Painting Party

 Are you on Instagram? If so, you when you put up a pic that was not taken within the last day or so, you hashtag it as #latergram. Well this post is a #latergram. It is about a party my daughter Annie (pictured on the right above) and I hosted in December, but you are just now getting the pics! 

 Have you seen, or better yet, been to, one of those painting parties that are all the rage right now? Many of them serve wine while you are painting. Annie and I had gone to one before Thanksgiving and wanted to go back for a Christmas painting. We recruited many of the females in our family to join. But in the meantime, Oklahoma, (and more importantly) our town, had a snow/ice storm and the Christmas painting party (downtown) was canceled. On the date they rescheduled it, many of us could not attend. So we decided to hold our own one Sunday afternoon in December. 

 My Mom, my nieces, my daughters and my middle son's girlfriend and I all got together and had a great time. Annie and I had it all set up when they arrived. I even provided lunch for everyone. We just cleared off the dining room table, put some black plastic down and all gathered around. We had several sizes of canvases and lots of paints and brushes.

 I had run off several Christmas pictures that I found on the internet and  from Graphics Fairy. I then put them on overhead paper and we copied them that way. At the real parties (with the wine), they provide you with a pattern and there is no overhead involved! 

 The overhead, that I purchased more than ten years ago at an auction, continues to come in handy. I think they make nice little home overheads now, but I'l continue to use this as long as it works. 

 We did have one male that crashed the party. That would be my grandson Behr. (I guess he thought he could come, since it was a painting party and his name is Behr!!!) 

 We gabbed and painted, offered advice and actual help on each other's paintings, for several hours on that Sunday afternoon. It was nice to get together and just relax and have fun, when December can be so crazy busy. 

 All the "young girls" managed to paint at least two paintings. We had everything from manager scenes, to snowmen and several different styles of Santa. 

 My daughter Taylor, Behr's mom, painted a picture using Behr's handprint and footprint. That was a little tricky, but it will be cute the older (and bigger) he gets. 

 As you can see, each person put their own unique spin on their painting. You can see my giant Pottery Barn Knockoff Santa in the background on the wall. I made that several years ago and you can read about it here. You'll notice my niece Libby made a green PB knockoff above, and Coulter's girlfriend Tiffani made a similar pink version. 

 My Mother, also known as the Christmas Queen, painted a Santa (of course!) with a little help from Libby. She was quite proud of it and enjoyed her afternoon. 

 We are going to have another "Painting Party" again in the spring. This time we'll probably have a bigger crowd, now that they see all the fun we had. Really, my plan is to invite all my female cousins one day to a giant craft day at my house. I have the most talented family and I think it would be a great day. I am honing my ideas and hope to make it happen this summer. 

 And I just had to show you this. Or at least kind of show you. My son Coulter is a big man with a bigger heart. He was over at our house that day, since his girlfriend participated too. We talked about how at the real painting party (the one with wine) we had individual easels to use. Annie and I had looked at them at Hob Lob, but to get as many as we needed, it was just not in our budget. So we just held our paintings and made-do. But on Christmas morning, Coulter arrived with his present for Annie. He had made her a half dozen easels himself. He made Tiffani (his girlfriend) her own as well. He told Annie he would make more too. 

 I went through all my Christmas pics and I can't believe it, but I did not even take a picture of that great gift. So, I found the easels in some other pics and cropped it down and pointed an arrow towards them. You can (kind of) see about how big they are. Was that not the sweetest, most thoughtful gift? And, that is when the huge cold-front had parked upon Oklahoma. Coulter was out in our extremely cold garage just cutting and nailing away. So, next time we will have easels for each of us to use! 

 While the pictures were fun, it was especially fun to just get together during the busy holiday season and laugh, eat, paint and just enjoy each other's company. 

The older I get the more I understand, "It truly is the little things." You should copy our idea and host a painting party of your own! 

P.S. I went back later and added the words O' Holy Night in script to my painting. Very simple and sweet. 

Link to:
Wow Us Wednesday
The Scoop
Metamorphosis Monday