Halloween Witch Hat Home Decor - with DIY video

It's Halloween and Time for some Home Decor -  With Julie Nutting/Prima and PhotoPlay

I created this witch hat using Julie Nutting's new die and stamp set from Prima.  I combined it with PhotoPlay Papers Bootiful Collection.  The colors in the collection make for perfectly festive fun home decor pieces.  

This started as a plain paper mache hat that needed to be gussied up.  I grabbed this at a great discount from Joann's  - part of the new Fab Lab collection.  

I had a few options for decorating my hat.  I could paint the entire thing, or use paper.  I chose paper because I love the PaperPlay Bootiful collection.  However it's way too difficult to paper something with such precision without edges and crevices showing.  Impossible for me at least.  

Painting the edges and crevices BEFORE papering and decorating helps eliminate the stress of perfection.  That's what I did.  I painted the edges of the hat, the tip of the hat, and the underside of the hat.  I absolutely did not want to bother decorating and wasting paper on the underside of the hat.  

After the paint is dry, I went ahead and added paper to the hat.

Creating a Template to Start the Decorating Process

 I have to admit that when I started the decorating phase of this project, I was certain it would be super easy and quick to cover the cone on the hat.  Heck , how difficult  can it be?  And how difficult can it possibly be to make a hat band as well?  

Wrong, wrong wrong.  I was so wrong.  It was not easy.  In fact it was frustrating as all heck.   But I have this quick technique I use when I am working with odd shapes, paper mache and wood pieces.  My template process is a snap and takes the frustration out of the paper crafting process - at least for me.  

  

 I have a super quick 2 min video that will help provide some tips when working with paper mache and tips on how to make easy templates in a flash.  

The doll die is much taller than I wanted so I cut her legs off.  Sorry little darlin' but I had to do it!

In order to make her be a sturdy and durable embellishment on my hat, she is 3 layers thick.  I cut 3 layers, glued them together and then decorated the top layer.  Then I added a layer of black foam to her in order to attach her to the hat.  The foam adds a nice dimensional layer between the hat and the doll.  

You can see the foam in the photo below ( near the bottom of the doll).

In order to protect the paper hat from moisture, I coated the entire hat with Mod Podge in a matte finish - even the under side.

Looking down on the hat....

Thanks for stopping.  

Products Used:

Prima - Julie Nutting - Halloween - Cling Mounted Stamps and Metal Die Set - Lil Witch -911614

PhotoPlay Paper - Bootiful Collection  12x12 paper
Paper Mache Witch Hat - JoAnn's Fab Lab collection
Black Cardstock
Black Acrylic Paint
Mod Podge - Matte Finish
Ribbon