Carolyn J. Braden • 4 Minute Read
Patch and Puffy Paint Junk Trucker Hat DIY Tutorial for Holiday Joy
Get ready to craft the cutest holiday accessory with this Patch and Puffy Paint Junk Trucker Hat DIY Tutorial! 🎄✨ I’m showing you exactly how to turn a basic trucker hat into a joyful, personalized holiday statement using iron-on patches, bold puffy paint, and a little creative magic.
Whether you’re crafting gifts, styling holiday photo ops, or adding a touch of whimsy to your winter outfits, this easy DIY is fun, budget-friendly, and totally customizable. Perfect for beginner crafters, moms, and makers who love giving ordinary items a festive glow-up!
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I should make a mini one for Minnie Pearl!
The Creative Inspiration
I’ve always created hats and fascinators and when I saw the Junk Trucker Hat trend start to hit in 2025, I jumped right on the trend! I’ve made several junk trucker hats, and this one is timely as I made it during the holiday season. When someone gifted me with some puffy paints, I knew they’d be the perfect addition too! While LOUD, my hat brings me joy and when you can find joy in something as simple as a hat craft, well, I say do more of that!
It matches my balloon wreaths!
Feel more holiday vibes with a fun gift or holiday décor from The Vermont Country Store, one of my favorite holiday gift catalogs:
See my Sunny Vibes junk trucker hat here or below in my 1-minute YouTube video tutorial via my channel @carolynjbraden:
Puffy Paint Love
I didn’t use a ton of puffy or puff paints on this project, but it’s there, with all its 3-D and texture glory. If you’ve never used puffy paint, it’s a thicker paint that comes in a squeeze bottle and when it dries, it is puffy and dimensional. When I was a kid in the 80’s and 90’s, I made sweatshirts with cute fabric cutouts and lined them with puffy paint. I forgot how much I love it! I was gifted quite a few bottles by a new friend, so I am excited to see what else I can create with it.
Don’t Want to Make a Hat?
If you don’t want to make a junk trucker hat, I’ve seen them reemerging in many different ways on many people. It’s like the early 2000’s all over again! Look at the history of the trucker hat here on Wikipedia. Here are some trucker hats you can buy that we think are cute. You can also find them on Etsy.
Von Dutch Trucker Hat (These were all the rage in the early 2000’s and you can still buy them here on Amazon, $55)
Carhartt Men’s Trucker Patch Cap (Amazon, $24)
Plain set of trucker hats/no design (create your own for a group using this set of 24 trucker hats on Amazon, $46)
That’s Hot Trucker Hat (Walmart, $5.49)
Beach Bum Trucker Hat (Walmart, $9.97)
USA Trucker Hat (Target, $19.98)
My completed hat!
Why Make a Junk Trucker Hat?
I think this hat would be cute customized for an event. Maybe you have a special birthday or holiday party coming up, or are in need of a craft for your friendship “GNO” (Girl’s Night Out) or have a kid’s birthday coming up and need a fun thing for them to make. Perhaps you want to make them for your bachelorette group, a cheer group or just wear it when you want to. Whatever your needs, you can make a hat to fit any event!
How to Make a Holiday Junk Trucker Hat
How to Make a Puffy Paint Holiday Junk Trucker Hat
You can make your junk trucker hats in any style you want. I painted this one a bit before decorating to give it a unique look. All my links below link out to where I source my craft supplies based on price (Amazon, Walmart, Target, Temu).
Trucker hat (I mine on Temu (use my link here for 30% off for new app users or my discount code afe55197 at checkout), but you can get a similar set here on Amazon)
Dual Temp Hot Glue Gun (for embellishments)
Puffy Paint (I used a red and a green and Walmart has it too)
Acrylic Paints (I used pink and metallic gold)
Brush (Target has a budget friendly set here too)
Your choice of embellishments (I used these holiday patches and used large candy-ish rhinestones and some polymer candy canes)
Check out my 1-minute video tutorial for this project on my TikTok now or coming soon here and to my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden!
Adding some pink acrylic paint
How-To:
First, I set out the materials and figured out some of the placements of the embellishments. I laid them out on the hat to get an overall design concept and then started decorating. Having an idea in mind of what you want the final design to be is a good idea to start with. I matched the embellishment colors to a color scheme I am loving at the moment: Pink and Green
Splattering the paint
I used my brush to swipe on some pink paint and then the gold.
Adding some shimmery gold paint
I used an abstract style of painting by creating quick swipes of paint and by flicking the brush to create splatters on the front and bill of the hat.
Adding the large rhinestones
After the paint dried, I added some giant rhinestones using hot glue on a low temperature setting around the front of the hat.
Adding the patches
I added some patches using hot glue all around the hat, and one on the bill. If your patches are iron on, you can iron them on instead. I opted not to as pressing them on a hat with an iron would be a bit difficult and time consuming.
Adding some puffy paint
I added some puffy paint dots around the hat where I felt some more color was needed. You can add more or less or none at all depending on how you want your design to look.
Adding the candy canes
I lastly added some polymer candy canes with hot glue.
My finished hat!
I wore it to match my cute balloon wreaths and felt truly beautiful and happy. It sparks JOY when I look at it, which is always my goal in my creations.
I love how it turned out!
Take Action
I encourage you to try the project with your own creative twists and share your creations on your social accounts! If you tag me using @carolynsbloomingcreations or @carolynjbraden, I’ll see it! Or tell me about it in the comments below.
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Carolyn J. Braden is the owner of Carolyn’s Blooming Creations is a regular contributor and editor for CBC. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.