A Labor of Love.

I have always been fascinated with the prospect of taking things that have been discarded and turning them into new and functional treasures.  My poor wife dreads the summer when I go out to yard sales and collect such “treasures,” always with the highest of hopes and best of intentions    I’ve come home with everything from old skateboards, suitcases, and scores of children’s books.  Some projects I finish, like the skateboard transformed to a wall mounted coat rack (currently residing in my mother in laws attic waiting to be called up to be in a little boy’s room.) Some I have not, including the gutted but unfinished vintage suitcase that I had dreamed of relining. 

As for the children’s books, they have certainly been upcycled.  One day at a yard sale I found 10 of the old Disney children’s books that I myself have loved as a child.  Mickey Finds a Kitten, Goofy’s Big Race, Pooh’s New Clothes, it was like being four-years-old again and pulling a book down from the shelf for Daddy to read.  How could I leave them there?  How could someone part with them for only 10 cents apiece!?  Now this is where my wife and I argue the definition of hoarder.  The pages were yellowed on the edges, and there were signs of love from children past (after all these books are over 20 years old) and in no condition for actually reading to our daughter.  I vowed to honor these childhood favorite and make them relevant again.  And that was the first thing I made with the distinct intention of selling.  The pages have been transformed into gift tags and envelopes, and the covers made into notebooks.  When I was pregnant (and perpetually unable to sleep at night) I found it therapeutic, if not cathartic, to sit and fold envelopes or punch the holes for gift tags.  It made my painstaking long nights seem more bearable and productive. 

This week it’s all come full circle, with my etsy site launching soon and the craft fair in under a month I have finished the project.  I have cut and hand-typed notecards with an assortment of sayings.  Some of the sayings came from beloved characters and some from Walt Disney himself.  It feels good to see the hundreds of envelopes lifted from their box and starting to be packaged as complete sets.  I feel accomplished.  And for today, that is enough.