My Favourite Way To Use Paint Chips

I am the first to admit that I have a paint chip problem. I was a little too excited when I discovered that my Silhouette would cut paint chips.

Living in a older house that has a lot of unexpected quirks, we end up at Home Depot, Lowe’s and/or Rona just about every weekend (sometimes we even hit all three in one trip). So how do I make the best of the situation? By finding refuge in the paint department! I love a bargain and free is the best bargain of all.

In 2010 I made a few paint chip pumpkins like these for Halloween but they were tedious to assemble because they had to be glued together with hot glue. In 2011 I revisited my pumpkins but tweaked their construction so that I could flatten them for storage. I loved my bucket of pumpkins so much that I decided to create a year-round display of paint chip balls that incorporated the many colours of my Living Room carpet.

Here is how to transform 2 or 3 paint chips into fun paint chip balls:



Supplies:

• paint chips – I really like the size of Behr, Martha Stewart and Olympic chips
• paper trimmer or scissors
• corner rounder (optional but it makes the top and bottom look neat and tidy)
• hole punch
• brads

Instructions:

Step 1. Cut your paint chips into strips approx. 1 inch wide. If you want an ombre look to your ball, cut the strip from top to bottom to get all the colours on one strip.

Step 2. Round the corners of each strip. Time consuming but very much worth it!

Step 3. Punch holes at each end for your brad.

Step 4. Align the holes at both ends, making a stack of your strips.

Step 5. Fasten the strips together with your brads.

Step 6. Fan out your strips to create a sphere shape. Depending on the length and width of your strips, I usually find that 7 or 8 strips will make a nice, full ball.

Step 7. Admire your free decorative filler!

These add a nice pop of colour anywhere and can be changed out to match seasonal decor. As an added bonus, they are kid-friendly as my 15 month old niece demonstrated last weekend while emptying and filling the bucket again and again!



Look for more paint chip projects in the future – I have several from Valentine’s Day and I just started my St. Patrick’s Day stash!

Thanks for visiting!