St. Patty's Day Hat

Hello!

This is my first Design Team project for SVG Attic.  Since I won the challenge in January, I get the honor of doing a Guest Design Team project.

Since the first moment I saw the Mad Hatter Hat in the "Mad Tea Party" Set, I have been envisioning it in green with a leprechaun wearing it.  Perhaps it's because I'm a Fighting Irishwoman from the University of Notre Dame that my mind immediately went there...  or maybe it's because I'm a little bit crazy about the color green.

When the "Go Green" St. Patrick's Day set came out last week, I knew it was my chance to make a spectacular St. Patty's Hat.

I decided to glam it up and make it a very feminine and fun hat.

So...  without further ado...  Here it is!

Won't I just look too fun for St. Patty's Day this year?!

 Here is a closeup of the gold bow and large shamrock covered in green Stickles.

 Around the top is the 4 leaf clover border, also covered in Stickles.

 In this view from below, you can see where the veil begins and the stretchy green cord that I used to secure the hat on my head.

 This shot shows the gold glimmer mist that I sprayed all over the brim of the hat.  I also used it on the top of the hat.

 This is my favorite part! There are small 4 leaf clovers attached to the veil.

So now that you've seen it, want to know how I did it, so that you can try it yourself?  Then here you go!

I began by cutting the "Mad Hatter Hat Decoration" Files from the Mad Tea Party Collection.  I cut the brim and top out of Olive Green AC Cardstock.  I used the green side of two pieces of double sided cardstock from K&Co's Black and Ivory Fusion Paper Pad to cut the sides of the hat.  I cut all the hat elements at a width of 11.5 inches using my Cricut Expression and Sure Cuts A Lot software.

I also cut the top piece of the Heart Clover at 3.5 inches tall and two of the Shamrock Border top pieces at 11.5 inches wide from the "Go Green" St. Patrick's Day Set out of green AC Cardstock.

I assembled the pieces of the hat as directed in the SVG Attic video.  Then I added some strechy cord to each side and wrapped it under my chin, so that the hat would sit on my head without falling off.

After the hat was assembled, I started embellishing it with all kinds of fun stuff.

First I used a sheet of approximately 24 inches by 24 inches of tulle to make a veil.   I dyed the tulle green for a different project a few years ago (I had a ton of tulle left over from my wedding and I've been using it for lots of projects for the last 2 years) and had some extra to use for this.  You can buy tulle at the craft or fabric store in a variety of colors, so you don't have to dye your own.  I attached the tulle using my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher (you could use a mini stapler or hot glue) right up against the brim of the hat where it meets the sides of the hat.  I started at the right side by the ear and stretched across the front, ending by my temple.

After the tulle was secured, I put the hat on my head, with the cord under my chin, and looked in the mirror.  I used a pair of scissors to trim the veil so that it swept across my face diagonally.  It took me about 4 times of looking in the mirror and marking where to cut, then taking it off and cutting, until I got it exactly how I wanted it.

After the veil was cut into a shape that I was happy with, I used the shamrocks that came out of the shamrock border when I cut it, to decorate the veil.  I sprayed a little bit of gold glimmer mist on the shamrocks and then used the Tiny Attacher to secure them onto the tulle veil.

Once the veil was completely finished, I got a piece of wire gold ribbon and wrapped it around the base of the hat and tied it in a bow at the side.  I used the Tiny Attacher again to make sure the ribbon was affixed to the hat all the way around.

Then I took the Shamrock Border and the Heart Clover and covered them with as much green Stickles as they could hold.  After the pieces dried, I tucked the Heart Shamrock into the bow and used some glue to secure it.  I created a border around the very top of the hat with the Shamrock Border by gluing it on and cutting it to size so that there was no overlap.

The final touches on the hat were some olive green chalk ink around the top of the hat to help cover the little bit of white that was showing from the edge of the paper and some squirts of gold glimmer mist all over the top of the hat and the brim.

This was such an incredibly fun project to experiment with and I hope that some of you out there will give it a try and put your own spin on it.  There are so many other fun ways you could turn the Mad Hatter Hat into a St. Patty's Day piece of wearable art!  Good luck and be creative!