So what’s the deal with paint? Anybody know? How bad can it really be for you… if, say, you are around the age of 17 months old? And decided it might work really well as lipstick?

Well, welcome to my adventures of the day. Let me start from the beginning.

Pinterest. You’ve heard of it, I’m sure. Great place for inspiration and project list development for my husband’s off time. He just ‘loves’ Pinterest. 😉

Saw this super fun garden art/game idea. Picture a little tree stump with a lacquered ‘table’ top. It has a cute tic-tac-toe board painted on it and fabulous rocks painted like lady bugs, in two different colors to use for the game. Cute, right? Easy, right? Unless you happen to have a 17 month old (*This problem could extend to other age groups as well: so beware).

Step One: rock collecting. Easy to do since we are currently residing in a rock pit on the side of the highway. 8 flat rocks, plus one amazingly purple quartz rock I found (oh, I probably haven’t mentioned this, but I have a rock obsession. Seriously. Rocks in jars from all over. My husband loves it too. Right up there with Pinterest), and some extras for kid painting.

Step Two: picking paint colors. When you have limited choices, it’s easy to be happy with your decision. We had orange, green and pink. Went with green and pink rocks, with orange spots.

Step Three: Get materials set out. Nap time for G (toddler) made this easy. By some miracle it has been sunny for the first time in a week.

Step Four: Quickly get the team assembled. I tried to sneak out without my 3 year old noticing, but he found us outside and joined in the painting. My limited supplies meant I had one paint brush and Q-tips.

Step Five: Paint. It was going well. The paint actually covered the rocks, G and S were both artistically blending their pinks and greens. Then I look over at G. Her lips are a great mix of pink and green, as is her tongue. At this point I’m really glad we went with Q-tips. I also notice her beautiful blonde hair has some cutting edge green streaks. Wooo!

Step Six: Clean up. As we finished up, it started POURING! Not like, ‘oh fun, it’s sprinkling’… I’m talking about pouring. My team ditched me to clean up solo. The clean up continued after getting back into our travel trailer… clothes, hair, face, hands. Whoa.

So I’m sure acrylic paint in low doses is fine. If in future pictures you see a permanent green spot in her hair, we will know I was wrong in my assumptions.