flower wreath of sanity

Back in March when I was going a little mental with the full-time-mothering-a-wild-monster thing I reminded myself that the thing which consistently makes me happy (besides Converse), and the most productive (in the restoration of heart and soul sense) thing I could do with my scant free time – was to make something.

So over the last few months I made this.

Egg carton flower wreath found, of course, through Pinterest.

The process of making small, precise snips through the (surprisingly) tough carton was deeply satisfying, especially after particularly frustrating days. As a friend remarked: ‘So instead of throwing lawn furniture around you’re cutting flowers?’ Yip, I'm a cutter, not a chucker.

I kinda liked them unpainted too. Maybe that would've made a more sophisticated piece!

It was also great to have a project I could work on in small stages, finding a moment here and there to cut some petals. Later the painting also happened in fits and starts – sometimes while the girls were busy painting too, sometimes after they were in bed. They even painted a couple of blooms themselves, which I fixed up afterwards!

This was my project and I was surprised and pleased at how they respected that. We have always been firm on respecting other people's ‘work’ – something Friday first picked up at her Montessori playgroup, and I think it’s paid off.

Every step of the project was fun and while the end product is a little ‘crafty’ – only just stopping short of painted macaroni really – it’s made me very happy, relieved a lot of my tension through a difficult time and will brighten up a corner of our home over the coming winter months.