Dollar Store Easter Bonnet + a Winner!!

First, let me say a huge thanks for all the wonderful comments you left on my Tattered Florals Challenge post. They were all so incredibly sweet - if I ever feel down, I'll just go back and reread them! 

I used the Random Number Generator to select a winner and it chose 195. 

raquelmason who said:

'I never would've thought the cage wasn't real metal, thanks for showing how you did it.'

Congrats, Raquel! I hope you enjoy the die - I know I do. :)

Now, I have a fun project that my friend Becky and I came up with a couple weeks ago. We both belong to the same rubber stamp club and this year we're in charge of planning challenges for the members to participate in. This month we decided it would be Easter bonnets, but there was much discussion on exactly what an Easter bonnet should look like!

I told her to come over and we would have lunch and work on them. While we were enjoying a tasty Panera salad, I said I thought we could run over to the Dollar Tree, get some posterboard and a few other supplies and make a hat that would be the envy of any milliner. I'm sorry to say that Becky looked at me with MUCH disbelief and doubt. I dragged her to the store though, and we came home with all kinds of stuff!

The underside of my bonnet is my favorite part! All it took was a lot of crepe paper and tulle. And some (a lot!) of badgering from my friend, Becky.

When we were discussing how our bonnets should look, she told me mine looked like an Amish hat and kept screaming, "Easter Parade! Easter Parade! Judy Garland!!" To hush her up, I googled Easter Parade and found this sweet photo of Judy Garland and Fred Astaire and that became our template to follow. I think we did pretty well, considering our hats are made almost entirely of paper! Here's how we made them:

1. Begin by drawing a circle with a pen and dental floss (!) on a piece of white posterboard. I'm sure a pencil and string would have worked better, but I just grabbed what was easy. (Please notice how sloppy and irregular my circle is - seriously, this is a project you don't have to obsess about!) Inside the larger circle, draw a smaller one. Cut out out and set aside. This will become the top of the hat. Next, cut about a 2" strip of posterboard that will fit around the inner circle. 

2. Snip tabs along the edge of the strip and fit it to the brim. Staple the end and adhere the tabs.

3. Use masking tape to hold it all together, as shown. I was happy to find white masking tape at the Dollar Tree, but any tape will work. 

4. Once it's all taped up, apply strips of double-sided adhesive (I used Scor-Tape) to the brim. Pleat strips of crepe paper, pressing to adhere. Cover the entire hat. Now, it's looking so pretty, even Becky was happy!

5. Flip the hat over and adhere strips of aqua crepe paper to the underside of the brim. Cut pieces of tulle and attach to the inside of the brim, wrapping around to the front.

6. From the same crepe paper, cut flowers using the Sizzix Tattered Florals die. Adhere two together and add a dot of white Enamel Accents from Ranger. Let dry.

7. Again, using the Tattered Florals die, cut the large flower out of coffee filters. Stack 5 or so and staple with a Mini Attacher. Take one of the flowers and wrap around a styrofoam ball. Adhere to the center of the flower with hot glue. Pull the petals around the ball, forming them into a peony-like shape.

8. Colorize the flower using Worn Lipstick ink in a Mini Mister.

 9. Cover both halves of an eggshell with Ranger's Glue n Seal and coat with Turquoise Stickles Dry Glitter. Glue a chenille chick into one half.

10. Glue a styrofoam ball into the other half. Create small blossoms using the Tattered Florals die and coffee filters. Glue onto ball.

11. Colorize a piece of white crepe paper with Mustard Seed Distress Paint. To do this, I first applied the paint sparingly to the crepe paper, then saturated it with water, wringing out the excess. I dried it with a blow dryer, but you could also use a heat gun (be careful it doesn't burn).

12. Finally, adhere your yellow ribbon around the brim, creating a large bow. Hot glue all the decorative elements as desired.

Is that sweet or what?! I can't help myself - I love those little chenille chicks so much. And I love that adding the styrofoam ball to the inside of the flower gives it the look of a peony. So easy and pretty!

I finished the top of my hat by adding a large swirl of tulle. It's tacked down here and there with hot glue. I also added some eggs we found at the Dollar Tree. To tone them down, I covered them with a coating of Rock Candy Dry Stickles from Ranger. The little blue flowers were sprinkled around the hat randomly - some are covering glue spots.

Here we are at stamp club showing off our creations. I think Becky's is gorgeous! Instead of white crepe paper, she used pink. She also pleated hers with care - she's much more patient than I. :)

So, you're thinking, why don't you two design hats for Downton Abbey? I know! That's what we said too. Here, I'm trying my best at smizing, but I don't think it's working...

If you'd like to make your own bonnet (and you should!), many of the supplies we used can be found at Inspiration Emporium via the links below. Remember to use my coupon code - stamptramp - to save 10% off your order!

Sizzix Tattered Florals Die Ranger Stickles Dry Glitter - Turquoise Rock Candy Dry Glitter Inkssentials Glue N' Seal Inkssentials Mini Misters Worn Lipstick Distress Reinker Distress Paint - Mustard Seed Inkssentials Enamel Accents Scor-Tape 1/4" Scotch Tape Glider Vagabond

InLinkz.com

In addition to these supplies, we also used the following, which can all be found at the Dollar Tree, or most any dollar store:
White Poster Board
Masking Tape
Crepe Paper Streamers
White Tulle (check the wedding section)
White Coffee Filters
Styrofoam Balls
Various Easter Decorations

We had so much fun making these. Call up a few friends, have some lunch and spend a relaxing afternoon creating your own - you'll have a blast! :)

For those of you whose names weren't drawn, please make sure you check out these great posts by some of my friends who are also giving away the Tattered Florals die - you might just be the lucky winner there!

Richele Christensen

Tammy Tutterow

Mou Saha

Claudine Hellmuth

Linda Ledbetter

Jim Hankins

Remember too, that Tim Holtz is giving away some amazing prizes for anyone who participates in his Tattered Floral Challenge. Check out the details here. Good luck!