mountains & mode: DIY: Kentucky Derby Hat

The Kentucky Derby is upon us. To some, it means horses, racing and bets. To me, it means hats, hats and bigger hats.

Last year, I threw a Derby party at a local restaurant in town. As the so called "party host," I knew I had to look extra sexylicious and dress the part. I also knew that dressing the part started and ended with the perfect hat. So I shopped around. All over Summit County, and you know what I found? Nothing. Apparently ski resort towns aren't into providing it's locals with awesomely, wide-brimmed Derby hats. #SoAnnoying.

So I did what any crafty girl would do, I looked online. After watching E News, (guilty) I learned the the place to buy Derby hats is Louise Greene, so I checked it out. The hats are obnoxious and perfect and over $300! Yikes!

With my online shopping option gone, I ~~resorted to~~ jumped at the opportunity to DIY a hat. It was actually super easy and didn't turn out half bad. In total, I think I spent about 30 minutes and $30 crafting my homemade hat And, the extra cool part? The flowers I used are removable, so my "Derby" hat is actually a super sweet beach hat. Bam, double the use!

To start, gather your materials, yo. You will need:

-hat (a wide brim hat is typical for the derby, but you use whatever you want. Go with your bad self!)
-fake flowers
-safety pins
-hot glue (optional- if you want to permanently attach the flowers)

1. Prepare your flowers. I bought my fake flowers at Target because there is no craft store in Summit County. The only flowers they had were also super expensive (at least $10 each), so I got thrifty and found a cute, miniature vase filled with flowers it for $6. (I wish I could have added more flowers, but the extra cost just wasn't worth it for me. You can use however many flowers you want though! You're probably not as ~~cheap~~ thrifty as I am.) Arrange the flowers on your hat and find an arrangement that you like. If your flowers have stems on them, wait to cut them off or start by trimming them in stages. Find the arrangement you like and determine if the stems will make it easier to attach the flowers to your hat.

2. Attach the flowers to your hat. I used safety pins so I could remove the flowers and wear my hat again, sans flower power; however, my flowers moved around a lot throughout the day and I had to fix them several times. If you don't care about being able to remove the flowers, I would suggest hot glueing the flowers on. They will be more secure.