An Epic Easter Bonnet

(don’t forget the scrapbook paper giveaway is still open)

Last week at Piper’s nursery they were celebrating Easter. The kiddos had to come dressed in something yellow, and were invited to bring along an Easter Bonnet for the parade. Let’s just say that i got a little carried away with the excitement of getting crafty.

I was looking for a foam bonnet so i could manipulate it, but i couldn’t find one anywhere so i just picked up two straw hats from Tesco at 99p each. I figured that with two I could experiment if i needed to. Piper spend most of the day pushing the top inside out, turning the hat over and popping it out again. It was the best game ever! Bless her wee cotton socks!

I had other plans however. Whilst she was happily popping the hat inside out, i got crafty.

I had already bought some bits and pieces – some wooden carrots from eBay, a furry bunny from when we went to Fishers Farm on Piper’s birthday, and some supplies from the model rail shop – i was good to go.

The plan was to make a garden with a veggie patch full of carrots and a naughty little bunny eating one. The basis of the shape was made with funky foam. It was easy to get the shape because its so mouldable, but sticking it was a bit of a challenge as it doesn’t like glue a whole lot. I had to use pva glue in parts and then a glue gun as well.

To make the veggie patch i first punched some small holes then made little X’s in the foam with a craft knife. Next I covered a section in glue and sprinkled the brown soil over the top. I then covered the rest in glue and sprinkled with the green grass stuff (both are made for model railway making). The toughest bit was leaving it to dry overnight and not touching it.

Every garden should have a fence right? To make mine i stamped a woodgrain image onto lollypop sticks and then stuck them around the hat. Because i used yellow foam to make the outside of the garden, i covered the foam with a wide gold ribbon first of all, so when i stuck the lolly sticks onto the ribbon it looked really pretty.

In a mark of genius i remembered that i had a paper pack in my stash from We R Memory Keepers that was called Hippity Hoppity and had lots of Easter themed papers. I looked through them and picked out a few borders and a tag, and figured out how to incorporate these into the design.

I wanted the hat to be interactive because Piper loves pulling things in and out, so i tied bakers twine around each carrot top, and tied all the strings together and secured it to the little tag.

The main body of the hat was complete and now it just needed some finishing touches. The bunny of course was added using a glue gun, and flowers from my stash also gave life to the garden. I added a little gem in the middle with some glossy accents (i knew that if i used glossy accents there was NO WAY they would fall off and make their way into a little mouth). They also need eggs of course, so these little wooden eggs (from the £1 store) were secured with a glue gun too.

Easter bonnets also need bows, so two lovely bows at the back, first a gorgeous green from www.theribbonreel.co.uk (need to get more of this stuff) and also the gold ribbon in a big bow.

Craig rolled his eyes at me, but I just smiled back. Maybe next year Piper will be able to make her own bonnet for school, but I took great delight in making this one. It will go into her treasure chest along with the other precious things that we have collected over the last year, and will continue to collect for many years to come.