The Robin's Nest Witch Hat Contest and Smeared and Smudged 31 Days of Halloween 2014 Blog Hop- Day 30

Welcome to Day 30 of the 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop. As you know by now, I am participating in this month-long blog hop with some extremely talented artists.  The complete list of Wicked Bloggers (that's what we are called) are in my side bar.  There are lots of prizes in the daily scavenger hunt, and a Grand Prize worth over $300.

To see all of the rules and regulations for 31 Days of Halloween 2014, please visit THIS POST. To see Scavenger Hunt winners from previous days, please visit THIS PAGE
Today, I want to share my witch's hat that I am also entering into The Robin's Nest Witch Hat Contest. All that was required was to use 50% or more of their products.  Apologies in advance.  There are lots of photos in this post.

Oh look, there's Skully again. I guess he got tired of sitting on top of the apothecary jar.   Looks like he's hitching a ride on that witch's hat!

There are lots of patterns and templates for making your own witch hat, but I chose to start with this paper maché hat I found at my local craft store.  I wanted it to be sturdy, and I think this will do it.

Next, I chose this beautiful Stencil Green/Plum paper for my hat.  I took a 12x12 piece of it, gently folding in half both directions to find center, and made a cut in both directions.

I pushed the center of the hat through the opening, adjusting my cuts as needed to get the paper to lay flat on the brim.  

I adhered the paper to the brim with PPA bookbinding glue, smoothing the paper with my fingers and a bone folder.  As you can see, I had to make some more snips in the paper to get it to lay flat against the brim.

I trimmed the paper around the outer edge of the brim, leaving approximately 1" - 2", snipping every 1/2" or so around the circumference.  I turned the edges of over and adhered to the underside of the brim to make a neat edge.  

To cover the cone shaped top, first measure the circumference (16") and the height (8").

Height = 8"

Circumference = 16"

Begin adhering each triangle to the cone shaped top, overlapping, if necessary.

Luckily, 16" divides easily into four 4" strips, 8" long.  Make yourself a couple of templates from computer printer paper.  First, fold the paper in half along the 8-1/2" side.  Mark 2" out from the center fold and make a pencil mark.  Use a ruler to draw a line from the 2" mark up to the top of the fold.  When you open it up, you will have a triangle.  Do this twice to have two templates.  Now you can get all four triangles from one piece of 12x12 paper.

Cut the four triangles out from your paper, as shown, turning the template point up, then point down, to get the most from your sheet.

Trace around the brim of the hat and cut out another piece of the Stencil Green/Plum paper.  Adhere to the underside of the brim with the PPA glue.  Cut slits in the center towards the brim.

Make as many slits as necessary to allow the paper to easily fold inward.

Adhere the slits to the inside with more PPA glue.

Paint the inside of the hat with black gesso.  I used the same sponge brush that I used for the PPA glue.

I applied a coat of Copper Gilder's Paste around the edge of the brim to hide the white edges of the paper after being cut.

I used Dusty Concord distress stain to disguise the cut white edges where I had joined the four triangles on the top of the hat.  It matched perfectly when it dried.

I next tried to adhere black netting that held produce to the bottom section of the hat.  

I used too much adhesive and removed the netting.  Much to my surprise, it left this awesome texture, as though the netting was still attached.

So, I used my happy accident and simply added more Dusty Concord distress stain over the adhesive.  Some of the ink is not dry yet, but it will match very well when it does.  You have to admit, it does look like the netting is still adhered, doesn't it?

Now to start making the embellishments.  Stamp Vintage Florets in different sizes onto the gold glitter card stock with Spiced Chai StazOn,  

Die cut each flower with the matching die.

Shape flowers with large ball stylus and glue petal layers together.

Add Champagne Stickles glitter glue to the petals.  I also added a Goldenberry dew drop to the center of the smallest flower.

Punch multiple sizes of daisies from the Brick Glitter Cardstock.  Shape each one, pinching the ends to make them more spiky looking, and adhere layers together.  Mist with the Coral glimmer mist.

Spray a length of creepy cloth with water and Dylusions Fresh Lime ink spray.  When dry, adhere to band of hat, overlapping ends.

Use dies to cut six bats from the black glitter chipboard.  Cut a length of wire and sandwich the wire between two bats.  You will make three bats total.

Die cut a couple of bare trees and twigs from the gold glitter chipboard.  Use the Orange Zest StazOn to give it a more copper color.

Die cut two spiders to adhere together, and enough of the fence edge from black glitter chipboard to go around the hat.

Arrange and adhere the embellishments as shown in the photos below.

Uh oh, what's that?  Is that spider creeping up on skull?  Ewwwwww!

And a bit of a closer look at my flower bouquet.

A look at the back.  There are spiders crawling all over this hat!

And here are those bats flying around like gnats on something with a stench.  Ewwww again!

And here is a better look at those spiky flowers.

I used the twigs instead of leaves between my flowers.

Supplies:

The Robin's Nest:  Gold with Gold Glitter Cardstock; Brick Glitter Cardstock;  Very Black Glitter Chipboard;  Gold Glitter Chipboard; Goldenberry Dew Drops;
Heartfelt Creations:  HCPC3500-Open Vintage Floret PreCut stamp set and matching dies;
IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko:  Orange Zest and Spiced Chai StazOn midi ink pad;
Sizzix/Tim Holtz dies:  Mini Bat & Skull Set; Mini Branch & Leaf Set; Mini Spider & 31; On the Fence; Branch Tree (Bigz);
1", 1-3/8", 2" daisy punches (Paper Studio)
Dylusions ink spray:  Fresh Lime
Tattered Angels Coral Glimmer Mist
Stickles Glitter Glue: Champagne
Copper Gilder's Paste (Baroque Art)
24g Black Artistic Wire
Creepy Cloth (Michaels)
Plastic Skeleton (Dollar Tree)
Green glitter spider stickers (Recollections)
USArtQuest PPA (Perfect Paper Adhesive)
Black Gesso; black produce netting

Whew, that was a doozy.  I hope you are still hanging in there with me and that you enjoyed my project today.  I have to say, I had an awfully fun time making this hat, and I hope I have inspired you to try making one for yourself.

I hope you are still enjoying the hop, and tomorrow is the last day.  I will be sad to see it go, but will take a few days to rest after this fun-filled, but busy, month.

Thanks for stopping by, and as always, have wonderful week.

Barbara Rankin