Spoonful of Imagination

Add it to a Family for Something Beautiful

How to Embrace Winter’s Warmth

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Discover Cozy Crafting Delights

Embracing winter’s warmth can feel like a contradictory statement, yet it is possible! Want to know a secret of how to help with the winter blues!?  The answer is simple…yet not always easy. Create! Crafting during the winter months is more than just a pastime; it’s a gateway to warmth, creativity, and shared joy.

Three reasons why we should all be creating more right now:

1. Winter crafts bring an extra layer of coziness to our homes. Bonus: if you create something IN your home, you can enjoy it with all the extra time you are inside. I added some black paint to our TV console TODAY, as the picture above shows the final result.

2. From toddlers to adults, everyone can find joy in creating something beautiful. It’s a timeless activity that allows for self-expression fun! Check out my new kit in the shop for those sensory loving young artists.

3. Creating gives opportunities for meaningful connections. Whether it’s a family crafting night or a solo project by the fireplace, these moments foster connections, laughter, and shared memories. My eldest likes to create with pictures and videos. Did he go outside with me today in the negative temps for a photoshoot?? He DID! Running back inside the house was a fun moment. We now have a shared memory of this cold day.

To help make it easier for you to jump into creating, you can check out daily doses of my imagination here or pick up a craft kit for you or your artist in the shop!

In the spirit of sharing and creativity, I’m thrilled to announce that my “You” collection is now available for purchase online!  Maybe there is a reminder you need or one you know a friend needs. I hope the beauty and individuality captured in each piece can inspire and encourage you and your people.

I have been creating more, as I embracing winter’s warmth with all the colors and images in my head coming to life!

My little art room is my current happy place, so I am sure you can expect more creations from me to be listed real soon! Give it a try with me, and create something today!

In it with you!

Erica

Family Paint Night Activity

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Playing as a family is one of the essential ways to build a connection with one another. Do you know what are some of your favorite ways to play together? For our family, having a family paint night is something we all enjoy. As the kids get older, it might not be what they suggest anymore, but if I do the work to set it all up, they still get into it.

Do you feel like your evenings can be a mash up of running kids to their activities, someone working late, homework, filming projects, school board meetings, and it’s rare to be all home on an evening together? That can’t be just me, right!?

It’s been a bit crazy over here. As I saw a night approaching where we would all be home (and knew we had all been carrying a lot), I wanted to create a fun moment for us to connect, play and recharge together. Here I give you our family paint night!


I love a good collaborative project.

When we all start with the same base shape or project, it’s fun to brainstorm and see the similarities and differences each of us comes up with. This is a fun way to see how each other’s mind thinks, portray individual interests into the project, and see the different styles and techniques emerge. The energy given off is usually lighthearted and playful, as the goal is to just have fun.

This egg garland project allows us to each have our own project, but they will be strung up together. It’s always fun to work towards something as a ‘team’.


The set up is part of the fun for me.

It’s been a while, since I have set up a paint workshop. I had so much fun picking out paint colors and pulling everything together. I have learned that although art can be freeing and messy, we still have a lot of power and control in what supplies we break out.

I choose to use just paint and only certain spring colors of paint. Even though my creative heart thought of glue and sequins. I decided to not break those out, and keep it more simple. As a result, it was…

  1. Less intimidating for artists to decide what they want to do.
  2. Less clean up for me.

Reagan did end up pulling out the black paint. Her creative heart needed it 🙂

Having the set up ready to go is helpful when you are inviting and asking for participation. It makes the start easier and you don’t lose any way-ward artists to distraction while you gather it all together.

The goal is to have fun.

We laughed and painted that night. I know the moods in our house were more uplifting, light-hearted and connected after this playful activity. It was a break in the fast pace of life. We slowed down and did something intentional together. It’s important to remember the goal is to have fun. If we put too much pressure on the results then it becomes stressful and we didn’t need anymore of that.

After all the eggs dried, I strung them up and added some fabric and yarn for extra texture fun. I love looking at it hung up now.

  • I see my Caleb and his forever love of basketball.
  • I see my Jeremiah in his blending and mixing of all kinds of colors to make his “perfect” purple shade.
  • I see my Reagan having a vision and searching up how to paint a jellyfish and bunny.
  • I see my husband putting so much care into his focused pieces, as he slows down from a busy day.
  • I see my simple designs, because I had more fun watching and connecting everyone else.

 

 

 

 

Having a physical piece as part of this night’s memory makes the memory and connection that much stronger. If you haven’t played by a having a paint night with your family recently, I highly recommend it!

If you want to do this project, I may have a few of the kits I created left for sale in our store. It’s worth jumping over to check!

In summary, these are a few tips that help guide our family paint nights. I hope they can help you too!

We had so much painting.

Occasionally, we still reference jokes from that night, as we enjoy our new spring decoration together.

Having this activity right after dinner one night, made for a fun evening. After all the eggs were painted, I used the leftover paint to paint the paper that had been a part of our set up. I painted big swirls and smalls dots, as Matt told me about his day and the kids got going with the rest of their night. Having my hands creating, while talking has always been something I enjoy!

Those scrap papers became their own creation, as you can see below and snatch up in the store as well.

Now, what about you? Will you have a family paint night soon?

Remember, the most important part is to have fun. Protect your table, embrace the process, and watch your artists unplug as you connect together. It will be an experience you tuck away in the long term memories.

If you love this little imagination starter, you might enjoy my list of 30 Ways to Play as well. Enjoy!

Floral Hallway Mural Makeover

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When your mind frees up and gets a little white space, you can see things in a new light. This is continually something I am amazed by as I go through the seasons of life. I showed you in my snow room remodel, how this idea looked after closing our art studio. As I come out of a heavy season of launching my online course, my mind is once again a little more free and I have been able to create a new floral hallway mural in our home.

The wall has had many different looks over the years.

We have used it to as our our own family’s Instagram reel as we add pictures to it over a year to highlight some of of our favorite memories made. Reagan has also painted an under water mural on it, and then we tried to add the pictures back on top, once we were tired of it. The pictures didn’t like sticking to her acrylic paint, so they kept falling off and we just never really did anything to change it.

I knew I needed a fun, creative project after I wrapped up my course launch and it hit me one day, as I was sitting on our living room couch staring down the hallway. That little spot needed fixing. I had to decide if I wanted to paint it solid to go back to holding pictures again or to create a new mural. You can see I choose to paint a new mural. I talk about the process and show more in these three YouTube videos. Check them out, if you want to see the action happen and how many times my dogs and kids walk past me as I painted :).

Video 1: The Start of a New Mural

Video 2: Mural Progress Update

Video 3: Mural Reveal

I’ll go into a few more details below, to walk you through my process, but in summary you can see the wall transformation quickly in this picture combo.

Step 1: Clean and prepare the wall

The first step was to take down all the pictures. It was fun to relive those moments, as I pulled each picture off the wall. I then sanded the wall quickly to erase any lumps of paint from Reagan’s mural.

Next, I wiped down the wall and gave it a coat of Kilz primer to neutralize an even surface once again.


Step 2: Begin to design

After I did all the prep work, it started to get fun.

I knew I wanted to paint some kind of floral design, but I didn’t want it as symmetrical and perfect as I did on this previous bedroom mural. One of my goals was to create a bigger scale and for the layout to not be even. I began by sketching the design out in pencil on the wall. Next time, I will sketch it on paper first, so there are not as many pencil marks. Those turned out to be tedious to cover in the yellow and lime paint.

Once the image was roughly on the wall, I was ready to cut it in with the base color. Since my base color was so dark, I didn’t want to paint the whole wall with it. I just kind of painted around my design, so I created a coloring page for me to fill in.

Step 3: Add the color and final details

This is where it begins to get really fun! I started doing one color at a time to get everything filled in. Once I did that in spacing out the colors, I started going over the colors with a second layer and then I wrapped it up with a few details on top of some of the design.

This incorporated new colors or mixing my current colors with other colors to make different shades.


When I was trying to decide about a color or if a shape was the right size, I would stand back and stare at it. At one point, Caleb, walked through talking to me and the moment was too cool not to capture.

It was actually hard to decide which shapes to give more details too. I could have kept going with details, but I didn’t want it to feel too precise. I wanted some whimsical aspect, so I just added enough details to make some of the blander shapes pop.

Enjoy your Creation!

Now that the wall is done and it looks so good, it’s hard to believe we left it at such a rough spot for so long.

That’s what happens with a full mind though. We get used to seeing things a certain way. Other aspects of life take over your attention and thoughts, and you just settle in.

It may be a matter of not having enough time to get to that project or you are just so use to seeing it that way, you forget there could be anything wrong with it.

Have you wanted to draw or paint on your walls?

I love the intentional care to this forgotten spot in our home. It now looks so happy and makes me smile every time I see it. I’m racking my brain on what other spot in our home could use a little attention. I  few ideas that come to mind are…

  • kids’ bathroom cabinets
  • kids’ bathroom walls/floor
  • pantry walls
  • master bathroom closet
  • kitchen accent wall
  • laundry hook wall

These areas could just use some organization or maybe a simple paint job. OR maybe I should paint some more murals. That really was so fun. Have you ever wanted to paint or draw on your walls. We grow up being told not to do so, but then we forget when we are grown and have our own house…that we get to make the rules. It’s like one of those habits or ways of thinking you just keep going with because it’s what you have always known. If you want to try something, I say…go ahead and do it.

Be a Crazy One

Your idea might seem crazy. You might fail at it. I certainly “messed” up as I painted this mural. There were even some big “oops” where paint got on a different wall and the carpet, but it’s nothing a little hot water and soap didn’t fix.

I learned and now I know what to be more careful with and to do differently next time. Anything worth wild or that comes to life first takes imagination. It can be crazy to see something differently, but maybe that leads to something beautiful.


Have you done something that filled your heart up recently? I know I need creative fixes after big projects or seasons that are stretching. Painting has always been a great brain break for me. If you need help figuring out your own brain break, I’d love to journey that with you in my Create More Connection Course. Enroll today and we can get started.

Now, what do you think? Are you ready to draw on your walls too? Maybe start by just looking around your home and deciding what is one area that you have gotten use to seeing in that way, and it could be so much more.

Have fun and imagine the possibilities!

Fireside Chat #1: Encouraging Creativity in a Family with Matt and Erica

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Creativity can be tricky in a family. As we talked about family values in a previous post, this conversation got Matt and I thinking more about the ways we prioritize creativity in our family. Join us for our first fireside chat, where Matt and I have a conversation about this and so much more. This is a new series we will be rolling out on Facebook, sharing on our YouTube and circling back here with more pictures. We hope you like it as we are excited to have this natural, connection to encourage you to imagine the possibilities with us!

What is a fireside chat?

Our heart with creating the Fireside Chat series is to be encouraging and open in how we view and do life. Let’s talk real and honest about life and the journey it is.

If you missed the first chat, you can re-watch the video here. We cover a lot of topics like the ones below. Feel free to jump to the topic minutes that most apply to you, if you don’t have time for the whole 25 minute show.

Topics:

  • The Spoonful of Imagination (2:13): How the brand began
  • Imagine the Possibilities (4:04): Going off path, opens up options
  • Reagan’s Room (7:15): She made her room bigger by taking away her closet
  • Learning new skills through risks (13:00): Lessons she has for life
  • The cost of creating (17:00): Learn that your ideas matter
  • How can you take a chance (18:00): Try something new
  • Create More Connection (19:45): Erica’s new course
  • Matt’s view on Erica’s course (20:14): Matt’s endorsement of the course


Favorite Quotes:

“This is our home. We get to live here. So, we need to do things that we get to enjoy.” -Erica

“Paint is one of the cheapest ways to change the atmosphere in a room.” -Erica

“She’s the healthiest I have ever seen her” -Matt (talking about Erica)

“It’s a life skill to try something, it not work out, and be able to adapt and keep going.” -Erica

Takeaway to Apply:

How can you (in your life and/or parenting) take a little risk, take a chance, and imagine the possibilities of something different and grow from it?

We are cheering you on and know that the world needs what you got. If you loved this Fireside Chat, check out my second Fireside Chat with my creative accountability partners, Jonna and Shannon. It’s all about the power in linking arms-even when on separate journeys.