Piggy Banks

At the end of the school year, I got these ceramic piggy banks from Michaels for a steal and thought they might make fun summer craft.  Last week, we finally got around to painting them.  Let me just say that it practically took the entire day for this project.   First of all, there are four little people trying to work.  We also had to take a break for lunch.  And there was drying time for the paint as we waited for one color to dry before we started another one.  It was a lot of work and my house looked like a tornado had swept through, but we had a good time.

I actually had two little cows for Paige to paint, instead of a pig.  She literally said "Cow!!!!!" all day long.  She loved painting.  She would paint the cow, dip her brush in more paint, paint her tummy, dip her brush, pain the table, dip the brush, paint the cow...you get the idea. She had a lot of surfaces to cover in paint.  Thank heavens it is washable.

Merry Grace decided on a black pig with polka dots.  She did a great job covering the pig in black paint.

Ian wanted a pirate pig.  At first he wanted him to be white, but when he realized that meant less painting, he decided on a black one.

Elise went with a green pig with polka dots.  She was slightly miffed that Merry Grace (who had originally wanted flowers on hers) decided to copy her polka dot idea.  I told her to be flattered--that's just what happens when you're the cool big sister.

This is what the table looked like when we got finished.  Actually, it seemed like every room in my house looked something like this.  The worst part of the table was that Paige had taken her leftover macaroni and put it on various paint plates.  It was so gross to see a puddle of green paint and then a macaroni noodle next to it.  Ugh.  But she was happy doing it.  Sometimes, that is the top priority.

Here's a little bit of Paige's messiness after she painted.  It came right off after a good soak in the tub.

And the finished products. :)  I decided after Ian requested a skull and crossbones that I was going to have to freehand, that I regret never having taken an art class before.  Boy, would those skills come in handy on a project like this.  I thought they turned out adorably cute.  The kids were so proud, especially since they did so much of it all by themselves.  Now if they just had some money to put in them.... :)