Life of the Party: Party Hat

We recently brought in a great collection from Basic Grey: Life of the Party. The cheery summer colors are great for any summer birthday party or just for fun. After being inspired by the latest issue of Handmade Magazine, I decided to create a cute and simple party hat. It was really hard to choose from this line, but I went with Jamboree since I will be using pink crepe paper for the accent and it coordinates perfectly.



To get started, just cut out the corner of the paper like so (basically it is a quarter of a circle):



My quarter circle is 8" diameter which will allow me to get 2 hats out of one 12x12 paper, but you can always make it larger or smaller depending on who will be wearing it. You will see that I have also cut a little notch out at the tip of the hat. This will allow you to form the cone shape a little easier when you get to that point.

Place glue along one edge of your hat as shown below. I recommend using a very strong glue or tape, like ATG tape, if you are using a heavier cardstock to make sure that it stays secure.



Wrap the paper around so the two straight edges meet to form a cone shape. Be sure to press down and hold the glue together until it dries and holds well.



You should now have your basic hat put together.



To dress it up a little we will be adding some fringe and a topper made out of crepe paper. First you will need to cut a thin curved strip of paper from your original piece of cardstock as shown:



Next take two strips of crepe paper that are the same length as the cardstock strip you just cut and glue one on top of the other. I offset them slightly as pictured below to eventually create more depth to my final fringe.



Next glue the strip of cardstock in the center of your two strips of crepe paper like so:



Cut fringe on both sides of the cardstock strip being careful not to cut into the cardstock:



One you have the full length of crepe paper "fringed," turn it over and scrunch the strips as shown below.



Glue the cardstock strip around the base of your hat to create fringe around the bottom.

To create a topper, follow the same steps but start with a shorter strip of curved cardstock and shorter lengths of crepe paper. Then glue it around the tip of the cone wrapping it around a few times to make it extra puffy and fun!



Poke holes in either side of the hat and insert ribbons to add a tie that will keep it secure to your birthday boy or birthday girl's head.



At this point you can always add extra embellishments on the front of the hat or just keep it simple so it can be used over an over again!

Happy Crafting and Happy Birthday fellow Geminis! - Amanda