A Crown For Your Princess

What little girl doesn’t love to dream of being a princess?  What big girl doesn’t for that matter?  🙂Though only a handful of little girls will ever grow up to become an actual princess, every little girl can feel like one.  And what better way to do that than to wear a beautiful crown!

The crowns pictured here are fun and simple to make.  Whether you are planning a princess party for your little one or having a tea party with your girlfriends, you can surprise them with a bit of royalty.  All you will need is some lace, some glue and a little time.

When one of my granddaughters turned 3 years old recently, she wanted to have a “princess party” for her birthday celebration.  When we thought about activities that would be fun for the little girls who came, getting to decorate their own special crown seemed like the perfect idea.  So we decided to make some ‘one of  kind’ crowns for each little girl to decorate and take home.  We had the idea to use a wide crocheted type lace and then stiffen it so it would sit up on each child’s head.  After some experimenting and several trips to the local craft store, we found that the best “stiffener” was an all purpose white glue….Elmer’s for example.

Firstly, you have to determine what size you want your crown to be.  They can be on the larger side and sit around the head resting lightly on the forehead, or, they can be very small and sit  on top of the head of the little  princess who wears it.  Of course, they can ,be somewhere in between these sizes as well.  The size of the crown is absolutely up to you.

If you are making several crowns for a “princess party”, as we were, try making them in a variety of sizes so the little girls have a choice.  While we are on the subject of choice, I would also recommend that you make several more than you actually need, especially if you are using several different laces.  They are so fun it doesn’t hurt to have a few extra in case some of the “big girls” (aka the mommies or grandmommies) decide they want one too.  And you can always use them on the tables as a part of your centerpiece.

Once you have decided the size or sizes you are making, cut the lace to the right length adding about 1″ extra to create the “seam”.  Pour about 1/2 the bottle of glue into a shallow bowl.  Thin the glue slightly with a couple tablespoons of water, and then dip each strip of lace into the glue.  Squeeze or wipe away any extra glue and wrap the lace around a bowl that is the size you want for your finished crown.  Overlap the ends just slightly and pin them together with a safely pin just while the glue dries.  If you happen to sew, you could also run a seam down the middle of the overlap to secure the ends first before adding the glue, but this is completely optional.

Allow the glue to dry for several hours or overnight.  If you don’t feel any particular spot is quite stiff enough, use a brush to apply additional glue where needed.  If you are wanting to speed things up you can use a hair dryer to hurry the drying process along.

Once the crowns have thoroughly dried you can paint them with gold or silver spray paint, or any color you like or even use glitter paint, or spray them with a light spray adhesive and then dust them with glitter.

At this point they are beautiful as is, but they are also perfectly ready to be further adorned with a little bling!  You can purchase little crystals or jewels or pearls or even use old costume jewelry to add to the beauty and charm of your crowns.  A glue gun is an easy and quick way to make these additions but be sure you are using a low temp glue gun if the children are doing the glueing, or have an adult help by using a regular glue gun.  Let the children pick out what jewels they want and tell the adult where they want them placed.  You can also buy some lace that is already embellished with rhinestones or pearls, they cost a bit more but they are really lovely. Try looking in the bridal section of the fabric store for these kinds of lace.

Crowns are a so much fun to make and to wear.

I’m not sure who gets more pleasure from these crowns, the little girls or their mommies and grandmommies.  Feeling like a princess for any occasion at any age can only lead to more love, more joy and an abundance of “happily ever after” …at least for one afternoon 🙂