BFFF

My best friend (for over 20 years now!!) and I celebrate birthdays that are exactly two weeks apart.  I celebrated mine and she did a wonderful job decorating a surprise party with large paintings of forest creatures (raccoons, deer, owls, bears).  Even if I had just gotten those paintings without the multitudes of friends and family, i would have been overjoyed.  Thus, it was an extra special birthday this year.

For her birthday, I was supremely stuck.  I can be crafty and handy, but recently I've been knee deep in school and work.  I had ideas, but where to start?

First, I decided I would draw her a picture and frame it.  This isn't to say I think my work is so great it needs to be framed.  No, it's more of a joke.  Every birthday since I can remember, she has drawn me a card (they get better every year).  Every time we have art jams or creative times, she asks me to draw her a picture of a squirrel.  It's always a line or two of shaky scribbling that ends with the inevitable "I can't draw".  So I drew her a picture of a squirrel.

I bought her some knick knacks from the Korean stationary store, three pairs of earrings, art pens, and some tights.  Here's the final product:

The earrings are each on their own button and then fastened to the tulle.  Everything else is neatly bound up by the tulle.

I also made her a small mobile to hang somewhere.  I was really lost on this project because i just started out with some paper pinwheels.  I made about 8 or 9 and couldn't figure what to do with them.  At first I was going to make a banner that said Happy Birthday and attach the pinwheels for decoration, but Gaby wasn't big on being loud about her birthday this year.  I figured that wasn't the way to go and nixed the idea.

I tossed ideas around for probably a whole day, then decided on a mobile.  The idea was so half-baked when I started.  I first used a hanger (what I was thinking, I don't know!).  Then when I realized it looked overly homemade (in a bad way), I started over.

I happened to find three small wooden dowels and decided to use those to build the mobile.  Here is the finished product.

The paper pinwheels have buttons attached at the center and the string runs through each center.  I've never built a mobile, but it was surprisingly fun to mess with the balance of objects on the wooden sticks.

This will definitely be something I am going to play with more.  I think with more practice and more time, I can get pretty good at mobiles.  I just love the way the pinwheels look when they spin.