Kleenex Box Craft

I kind-of wanted to title this post "Kleenex Kraft," but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

We recently celebrated my Grandpa's 90th Birthday and my Grandma's 87th birthday.  What do you get for people who lived nine decades?  People who lived through the Kansas Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, and a World War?   My grandpa tells an amazing story of a time when he and his dad and his brothers were talking.  My great-grandpa looked up at the moon and said, "Boys, one day a man will walk on that."  The boys laughed.  I mean, really, what do you get for people who have lived the life they have?  Kleenex.

I had just gotten a giant pack of Kleenex at Sam's.  We pulled out two boxes and went to work.   Our first step was to color on all the sides using PERMANENT MARKERS.  It was pretty exciting for the kids, not so exciting for me.

1. As usual, I have lots of left-over Christmas cards.  I have been gradually using them up, cutting out the pictures for various projects. 
2. A left-over handprint from this project.  I have a really hard time throwing away anything that my kids have made...especially these little handprints, so I have a stack of them waiting to be used.
3. We are in a fun new time when Eli can write messages...with lots of help.  I write the letter on a whiteboard and he copies it on paper.  I discovered, however, that if I just tell him to write the letter, he can't visualize the space on the paper and how the letters fit into it.  We end up with one giant letter and the rest he just tries fit in where there is a space.  For this side of the box, I gave him the squares to help him control his writing.  We did the same on Side #1, using lines to help him place the letters of his name.  Are those 4-year old letters not the sweetest thing ever?
4. Foam stickers.  Eli was loving the lips. 

Abby's is a bit more self-explanatory.  I did use a painting she had done awhile ago and cut the flowers out of that.  Like I said, I just can't bear to throw anything away.  I am going to have to work on that or when I turn 90, Lord willing, I will have a house full of kid paintings.

 To finish our gifts, I covered each side with contact paper.  An easy homemade gift for someone that has everything!

Three of four generations.

When I sat down to do this project with the kids, I remembered that I went through a phase when I would do this exact same thing.  I cut pictures and words out of magazines, taped them to Kleenex boxes and then covered them with contact paper.  Let me clarify, though, that during this phase I was 22 years old and a recent college graduate.  My husband was quite amused when I shared this with him.   

The more I thought about this, however, I realized that I had even done this prior to my 22nd year, in just a slightly different way.  Check this out...

Here is a gift that I (with Mom's help, I'm sure) had made for my Grandpa, the same one who received Kleenex boxes from my kids.  It looks like I wrote "Pencils" and my mom wrote "Grandpa Z."  Add some stickers and then it WAS COVERED WITH CONTACT PAPER.  Can you believe it??

Can you see where is says "From Sarah 1983?"  That would be my Grandpa's handwriting.  I was six.  This pencil can stayed in his basement workshop until they moved from their home.  I think I even like the pencil can idea better than the Kleenex box.  

So, Mom, thanks for the great idea all those years ago. 

I'm getting a little teary over her.  

Love you.