Remember these?

I always wanted to wear these in Jr. High but my mom wouldn't allow me to have long enough hair to get the 'right' look. I was very sad. Sad enough that I remember it 30 years later, and with it the jealousy I felt for a certain classmate who had the long, blond, straight hair I always wanted, instead of my dishwater, curly, short mop...

(Pause for a moment at the poignancy of the memory...)

When I saw the lovely ribboned barrettes someone pinned on Pinterest, of course I immediately put this project on my list. Grace and I made them last night.

The trickiest part is starting them, so I did that, but then Grace could easily do the braiding while I held the barrette steady. You can see some imperfections, and we packed more braiding on them than necessary, but we both like the result!

Here's a tutorial, case you're interested. (Really, if this memory has stuck with me all these years, you don't want your daughter to live under a cloud like I have, do you???) The only difference we did, other than extra braiding, is we started on the other side of the barrette so the ribbons would end up hanging from what will be the bottom, it made more sense to me!