"Mom! (sniff, sniff) I accidentally pulled too hard and, um (sniff, sniff), I pulled off the pom pom! Can you (snifff) sew it?"
She pulled the pom pom off these slipper boots:
She was heartbroken when I told her I couldn't reattach the pom pom. But then she got an idea.
"Mom! I could attach a green pipe cleaner to it and make a pretend dandelion!"
Hmm. It is a good idea, creatively speaking. But her room is overflowing with impromptu crafts that she clings to and refuses to clear out. Do I really want another piece of clutter in there?
I said no. She begged and pleaded (which really annoys me). Finally I agreed to a deal. If she could bring me five objects from her room--toys, old crafts, not just scraps of paper or other garbage--then I would help her make the dandelion.
She agreed. I do this often; bargain with her to get rid of multiple items in exchange for one new item. It's one of my favorite tricks.
To make the dandelion:
- I grasped a small portion of the loose pom pom threads and wrapped a pipe cleaner around them, as close to the base of the pom pom as possible.
- I bent the pipe cleaner around them almost halfway down the pipe cleaner and twisted, leaving a long stem and slightly shorter tail.
- I twisted the tail around the portioned threads and stem, floral tape style, to hide the threads and provide some stability.
- I used my fingernail to bend the sharp end of the wrapped tail to avoid scratched little fingers.
She's extremely happy with the way it turned out. I think it's pretty cute, too. Definitely worth the trade. She wants to wrap it around a pen to make a dandelion pen. Would make a good teacher gift, no? Party favor? It took me about 10 whole seconds to do, so making these in multiples would be easy.
