Cabin Fever Week: Friday and done!

I'm not much of a crafter, but I've had this idea in mind for a project that I could do with Espen. I had this grand vision that we could basically do the whole thing in about two hours (ha!), but quickly realized that instead we were going to have to split the project up into short bursts over the course of several days.

Because Espen likes ripping paper, I thought it might be fun to try our hands at making some collages. We got out the paper recycling box, and Espen had a really great time pulling out all the paper, shredding it and generally making a big mess. While he was doing that, I worked on editing down the paper that we would use for the project. I tried to find colors, textures and patterns that complemented each other, mostly from the Boden and Anthropologie catalogs, but if you think you can see some Netflix red in there, you are not wrong.

If you're going to be doing this with an 11 month-old, be warned that it takes a lot of patience. Espen wanted to sort too, so he kept taking things out of the discard pile and putting them in with the ones we were going to use ("you have no artistic vision, mama!"), and he just loved emptying the box of paper again and again. And then eventually, he lost interest and went to do something else. In terms of getting the project "done", that wasn't so bad, but in terms of doing something together it wasn't so great either.

But, it did keep us busy for an hour, and it will give us something to do together later in week when we give stage two of the project a try.

I'd say that all in all, Cabin Fever week was pretty successful. Most importantly, it gave me and Espen a chance to spend time together in ways that broke a bit with our routine and gave us both a chance to do something a bit different without having to leave the house. The other big benefit that I see is that it forces me to look at our surroundings a bit differently and creatively in order to come up with new ways for my son and I to experience them together. It really doesn't take a lot at all to invent a bit of fun with the things around you.