Upping the Creativity in our House

While I love a beautiful blanket of snow on a Christmas morn as much as the next person, I did not sign up for the five foot drifts that graced our home this season. As we were cloistered indoors over our holiday vacation, husband and I decided to collaborate on a 'weekend project'... which went a *little* overboard.

Since the recent release of the Disney Pixar movie "Up" to DVD, I have seen the move *at least* 50 times. No joke. This is due to the fact that our little toddler has developed a massive addiction to the movie, and blistering-cold weather has prevented our outdoor time. Thus, naturally, Mom & Dad chose to take her newfound love and make the most of it. We decided to build her a cardboard "Up Playhouse."

Now, husband will tell you, "I just wanted to stick a couple of boxes together, cut a couple of holes in them for windows, and call it her Up house. *YOU* took it to Crazytown."

Together we put approximately 90 man-hours into her house. Husband was the engineering mind, investing duct tape, wrapping paper rolls & reinforced corner panels to the structure. I was on design duty; planning the architectural features and finishing the exterior by adding paper siding and shingles to the house.

The entire project is composed of used cardboard boxes, cleverly recycled into the walls and rooflines of her new digs. All support pieces are from empty wrapping paper rolls & packing materials that came with said boxes. Mr. Sketch scented markers made a comeback this week, as I drew endless accent lines onto the strips of paper to be glued to the cardboard as siding (with my trusty bottle of Elmer's glue). I'm not going to lie... we went a little crafty-crazy with it.

The interior isn't finished, but is already coming along with it's own cardboard fireplace and "Ellie painting" of Paradise Falls. And, of course, the house wouldn't be complete without a mailbox. Our piccola's handprint will be added to the mailbox in the future, but apparently paint on the hand was a traumatizing experience for the little princess, and we had to abandon ship after her hysterical screaming... Nonetheless, despite the handprint hiccup, I think the project was well worth the smile on her face as she took our hands and pulled us to the front door, wanting to share her new house with Mom & Dad.