When you consider painting clouds on a ceiling or wall, remember clouds are not just fluffy balls of cotton. They also tell tales. Haven't you ever found yourself looking up at the clouds and seeing different images or pictures? Clouds come in every shape and size, and it's perfectly normal to see things like an airplane, a sailboat, or a choo-choo train...isn't it?

Clouds engage your imagination and what better way to stimulate your little one's. Painting clouds on a wall or painting ceiling clouds is an excellent choice for decorating a nursery. Plus, you can practically tie any theme into it. Don't think you're that creative? Well, it's easier than you think. See how these women incorporated painting sailboats with clouds on a wall...

When my sister in-law Liz had her first child the whole family was at the hospital. A beautiful 7.8 pound boy who they named Bob, well Robert but Bob is what we call him. It was a magical and emotional time, but that is not why I am writing this story. It was the months of planning for this new addition to the family which consisted of my brother, his wife, their two slightly overweight cats, and a Labradoodle named Trevor.

Liz and Pat’s house is not big, in fact some would consider its 970 square feet small. They on the other hand felt it to be spacious and roomy with its two bedrooms, one bath and kitchen that looks into the living room. What Liz wanted more than anything was a precious little room for Bob. With the help of modern science they knew they were having a boy and because they were both into sailing they wanted a sailboat theme for his room.

I like to be creative, so I am happy to field questions and give opinions about paint colors, curtains and such. I also like to help out and be part of the creative team working through a project like the new child’s room. The team aspect I have found rarely happens as I have found myself alone in a room painting away while the rest of the group is socializing i.e.. not helping. This project was going to be different.

With my strategy in place I began to delegate projects to the participating weekend warriors. To my mother I gave the lining of the dresser drawers with shelf liner and the job to colorwash the outside. Pat had painted it with flat white paint the previous weekend. So using the “Spaghetti Squashed” Colorwash kit from Watercolor Walls and a bucket she was ready to go. Liz was in charge of re-sizing the curtains and lunch.

Pat and I are collaborating on the Painted Clouds for the walls. I purchased a cloud painting kit that came with everything we need including a video and the paint called Cloudwash Cloudwash. Pat had put the first coat of Cloudy Blue colorwash on the walls the day before and did a great job. It took him two hours or as he said two half times, an intermission and one of Liz’s Dr. Phil shows. The process is fairly bullet proof, you mix the bottle of colorwash with water and using the cloth and gloves that come with the kit you wipe it on the walls. Pretty simple.

We finished the second coat of colorwash in about an hour just before breakfast. We wanted to give it a chance to dry so we could start on the clouds by mid afternoon. The instructions said 24 hours but it was a warm day with a nice breeze so I figured it would be ready by 2:00. We watched the video as a group during lunch to make sure we were all on the same page. Mom had finished colorwashing the dresser and it looked great.

Now for the painted clouds, I wanted to be sure I wasn’t the only one in the room in about an hour, so I gave Pat half the chalk and Liz the other half and asked them to put the cloud shapes and sailboat shapes on the walls. The whole process took about 25 minutes. The sailboat shape came with the kit so it made it easy. We erased a couple of the chalk drawn clouds and moved them around to fit a couple more sailboats.

We found some paper plates to pour the Cloud White paint onto and we were ready to go. We began to fill in the first layer which took about one minute per cloud. By the time we filled in the first coat we could go back and start layering the next coat. I gave Liz the brush that came with the kit to begin adding volume to the top of the clouds. At first she was barely tapping the clouds until she got comfortable with it and then she went bananas, jumping all over the wall.

The room looked fantastic, Liz and Pat’s friends think they are creative geniuses and they couldn’t be more proud. I guess the moral of the story is that we are all creative but sometimes need a little extra push to find our own creativity. You can do it, too. See how...