Sometimes mama’s gotta make some really easy art just to chill.  You know what I mean?  Since most excursions with kids are usually crazy and constant and overall exhausting, I needed something mindless to just help me relax.  This hand painted milk jar vase definitely did the trick.  I used Deco Paint Markers to color the entire jar while watching Real Housewives of New York and Atlanta for about three hours.  Yes, I love it, don’t judge me.

There’s something about paint markers that is so satisfying.  I don’t know if it’s the great colors or the inevitable high you get from the fumes.  Make sure you sit by an open window if that doesn’t interest you, especially if you’re working with kids.  I’ve used these markers to create washer necklaces a la Artbar and butterfly art and it’s been so enjoyable.  The paint comes out thick and vibrant.  Any design would work on these bottles too.  Dots, stripes, chevrons, scribbles.  It’s sort of an anything goes project.  And I highly recommend watching your favorite trashy show while making one.

I got really lucky and Gigi surprised me with flowers the other day after a trip to the market with her dad.  (thanks Ev)  They were a perfect fit for our vase so I let her arrange them for me.  Oh my goodness, did she love this!  Who knew?  She took them out.  She put them in.  She smelled them.  She let her sister smell them.  She moved the vase from room to room finding the perfect spot.  It was awesome.  It’s funny how kids can make something so unexpected into something so magical.  I’d love to have a whole table full of decorated jar vases like this for Gigi’s birthday party coming up.  Looks like I’ll have a lot of Real Housewives in my future.  Who’s with me?

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