Hey everyone!
How is your Thanksgiving weekend going?
Over my Thanksgiving, my little cousin buddies came over for a party and one strange incident really took me by surprise and open my eyes a little bit. While I was sitting in my bedroom, minding my own business, my little cousin of 4 years old decided to go around redecorating my room. To be honest, I was a little irritated because she just messed up my new holiday decorations, but decided to shrug it off because I can just put it back the way it was later.
However, when she was finished, I was quite in shock and strangely impressed! She had put the white flowers in a gift box instead of the usual vase and poured the pink and white confetti (meant to be inside the gift box) into the cone-shaped IKEA vase. Then she added two bracelets from my bracelet rack onto the vase. (This is a little difficult to explain since none of you know how my room and what’s in it looks like but you get the gist.) She had done everything a little differently.. but a good different.
Now, obviously I did have to run it over and add or take away some items here and there like making sure the bracelet combo corresponded… but the idea. The whole idea was totally different and yet so simple, something I would’ve never thought of.
The thing about kids is, they don’t know the “rules” to what’s beauty and what’s not yet. They don’t know what’s labeled as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ so their creativity isn’t confined to a limit. I know for sure, for me, as much as I like to say I’m creative or imaginative, my artistry is definitely somewhat restricted. I could never sit down with a blank piece of paper and go absolutely crazy with it. Even if I try (which I did once as a matter of fact), something in my brain always goes ‘whoop, if you added glitter in the right corner, you gotta add glitter in the left Elyssa…’ Because I’m older. Because as much as I try not to follow the rules when it comes to art, some things that society has approved or disapproved of have already been soaked into my system.
But because she is still so innocent and young, these “rules” don’t apply to her creativity. Flowers can go in a box if she wants it to. A striped table mat can be underneath a bright polka-dot bowl if she wants it to. Colors can clash. And all these strange elements are definitely new and fresh and I love it!
So I want to encourage… if you have some free time over the weekend,
Get some pom-poms, glitter, sequins, foam stickers, markers, and crayons out! And get your hands a little messy!
Some fun activities to do are:
make a bookmark
decorate a frame
make a poster
decorate a vase
get any old item lying around the house and try to vamp it up!
These projects, though seemingly tacky and quite simple, actually works as a great de-stressor and can help you think outside the box a little bit! Try your best to get your inner kid out and mix those clashing oranges and greens … just because you feel like it. ;)
Elyssa xx
P.s. I kept her new room makeover for me!