Fête Gazette: Winter Hat Candy Covers

Hello friends! It isn’t often that I post to my own blog these days, but my sweet friend Gina invited me to join her 6^th Annual Creative Collective Project – and how could I say no?! I adore Gina. She is amazingly creative and talented, but also genuine and so kind. I am honored to be a part of her creative advent calendar, so let me introduce these mini candy covers for DAY 14! I dreamed up these little winter hats when I saw a pack of small plastic bowls at the dollar store. They were just asking for a pom pom, a little paint, and a sweet “knitted” rim. I wanted to keep the project simple, and use accessible supplies since this is an international collaboration. I don’t believe the dollar store is international, but I am hoping that everyone (who wants to make the project anyway) can track down some small plastic bowls. If you are not in the U.S. and find a good source, please share in the comments below. I know we all have party streamers and paint!

When my mother-in-law hosts holidays, she often places some candy in tiny individual baskets, bowls, or cute containers, and the kids love it! I thought these hats would be adorable at each place setting this Christmas, with a little candy surprise hiding underneath. I considered calling them “Covid Covers”, because they would protect the candy from coughs, sneezes, and little hands! While these are cute for the holidays, the color schemes can be customized to suit any winter gathering – a small one, of course! They could be placed on a tray for an afternoon of sledding or ice skating, or could cover little piles of marshmallows for hot cocoa! You could put names on them and use them for place cards. I already know my son will want to place one on his head, so it could be fun to attach some elastic, and turn them into party hats! How do you imagine using them?

Before I get on with the tutorial, I would like to invite you to join us, and spread seasonal merriment in a year where these everyday joys really seem to make a difference (perfectly worded by Gina)! Please follow her Instagram account (@willowdaygram) to see 25 creatives around the world share 25 daily holiday projects. She is our host, and links to each daily participant so you won’t miss a single one. She will also share some extras in her stories throughout the month. It’s never too late to join the fun!

Now, for the tutorial…

WHAT YOU NEED:

• Mini round bowls

• Acrylic paint

• Sponge brush

• Toothpicks

• Streamers

• String

• Scissors

• Fringe scissors (optional, but helpful!)

• Index card

• School glue

• Tacky glue

HOW TO:

Step 1

Use a sponge brush, and acrylic paint color of your choice to paint the inside of your plastic bowl. Allow to dry, and you may want to do a second, and even third coat of paint for full coverage. The inside of the bowl may not look smooth, but when you flip it over to create the hat, it looks perfect on the outside!

Step 2

Cut about a 31" piece of streamer. Fold the bottom 1/3 of the streamer up across the entire length. Fold the top 1/3 down across the entire length. Next, fold small segments of the streamer on top of each previous segment. The best way to describe it would be a “staggered accordion fold”. Add a dot of school glue under each fold and press down to hold it together. Allow to dry.

Step 3

Flip the bowl over, and glue the streamer piece around the entire bottom edge using tacky glue. Cut off any excess, leaving enough to overlap the two ends a tiny bit, and glue down.

Step 4

Cut an index card to 1 1/2" x 5" and place the ends of several streamer colors together. Wrap them around the skinny side of the index card about six times – each side of the card counts as one wrap, so only three if you go around both sides!

Step 5

Use scissors to cut the ends of the streamers once you have wrapped them around the index card. Hold the streamers in the middle of the card, and cut the “looped” sides on each end, so there are several layers of stacked streamer pieces. Slide the index card out from the middle.

Step 6

Loosely tie a string around the middle of the stacked streamer pieces. They should curl up a bit, but not too much, as seen in the photo.

Step 7

Separate small stacks of the streamer pieces on one side of the string, and use fringe scissors to cut all the way across. Cut toward the middle, but do not cut all the way to the string. Fringe every single layer, and then repeat this step on the opposite side of the string.

Step 8

Fan out the fringe with your fingers, and then shape the piece into a ball. You may even squish it down a bit. Use tacky glue to attach it to the top of your bowl hat. Allow to dry.