I mentioned last week that I had started to revamp one of the elements in Lou’s room: her big L. We “crafted” that giant L when we first got to Brooklyn, and we intended it to be large. We kept talking about how we were going to make a biiiig L and saying, “L is for Lou, large and in charge!” This is our first attempt:

It wastoo big – it stuck out of the wall an absurd distance – and the wrapping job was less than stellar.

Lou liked it. But I told her I was going to make it even better, and last week, well, I tried. First, I gathered  my supplies: the box, a skein of decorator's fabric edging I got from a thrift store for $10, and my hot glue gun.

Then I cut an L out of the box. It’s not too tough to make an L, of course. I basically excised one rectangle of the box (using a combo of scissors and an xacto knife) and then taped it all up for stability.

If you’re going for a letter other than L, do the same general thing, which is try to find a box that works with you, not against you. Use a box the size and depth you’d like and trace your letter out, using the edges of the box, as much as possible, as the edges of your letter.  Make sense? You an see that the top, bottom and sides of my L are all from the original box. Then you only have to make cuts along the negative space, and you’ll have a resulting 3D shape to work with.

In the first L iteration, I wrapped the shape with wrapping paper. The result wasn't great, so this time I used fabric edging. Yarn, twine, ribbon and torn or cut fabric scraps would all work. First, I hot glued strips of fabric on both the tops and sides.

Then, starting from the back, I wrapped the fabric around and around, gluing as I went. When it was finished. I held it up to Bret and said, “Umm, does it look like a casted foot?” As he pointed out, you can’t unsee that, so I know you now agree with me, even if you didn't see it before.

But so what if I wasn’t thrilled with it! The question was, how would Lou react?

Tears. Actual, full on tears.

"Too much white," she cried.

Here's the thing: Our little one has a strong aversion to the colors black and white. She will tell you that she only likes all the colors of the rainbow. Any know-it-all stranger who tries to point out that black is all colors or white is a reflection of all colors or blah blah blah will get a withering stare and a repeat that only the colors IN THE RAINBOW are her best.

She told me just last night that she loves me, even though I’m always putting her to sleep and even though I sometimes wear black.

Once, as we were transitioning back from a trip with a time difference, we were so desperate to get her to bed that Bret actually honored her requests to remove everything white from her room. I called the game when books with white in the covers were being tossed into the hallway on top of sheets and pillows.

So anyway, the L reaction is my fault. It felt awesome, to have sustained 2nd degree burns on something that caused my daughter emotional trauma, but you know, that’s the perk of being a crafter. And a mother, I guess.

So what do we do now? Seriously, suggestions welcome. I’m leaning toward just junking the thing. Though we could all autograph it. That should stop it from evoking broken bones.

The good news is, if you’ve got any letter other than L, I think you’re golden even if you do use white-based fabric or ribbon to cover a cardboard letter. But if you are using an L, go for some twine or yarn or something. In a color IN THE RAINBOW for heaven’s sake.