This is Marley. I was trying to take a picture of an empty gum box, when it caught her attention. I was going to take a picture of an empty gum box to show you the gift box it inspired. I was going to take a picture of an empty gum box to show you the gift box it inspired, because this reminded me of the boxes I used to transform as a child.

I’ve gone to extremes. As a child, it was refrigerator and furniture boxes that I transformed. I turned them into houses, complete with roofs affixed to cardboard trusses, swinging doors and window shutters. I turned them into Star Trek bridge consoles with functional buttons and joysticks for my friends and I to play pretend. I turned one into a triceratops that used up the entire space in our small TV room and did not fit through the door. And I laugh at this now, but wonder what the neighborhood parents thought when I transformed my bicycle into a motorcycle by attaching custom-designed cardboard enhancements to its frame. I wish I had a picture. Come to think of it, my father took a lot of photographs, but not a single one of this. Perhaps that’s my answer right there!!

Flash forward to adulthood. For quite a while, I chewed gum whenever my sweet tooth insisted on trying to make me go astray. One day, it just went away. The sweet tooth that is. I was left with a stack of gum boxes and a stack of ideas. I think it was about the same time as I resumed indulging in my art projects every day. The moment I made more room for this, the sugar cravings diminished considerably. I am positive that when we make room for who we really are, the things we do to fill the gaps simply vanish naturally.

Trying to identify who we are first, before taking action, does not do the trick. This can be nearly impossible and only leads to constant and frustrating self-questioning. The trick is to start doing or being something to which we are drawn naturally. Just give it room. We discover what is in the package that is us by stepping outside of the package. Or better yet, maybe there is no package and we make one as we go, like wrapping a gift with all the trimmings, until it looks right.

Well, then, if my gum box and cardboard triceratops and make-shift cardboard motorcycles are any indication, either I have not found the right package yet, or I am a box, within a box, within a box. I suppose it all fits in, somehow.

Exclusively at Ornament Studio: Small gift box with fabric slide closure. These are made with recycled gum boxes, meticulously revived inside and out with fashion paper. 3″ high x 1/2″ thick. Only $5 each!