Add fun flowers to your summer do

Summer is the number one season to accessorize. This week's project is fashionable and functional. Summer bloom hair bands not only keep your locks off your face and out of your eyes, but you'll look stylish while having fun in the sun. You can even add these bright flowers to shoes, hats, beach bags and more. Make summer hair accessories to match all your favourite outfits. Look for bright colours and cool prints to accompany the warm weather. Give it a try, girls!

What you need

• Naugahyde/faux leather (assorted colours)
• Cookie cutters/stencils (flower shapes)
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Brads
• Toothpick
• Cutting board
• Sharp knife
• Hair band
• Hot-melt glue gun and glue sticks

Summer bloom hair band

Collecting your materials: Find a fun hair band at your dollar, department or drug store. Ask mom or dad to take you to a fabric store to buy a small amount of Naugahyde (faux leather) in fun colours to match or complement the hair band. Find brads (these are those things that we used to use to hold paper together) at scrapbooking, stationary or arts and crafts stores. Get colours to coordinate with your faux leather. They come in fun shapes, too. You'll also need cookie cutters or stencils in flower shapes.

Step One: Lay the faux leather good side down on your work table. Set the cookie cutter or stencil on the wrong side of the faux leather and trace around the shape with a pencil (or be artistic: draw your own flower shapes). Cut loosely around the shape with scissors then do the detail trim. For fun, layer different flower shapes and cut a circular centre (tip: trace around any small round object) for each hair band. You can decorate the hair band with just one flower or add as many as you like.

Step Two: Grab the cutting board and toothpick. Working one flower at a time, place the pieces onto the cutting board. Find the centre on each and make an impression with your toothpick. At the centre mark, use a sharp knife to cut a very small vertical slice through the faux leather. Do this with each piece needed to make the flower. Stack the pieces and push the brad through to hold them together. Press the tabs flat. Repeat for each flower.

Step Three: Now that you have your flowers, it's time to glue them to the hair band. Use hot-melt glue to stick them to the band's hard surfaces (ask a grown up to help with this). These flowers will also look great on barrettes, hair clips, bracelets, summer hats, shoes, beach bags and more. Use the same glue technique for other hard surfaces like barrettes or clips. For soft materials (hats, shoes, totes, t-shirts etc.), make a small incision through the fabric, slide the brad ends through the hole and bend them flat. Remove the flowers before washing. If the brad rubs against your skin, put a small piece of duct tape on the underside to prevent irritation.

Share your favourite summer craft ideas with me and Yahoo! readers. Just leave a comment. Thanks!