Wicked Witch Hat Centerpiece

While searching the interwebs one day, for who knows what, I stumbled upon an image of an adorable witches hat with a floral arrangement on top. I've looked and I haven't been able to find it again. Needless to stay it was stuck in my mind and I wanted to make one for myself. Keep in mind, floral arranging is NOT my strong suit. Funny that when I was a little girl I thought for a while that I might become a florist. But I digress.

I figured the basics for putting the hat together would be pretty simple... a hat, some flowers and other embellishments. I picked up a hat at the thrift store for $1 that someone loved intensely for one halloween and then tossed like a Christmas tree. So special. Then BAM, it's on the thrift store shelf... (ahem, yes, I am altering and mixing in irrelevant movie quotes. back to the scheduled blog post).

To make the floral arrangement :
(1) take a piece of floral foam and cut it into a 5"x4"x1.5" block and then round the top corners to end up with a piece that looks like a half circle.

(2)Then use about a 24" length of black tulle and wrap around the block, covering twice and tie in a knot at the top. This will be used to float throughout the flowers and also functions to thread the decorative ribbon through that goes around the hat which secures the flowers to the hat.

(3) Thread 2.5 - 4" wide ribbon (depending on your preference) through the tulle leaving a short end sticking out of one side (keep it long enough it can be used as part of the decoration), loop around hat and run ribbon through opposite side leaving a small piece sticking out of that side. Tie knot in ribbon under tulle.

(4) Stuff hat with newspaper or bags to keep from collapsing.

(5) Use red, orange and yellow flowers (or your choice) along with branches and other wispy accessories and build your arrangement in the foam. Keep in mind the depth of the hat rim and make sure the flowers you use will not obscure the rim entirely (unlike mine which almost covers the whole thing). Also angle some of the flowers back along the sides to conform to the hat shape help conceal the foam block. Start with the largest flowers and build filling in with the smallest.

(6) Stand back and admire your lovely handiwork. Then find a table or special place to display your beautiful centerpiece. Add mini pumpkins, gourds, skulls, etc to decorate as you see fit.

I've scored a few more hats on my recent trips to the thrift store. Not sure how many I need around my house so you may see some end up in my etsy store (next year)! Have a beautiful Halloween!