Paint By Numbers

I can't remember the first time I got a paint-by-numbers paint set, but I'm pretty sure it was love at first sight. Drawing, painting, making jewelry, or anything crafty was pretty much my jam as a kid. It could keep me occupied for days on end. Well it's safe to say, that not much has changed. I'm probably the only weird twenty-five year old who does this for a hobby. Except now I'm even more of a perfectionist so it takes a lot of time and patience to complete one of these bad boys. But I have completed 2 in the last couple of years. Like this bird painting I just got done in December:

I started this one back in 2011 - that was the year that I got a handful of paint by number sets and I was going to paint them all and give them for Christmas presents. Well, this one I started but never finished. So this Christmas, I decided to finish it. And it turned out really nice!

Then there's the teddy bear painting below that I decided to do, because it had lots of cute little details and was really colorful. I actually finished this one in 2011 and have had it ever since. I was going to give it as a gift, but don't know really who would like it (teddy bears anyone??) so I've just held onto it.

Right before Christmas, I bought a couple of cheap frames from Wal-Mart, finished the bird painting, then framed them both. Of course I liked them better in the frames, but what do you do with them when they're done?

I decided to give the bird painting to my Grandma for Christmas. She likes anything homemade from us grandkids, and when I was a kid, I gave her two different paint by number paintings that she still has hanging up in her house to this day. So I thought if anyone that would enjoy something like this, it would be her.

I think she liked it. I was waiting to see her reaction when she opened it at Christmas, and when she did she seemed pretty excited. It's nice that one of my paintings has found a new home at least. And I have a couple more that I want to start painting, too. Unfortunately, the paintings I choose keep getting more and more ambitious, and these two others are probably twice the size with just as much detail as the two above. Maybe I'll share them when I get them done in the next few years! Ha.