Hats Off to You!

I love hats - my OH is always careful to grab my arm and steer me quickly through the hat department in John Lewis's - what a spoilsport!  For some reason he does the same thing in the bag section too!  Funny though, how pace slows as soon as we get into the "technology" department.....ahhh yes, it's all different then, isn't it?

Anyway, this week's Daring Cardmakers' challenge was set by lovely Zuzana and it's all about - did you guess? HATS!

Hi, this week is Zuzana here.

 With the more warm and sunshine weather I came up with idea to open  

The Hat Boutique

I would like to see a hat on your cards: straw, cowboy, top-hat, vintage, wedding, winter, baseball cap ...

It's completely up to you what colour and kind you prefer :0) 

We are really looking forward to seeing your creations. 
So get ready and let's start with crafting.

With Eldest Niece due to graduate from Uni in a couple of months time, I thought I'd "get ahead with a hat" and make a card featuring a mortarboard.  It was going to be much less complicated than the rather girly one I eventually made, but I'll save that idea for when Eldest Nephew finishes his degree in a couple of years time (if I remember!).

I know mortarboards are usually black, and I did start out by getting out more suitable, more muted coloured supplies, but hey, a small break with tradition and a little flight of fancy is a bit more fun  

So here's what I ended up with

Materials:

All papers from MME "Be Happy" 6x6 pad (from Follow Your Heart collection)

Bazzill aqua card (for sentiment)

Hand-made flower, tassel and scroll

Silver thread, inks

Own template for Mortarboard - please email me if you would like a copy

Tools:

Craft Robo (mortarboard, sentiment)

Zutter corner-rounder

Dies: Spellbinder Persian Accents, Memory Box swirly border

Punches: Punch Bunch flower, EK Success border punch, plain circle punch

 Isn't the swirly Memory Box die lovely?  I cut it twice to form the background for the sentiment, and trimmed each down slightly to fit better.

I made the paper flower using several punched flowers.  The scroll is just a piece of paper inked and rolled up, with a very narrow piece of paper used as a "tie"

 Looking at it now, I think I should have made the mortarboard a couple of cms larger, so I may go back and do that later.

To make the tassel I fringed a small rectangle of paper, added some strong glue to the uncut edge then rolled it up tightly around the end of the cord. 

There's a fab array of hats to see on the DCM BLOG this week, and we'd love it if you'd join in and show us your own Hat-themed cards.

Nothing exciting (or even vaguely interesting happening around here just now, so I'll just say "thanks for visiting" and head off to look at the new DT set of Crafty Templates that arrived yesterday and work out what to make this month.

Have a great weekend