Pinterest Paintings for Nautical Birthday

I've had an itch to do some painting lately. Painting is on the far end of my creativity spectrum. I don't dabble in it enough because I'm not very confident about it, but I always have the best time when I get my brushes out.

I painted the back yard signs and knew I needed to do a bit more painting...

I found these paintings on Pinterest and decided to make my own copies for H's big boy room. They were easy projects, taking just under an hour. I free formed each drawing. Since there is a collection of drawings one or two mistakes blend right in.

Nautical Birthday Party Prep Madness

I finished the balloon wreath and birthday banner a few months ago, but had a whole list of other projects for the party that I am finally getting around to.

The invitations were designed as a PDF. I had them printed through an online printer, and addressed them and sent them myself. I failed to take pictures of them, but thanks to this book on modern hand lettering, I addressed each invitation with fun handwriting. I also used my adorable address stamp, ordered from Etsy.

For party favors, I turned to Oriental Trading - buckets, stuffed fish, and bubbles. I found some bath toys in the Target dollar bin. Finally, some Gold Fish Crackers in individual packets. I ordered a design of little round tags to attach to each bucket. They were easy to print on card stock and attach on my own - just to say thanks!

Boats: I toyed with making my own wooden boats (which my parents did for my third or fourth birthday) but in the end, I decided on the little foam ones from Oriental Trading. I put them together with a little hot glue, so little hands would not knock them to pieces.

Painted Signs: I did some painting for the big boy room and was inspired to do a few little signs for the birthday party. Just fun little touches done with some extra paint and some little canvas.

Color Matching Game - mostly Free Supplies

This is an easy Pinterest project made with mostly free supplies. Go pick up some paint chips and paint sticks from the hardware store. You will need to acquire some clothespins. Then start gluing. I ended up using wood glue, when both hot glue and modgepodge failed me, resulting in warped paint chips. I cut the pieces to fit before gluing. I tried it the other way and ended up with frayed edges.

Next thing you know, you have a great color matching game.

Hardware Board

The hardware board has gone through many iterations, but we have finally settled on this one. (Every time we visit Home Depot, we find more items for the board) Our little one loves to play with this board and it is a good solo activity. His favorite items are the door stopper, the lock (missing from this picture because he has hidden it somewhere in the playroom), the caster and the pulley. The different loops allow us to attach some of his toys using carabiners.)

This is another really easy project. Buy a piece of wood. Paint it. Attach items. Some of the items are screwed on, while we have had to glue others (like the deadbolt).

Containers

When we installed the Chalkboard and Magnet Board, I did not really think about holding the magnets and chalk near the board. This was poor planning on my part. Once I realized I needed baskets, I couldn't find ones that would work for the playroom. My husband had the idea of using those suction baskets for the bathroom, removing the suction cups and bolting them to the wall. This was the perfect solution! The plastic is easy to clean and since they are clear, I can see what the little one has dumped in there that didn't belong. Also, they are cheap. (Which is always good for things my kid is probably going to destroy.)

Marking Play Areas with Signs

I admit it, I'm completely OCD. I love things to be orderly. Signs, labels, they are my thing. So of course my playroom needs labels!

I was busy painting all the story book signs, so I figured I would do a few others. A cute wood one for over the workbench. This one is simple paint on wood with some modge lodge spray over it for good measure.

I enlisted my husband to help with the second sign. I'm not so good with nails. So.. a painted piece of wood, some nails and bakers twine and we had a little market sign for the kitchen.

Felt Birds

After a snowy Saturday, we finally made our way to the library today. This little gem was waiting for me on hold. I put it on my hold list around Christmas and was number 15 on the list! It has adorable projects for the whole year. Each week is based around a different basic pattern. I have plans for several of the patterns in this book. The first being the adorable birds!

I needed a few more things for our little man to stuff in and out of his mailbox. Inspired by the Twitter bird (and a pattern in the 365 book), I thought a few felt birds were in order. I included a little bit of dried lavender when stuffing these guys so now they smell quit nice. You could also stuff them with beans in the bottom and then fiberfill for a heavier object that would sit upright.