WE LOVE: PAINTING

One of Elliott's absolute favorite activities to do at home is painting. Whether it be simple watercolors, acrylic works of art for loved ones, or helping me paint a dresser or two, he loves it! And to be honest, so do I. I have to admit, I am not as talented as I would like in the detailed painting department, but I love what a fresh coat of paint can do to a chair, a bird house or a canvas. 

I don't normally talk too much about our various house projects here, but Elliott's bed is in dire need of a paint job. It's just bare wood, so a primer and color in one would be ideal. The only trouble I am having is finding a color that would go with his room. I recently found out about Ace Hardware and their new line of paints. I love that they group them into color families that will go well together. Leaves all the guessing and worrying whether this color will go with that color up to the professionals. Here is a funny little video about Ace's new paint lines. Check it out for a good (informational) laugh. 

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DIY PARTY HATS

A couple of fun party hats for you party animals out there. This is a really simple way to make your own party hats exactly as you want them to make your party that much better. They're perfect as a craft for the kids to do at the party too. It took a few days for Elliott to stop begging me to wear the "E" hat. Can't believe I didn't get a picture of that! Bad mom. If you are interested, you can see the full tutorial over here on Momtastic. Happy partying! 

WE LOVE: PATTERNED SIDEWALK CHALK

We ordered this sidewalk chalk a little while ago and we are thrilled with it! I love the pretty patterns and the colors. Since the weather has been warm, Elliott has been outside nearly every day coloring with these. He mostly colors roller coasters that look like other things, but you know, they're still roller coasters. He loves the chalk so much, he insisted we get some for his "girlfriend" for her birthday, so of course we did just that. It's a tad bit more expensive than the chalk you can buy at the store for $1, but that chalk is so dull! And patternless! Now that our chalk has stripes and polka dots, I don't think we could ever go back.

As you can see, he loves it. After we finished dressing up the concrete wall we took a pass or two through the sprinklers. Always a good time.

DIY MOM AWARDS

Every mom deserves an award, don't you think? Elliott and I made some of these for some of our favorite moms for Mother's Day. They're a lot of fun and oh so easy. Seriously, a child could (and did) do it. With help of course. I think they would be great to pin onto a new tote as a gift or even as a gift topper! Fun, right?

Now for the instructions. I kind of forgot to take step by step instructions. They were pretty fun to make! Here we go. I used a wheat thins box for this one. But a granola bar box or cereal box would be fine. Draw the shapes you want and cut them out. Next, grab our friend duct tape and cover away! I put on white over the whole thing first, then added the second color for the bottom part. Then trim off the excess. Use an exacto knife to cut off what the scissors can't get. To make the letters, tear off a piece of duct tape and put it on the cutting mat and use the exacto knife to cut them out. So easy. So so easy. You can do anything you want. Mom, Mama, Ma, Granny, you name it! The ladies getting these will love them. A lot.

Add pin backs and you're done!

WE LOVE: OUR NIGHT LIGHT

We recently got this little moon night light for Elliott's room and we love it. When I ordered it I was a little skeptical. We have purchased moon items in the past and have been let down by the quality of the image of the moon. But this little night light is perfect! The one kind of negative thing is that it gives off a little too much light. Other than that it's fantastic. Elliott loves looking at it and making shadows on the walls with the light it gives off (again, maybe too much light?) They also have this earth night light and this galaxy one which both look pretty rad too. Maybe my favorite part of the purchase was the actual purchase. Six bucks? Done.