Last month, I went to Disneyland for the first time since I was 9 years old! My next post will be all about that trip with pictures, stories, and such, but first, a quick tutorial if you will!
This year, Disneyland Resort turned 60, and to celebrate you can partake in Disneyland's Diamond Celebration! For the record, when I turn 60 I will be celebrating "Lauren's Diamond Celebration" all year long and it will be just as, okay maybe not as awesome as Disneyland's, but still.
I am ALL about classic black Mickey ears. I have quite a few pairs of them, and with them, you can't go wrong. A black pair would be a nice nostalgic throwback to the days of the park's opening. Now with that being said, this is the Diamond Celebration, people! I could not NOT show up to the party in style.
I decorated this pair of ears before leaving on my trip, and it really is quite simple. I'm not the first person to decorate a pair of ears like this, but I did decorate mine recently enough that I still remember tips and lessons I learned that I can share with you now!
What you will need:
- a pair of Mickey ears (if you are ordering from home like I was, you can buy them directly from the Disney Store's website!)
- heavy duty glue (I like this clear one for its strength)
- Jewels/gems (whatever you want to call them! po-tA-to--po-tah-to)
- a paintbrush you're willing to sacrifice to this project
A few quick things! A (1 lb.) bag of the silver jewels in varying sizes was around $20 regular price. Well, that was a lot to me, so bring in the coupons! I used a 50% off coupon from the craft store, and that was much more reasonable to me :) Also, just so you know, I have plenty of jewels leftover that I could easily make another pair, so if you're planning on making more than one, or using the gems for another project, one bag may be just what you need!
Let me stress that unless you are really thorough about cleaning, you need to just consider the paintbrush disposable after this project. I did clean it the best I could afterwards, and used it on another pair, but I'm certainly never painting with it again, haha!
Now let me try and explain my method to the madness!
- Sit down in front of the TV with a good movie or program going because you'll want something to keep you entertained while you glue gem after gem (and let me say that you can totally split the work up to be done over the course of a few days- you do you!)
- Start by gluing one layer around the patch on the center of the hat. As you go, you'll see that you have to have a little bit of awkward spacing on the hat, and it looks much better to have that spacing issue take place around the plastic ears where it can be hidden more discretely, and not in the center of the hat where you will see it and it might haunt you, haha.
- After that, I use the different sizes of the gems to fill from the patch down to the bottom of the hat. In order to achieve a cleaner, finished look in the end, you'll want to have a nice line along the brim. Well, as nice as you can with round pieces of plastic.
- Keep gluing to cover the entire hat! (It's as simple as that sounds, but I did also include more tips and explanation below!)
**I found it easiest to work from the bottom of the hat up! First go around the patch, then establish the bottom line of the hat, and then fill in as you go up and out away from the patch.
**I left the top area near the ears alone until the end since that is where you have a little grace to hide spacing issues.
**The paintbrush gluing method was to squeeze a little glue out on the hat, and brush it out to cover a little surface area at a time, and then calmly, but quickly, grab gems and start applying! Your fingers are going to get sticky from the glue, but that's just part of crafting and DIY sometimes, am I right?
I think the work is totally worth it in the end because you finish with a pair of ears that is uniquely yours created by you to wear around in the parks (or home, or workplace, or out in public.. I won't judge).
I wanted to show how I made the ears first so that when you see pics of them in action in my next blog post, you'll already be in the know!
This idea/technique isn't limited to this look by any means! You can glue whatever color jewels in whatever pattern your heart desires! Here's a look at a pair I made for a friend inspired by The Little Mermaid.
So let your imagination and creativity fly!!
If you have any questions or ideas, please do share them with me! I would love to hear anything you think of! If you need me to clarify anything I wrote, please also let me know, I would be happy to do that as well.
I look forward to posting more pictures from my trip very soon! I hope you are all doing well :)
x Lauren
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