Hats Off to summer, Painting Creativity Caps!

Well, well, well, looks like summer is HERE! No more spring, no more school (online or other), no more sports (respectively), but the time to relax, kickback, and create the life you love! Many of you are probably working so hard- saving money for college, for rent, for food, I should know- 'saving' is the story of my life! But saving comes in many shapes and sizes; you can save money until you bank account houses 10 zero's, but what about saving yourself? It sounds dark, but the truth is that you are much more than the dollar signs that add up behind you, YOU need to add a little change, a little joy into your life to SAVE who you are- to express who you are! NOW is the perfect time to do that!

I created a project- useful all year round, but hat's off to summer for literally being the PERFECT season for sunshine! When I say perfect, I mean geographically and astronomically perfect timing for anyone in the northern hemisphere (The southern hemisphere has to wait a few months). ANYWAY, this project, if you choose to accept it, not only protects those beautiful eyes of yours from the sun, but when you put it on, creativity will start flowing through your veins. Kidding about the latter; did you know we are all creative? That's a story for another day, but we are! All uniquely creative individuals! The project I have for you today is what I like to call: a creativity cap. Some call it a baseball cap, some call it restoration, but by the time we're through, it is going to be a sun protector, snow shielder, creativity yielding hat that will make you jump for joy!

Now before we begin, I must remind you all that your end product may not be perfect, who cares about perfect, my mom's least favorite word is perfect... I've used that word too many times already! This is an EXPERIMENT, there are areas that you are going to have to use that creative mind of yours, areas that you may say, 'Melissa, what on God's green Earth are you talking about?' I totally understand and will answer all of your questions if you leave them in the comment section below. But HAVE FUN, express yourself, and get your mind off of work and onto joy!

Enough with the chit chat, let's begin!

(Sneak Peak of the finished product!)

SO, our materials are a little random- by random I mean there are many different supplies that you may or may not have and many different supplies you can use in place of the listed supplies, but here is what I used:

1 Old Baseball Cap (You can use any hat as long as it's cotton theoretically, Michaels craft store has some you can buy, as does Amazon)

• White Paint

• Golden GAC 900 Fabric Medium

• Paint brushes (Just a little important ;)

• Paper plate (I use this as my palate)

• Acrylic paint (whatever colors you want, I chose Basics turquoise, Basics light blue, and Basics Cobalt blue) (Basics is the name of the acrylic brand)

• Iron-on Patch, or if you're like me and don't have any, I made mine out of some scrap fabric and used my sewing machine to attach it to the hat

• Anything you'd like to decorate your patch/hat with (I highly recommend Basic's Gold paint- gotta love the gold!)

• Optional: Heat gun/ blow dryer, Sewing Machine, Thread

• ANNND... That's about it!

We'll do this in steps so it makes more sense!

Step 1: Gesso your hat

By Gesso, I mean take some of your white paint and mix it with little Fabric Medium until it becomes a little thicker than cake batter.

Paint your ENTIRE cap using this mixture to give yourself a nice canvas to start adding some color!

Now it's the hard part- BE PATIENT- let it dry! (Or if you're like me, I used a handy dandy heat gun/blow dryer to speed up the process.)

Step 2: Paint that hat!

There are many ways to do that, so explore and have fun! Paint an abstract, make some flowers, I went with an ombre look, it's up to you and your heart! I'm going to repeat this a lot, but make sure you're adding in your Fabric Medium!

If you want to create an ombre effect, then all you have to do is lay your first color down- (don't forget to mix the fabric medium in with your paint!).

Add your second color while the paint is still wet- make sure to blend by pushing the colors into each other! Also, make sure there's no white space in between the colors.

Add that third color to complete the hat blending just as you did with the second color. It's going to be a little glossy- let it dry completely before adding ANYTHING!

Step 3: Patch time!

So you can make this very easy on yourself is you have an Iron-on laying around, Iron it on, maybe sew it down to secure it to the hat. If an iron-on is not an option, no need to fear, you have come to the right place! Grab that scrap of fabric and watch as we Cinderella this bad boy into a creation of beauty!

• 1. I frayed the edges of my scrap fabric

• 2. I painted the back on the fabric with acrylic paint so the edges wouldn't fray so easily. Beware! It makes the edges stiff! Looking back you can probably buy a spray at Michael's or JoAnn's that can make this fabric iron-on or at least keep the edges from fraying, even so I used what I had and it works for my style!

• 3. Use the Fabric Medium- a dab with each color, and paint your patch! I know we can get carried away with the little details, if that's you, then go Monet on that patch, HAVE A BLAST! I'm more of a big picture kind of person, so when I put it next to my hat, I knew simple would be best and the subtleness of the patch would go with the business of the ombre.

• 4. If you're painting a masterpiece, don't worry about this part! I decided to write words on my patch that feed my soul. Whether it be 'be-you-tiful' or 'World changer', maybe it's a bible verse or your name, this is your hat, this is your creativity- joy- happiness cap, this is YOU, so make it shine with your you-ness!

Step 4: Sewing Station

• This is the last little part! Once your words/your patch is dry (definitely recommend that heat gun!), take your patch and sew it on your hat to secure it in place. Use thread that goes with your hat, and don't make my mistake- pin your patch in place FIRST to make it centered!

Step 5: Give it Gold!

• Now this step is completely optional, but I whole heartedly recommend it! ADD GOLD! Logically speaking, you are gold, you are so priceless and be-you-tiful, and YOU-nique, so add a bit of gold to remind yourself to sparkle! (I added some to the edges of my patch and the rim of my cap).

Annnd... You are done! Congratulations, you have finished your very first creativity cap! Make some for your friends, make some WITH your friends, your family, get your creativity on, get out of your comfort zone, and HAVE FUN! That is the most important thing, of course: Have FUN!

I hope you all enjoyed this just as I hope it was a little different than what you're used to doing on your down time! I know I had fun making mine! Now as we do more projects, we can get our creativity on- will inspired by something we made, and always remind ourselves that we are awesome and we painted an entire hat, so ANYTHING is possible!

Have a marvelous day!

Your Girl,

Mel