Princess Sophie

I took out a strip of cardboard from my music CD/book set and Sophie started playing with it. when she wore it over her head, I thought to myself that maybe we could make a crown today. The simple idea soon became an elaborate project which took us the whole day to complete, not to mention the materials we used. That is my main problem... I rarely have any clue to how the end product would look like eventually. I just create with a rough idea in mind and see how it would turn out. For Sophie's sake, I have consciously plan what to make and even do sketches sometimes. Anyway, this was one of those crafts that I regretted doing the moment we started.

I did not take any pictures of the pom poms but I used them for the crown. I also used foam to make the crown itself because cardboard might not be sturdy enough. I even left room to loosen the crown or increase the size if it could least that long. And all that was done while Sophie was napping. The problem with foam - you have to put a lot of white glue and hold on to the pieces until the white is almost dry.

When Sophie woke up, I let her paint on the cardboard I prepared for her. She was not very good with brushes yet, but I was glad she did not abused them. Towards the end, she became very interested in the palette. She reminded me of how I used to paint in school while teaching... Actually, I prepared a few more pieces of cardboard template but I decided to scale down the project aka "lazy lah".

Sophie's End Product

Next, I helped Sophie as she applied glitter glue on the crown and the cardboard templates. She also placed the pom poms on after I put white glue on each circle. Such moments made me wish I had another hand somewhere to do filming. After that, I pasted the rhinestones on the crown with super glue... too impatient for white glue. Of course, Sophie was far far away...

Left to dry... for hours... and hours...

It was dinnertime and the crown was still wet and sticky. I hate to deprive Sophie her fun, so I took the semi-dried crown (just the ring) and attached a plastic sheet at the back (with sticky tape). And of course, Sophie became a princess... The moment I put it on for her, she dashed to the mirror in our bedroom to look at herself.

I could resist no more... I wanted to finish the crown and let Sophie wear it. So, I hurried and secured everything with sticky tape. It was worth the rush... Sophie seemed to really love wearing a crown. Too bad the cardboard was not strong enough to hold the glue and pom poms... it kind of made the princess crown looked like a jester's crown instead. But who cares, Sophie seemed to like it! She paraded around, kissed herself on the mirror and found a "throne" to sit in... What a comedian!

End Product - A Crown For Princess Sophie