Commemorating Special Things

A few months ago, my mom gave Helen a box of pink band-aids with Hello Kitty on them. Let me give you a moment to contemplate how completely awesome that gift was. At first, Helen sort of applied the loose rule around here of - if it's not red, it doesn't get a bandage. But then, it dawned on her that these were her very own band-aids. And as the owner, she could make the rules about when they could be used. So while Connor was busy hoarding his band-aids for some time in the future, she developed her own rules of use. As far as I can tell the rule is this.

If there is a surface that might contain an injury and it would look better decorated than plain, a band-aid should be applied. Acceptable surfaces are herself, Connor, or her babies.

Helen ran through those band-aids faster than a mom with a newborn takes a shower.

When the box was empty, Helen just could not bring herself to toss the box into the recycling bin. Her shelf is overflowing at this point, so she took it to the craft room and turned it into her first piece of mixed media artwork by gluing the band-aid box onto a piece of paper.

Sadly, I do not have a photo of this artwork, and a quick glance through the craft room did not yield the piece of art in mind.

Fast forward a few more weeks when Helen and Connor had those little ice cream cups for snack one night. I rinsed them out and tossed them into the recycling only to have Helen retrieve them. When questioned what she could possibly be doing with these items, she defensively stated that she needed them for her artwork.

And thus, her second piece of mixed media artwork came to life.

I snapped a photo of this object right before Helen and Connor turned it into a birthday card. You see, all two-dimensional art in this house is placed on a shelf in the craft room and then when the need for wrapping paper or a card arises, Helen or Connor retrieves something for the job. Even though this is not two dimensional, Helen loved it so much that she just knew her friend would love it, too. I'm not so sure that was the case, but her friend was certainly gracious about it.

Elaine