By Lisa Boone Craft time at Emily Green’s apartment involves daughter Daisy, Daisy’s friends and a bucket of imagination. “We used to have Christmas/Hanukkah parties in my neighborhood,” Green says, referring to her own childhood. “We made blue and white and red and green daisy chains and mixed them all up and decorated each other’s homes.” Green, pictured here at center, has revived the tradition in her own way, using recycled and unconventional materials to make daisy chains that wrap Ava Seefried, left, and Emma Mele. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Artist Emily Green (not to be confused with L.A. at Home garden columnist Emily Green) shows how she crafts unusual daisy chains made from recycled materials and provides a peek into her colorful apartment.
Ava, left, Daisy Green and Emma wrap themselves in the daisy chain they created for the holidays using tinfoil, doilies, duct tape, oilcloth, vintage fabric, cut-up plastic flowers, party toothpicks, pipe cleaners and scalloped Bordette, the corrugated trim that teachers often use around bulletin boards. “It’s a house where you can play with everything,” says Green, an artist who has her own line of housewares and accessories for children. “I want kids to feel like they can be themselves here.” (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Emily Green hangs a finished daisy chain in her bedroom. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Green’s “imagination bucket” is filled with scraps of paper, fabric, toilet paper tubes – you name it. “Where do you find such cool stuff?” Ava asks. “The cool stuff is everywhere,” Green says. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
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Emma, 9, collects materials for her daisy chain. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Green works on the daisy chain in the living room of her apartment. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Green assembles the interlocking strips with a hot glue gun, and the kids add beads from old costume jewelry and other details. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Reese Kendrick, 12, draws peace symbols on vinyl as his contribution to the group project. Green encourages kids to incorporate strips of text and illustration into their daisy chains. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
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Sharpie on vinyl. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Ava, 8, draws a picture of a menorah on vinyl to add to the daisy chain. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
On a holiday roll, Ava adds a few more to her collection of illustrations, including President’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
It’s not for everyone! Sean Mele, 3, plays with a wooden puzzle while the others work on the daisy chain. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
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In the hallway of Green’s small apartment, colored blocks and toys are arranged almost as installation. “It makes me feel centered to be around things that are simple,” Green says. “I look at them as functional artworks.” (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Green’s apartment is retro-cool, with nostalgic pieces used as decoration. Here in the bathroom, vintage alphabet blocks from a Michigan flea market rest on top of a medicine cabinet. In the living room, relics from Green’s childhood -- “Madeline” books, a cash register, board games and Richard Scarry titles – serve as decor. There is no television set. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
The playful apartment is filled with handmade objects. In her bedroom: a portrait of her painted by a former student on the back of his uncle’s ukelele. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
Green’s message? You don’t need money to be creative. She edits carefully. Because daughter Daisy’s cowboy boots are important to her, Green displays them in her room after she has outgrown them. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
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Daisy’s baby shoes. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
Tooth fairy boxes in Daisy’s room are made from recycled materials … (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
... including this one made of recycled aluminum foil. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Simple things, displayed with meaning. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
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Puppets hanging in the kitchen are also made from recycled materials. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
Green sits on her desk in the living room, which also serves as a workspace and a buffet table for parties. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
Placemats based on Green’s artworks. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
A greeting in chalk for a Times photographer, courtesy of Daisy on the day of the shoot.
