March Creations

At the beginning of the month, I made cardboard boat for Ender. It took very little time...and very little imagination. Really: I did it while he went potty. I sliced a rectangle out of the side and duct taped the piece on top (later he ripped it off because he didn't want a roof on his boat).
I never really counted it as the monthly creation, since I was planning something else, but he looks really cute and happy in it.

Yep...nothing very special!

He's a bit teary because he tripped on his way down the hall.

"Aargh!" That's a scarf and a sleep mask.

And of course, a pirate would get bored out at sea without his LEGOs. 

My mom knew I had some malachite beads and requested earrings made with them for her birthday. And of course...somehow I forgot to take pictures. I kept reminding myself...so she took some pictures for me:

She also took pictures of another gift I made for her-- a book wreath. I made one for Michael's mom a few Christmases ago. That first one didn't take me very long, so when I started my mom's wreath, I planned the same amount of time. It took me two or three times as long, and I didn't realize until I was nearly finished that I wasn't leaving as much space between the pages. No wonder! 

Here's the tutorial --> click! And I might mention: you need a book with at least 300 pages. If you make the crowding mistake I made, you need more like 500 pages... 

My mom wanted me to know the poinsettias are not a permanent decoration.

I guess she'd want you to know too.

It might be cool to use books with already-colored edges on their pages. You know those old books with red or green? For my mom's wreath, I used a Mary Higgins Clark book, Weep No More, My Lady (heehee). And then I had to fill in with a book that had matching, creamyish pages-- Cheaper By the Dozen (a good book, unfortunately). Neither were very old, so the pages didn't have much aging going on. For the wreath I made for Michael's mom, I used a really worn, aged-pages book called Lying With Lions or something...it was on the Free shelf at the library...and wow, that book was much better off as a wreath. I got a fast read of it as I tore the pages out one at a time, and there was a 6-page "scenario," shall we say, that I wouldn't dare put in the wreath! I promise I averted my eyes (with only enough glancing to know when the whole mushy ordeal was finally over). (I just have to be very clear here...even if all that explanation looks defensive and guilty, hahaha!). 

Six pages?! I wonder if that's normal!

So! I realize a book wreath might horrify some people. That's okay. :) I want to do one for myself one day, even being the book lover I am. As long as it's a trashable book, like...

THIS.

Learn more about that hilarious atrocity here.