more creative madness

I don't know why it tickles my fancy to recreate something useful from an item that would have otherwise been discarded, but here I was at it again! Once Emora had her bed done, I realized she needed a bedside table. We were using her toy chest, but that wasn't practical since it opens from on top. Every day we were facing sippy cups and books all a jumble. Brian, knowing my fits of creative lunacy, had saved materials from past projects. Like the square he'd cut out of countertop for a sink he'd installed and the sink cabinet from the bathroom downstairs. To my credit (or inability to conjure up a good concept), I am allowing him to throw out the old sink (plastic) and toilet (in bad shape).

So back to the latest... I made a butterfly design to go with her emerging room theme and cut the design into the countertop. The cutting of each line into the top was the hardest part.


Emora and I painted black on the edges where I had carved away the top surface. I sliced tons of slits into the wings (the very hardest part)- so that I could put color into the wings. I'd paint each wing the desired color and wipe it off so that the lines are fine threads of color. I screwed it onto the cupboard which we made shorter and added a shelf to inside, then painted the white dots and several coats of gloss varnish. Oh yeah, I used a couple of buttons for eyes.





I am going to get her a lamp and eventually paint some butterflies on her walls, but we are not sure if we are going to repaint her walls another color first. That might be nice, since they are a bit of a drab blue tone now, as originally painted when we'd moved in. It feels nice to be making her room into something since she lived in the crazy everyone's room for so long. The tricky part is that she does not have definite leanings toward colors like the others' did. That makes it easy in a way because she is flexible, but then I don't know either what gives her joy as opposed to her just following along with what the others say or do. All with time, we figure each other and ourselves out I guess.

One thing for sure, she does not lack in personality and loves to make us laugh. Here's hippy girl with our pathetic effort of a tree. This is the top of our tree. Since we will be gone so much of Christmas and I didn't want to deal with a tree in Jan. when we come back, I let the kids decorate the topper of our tree with their own ornaments. Each year I either make them an ornament or let them pick one out from the store that they will get to keep and move out with some day. A friend told me of this tradition of hers and I thought it was so precious, I adopted it with ours. They are getting a little treasure trove of ornaments loading with memories of Christmasses past.