For The Simple Man, Who Likes Pretty, Dark-haired Women And Breakfast Food

As I promised in my last post, here's the tutorial for making a Pawnee Rangers hat.

Now, this isn't fancy, as befitting a man whose troop has only one guideline:

So it's TOTALLY DOABLE by even those who don't possess the crafty gene.

You will need:

a khaki-colored cap

ConTact paper

acrylic paint 

craft knife

small, spongy brush or stenciling "pounce"

 printer 

Instructions!

Print out "Pawnee Rangers". 

(Copy the image, and scale it to the size that fits your hat.)

FLIP IT OVER, and trace the back.

Tape down the paper, and tape a piece of ConTact paper,

with the peel-off paper on the TOP, over it.

As you can see, you should be able to read the blue words on the ConTact paper.

Now, carefully cut out the letters with your craft knife.

Don't worry about the insides of the letters like "A" and "P".  You'll fix those later.

After cutting out all the letters, peel off the backing paper
and stick the ConTact paper on your hat.

Remember all those inside bits for the "A" and "P"?  Don't bother saving the originals.  

Just cut out new bits from the leftover scrap ConTact paper.  It's easier,

especially if you first peel off the backing paper.

Once you have the ConTact paper all smoothed down, VERY CAREFULLY sponge the green acrylic paint on.  Don't brush it across the paper; dab it on with your spongy pounce.

All painted?

Then lift off the ConTact paper and behold the glory of your Pawnee Rangers hat!

Stick that bad boy on your head and you're ready to camp!

Bonus!

If you're interested in making the Pawnee Rangers patch, here's mine:

Instead of printing out the image like I did for the Pawnee Goddess patch -- I couldn't find a Ranger image -- I used Heat N Bond UltraHold and cut out the trees, fish, etc. and layered them like a collage.  I found this guy's handsewn patch to use as a reference.  I used a Pigma pen for the green outer words. (A Sharpie will bleed.)

I didn't have time to zig-zag the outside edge -- my husband decided at the last minute he wanted to join me in Costume Finery -- but it still looked pretty cool.  Don't you think?

A Book Lover's High Holy Days

March 2nd is Read Across America Day, y'all! 

And in honor of the good Dr. Seuss' birthday,

I crafted a jaunty little striped hat.

But first of all, why didn't I just use the hat I already had?

BECAUSE THE FREAKIN' THING IS HUUUUUGE!

It bobbles around on my head and annoys me all day long.  It would be fine for a readers' theater or something, but not for a whole day in a third grade classroom.

So I started with two pieces of 9" x 12" felt, my reference book,

and my trusty old-school calculator.

(I have had that calculator for more than thirty years.  I'm ooooold!)

I cut the red felt into an 8" by 9" rectangle.

I cut two 9" by 1 1/2" strips of white.

I cut a red circle 3 1/4" across. 

(Ignore the red 3 3/4" on the circle!  My math failed me! It's wrong!)

With the remaining white, I cut two identical ovals as big I could, 

and cut a circle out of the middle of one about 2 1/2" across.

(Honestly?  If you have extra white felt, make your ovals bigger than mine.  They would be easier to sew, then.)

I sewed on the white strips.

Then made a tube, making sure the white stripes matched up.

I sewed the red circle on one end.

And then sewed the white oval with the circle cut out to the other end.

I stuffed that sucker with stuffing.

And then sewed the other oval to the bottom.

NOT SHOWN: 

I also hemmed on the white oval right next to the tube, through all the layers.

Otherwise, the bottom was too poofy.

I made two slits, and threaded a headband though them.

I hand-sewed around the opening, to keep the hat from slipping around.

Now THAT'S a hat I can rock all day long!