Friday thing : kid art, part 1

Brought to you by Perimenopausal Mom thoughts as I looked around my office

This week’s Thing is a tissue box holder decorated by my daughter for a Girl Scout project. I’m not sure exactly when she made it but I know I had it in my classroom during the 2007-2008 school year, so she was around 7-years old. I used it there not only for holding tissue boxes but also as a prop to demonstrate an effective Show & Tell speech. What you’re getting here is basically that speech - a little back story intro, explaining what it is, pointing out interesting details, wrapping up with its significance to me. (It should take you about 2-3 minutes to read this whole post at a steady pace, with inflection).

I love that it’s a useful thing, first of all. I’m an admirer & appreciater of the arts in general but I tend to prefer some function with form. And while I have saved many of the things my kids made for me through the years, there are few that get used every week like this one.

My daughter, in true elementary artiste fashion, described her process in decorating the box for me. One side has only a few squares of tissue paper glued on - this Minimalist side was to be displayed if I was feeling “plain.” Each of the other sides is progressively more boldly decorated until the last is a découpaged bacchanal of butterflies, flowers, and color. For when I’m in a lively mood, obviously. This is the side I currently have facing the door of my office; the more subdued single butterfly with polka dots is turned toward me as I work.

Ready for all the feelings.

I treasure this thing, even though it is confoundingly difficult to wrestle a standard-sized box of tissues into it and slide the bottom piece back on. But I gladly do it (here I show the struggle of the procedure), because there is no way I’m leaving off this artist’s signature.