Let's Paint!

It's difficult for me to plan a crafting project this month. Not because I have no ideas but because I'm suffering with spring allergies!

I had planned to snip a few budding beauties along with some really beautiful yellow vine flowers and a very fragrant flower blooming on the bromeliads but my nose won't allow it. I'll have to put snipping and drying on hold till the pollen count is lower. Add to the profusion of budding flowers the fact that I have an oak tree in full bloom in my front yard! Those of you who are pollen allergy suffers know exactly what I'm talking about. It's best to just stay indoors!

So, I've had to plan a different project for this month; one that is not dealing with fragrant or fuzzy flowers.

Since we're at the beginning of the spring season and a lot of us will be planting, weeding, seeding and ultimately drying some of our harvested beauties, I thought we could work on hand painting some containers, such as wicker baskets and clay pots, to have ready for our future crafting projects.

I know some of you are still dealing with snow and sleet in some areas and foggy, rainy days in others so this is a perfect "stay indoors" and fun project. This is also a great project for the kids! What better way to spend a dreary day than making their very own hand-painted artistic creations!

Supplies needed: · clay pots (small, medium and large (if you really want to express yourself) · oil based paint, all colors) · paint brushes - suggest you don't invest in really expensive ones unless you also paint on canvas. The little inexpensive kind work just fine. You do want to have varying tip sizes. Large for some areas as well as tiny tips for small areas · container of mineral spirits to clean brushes · stencils (optional) to create borders and designs. Snippet: You can cut out your own stencils. · miniature baskets - varying sizes with a texture that will hold the paint being applied. · clear coat or sealant for the finished product · any bits and pieces of dried flowers you have accumulated from your projects · glue · saucers · newspaper

Find a large flat surface such as the dining room table and spread out the newspaper. Although I know everyone will be very careful, just in case of spills and drips, the newspaper will protect your tabletop.

Take your saucers and dried flower bits and start doing a mix and match creating different color combinations. It's much easier to create these color combos this way than actually painting the container and finding it's not what you want! If you don't have any bits of flowers, create your own palette to try different color combinations.

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