DIY Sunny Flowers for a Rainy Day

Grab your umbrellas and give this fun DIY rainy day project a try!  With only a few basic supplies, you can turn an ordinary umbrella into a cheerful fashion accessory item to get you through those rainy days.  I first tried this project with my 5 year old granddaughter on a light colored umbrella and assorted colors of permanent ink markers.  I let her decorate it "freestyle" with all the colors of her choice.  The markers used were purchased at Walmart and they did not bleed through the fabric, dried quickly and didn't smear.  You may want to test other brands of markers on the umbrella pouch bag before using them on the actual umbrella. For my own umbrella (pictured in this post), I chose to hand paint with acrylic paints as follows. 

I created my umbrella design flowers "freehand" for this project but you can easily use stencils or transfer the sample linework pattern I included at the end of this post.  You can also use Sharpie paint pens in lieu of craft paints.  Since I wanted to blend my paint colors, I only used the white paint pen for drawing the design outlines on the travel size umbrella used for this project.

Just a note about these Sharpie paint pens ... they are not markers!  Make sure you shake well, test on a piece of paper and then go ahead and paint!  I've tried dozens of pen brands, but these Sharpies are simply the best and longest lasting I've ever used. You'll find them most anywhere in a variety of colors and pen tip sizes.  I use fine tip pens for painting most of my small craft projects and outlining designs.

NOTE:  I use acrylic craft paints because I can easily blend the colors while still wet, they dry quickly, bond well to gesso covered areas, color is vibrant and a top coat finish isn't necessary.

 
 

You can use this pattern as a guide or just go ahead and freestyle your own!  You can download by right clicking and saving the image.  Create butterflies, hearts, foliage, flourishes, or any shapes you desire to make your rainy day umbrella an extraordinary creative adventure.  Enjoy