Our Creative Space: I Saw the Light, Again!

I have been complaining (just a bit) about the shortening days and decided to improve that a bit by creating more reflective surfaces in my kitchen. No, I have not panelled the walls with mirrors! I have simply started to scrub down the birch cupboard doors and clean the grime of my collectibles on display. I still have more to do tomorrow as I ran out of cleaning steam. While putting the items has been exercising some creativity, I really needed to do something crafty after all that scrubbing: Something quick and simple to satisfy my crafting craving. The sewing room has too many projects set to start and none with any 'instant gratification' qualities which, when you are in the middle of a big job, like "Spring" (Fall) cleaning in your kitchen, is required. I recalled how satisfying it had been to cover my phone books with Amy Butler paper and my eyes were quickly drawn to my next project. This unassuming box of printer paper.




This box usually lives on top of our computer armoire near the entrance to the family room so, if you look slightly higher than eye level, it is in plain view. It is not the ugliest packaging in the world but there is definite room for improvement. Amy Butler to the rescue! Using the same pad of her scrapbook paper that I had used on the phone books and my paper trimmer, I cut pieces of co-ordinating paper to fit the sides and lid of the box. I left a small border of the natural colour of the cardboard and pieced the pieces on the shorter sides of the box in a quilt-like fashion. I have used acid-free glue stick as my adhesive as I am rather frustrated with spray glue and decoupage medium at the moment. I will likely use a spray sealer finish to preserve the paper but that will depend on tomorrow's weather. Today we reached a near record 17°C so it would have been warm enough to use the spray outside.



It is amazing how such a simple project can make such a large impact on my well being. Having little bits of your personality peppering your living space must surely encourage creativity along with stimulating the desire to care for your space. I hope to be sharing larger projects soon but I also think it advisable to continue with this nesting trend and get a few more of these 'living environment' improvements checked off the list. I hope that I stay inspired to come up with other spur of the moment improvements. I am excited to be rejoining the linking of Our Creative Space (formerly My Creative Space) and can't wait to see what is going in other Creative Spaces.