper pack of 24 double-sided sheets: $10 from Michael's
• Lollipop brads: $3 from Michael's
• Hair clips pack of 12: $2.50 on sale from Sally's Beauty
• Paper straws pack of 144: $5 on Amazon
• Boutonniere pin: $3 from Michael's

(I assume most crafters will have everything else, ie scissors and a hot glue gun.)

Total: $23.50 

But, keep in mind, I obviously did not use all of those materials for this one project. For example, I only used one piece of paper out of that 24 pack. 

This individual project only cost $3.79.

Yes, I'm serious, the groom's boutonniere and the bride's hair 'flower' together cost less than $4. AND, the added perk is that they're completely appropriate for the theme.  

Here's How to Make the Pinwheel Hair Fascinator:

1. Cut a 7x7 piece of double-sided (or two glued together pieces of) paper using a paper cutter or scissors. (This turned out rather large. I envision the bride having big, fantastic hair for her wedding day so I think it'll be perfect...but this could definitely be much smaller and still be equally cute.) 
   
   
   
   
   Excuse my beat up paper cutter. It's older than all of us combined.
    
2. With scissors, cut equal lines diagonally into the center of the square from each corner. Don't cut all the way to the center. Most people would probably tell you to measure this part. But I definitely didn't.
   
3. Using the X-acto knife or the hole puncher orrrr the scissors, make a small hole to the right of each diagonal cut (or the left, but either way be consistent). Cut another hole in the center of the square. Because I used an X-acto knife I instead cut a little starburst shape for the brad to poke through, but it functioned just as a circle would.
   
   
   
   
4. Put the brad through one of the holes and then add the other three to the back of it. Finish by pushing the brad through the center hole. 
   
5. Bend the ends of the brad and you're done with the pinwheel! (I used a lollipop because it's so cute I could die. The downside here is that these pinwheels won't spin. If you want yours to spin--stick with something simple and round and be sure not to fasten the brad too tightly.) 
   
   
   
   
6. Being cognizant of where the pinwheel will pin into the hair, attach the top of the duckbill clip with hot glue.  I already knew this pinwheel wouldn't spin so I just glued this sucker on. If you're still hell bent on making a spinning pinwheel you may want to think really hard about how you can attach this clip and still allow for spinning. 

Here's How to Make the Pinwheel Boutonniere:

1. Repeat steps 1-5 above, but instead of 7x7 paper, use 5x5 or smaller. I used 5x5 and it could certainly be a lot smaller. I may even re-do it.
2. Cut a paper straw to desired length of 'stem' and hot glue it to the back of the pinwheel. 
3. Stuff it in a boutonniere clip. I added hot glue to the bottom of mine so the pinwheel would stay upright. In lieu of steps 2 and 3 you could just skip the stem and the holder clip thing and instead glue a pin right to the back of the pinwheel. If I remake this bad boy in a smaller size I might do that.