If you paint or have a child that likes to paint, you probably have gone through some paint bottles, right!? For years and years, I have just thrown these little bottles out when they seem to be empty. Now that we have an art studio, we have flown through the paint at crazy fast speeds. Its been so exciting to see others create, but I have thought on several occasions “I wonder what else we could do with these bottles to get more of our money out of them!?”
One day it hit me like a lightning bolt. You know when a shampoo bottle feels out? You add a little water to the bottle and shake it up? Oh, you’ve never done that? Well, you are missing out on a least one more shampoo. You’re welcome. #CheapskatesUnite!
Well, that is exactly what I did with these bottles. I started saving them until I had a big basket of “empty” paint bottles. Once I had a basket of different colors, I added a little water to each bottle and shook the bottle until whatever paint was on the side of the bottle was now mixed up in my water. 
My family uses essential oils, so we have these little pipettes
I prepped some pieces of wood (approx 4in x 6in) with white spray paint, so my watered down paint wouldn’t soak into the wood. This white base acted as a good backdrop to the newly created paint and kept the colors more vibrant.
In the classroom, I stapled on a pipe-cleaner and twisted it up to allow the students to fill it with beads. This added a nice fun texture and hanger to make our wood pieces into hangable signs. You don’t have to do this step to your pieces, but I am a sucker for several textures in my projects.
This project is all about the process. You can’t totally control what your piece will end up looking like, which takes some of the stress of it being “perfect” away. I encouraged the students I was working with to do small drops at a time. Some of the bottles may be more watered down than others. By starting with small drops you can watch as colors blend together on their own to make new colors.
Because this project can be a little messy, depending on your artist, you may want to prep your work area to manage the potential for a little spill/splatter. Because we were going into school classrooms, I purchased a bunch of cheap baking pans from the dollar store for students to use while painting.
Another technique is you can slightly tilt these signs or even stand them up to watch as the paint colors blend and mix to make a stunning abstract piece!
I don’t think you can ruin this project. Often students thought they were done and then they would add one more color. At this point, it is usually when it became more stunning. As the signs dried, some of the paint colors would shift and sort out a little. So fun!
We went back and sprayed a clear protectant
The hardest part of this whole project is washing out the droppers, and it’s not even hard. It just takes a little time. Again, I’m a cheapskate. But you may be more up for discarding these since you can get 100 of them for about $7.
I love how no matter how many times you do this project, no two signs will ever be the same. Depending on the colors you use and how your paint swirls and mixes together…each piece will be unique. This was such an inexpensive project to implement for a 5th-grade class. They had a blast.
I have found this project can be addicting. I’ve done it several times now! It’s great for kids and adults! Try it! Start saving your bottles, so you too can try to get one more use out of your old paint bottles.
What do you think? Will you start saving your paint bottles? I think these finished pieces make a great gift for a family member. Christmas is coming. You can create some masterpieces with your kids for all those proud grandparents.
If you give it a try, please share it with us! We would love to see your creations. Tag us with #spoonfulproject on Instagram or Facebook. Have fun and remember… enjoy the process!
This table runner is one of my most sentimental mom projects we’ve done to date. Those little hands grow so quickly, and having something that captures all the stages is pretty special. Let me tell you how to make your own turkey table runner keepsake.
Start by painting your kid’s hands. I use a foam brush because it absorbs the paint quickly and gets it on pretty evenly. My kids are a bit older this time around, so they were able to paint their own hands. Mamas of littles, just have your baby wipes ready to start grabbing and cleaning their hands after you get their hand painted and stamped onto your table runner. 
Part of the fun of using an old table runner is you can place your handprints right on top of the stain to cover it up. Once your hand is painted and stamped onto your table runner, press on each finger to make sure the paint transferred to the runner well.
Some ideas for your turkeys:
Once your handprints are down, you can embellish your print to look like a turkey. Use any colors or design that you like! I painted my kid’s turkeys this time, but your kids might have fun adding onto their handprint by themselves. This is the season of smears and some imperfections. It’s part of the beauty. ENJOY it! They will be grown before we know it.
After your turkeys are complete, you can have your child write their name beside their turkey. Make sure you date your group of turkeys. If you add on to your table runner the following year, you can clearly see the changes in years. (At the end of this 
What do you think!? Can you see yourself making a table runner keepsake!? I recommend spot cleaning these. If you want to be extra protective, maybe you display it on a buffet or somewhere away from the primary food table.
Do you have a child who is fascinated with things in the kitchen? How about the pot holders? We do. Random, I know. What can I say? One of our sons uses them anytime he is warming up stuff or toasting things in the kitchen. I’ve tried to show him he’s not in a real danger zone with his warming duties, but he loves the pot holders. Maybe it makes him feel like a real chef!? It’s one of those easy parent-child issues that doesn’t really matter, so we’ve embraced the pot holder fetish.
I started out by gathering a ton of supplies. Next, I had to consider what type of animal or creature to make! A monster or dinosaur were my first ideas because you could get super creative with colors and textures. With Thanksgiving coming up, I decided to make a turkey (knowing my first grader would have a blast with him).
I started by cutting out the turkey’s beak. After placing it where it should go, I decided it needed to be a bit bigger. It helped me to cut out several of my pieces from the felt and just place them where they would go, before hot gluing them in place. This checked scale and placement before I committed to it.
After I had my main design, I hot glued the felt pieces in place and started playing with more materials. I added googly eyes and feathers for more fun textures.
I loved it so much, I started snapping pictures to send to my husband immediately. I knew this turkey needed someone besides me to talk to, so I whipped up a horse to be his friend.
My favorite part of the horse is the eyelashes! They are the side of a feather.
What do you think!? Do you need to create some pot holder puppets as well!? I don’t think these will be used with our toaster oven, but they sure make a fun toy! Let your imagination go wild! What creature would you make??
One of my favorite things to do with my kids is to create with them. In these moments, we can sit and talk and jump from being in our own imaginations to dreaming with one another. It’s so fun. It’s often in these moments that we come up with cool ideas like this pom pom bead.
We got a big pile of pom poms, and the next step is to just attach these two materials!
We used our hot glue gun. We simply held the bead by the openings so the side of the bead is open. We placed a small dab of hot glue on the bead and pressed the pom pom on top.
This is such a quick process! Before you know it, you will have a huge pile of pom pom beads! We love how the beads are cheap and quick, yet they create a whole new dimension and texture to our garland! My girl loved stringing these up with her other pieces! It was such a fun and easy sewing project for her!
What do you think? Would your little one like to create some pom pom beads to sew with too? You could make a garland with just pom pom beads. Or maybe replace the triangle with fabric strips!? With a little imagination, the possibilities are endless.
Christmas is coming. Can’t you see a long strand of these wrapped around a small table top tree? How cute!