Disney Flower Crown Wire Mouse Ears from Mouse of Fashion

 Today we have the honor of a guest post by my friend, Jennifer Mata of Mouse of Fashion. She makes all sorts of incredible Disney-related outfits, Disneybound accessories, and has recently started making Disney mouse ears with delicate wires for the ears. She is going to share a step by step DIY for the project, easily adaptable to any theme.

Flower Mouse Ears Tutorial

Hi all!

I've been having such a great time creating these wire mouse ears lately,I thought it would be fun to share how I do it.

I've recently become very inspired by all the beautiful art nouveau style Disney princess images I've been seeing online, and it seemed to me that it would be something that would translate nicely into wearable mouse ears.

I've been creating custom ears for a while now, but for these I wanted my medium to be a little different from what I usually work with. Wire has several advantages--its delicate look complements the femininity and romantic feel of the flowers, and on the practical side, keeps the ears lightweight and comfortable to wear--important for long days of fun in the parks!

Floral wire seemed ideal for this project, especially because it comes packaged in perfect coils (I have a thing for my mouse ears being perfectly round  ) and all you have to do is pull the individual wire circles slightly apart and snip! It is easy to work with, and comes in varied colors. I've found gold, silver, green,purple and red. (Of course if you don't find the color you want you can always spray paint the wire or wrap it in colored fun tape)

To get started you will need:

- A flexible headband ( I use Goody headbands, because they come in multicolor packs, which I like, but you could use any headband you prefer, and wrap ribbon around it to customize color.)

- Floral wire of your color choice

- Wire cutters, or scissors you only use for this purpose (floral wire is quite soft and cuts easily, but it will ruin your good sewing scissors!)

- electrical tape

- hot glue

- glue gun

- An assortment of embellishments of your choice: silk flowers, beads, faux "gems", etc


For this tutorial and in honor of the new movie coming out (that I'm soooo excited about!) I'm making Finding Nemo/ Finding Dory themed flower ears--but the basic construction is the same for any theme you choose--after that, it's all about utilizing your own creativity and imagination!

Step 1 :

Cut your circles apart. For me, the size these come in is already perfect, and all you have to do is pull the circles apart gently and cut. Done this way, you will get enough for approximately 3 sets of ears ( six individual wire circles). Floral wire is soft and easily bendable, so you can also make your own larger or smaller circles, as you like.

Step 2 :

Take the electrical tape and wrap around the cut edges of the wire, to cover any sharp parts and to join the circle.

Step 3 :

With more tape, attach your wire mouse ears to the headband base, making sure they are placed evenly, and wrap the tape snugly and as flat as possible ( the taped areas will be entirely hidden by flowers and other pretties when your ears are finished )

Note: electrical tape works best for this, but you could also use thin cut strips of duct tape. Do not try to use any other kind of tape--it won't stay put over time, and won't be flexible enough).

Step 4:

The fun part!

Gather your silk flowers and other embellishments and get creative! I start out by using silk leaves and covering all areas where the tape is showing first. That way you don't have to worry about it anymore.

Now, just glue everything in place.

In addition to flowers, beads (I've even seen people bead the actual wire ears, which can look very pretty), faux "gems", small toys (as long as they don't make your headband too heavy to wear comfortably), ribbon, shells etc. can be used to make your ears extra fancy!

For my Finding Dory ears, I used silk leaves, an assortment of orange, yellow and blue flowers, some glass gems, and assorted shells.

I was originally also wanting to incorporate little toy figures of the characters, but then I found these adorable 3-D paper scrapbooking stickers that seemed perfect, so I used those instead (I glued them on).

(Remember that if you want to include paper ephemera, you will want to seal/waterproof it)

And....Ta Da!!  Here's my finished Finding Nemo/Finding Dory mouse ears!! I'm rather happy with how they turned out.

So, happy creating! And if you would like to share photos of the ears you make using this tutorial, please do--we would love to see them!