How to Make a Sunny Vibes Junk Trucker Hat

 Carolyn J. Braden • 3 Minute Read 

How to Make a Sunny Vibes Junk Trucker Hat

How to Make a Sunny Vibes Junk Trucker Hat

Another junk trucker hat creation from me to you! My first junk trucker hat was adorned with butterflies and matched a pastel rainbow sweater I love. My next junk trucker hat matches the “fraternal twin” of a pastel rainbow sweater I love and served as the inspiration for this sparkly and happy hat.

While it may be “too much” for some, it is not too much for me and my personal style and I thought others like myself may like to know how I created it. Read on to learn how to make a Sunny Vibes Junk Trucker Hat.

carolyn braden in girls night out outfit

This hat would be cute for a Girl’s Night Out event

What is a Junk Trucker Hat?

Basically, a junk trucker hat is a trendy term applied to a trucker hat design where A LOT of “stuff” is applied. I’ve seen children wearing them, and even saw an adult wearing a trucker hat adorned with patches at my local grocery store. Some junk hats in my Pinterest feed have friendship bracelets attached and I created one similar to this using a pipe cleaner and jumbo letter beads. It sort-of matches my friendship bracelet banner that you can get a tutorial for here.

sunny vibes junk trucker hat

An up close look at my junk trucker hat

Get my customizable JOY junk trucker hat tutorial you see below in this article or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden:

My Junk Hat Inspiration

While I’m not a fan of the term “junk”, I do think it describes the fact that a lot of details are on these hats. I love iridescent colors, so the first one I made (seen in the video above), I decided to match it to a pastel rainbow sweater ($16.88, Amazon) and pastel rainbow dress / swimsuit coverup I have (I can’t find it on Amazon anymore, but this is a similar maxi dress that comes in many colors).

I used the fraternal twin of my pastel rainbow sweater that is more Rainbow Brite-ish (a character I loved in the 1980’s) and you can get it here on Amazon. They even make the sweater in neutral colors, and I may add that one to my wardrobe too which can serve as future craft inspiration. This Sunny Vibes hat was also inspired by children and they JOY they bring to the world.

carolyn braden in hat and rainbow sweater

I matched my hat creation to my sweater

I was blessed to teach many cool kids when I was an art teacher and their happy faces always were fun to see each and every day. They bring “sunny vibes” to the world, which to me, means happy vibes. While teaching in a classroom became not challenging to me (I lead after school classes my entire 10 year teaching career, hosted numerous student teachers, took students on annual field trips with grants I applied for and got, hosted art shows, taught other adult art teachers my grading methods and more, but still knew when it was time to move onto a new career path), I still loved the time I spent with the kids and miss it sometimes.

The kids I taught brought lots of joy to my life when I was struggling personally. I never brought my struggles into the classroom (instead I got professional help from doctors and therapists), as they deserved the best version of me and I made sure they got it.

If you are ever having a sad day, watch videos of kids having fun or volunteer to read to kindergarteners. You just can’t be sad looking at all those sweet and loving faces. Giving them that attention benefits you and them too! Read more about how you can make kids feel they matter (which is different than feeling loved) in this article by Good Housekeeping.

fun junk trucker hat by Carolyn Braden

I love how it turned out!

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 recently. 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. 

Why Make a Junk Trucker Hat?

I think this hat would be cute customized for an event. Maybe you have a special birthday 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, which is how I envisioned it when wearing my sparkly dress with it. Whatever your needs, you can make a hat to fit any event!

carolyn braden creations

These colors make me happy!

Now for the project. Here’s what you need to make a junk trucker hat:

junk trucker hat craft supplies

The supplies I used for this hat

How-To:

First, I set out the materials and figured out some of the placements of the letter beads and 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 the hat and my sweater.

stringing a friendship bracelet for a hat

Stringing the “bracelet” for the hat

 I strung some pony beads, evil eye beads and the letter beads “SUNNY VIBES” onto a pipe cleaner. I made the beads on the pipe cleaner stretch across the entire front of my hat.

Don’t want an evil eye? Try a cross embellishment instead. This would be good if the person you are making this for needs a little bit more “conceptual” strength, similar to how my cheerleading coach used to put a guardian angel pin on my shoe prior to a competition. Read more about the cultural connection to the “EVIL EYE”, which is similar to a cross, here.

pipe cleaner craft idea

The end of the pipe cleaner after stringing the beads

I folded in the ends of the pipe cleaner and tucked it into the last bead. You could alternatively cut the ends.

sunny vibes trucker hat

Gluing the friendship bracelet onto the hat

I added some hot glue on a low temperature setting to the center of the hat by the bill, added the “SUNNY VIBES” string of beads, and glued a little bit more along the bill to secure the entire length. The glue will keep it in place and prevent the beads from falling off when you glue the ends to the hat too. Go easy on the glue so you don’t see it!  

rainbow patch on a hat

I added more patches according to where I wanted them

I added some patches using hot glue all around the hat, and one on the bill.  

jumbo rhinestone crystals on hat

I added raindrop rhinestones around the lightning bolt patch

Then I added some giant rhinestones in random places around the hat. Adding too many heavy items may be too heavy on your head, so keep this in mind.

chunky jewels on a hat

Adding more large rhinestones

I added some shaped pony beads using hot glue too.

adding pony beads on a hat

Adding some fun shaped pony beads

I added some more large rhinestones around the hat with hot glue.

sunny vibes trucker hat on carolyn braden

My finished Sunny Vibes Junk Trucker hat creation

I wore it to match my sparkly dress and to match my bright rainbow sweater and felt truly beautiful and happy while wearing it all. It sparks JOY and HAPPY MEMORIES when I look at it too, which is always my goal in my creations. I also made these cute matching pipe cleaner “love and light” magic wands that you could make to match too!

If you loved this article, then we know you’ll love this one too: How to Make a Pipe Cleaner Crown

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.