CRAFT IT | St. Patrick's Paint Chip Project

Paint chips — everyone has passed them in the hardware store. Useful color swatches that tease the eye and ignite the imagination. In honor of today's very green holiday, we've set to seeing what our collection of green swatches can become.

PAINT CHIP PROJECT | A Paper Focused Tutorial

Total Project Time | 2 hours (Including drying)

Creating Time | 45+ minutes (Allow for extra time for more intricate work)

Project Difficulty | Easy to Medium (Depending on complexity of shapes and cutting tools)

Kid Friendly | Yes (Recommend safe cutting utensils and child-friendly adhesive)

Necessary Tools | Getting started...

- Assorted Paint chips

- Cutting Tools | Scissors, Exacto blade (Replacement blades)

- Ruler (Ideally clear with a metal edge)

- Cutting Mat

- Paper | Bristol board (Provides a decent weight for the materials)

- Adhesive | Spray mount, Elmers, or glue stick, etc.

- Trash bag/can (Keep this close to your work area to easily dispose of your extra paper pieces

GETTING STARTED

Begin by cutting off the unnecessary branding from the paint chips (we will take this moment to thank you Behr, great greens!)

Once you have clean color swatches, free of white stripes and logos, begin assessing the type of shapes that you like and what surface you want them to go on. We are using a 11x14 piece of white bristol paper.

Now, begin cutting further until you have a collection of shapes that you find appealing.

When you feel you have the right assortment of colors and shapes, you get to dive into the fun part — arranging.

This is where two good friends come in handy - your eyes and your gut. When they work together, you'll be able to sort out an arrangement of shapes and colors that make for a delightful composition.

MAKER NOTES:

- Keep your cutting tools close at hand for quick and easy changes

- Your ruler is key as well — use it to make sure your framing your piece evenly on the page

- Feel free to add pencil mark guides you can erase later

You will reach a moment when you know it's done. The piece will tell you, "Hey, enough. I'm awesome." Use your favorite glue to adhere the chips to the surface. We are partial to spray mount, but standard glues like glue sticks and Elmer's Glue work here too. Once the glue has dried, you will have a fun and colorful piece to display in your home or gift to a friend.

Not bad Behr, not bad at all.

It's important to note, no bears were harmed in the making of this post. :)