A kids' favourite - How to make DIY Mickey/Minnie Mouse ears

So, our Disney party is going to take place tomorrow! Yippee!

I'm pretty certain that I'm the one who is most excited about Angel's big day. Thankfully, I can feel Angel's anticipation too because whenever she sees a picture of a cake, she would clap her hands and say "Hair-pee, hair-pee!" That's when I have to go through the routine of singing the Happy Birthday song, let her make a wish and pretend that we're blowing out candles. It never fails to bring a smile on her face though, and subsequently a big one on mine. Win-win situation.

I guess having a baby gives me the chance to relive my childhood days, to let my imagination run wild (in a good way), to spend hours printing and cutting out cartoon characters without feeling that I'm a crazy, overgrown child who somehow doesn't want to let go of my fantasies.

Anyway, I've been working hard on my secret project in the past couple of months, churning out these surprise party favours for the VIPs who are coming to the party tomorrow - the K-I-D-S. Yeah, besides a colouring book, stickers and sweets, I decided to DIY something for them just so it would be more special and meaningful. I'm hoping they won't mind my lousy gluing skills and go "Summer-yiyi, why got white white thing on my black Mickey ears??%$@%$*!!"

Ta-dah! My first ever handmade Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears. I made near 30 of them which took up some precious hours that I could have brought Angel to the playground or invest in my beauty sleep. But, seeing my finished product in the end made it feel all worthwhile and if they can help to bring smiles to the kids tomorrow, bam, mission accomplished.

I was very much inspired by TheSuburbanMom for the making of these ears, but I just thought I should chronicle the making of my own so that I can look back in future and be reminded that I actually had the superpower to make all these myself.

What you need:

1) Black felt
2) Pink based, white polka-dotted cloth
3) Hair bands approximately 1cm wide (You can get them cheaply off Ebay!)
4) Foam paper
5) Scissors (Pinking shears and a sharp scissors for cutting cloth)
6) Glue (Suitable for use on felt)
7) Pens/ marker

Decide on how big you want your ears to be. The foam paper would be the filling of the ears and you would use black felt to wrap them. Similar to how I made a template in the Minnie Mouse invites, I printed and cut out a template that consisted of two circles and an adjoining rectangle. As a guideline, my foam circles were 3" each in diameter. The black felt circles were 3.5" (you should always have 1/2" allowance so you can glue the edges together later on) and the adjoining rectangle had a width of 2cm (this should be twice the width of your hair band).

Use the template to draw out as many shapes on the black felt, trace their outline with a gold pen and cut them out nicely. Tip: The circles with the outline should be folded facing inwards subsequently so that the lines will be hidden and not be visible.

Cut out rectangular strips of black felt. The length should be just slightly longer than the length of your hair band and the width three times the hair band.

Draw circles on the foam paper and cut them out. As mentioned, I used 3" circles for this. Instead of using a circle tracer, I conveniently used a can of Pringles as my template. Yes, the base makes perfect 3" circles! You don't have to cut these circles out too perfectly since they will be covered in black felt later.

Next, wrap the hair band using the rectangular strip of felt and secure it. How I did this was to apply a glue on the outside of the hair band and gently roll it along the strip. Then, I put glue on one side of the felt, fold it into the inside of the hair band and pressed down firmly. Repeat for the other side. For the corners of the hair band, simply apply a little glue and fold it in neatly.

Tip: Apply only a thin layer of glue such that it does not show through the felt and leave glue stains.

I used two pieces of foam paper for each ear just so they can be firmer and stand up better. Who wants floppy ears? Not me. Stick the two pieces of foam paper together. Apply glue on one side and stick it down firmly in the middle of one black felt circle. Next, apply glue on the other side of the foam circle, the adjoining rectangle and all around the edges of the opposite felt circle.

Position it nicely on the hair band, fold the black felt circles so that they meet and stick them together nicely. Tip: Take more effort and press all around the felt circles to make sure they stick at every point, especially the adjoining rectangle which will be acting as the pivot for the ears.

This is how your ears will look like now. Repeat for the other end and voila, you have made your own Mickey Mouse ears!!

Tip: Ensure your ears are positioned symmetrically on the hair band (as best as you can), unless you prefer lopsided ones.

To turn it into Minnie Mouse ears, simply add a bow using the cloth. I used pinking shears to cut out big rectangular strips (28cm by 9cm) just to give it that ziggy-zaggy edging. Next, use normal scissors to cut out small short strips. Similar to how I made the ribbon bows in the invites, I folded the cloth into giant bows, each with four creases in the middle part, and secured them using the short strips. Place the bow in the middle of the hair band, use the small strip to wrap over the bow and hair band, and tie a double knot at the back. Cut away the excess cloth from the strip and tuck away the corners neatly.

We are done! See, here's your very own DIY Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse ears! Now, we do not have to go Disneyland to buy a pricey pair of these for our beloved kids!

If you wanna make these as party favours, be sure to leave ample time as these things might take longer than you expect. Especially so if you would want them to be as perfect as possible. To be frank, I am not very satisfied with my level of craftsmanship because there would some pairs who ended up looking a little droopy or that I could see some glue stains in some areas.

That said, the bottomline is that these are handmade and hopefully the guests will feel a tinge of my sincerity within. I'm not expecting these ears to last for a decade, I'm just hoping they would help to liven up the party and bring some laughter and joy.

Besides, I already accomplished the first part of my mission because Angel fell in love with these and couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear when she put them on. Happy Birthday, my dear, glad you like Mummy's little prezzie for you!

For more craft ideas and DIY tutorials, visit my gallery here.