Hand Painted Hat

To Jazz Up Your Summer Look

A few weeks ago, I was walking around SoHo aimlessly, stumbled upon a sidewalk hat vendor and just couldn't live without one. They have stacks and stacks of different styles, colors, and apparently sizes. I tried one on and knew it was the one. Unfortunately, I was wearing my biggest blossom (courtesy of BrittsBlossoms), and didn't realize that was actually way too big. I bought a size L/XL. Talk about a total bummer. And a sidewalk hat vendor isn't the kind of place you do an exchange. Especially after negotiating a price and getting a deal on it.

This hat sat around my apartment, moving from my couch to my chair to my bed as I needed to utilize the space it was taking up. Finally, I came up with a brilliant idea. If I can't really wear this sweet little straw hat myself, I'll make a craft out of it! It will be a perfect set-sail gift for my darling mother as we are quickly approaching our sunshine-filled getaway.

I have quite a few acrylic paint colors to choose from, I went with a periwinkle, green, and melon scheme. I found a very thin paint brush to try to make my artwork precise and began my craft.

I painted the outside brim with one pink line, then right above the ribbon.

I continued by doing a green line then a periwinkle line. I put the paint bottles next to each other to see how they would work together to choose the order that I would paint.

It was looking a little boring with just the lines, so I added a little detail on the top part of the hat and some little dots around the already painted lines.

If I was to go further with this, I might paint the ribbon, or take it off completely. However, I think my mom will just love this hat to protect her from those tropical sun rays. It is finished!

I love how this straw hat came out and I can't wait to buy one that will fit me and see what kind of fun details I can add to it. This whole project cost under $20 and took about half an hour. Share your pictures of this craft!!

xx -S