Mickey & Minnie St. Patrick’s Day Headbands

Topped with a leprechaun hat (properly cocked to one side, of course) and a bright green shamrock bow, these Mickey and Minnie headbands are earmarked for young Disney fans to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day in fine Irish style.
You can download the PDF template from here:
http://static.spoonful.com/sites/default/files/mickey-minnie-st-patrick-headband-craft-template-0212_0.pdf

What you’ll need

• Template for Mickey and Minnie St. Patrick’s Day Headband
• Scissors
• Stiff black felt for the ears
• Regular felt scraps (yellow and two shades of green)*
• Low temperature hot glue gun
• Small piece of thin cardboard or cardstock (for the Mickey headband)
• Green pipe cleaner (for the Minnie headband)
• Thin black headband(s)

Helpful Tip:Sticky-back yellow felt works especially well for the buckle on Mickey’s hat. If you use regular felt, you can apply glue with the tip of a toothpick when it’s time to stick the buckle in place.

How to make it

1. Print the template and use the pieces to cut out shapes from the specified types and colors of felt. Note: It’s easier to cut out the center of the belt buckle if you snip through one of the corners, as shown. The cut will be hardly noticeable once the buckle is glued to the hat.
2. Working with one ear piece at a time, apply a line of glue across the center of the connecting band (specified on the template piece). Stick the glued portion to the underside of the headband, positioning it about 1½ inches left of the center point of the band. Now glue the two round ear flaps together, as shown. Attach the second ear piece to the headband in the same manner, this time positioning it an equal distance right of center (you should end up with about 2½ inches between the two ears).
3. For Mickey’s hat, first glue a small rectangle of cardboard atop one of the pieces, as shown (this will make the hat stand upright once it is attached to the band). Now glue the second hat piece atop the first, sandwiching the cardboard between them. Fold the hatband around the hat and glue it in place. Then stick the buckle to the center of the hatband.
4. To attach Mickey’s hat to the headband, glue the left edge of the brim to the left ear. Then glue the center of the brim to the headband. Do not attach the hat to the right ear — otherwise, the hat will buckle each time your child puts on the headband.
5. For Minnie’s shamrock bow, glue a 3-inch pipe cleaner stem to one of the felt shamrocks, as shown. Next, glue a 2-inch length across the lower leaves. Glue the matching shamrock piece on top.
6. Bend the leaves slightly forward to make the completed shamrock look more dimensional. Then glue it to the base of one ear.