DIY Birdcage Fascinator

My project for the past couple of days has been working on a DIY birdcage fascinator, complete with a flower, sparkles, and feathers!  Wikipedia describes fascinators as "a delicate, frivolous head decoration," and that's exactly what my turned out to be.  My fascinator may be delicate and frivolous, but it's definitely fun!

I will be wearing a regular veil for the wedding ceremony, but I tried on birdcage veils when I was dress shopping and I really liked them as well.  Since I like both so much, I decided I will wear a traditional veil during the ceremony and a birdcage veil/fascinator during the reception and dance.  Of course I hadn't budgeted for two veils, so I decided to make my birdcage veil and spend my budgeted money on a real veil.

Without further ado, here is the finished product:

Here's how I did it:

1) I bought a birdcage veil at Michaels using my weekly 40% off coupon for $8.99.  The veil came with a comb attached and rhinestones sprinkled across the netting.

2) I purchased one set of white flowers at the dollar tree for (the price on this one is a big surprise) $1.  I took apart the white flowers completely and used only the petals of the flowers.

3) I took a necklace Lee had given me for Christmas a few years ago and I cut off the pendant for the center of the flower.  I don't regret doing this because the necklace was made of nickle and was turning orange on some parts of it. Maybe I'm sentimental, but this is my favorite part of the fascinator. 

4) I stacked the flower petals from largest to smallest and glued them together using a hot glue gun.  I sewed on the rhinestone necklace pendant on the front of the flower, and on the back of the flower, I glued on a few feathers I happened to have sitting around. I then sewed the entire flower to the comb of the birdcage veil.

5) Using the stick-on rhinestones I had purchased at Walmart earlier this week, I added a few rhinestones around the pendant and added a few more gems to the veil as well.  You can never have too much sparkle! 

My grand total for the birdcage fascinator was $10.  I am calling it a birdcage fascinator rather than a birdcage veil because I don't want to wear the veil over my eyes during the reception and dance.  I don't want to feel like I have something in my eyes all night!