Wooden Toy Painting

So predictably, as well as Theo's Pallet Play House, I have a few more of Maria's birthday presents from last week to share here. Last time I was making Gnomes (back here), Maria was desperate to paint them and I decided I'd make her some of her very own to paint for her birthday. So here they are:

Head over to Wee Folk Art for Gnome inspiration

And sticking with the painting wood theme, I remembered these figures I bought quite a while back from a lovely Etsy shop, Clickity Clack. 

The Three Bears - beyond my wood cutting abilities.

I bought them thinking that I would paint them perfectly, with beautiful, intricate, accurate detail (well, nearly maybe!) and then give them to Maria. But I realised that actually she'd much rather receive them unpainted and get to do it herself. Wanting them to look 'perfectly painted' was purely my own misguided agenda. I did wood burn some detail on before giving them to her, and I managed to make a slightly wonky Goldilocks too:

Along with the bears I'd also bought this Rainbow Stacker from Clickity Clack:

And again this seemed perfect, on reflection, to let Maria enjoy painting. I gave her a rainbow selection of her own acrylic paints as well (as soon as she saw them she decided her Rainbow Bag was the perfect place to store them!), so she's been having lots of fun painting them all over the last few days.

And of course her 'pictures' for her Play House too:

Incidentally, I left her doing this just outside the kitchen door today while I tidied up a bit - it does occasionally happen! When I popped out to see how she was getting on I found she had finished her pictures and moved on to her hands...

And legs...

I think the moral of this story is clearly that I shouldn't bother tidying the kitchen - the bath was far worse to clean after the bluest bath ever!

Anyway, here are the gnomes:

The Three Bears collection:

And the Rainbow Stacker:

I love them all, and so does Maria, but I think it's amazing what a transformation the colour makes to the Rainbow in particular. Maybe that's kind of obvious and a bit of a stupid thing to say, but it really is just gorgeous now:

And wouldn't this be a lovely present for an older sibling to paint and give to their little brother or sister? (Assuming safe paint and 'sealant' was used of course - we finish our wood makes off with an olive oil and beeswax combination, by the way - find details at Wee Folk Art.)

There's been more painting and another present to show you but this is feeling plenty long enough already, so that's it for tonight!

Sally.