Painted Easter Basket

Can you believe Easter is less than a week away?! Are you ready? We found Little Girlie an adorable Easter basket with an attached tutu (!!!), but couldn't find a good basket for Little Man. He ended up settling for a plain Easter bucket from Target because the others were themes that he wasn't into or they were too expensive.

When we got home, I decided it was just too plain, so I asked Little Man if he wanted me to paint something on it. Without missing a beat, he requested a train. Duh-- I should have guessed that! :)

I got out my black paint pen (I used this one) and cheap acrylic paints and started doodling on his Easter bucket. I'm not the best at drawing, so it's far from perfect, that's for sure. Little Man was sitting next to me telling me how to draw the train and which type of train cars should come next. Train drawing is a very precise thing, apparently. ;)

After I drew the outlines, I started filling it in with paint, letting Little Man decide the colors I used. I did have to reign him in a bit, though, or every wheel and tiny detail would have had five colors of paint on it. Haha! 

The first coat went on super thin and transparent. I just roughly painted it in to give the following coats something to stick to. Here it is after the first coat...

It took a total of three coats of paint. I waited for each coat to dry before applying the next coat. When the paint was all dry, I brushed on two coats of Mod Podge to seal it in. 

Here it is all finished and dry! It may look like a kid drew it, but Little Man loves it and that's all that matters! 

What's an Easter train without a car full of Easter eggs (or jelly beans like my hubby thought) and an Easter bunny?!

I was really afraid that the paint would scratch off, but Little Man has already used the basket at our neighborhood egg hunt and it help up beautifully! The two coats of Mod Podge did the trick sealing the paint and there's not a single scratch! 

So, if you are having trouble finding an Easter basket that you like, why not paint your own? 

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