Kid's Crafts: How to Make a Paper, Vintage Style Hat with Flowers

Wall Decor

This simple kid's craft project is fun to make and does allow for some individual interpretation in its composition and look. The finished product looks like a small vintage hat, adorned with flowers. It makes a sweet wall decoration.

The vintage style paper hat can be accented in any colours, depending on your choice of ribbons and dried flowers. 

Supplies needed for the vintage style paper hat:

1 paper plate (the thin kind)

1 Styrofoam or paper bowl, standard sized

Dried flower petals

Ribbon ( The stiff wired kind looks best.)

Glue (Any white liquid craft glue will work.)

Water

A fat art paintbrush

Scissors

Rough brown paper towels (the industrial cheap kind not the nice white home kind.)

Drying area and surface for the flowers( A cookie sheet works great, since it can easily be moved around.)

The vintage style paper hat is done in three steps, so allow time for each step.

First step:

Go to any garden and gather flowers and flower petals of all kinds. Make sure you pick a variety to experiment with. Rose petals are one type that dry in nice muted colours that give the vintage paper hat the old world look. A variety of dried flower petals give the vintage paper hat a more textured look. The shapes of different flowers give it more visual appeal.

Take full flowers apart and spread the petals on newspaper or on a large cookie sheet. Spread them across the cookie sheet so they will get air and dry thoroughly. Place them in the sun for quicker results. This may take a few days. When they are completely dry they will have a feel almost like aged paper.

Once the flowers are dried you can begin the next step.

Second step:

Place a paper plate face up on your work surface.

Turn the paper or Styrofoam bowl upside down in the middle of the paper plate.

Tear the sheets of brown rough paper towels into strips and pieces like paper mache.

Mix a bowl of water and white glue. The recipe is two parts glue to one part water. Any white glue like Elmer's works. This mixture is what will hold the paper strips to the surface of the overturned bowl and the paper plate.