How to make a peacock feather Barrette

First things first, here's what you will need:

The picture quality isn't very good, so here's a list: You will need two peacock feathers (just the eye part, actually, so if you have whole feathers feel free to cut off the ends), some rhinestones (amount may vary, I use 5 for this design), a barrette (purchase at any local craft store), felt, a hot glue gun with glue, and scissors. Optional: Pliers.

Now you want to cut some felt.

Place your barrette on the felt to measure how much you'll need.

Then cut to size

Now smooth out the edges of your felt square to make it more of an oval.

Don't worry if it's not perfect, you'll make yourself crazy trying to get it just-so. Put the clip and the felt aside and grab your peacock feathers. You want to cut all of the extra away from the 'stem', leaving only the eye. It should go from something like this

To something like this

Do this with both peacock feathers. Now play with your feathers to get a feel for how you want them to look on the barrette.

Grab your felt and one of your feathers. If your feathers are going to overlap like mine, start with the one that will be on the bottom. BEFORE adding any glue, lay it on the felt to get a feel for where the glue should go and how to get the feather to sit just where you want it. Once you put the glue down you're stuck (get it?). So, practice.

It's time for the glue gun! I don't know about you, but I've always loved these things, despite all the burns I've gotten from them over the years. Put down one diagonal stripe of glue roughly where the center line of the feather will be once it's placed.

You don't have much time before the glue cools, so place your feather fast! Press it gently to make sure it stays, but don't wiggle it around. Feathers are delicate, and you can get breaks in the eye pattern.

Now, do the same for the second peacock feather.

You are now ready for the rhinestones. Once again, before you glue anything, place them on the feathers to get an idea for how you want the pattern to look. I also like to use pliers to pick them up, as my fingers tend to drop things a lot.

Put a little dab of glue on the flat side of the rhinestone and place it on the feather.

Lather, rinse, and repeat for the rest of your stones.

Put your peacock feathers pretty-side down, so the felt is facing up, and grab your barrette. Put a line of glue across the barrette, put it on the felt and press down.

For added security, cut a thin strip of felt and slide it under the part of the barrette that sticks out, and glue the ends down.

And you're done! The end result should look something like this:

That's it! For nicer photos of the final product, check out my etsy store.