Paint Chip Projects

You know how every time you walk by the paint section at Home Depot or Lowes and you see that glorious giant wall of paint chips and that little nagging voice in the back of your head says you could do something awesome with all those paint chips?  Oh, that never happens to you?  Oh.  Well, it happens to me.  Something about all those pretty colors lined up so nicely sparks the crafting side of my brain.  Alright, lets be honest, it doesn't take much to spark that side.  


Anyways, you know all those free paint chips are just waiting to be used in something super sweet, but what?  Maybe you're not going to go as far as this guy (besides, taking that many paint chips I kind of think borderlines on stealing),  but the options are endless with those little pretty pieces of paper.  


What got me thinking was spying this post over on Ohdeedoh - the children's section of the design blog Apartment Therapy.  Which led to the awesome blog Modern Parents Messy Kids.  And with Easter just around the corner, this is such a fun and simple way to add cute Easter decorations.  (Which is a big deal for me, since I am not big on decorating for holidays other than Christmas.  Maybe that will change once my child is older than a month.)  If you have kids you trust with scissors, you can force make a project out of cutting out the eggs. 



Besides that fun garland, there are lots of other ideas out there on the web of things to do with paint chips.  


I'm a little bit in love with these Valentines from Country Living.

You could easily use different colors and stamps to make cards for different occasions.

Wreaths are some of the easiest things to make, and you could easily use paint chips to make this wreath.  It would barely cost you anything and would be so fun for something like a birthday party.

But you want to know the project I'm dying to try? Recreating the artwork above this chick's head:

There is something about it that's so interesting, but it's brilliantly simple.  I think the fact that it's placed in such an elegant space helps it from looking too "child's room".  (Although it would also be cool in a child's room, now that I think about it.)  Anyways, this would be so easy with a batch of paint chips and one of those craft circle punches.  

So yeah, I have a weird affinity for paint chips.  I want to try all these projects eventually.  I like them because they are simple and easy, even for those not-so-crafty ones, but they still look fresh, modern, and not-so-cheesy.  However, accomplishing one of these projects would require me to get my 4 week old baby to Home Depot one of these days.  Wish me luck!