Mickey Pin Ears DIY
Updated: Jan 31, 2019
Are you a collector? I'm a collector at heart, with intense urges to organize and minimalize that usually override it. When I'm in a cleaning mode, there is not much in the house that is safe from my trash bag rampage. All that to say, when I collect something, I want it to have a proper display place where I can use it or at least enjoy it. When it came to Disney pins, I had never been interested because I knew I wouldn't wear a lanyard around the parks. Then I saw an idea from mermadewithlove who sells cute Mickey pin ears in mermaid shapes. I love wearing different Mickey ears and liked the idea of being able to rotate pins with different seasons. Plus, you don't need too many to fill up the ears! So my friends and I decided to make pin ears of our own! Read on for this easy DIY!
Supplies
Cork from Hobby Lobby (I used a .5mm and .1mm sheet)
Pom Ribbon (comes in a variety of colors at Hobby Lobby)
Headband (Hobby Lobby has thin ones that are comfortable)
Fabric (for a bow)
Jewelry Wire (optional if you want to make the bow interchangeable)
Hot Glue Gun & Sticks
Pins (Disney has great ones but you can also find them online at Etsy and BoxLunch)
1) Start by cutting the cork into your ear shapes. Cut 2 pieces of the .5mm and 2 pieces of the .1mm into Mickey ear shapes. I used an existing pair of Mickey ears to trace my pieces, but there are also a lot of online templates if you just google "Mickey Ear Template".
2) Hot glue the thicker and thinner pieces of cork together to create a thicker piece of cork. I hot glued around the edges so that it wouldn't interfere with pins being placed in the middle.
3) Use whatever ribbon you decided on to line the outer rim of the cork. My friends had a cute idea by putting their pom pom ribbon on the actual rim of the ears, creating a lining. Mine was hot glued on the front and back of the ears so that the pom poms face up.
4) After your ears have been lined with ribbon, it's time to attach them to the headband with a generous amount of hot glue. The best way to place your ears is to put on the headband and line up where you want the ears to go. Then hold them in place as you take the headband off. Ears will look like they're sitting more to the side when the headband is not stretched out.
5) If you decide on another color ribbon besides black, you may want to put some on the bottom rim, where they meet the headband (or to cover up any messy hot glue). This step is optional. I left mine, as is.
6) Time to add a bow! I knew that I would want to change my pin ears to match the seasons, so I decided to make my bow interchangeable by adding some thin wire to attach it. You could just make a bow that you attach permanently with hot glue as well. Or add fake flowers! So many cute options! If you are skilled at sewing, you could sew a fabric bow for your ears. My friend even put some stuffing in hers, which looked adorable! If you're inpatient like me, you can craft this quick no-sew hot glue bow.
Start with a strip of fabric and hot glue the edges to make a faux hem.
Fold both the left and right edge in, overlapping until you have the width of the bow you like.
Flip the fabric over so that the overlapping seam is in the back and pinch the fabric in the middle to make a bow shape. Secure with the wire by wrapping it around the middle.
7) Use another small strip of fabric to wrap around the middle and cover the wire. (I used a different patterned fabric to switch up the stripes) Hot glue to secure. Then wrap the wire once around the headband to attach the bow.
Then the fun part! Add your pins and go enjoy your ears at the Parks!
Keep Making!
Mallory
If you enjoyed this post, check out some more Disney DIY Posts below by clicking on the image.
