There's always fads and fashions and trends in any area - and one of the most recent in the craft world was the hat easel. I resisted for a while, but then decided to have a go myself. I found some instructions on Positively Papercraft - with two different posts sharing instructions and videos for construction and for two different hat boxes.
I decided that I wanted to go much bigger than this, so I have adapted the sizes - but pretty much followed the assembly. I didn't bother with the fancy boxes - but did make a box to deliver it in - more details later. I really relied heavily on my Spellbinders circle and scalloped circle dies - both the ordinary set and the Grand set - which I have had in my stash for a very long time. The measurements that I mention are in relation to these dies.
To make this (at this size - which is just over 7"), you will need 2 sheets of A3 card for the easel base. I used Centura Pearl card from the Pastels pack. I used one sheet and cut a long strip off - 15 1/2" x 2 1/2" - you will need this later. The rest of this piece of card was scored and folded at 8 1/4" and then the base was cut with the largest Spellbinder circle die that I have - 7 1/4". Once cut, one side of the easel was cored a 3 5/8".
Please note: some of the photos are of another hat easel I made as I didn't take many photos while making this.
The strip that was cut needs to be scored at 1/2" and 2", and then notches cut into it as shown below.
This will form the sides of the hat, and is attached to a circle of 4 3/4" diameter as shown below.
It's then all about assembly. I started by decorating the hat top as I found this easier to do before sticking in onto the large circle. I used strips of patterned paper 1 1/4" wide to go around the hat top, and then went round with ribbon. I added a 4 1/4" circle in a patterned paper to the very top
You need another 7 1/4" circle for the top of the easel card - which serves as the brim of the hat. On this one I added a 7 3/8" scalloped circle in green, a 6 1/4" circle in orange, a 5 3/4" circle in the patterned paper, and a 5 1/8" scalloped circle in the original Centura Pearl. Onto this, you glue the hat top.
For the easel base, I used the same size circles and scallops as above, but added another green 4 5/8" scalloped circle. In other ones I have made, I have added another 3 3/4" circle on the top of that - but didn't do that here.
For the sentiment/stopper, I used a green 2 3/4" circle, an orange 2 5/8" scalloped circle and the sentiment was stamped onto a 2 3/8" circle of the Centura Pearl. For other ones I have made, I started with a 3 1/8" scalloped circle of the original card I made the base from. The sentiment was stamped in Stazon - Cactus Green and sentiment is from an old Crafter's Companion Sentimentals stamp set.
I then decorated the hat brim with bow in the same ribbon as I used before, and then some flowers I made using Flower Forming foam (see my post here).
I did make a very simple box for this. I used two 12x12 sheets of Core'dinations card and used my Big Score to score at 2 1/4" all the way round. I have made 5 of these in total, and I will share the other designs as and when I give them to the recipients throughout the year - one is not until December - but the next one is only a few weeks away.
Happy crafting!
Cxxxx
