Running from the Law: DIY Watercolor Valentines & Blogger Exchange

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Tuesday, February 9, 2016

DIY Watercolor Valentines & Blogger Exchange

This is the third year in a row that we've participated in a really fun Valentine exchange with a group of bloggers/friends. If you're a glutton for punishment or looking for a way to kill 20 minutes of your life, you can read about our first exchange here (we made heart pennant banner/garland) or our second exchange here (gummy worm Valentines) . Actually, last year I accidentally signed us up for two exchanges without realizing it, so here's another one (DIY tissue paper heart suncatchers). It's crazy to look back and see just how much the kids have grown in a year. 
This year, while we were at my parent's farm for the weekend, we made watercolor Valentine's. My stepmother is an artist, so we used some of her old paints, combined them with water and let the kids create their own masterpieces. I started having Mac paint on newspaper, but quickly realized that wasn't going to look as pretty as I thought it would, so we quickly changed to white card stock. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with the paintings, so they just painted whatever they wanted. 
Mac got bored with painting after a few minutes and wanted to go back to playing "War" with my dad. Mim, however, loved painting! She sat at the table for nearly an hour, painting her little heart out. My stepmom would dip her brush in the paint and hand it to her. She'd say "tankoo" (thank you), over and over and over. It was the sweetest thing to watch the two of them paint together. 
All in all, I think the kids (mostly Mim) made 20 beautiful watercolor paintings. I was so impressed with how pretty they turned out. I love the colors we used and how unique each painting was. At the end of the day, I almost didn't want to give them away! 
For the final project, I ended up printing out some conversation hearts on colored card stock paper and had the kids glue them to the watercolor paintings. Nothing fancy, but they turned out really cute. Unfortunately, it was dark when the kids did the gluing (so no photos) and I forgot to get a photo of the final project. Total blogger fail. I need more sleep. I'm hoping maybe one of the other bloggers posted a good picture of our card. 

Mac may not have been much into the painting and crafting, but he was really into the opening of mail and eating of candy. I saved all the Valentines we received and we opened them all last weekend after breakfast. Mac looked over every single envelope and asked, "Is this one for me, too?!!! Wow." He was mainly excited because he's usually forbidden from eating sweets/candy that early in the day, but since this was a special occasion, I let him pick one thing to open and eat. Of course, he choose the biggest bag of S'mores fixings (thank you, Desiree!) and ate the entire thing. Plus, that one came with a flashlight, so it was the hit of the party. 
Mac couldn't open the packages fast enough. Quite a few times he ripped the whole thing in half (including the card inside) before I had a chance to see what we received. Mim kept jumping up and down yelling, "mail mail mail mail!!" She also tried eating everything in the Valentines, whether it was food or not. I had to repeatedly take away glow sticks, crayons, paper, stickers and string from her to keep her from ingesting it all. I promise we feed her! Also, this kid has the most amazing bed head ever. And a black eye. 
To my surprise, the kids loved the "non-candy" Valentines just as much as the candy ones. They both immediately wanted to color the pictures that we received from Kaye and Sawyer. They also loved the heart-shaped crayons and Mac kept asking me how they made it into a heart (I see more crayon crafts in our future).
Another big hit were these glasses from Waverly and Avalon. Mac wore them the entire weekend and told me how much better he could see with them on (and then proceeded to walk straight into a wall). 
Here are all the adorable Valentines we received. 
And make sure you go check out the other bloggers participating in the swap!

Tawnya, Scarlett, & Bodhi @ All of Life's Little Adventures
Jen & Hattie @ And Hattie Makes Three
Ashley, Waverly, & Avalon @ Being Brickner
Jess & Abbie @ Being Mrs. Beer
Elizabeth & Mason @ Chasin' Mason
Liz & Jude @ Ellie and Addie
Crystal & Mason @ Hall Around Texas
Desiree, Marcus, & Julia @ Macke Monologues
Natalie & Blair @ Nat Your Average Girl
Sara, Mac, & Mim @ Running From the Law
Jess, Cameron, & Louise @ Scott Family of Maine
Jessica, Cameron, & Emerson @ Secrets of a Stay at Home Mom
Sarah, Brantley, & Holden @ Seeing All Sides
Karli, Kaye, & Sawyer @ September Farm
Chrissy & Elin @ Simple Joys Blog
Courtney & Aria @ Sweet Turtle Soup
Meghan & Noah @ The Adventure Starts Here
Stephanie & Connor @ Wife Mommy Me
Whitney, Kinsey, & Brielana @ Work It Mommy


What kind of Valentines are your kids making this year?



21 comments:

  1. Yes to Desiree's flashlight being a huge hit!! Brantley can't go to bed each night without it! And I'm super impressed with Mim's watercolor skills! Such pretty Valentines you sent!

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  2. I love that you guys do this stuff... let me know if a spot ever opens in the exchange group! I think Sadie would love it. This year we're doing boring store bought valentine's day cards/treats but last year I bought plastic dinosaurs and put them in little baggies with an "I think you're DINO-mite!" card. So cute!

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  3. So sweet!! Your kiddos are adorable! xo

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  4. Aww, I loved Mac & Mim's Valentines, but now I love them even more!! Seeing them in action and how hard they worked on them is just so precious. Mim looks so focused on her painting. What sweethearts!!! So happy to have been a part of this fun Valentine exchange with you guys! Great pictures, as always.

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  5. Sounds like you have a little artist on your hands. Love that she loved it that much. I mean Aria enjoys painting but an hour? That is legit! Way to go Mim! Nice black eye too.

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    1. oh and I meant to add that when Aria saw yours she said...let's open up this one. It's the biggest one in the whole world! I think we need to measure it.
      Clearly size does matter!

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  6. The watercolors turned out so pretty and we loved the counting book!

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  7. These are so pretty! Can't beat an art project where both kids are engaged (it hasn't happened here yet, kuddos to you!!)

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  8. Girls and their crafts! Love it! These all turned out so great!!!

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  9. Also, Mim's hair is like my favorite thing ever. :)

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  10. Okay, Mim with her tough out ready to paint just melts my heart!!! I love how into painting she was and how polite. Sweet girl! Them opening the packages...adorable. You make pretty cute kids lady. You sure you are done? ;)

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  11. How fun! It looks like they enjoyed making their valentines and receiving all those special ones!

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  12. I love that Mim was so into the painting..!! Plus, such pretty mail, how fun opening and going through them all.

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  13. Oh Mim! She is just the cutest!! Marcus is like Mac.... Crafts? Hard pass.
    The counting has been a big hit here. We don't have convo hearts, but we do have M&Ms, and there have been zero complaints in using those.

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  14. We loved your painting and counting book, we've been practicing "1 2 3" with Jude a lot! And Mim has the best bed head ever!

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  15. I love that Mim loved painting so much!!! An hour?!?! HOLY COW. You may have found her new obsession (or yours if it keeps her busy for so long). And how special she could do it with your step mom.
    And SO funny about Mac and those glasses. I can see so well mom, WHACK. At least he had fun :)

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  16. This looks SO fun!! I think my kids would be excited about getting THAT much mail!

    Carrie
    curlycraftymom.com

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  17. You have an artist on your hands! This Valentine's Day exchange is adorable. Looks like all the kids loved it!

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  18. That is so fun! We just did custom ones from Minted- as I had some credit there. This post made me miss my kids at this age!

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  19. Noah loves to paint with water colors too! I loved doing that with him for our valentines last year... It's the perfect activity :). Thanks for joining in on the Valentine fun!

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  20. Awww how sweet is this?! You have two great little helpers! My little guy is 15 months and we haven't done water colors yet but now I want to!!

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