PAINT SWATCH EASTER EGG WREATH

I've been so inspired by all of the awesome spring and Easter art on Pinterest and No Time For Flashcards' link party. I have to admit, I was getting a little tired of green St. Paddy's Day art. With spring there are so many options--flowers, butterflies, sunshines, baby animals, and of course, everything Easter.

There are a ton of ideas floating around that use these adorable paint chip eggs and I thought Kinley and I definitely needed to get in on that free and cute action. 

Dave just happened to be making a run to Home Depot on Thursday, so Kinley and I invited ourselves along. When we got there, Dave went to go find his random screw and Kin and I headed over to the paint department.

I feel so guilty about taking paint chips. I mean, we do buy all of our paint there and it's definitely not cheap, so maybe the cost of the paint chips I take is built in to the cost of all of those gallons of paint? Just let me think that. It helps me sleep at night. ;)

So, picture us. I'm holding Kinley and handing her one paint chip after another until we have a whole beautiful stolen rainbow. She insists on holding them ALL, and squawks loudly when I take them to straighten them out, which luckily doesn't catch the attention of the paint guy. I grab one last paint chip to complete our collection and notice that Kinley is laughing and doing her charming beauty pageant wave over my shoulder. Uh oh. She has just made friends with the assistant manager. Story of my life. That should teach me to bring my daughter along when I'm stealing, right? Thank goodness SuperBaby is cute and her wave is so charming...the assistant manager just gave us a wave and a smile, no interrogation with a light shining in our eyes. This time.

I ended up taking 16--I took this picture before I found the other two Kinley had thrown on the floor in the backseat of the car. They were just so pretty I couldn't stop. Plus, I had no idea how many I needed and I didn't want to make an awkward return trip. 

My mom came over on Friday to see Kinley and, while Kin was taking a nap, she helped me cut out all of the paint chip eggs. I just free-handed an egg shape and cut it out to use for a pattern. You can fit three eggs on each sheet if you don't mind the white divider lines being a little diagonal, or two if you do mind. Also, Behr changed their paint chips so the paint color names are right in the middle of the card, there is basically writing all over the dang things, I'm sure to deter people like me from using them for craft projects. But, unfortunately for them, I don't really mind having little faint words on my free craft project eggs. If you do mind, however, you may want to see what another brand's look like.

So, I had all the eggs and I needed to find something to do with them. I've seen two things on Pinterest that were adorable, but neither the garland nor the egg chain wreath were things my tiny human could help with. I wanted to do some kind of decoration that we could keep and use again, so I decided to try a wreath, but my own version that is tiny human approved.

Here's what you need:

A cardboard circle (we used the cardboard from our frozen pizza)

30 - 35 paint chip eggs

White piece of 12 x 12 paper or cardstock

A scrap of ribbon

Glue stick

Scissors

Pencil

Hot glue + hot glue gun (optional)

First, you need to turn that cardboard into a wreath shape. I was thinking while I was doing this that if I was using a regular piece of cardboard and not a pizza circle, I would probably make my wreath egg-shaped or square. If you try that option, send me a picture on Facebook, I'd love to see how it turns out.

I just traced a pot lid in the middle of my cardboard and cut it out. I had to try a couple of pot lids before I found my perfect wreath hole size.

Now, cut it out. Then, place it on the piece of white paper and trace around the whole thing, inside ring and outside ring.

And cut that out, too.

Now, just glue the paper ring onto the cardboard ring. If you are using a nicer piece of cardboard that doesn't have cheese-grease stains, you can skip these paper steps all together. The cardboard will probably get all covered up, anyway, but just in case any was left showing, I wanted it to look nice.

You are ready for the fun part now...egg time! Grab your little helper and start sticking.

I started out putting glue on the back and handing them to Kinley to stick, but she was getting super rage-y about them sticking to her hands, so I switched strategies. I let her show me where to put them and then I put on the glue and stuck them down permanently for her.

She's running pretty low on patience these days, probably because of a combination of four molars coming in at once and the fact that she's 14 months old. So, I just let her stick them until she didn't want to anymore, and then I just filled in the empty spots. Teamwork.

All that's left is hot gluing a ribbon hanger on. I added a bow, too, cause I thought it needed a little something extra, but you just do it however you want. I thought it would be cute to stick a bunny or lamb or something on there, too. Maybe we will add something to it later. 

Here's our project on display:

Turned out pretty cute, huh? 

I've got so many Christmas decorations, they are busting off the basement shelves, but we are seriously lacking in the Easter decor department. I'm so happy to have a wreath to hang on the door to the garage and get our egg and bunny collection started. I've got another wreath project in the works--a grown-up craft this time. I'll share as soon as it's finished.

I'm already dreaming up my next paint chip egg project, I've just gotta gather up the courage to nab some more. Or maybe I can just get Dave to do it. ;)

Click here for a list of all the totally awesome link parties we hang out at.