Princess Aurora’s crown from Sleeping Beauty is probably the most iconic Disney crown of all time. Its simple, classic and (best of all) easy to make! This project is completely customizable for what you want your crown to look like, keep it simple or add designs, copy a style that is already used in the Disney Parks or design your own original style. For my crown I decided to pull inspiration from the crown that Aurora wears in the Disney Parks now but add some of my own twists to it.

What you need:

• Plastic headband
• One sheet of yellow craft foam
• Mod Podge
• E600 glue
• Hot Glue gun/ hot glue
• Gold metallic paint (I used Martha Stewart brand Metallic Gold and an 18 karat gold spray paint)
• Swarovski crystals (you can use normal rhinestones too but real crystals make a huge difference! I got a variety pack at michaels of all different sizes and various colors)
• An old necklace/bracelet with big jewels (you need 4 circular shaped jewels that go on the points of the crown)
• Cheap stick on rhinestones in cute patterns (you’re going to paint over these so they can be cheap, I used swirly ones from the scrapbook section so it looks like raised metal when you paint over it.)
• Paintbrush
• Exacto knife
• Flat Iron or Heat gun for shaping the foam

How to make your crown:

1. Cut out two identical pieces of craft foam in the shape of the crown you want. I eyeballed it using photos I found on Flickr. But it might be easier to use a template. I made one by sketching out a rough shape on a piece of printer paper and cutting it out until I liked the shape.  This might take some trial and error, hold the cut out foam up to your head to see how it sits and customize to fit your head shape.
2. To get the foam in the shape of the crown I used my flat iron on a very low setting to heat it up and then I shaped it while it cooled. (You could also use a heat gun for this step) Make sure you shape BOTH of your identical foam pieces. To make this step easier I got a half sphere styrofoam piece from my local craft store that I could lay the crown on and shape while it cooled.
3. To stick your two pieces of foam together use your hot glue gun or E600 glue. It is important to line these two pieces up, if they don’t match exactly trim the edges down after the glue is dry.
4. Paint on many layers of mod podge to stiffen your crown and make it look less “foamy”. Be sure to let the layers dry completely in between. In my first attempt of making this crown I didn’t let the layers fully dry and it ended up having a cracked effect which I actually really enjoyed because it made it look like old, vintage metal. If you want a smooth surface be sure to let it dry in between layers.
5. Once all your layers of mod podge are dried and you are happy with the stiffness of your crown it is time to add the metallic paint. For my first few layers I used a paint brush and a metallic gold paint.
6. Make sure the paint is dry and add the stick on rhinestones in any pattern you would like. It doesn’t matter what color these stick on patterns are since we will be painting over them later.
7. Take your crown outside and spray paint the entire thing in gold spray paint. The fine spray paint will allow you to get an even coat in all the small crevices
   of the rhinestone pattern.
8. Wait for the paint to completely dry before adding your rhinestones. E6000 is a very powerful glue that will not budge but it also gives off some pretty powerful fumes, make sure you are in a well ventilated area while using it. Start by adding the large crystals on the points of the crown, these can be heavy so you might have to hold them in place for a few minutes while they dry.
9. Add as many or as little crystals as you would like. I always use real Swarovski crystals because nothing can match their shine
   and sparkle, especially if you plan on wearing your crown on a sunny day at Disneyland.
10. Let the E6000 glue cure for a full 24 hours before attaching your crown to your headband. Put your headband on in a comfortable position and shape your crown around it in a mirror before you glue it down to see how it will sit on your head. I used a pencil to mark where I would glue the crown to the headband!
11. You’re all done! Now go have fun feeling like a princess! (and being really sparkly!)