Monday, March 15, 2010

Junk Mail Art and Spring Break Play


Growing up my mom and I had a tradition.  Each year, she'd take me out of school for one day, and we'd play hooky.  We'd go shopping and go to the movies.  We dedicated the entire day to PLAY and it is still one of my greatest memories.  I don't remember what I missed at school those days, but I do remember how much fun we had together.  

So this past weekend, we played hooky once again and enjoyed a spontaneous adventure.  We started by getting our toes done and ate lunch at our favorite restaurant. Then, we stumbled into the most amazing paper store and that's where the creative inspiration hit.  They had displayed fabulous recycled flowers and butterflies created from their store catalogs.  Since I'm much more aware these days about using recycled materials, and the fact that I have a love affair with flowers, I decided this was a perfect project for me to try.    
I gathered our most recent junk mail from the recycle bin, some sturdy wire, old buttons, scissors, a hole punch and a hot glue gun.  (It helps to put on your favorite music.  My choice today was the newest P!nk album.  Love her.)
I cut five petals for each flower, put the ends of the petals together with a small amount of glue, and punched one hole through all the petals.  Then I inserted the wire through the hole and bent it slightly to hide it underneath the button.  I hot glued the button on the wire and paper petals and that's it.  SO easy and so much fun. In fact, I can't stand junk mail, but now...I'm kind of curious to see what comes today.


On a side note, my mom got her toes freshly painted because she headed off to the beach for spring break. It got me thinking. Why can't I have spring break even though I'm staying home?  Why can't I still play hooky?  I may not be able to skip out on my job, considering my toddler relies on me to feed and care for him, but I can create a new version of spontaneous play.  

So, this week, we are having a mock spring break.  We will try new things, experience daily adventures, get our toes out in the sand...uh...um...dirt, and have some much needed springtime fun. We may not have a beach in Kansas, but we're bound to find some interesting things just by getting out to play.  

Your Personal Reflection:  Are you going anywhere for spring break?  If not, what kind of fun and spontaneous play can you do to create your version at home?  

11 comments:

  1. This is a great idea! My kids made me paper flowers for mother's day in the exact same way but using regular bought paper. They made them at Beavers/Cubs scouts. I loved them. Using recycled paper makes the flowers really interesting - I'm sure they'd love to join me making some out of old mags, junk mail & catalogues.
    Kat

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  2. IS it sad or scary that I recognize your junk mail? Some of it was on the curb for recycling today at our house. I LOVE this idea. So cute!

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  3. I love the idea of flowers from recycled materials. My girls would love this idea.

    We just made a list of activities that we are going to attempt this week:

    http://triciaorchard.blogspot.com/2010/03/key-to-surviving-march-break.html

    I am sure that we will not get to all of them, but it sure feels great to have a list to look to for inspiration.

    Tricia

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  4. Love the flowers :) And what a super fun tradition!

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  5. Those flowers are simply beautiful! LOVE IT!
    My kids will be on Spring Break next week and we plan to do some day trips and do a lot of outside activities! We will have to include a few new adventures in there!

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  6. they look FABULOUS! i thought i was finished with my magazine obsession but clearly not yet! glad you're having a great break!

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  7. What a fabulous idea!!! I am going to make some too! Thanks a bunch!

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  8. What a great way to add some flower arrangements to the house before nature provides! I'll definitely be going through the paper recycling basket tonight!

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  9. ha..l remember doing this with my children when they were small. I used to take my son and my daughter on a hooky days when they were small too. great to read l was not the only mad mum around.9my children are 33 and 34!) the sad thing these days is, if you did that now, in England you would be prosecuted by the Education Committee!!.
    I giggled when l saw this blog because last Sunday was Mother's Day and my daughter of 34 made me handmade flowers from tissue paper and recyled paper, wire and buttons!Haxxlynda Just thought l would let you know, that my husband is getting better slowlyxlynda

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  10. I'm absolutely loving your paper flowers! You have great eyes for color. You inspire me to give these paper flower a try. Thank you! :)

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Thanks for sharing!