My sister in law is a mermaid fanatic and was wanting to go as a mermaid for halloween this year so I offered to make her a crown to complete her outfit. I looked online for some inspriation and didn't really find any how to instructions on the web. I did see several crowns for sale at outrageous prices of $150.00 or more. I knew if I put my mind to it, I could figure it out for a fraction of the price. With a little craftyness and some free time you can make your own crown too.

Step 1: Supplies

Here are some of the supplies I gathered to for the construction of this crown. Most of the items I found at the local thrift stores for cheap and a local craft store, JoAnns. I think I spent under $15 bucks total for everyting at the most and it took me roughly a week to complete.

shells of all sizes (I paid $2 or $3 for a bag of shells from the thrift store)
Garland (found this on clearance after cristmas for $1)
twine
scissors
pliers
hot glue gun & glue sticks
any shell jewelry ( think pendants and necklaces also thrift store finds for cheap)
fuzzy yarn for a seeweed look
4 hair combs

Step 2: Making a Base for the Crown

To make the base from the crown I used a christmas garland and stripped all of the berries and leaves off and ended up with just the wire.You may need to use the pliers to help you stipp the pieces apart. Save the leaves and berries since those can be used for accents in the crown later.Ssave the small wire as well, this willh elp tie off the points when creating the base form of the crown. I modeled the form to look like a tiara with arches and several loops. Use the small bits of wire to secure the arches and bend as necessary to round them out.

With the base complete, wrap it in twine to cover the wire. This may take a while, but the look is well worth it.

Step 3: Wrap the Base

With the base complete, wrap it in twine to cover the wire. This may take a while, but the look is well worth it and covers the sharp ends of the wire so it will not scratch your head.

Step 4: Adding the Shells

Use a large shell for a center piece and secure it with hot glue to the base. I tried a couple of ways to secure the shells to the base, but hot glue proved to be the best way. I had separated the shells I had by size and types to help give a little more symmetry to the crown. I had some realy neat pieces of coral that I used for the points of the crown.

Step 5: How to Make the Flowers

I had seen online where some crowns had flowers made of shells. To acheive this I had several small coin shapped shells and created a fan in the shape of a circle hot glues together. I used the berries from the garland as pearls for the center of the flowers. Add them the the crown and fill in shells to complete

Step 6:

Use the jewelry you found ot add on to the base of the crown for embelishments. I added the the shell necklaces to the back of the crown and fuzzy yarn for a seeweed look to complete.

Add hair combs to the ring of the crown and secure with twine wrapped through the teeth. This will help keep it on your head and with the weight to keep it from sliding off as well.

Tada....you are done. I would love to see what everyone has come up with on their own. I hope this has helped and given some inspiration to others