And in my head, I am a fabulous crafter. But usually only in my head. Once I actually start to make something, I begin to doubt my fanciful abilities.
It's not that everything I make turns out absolutely horrible; my projects just never turn out quite...right. There always seems to be some sort of glitch in each and every one of my projects. A speed bump, if you will. Something that makes my creation look slightly different from the example on the computer screen or the vision in my head.
For example, last summer, I worked as a grade leader at a Vacation Bible School hosted by my church. When it's time for crafts, the grade leaders are supposed to help their kids make the craft, which is explained and modeled by the craft leaders. Simple, right? As only I can do, I instructed my table of kids to construct their coin purses in the way I thought we were supposed to do it. And of course, my kids' coin purses turned out to be completely unique. Figures.
Yet, I don't give up. I plug on. I try and try again.
So, here I share with you my crafting attempt at making a Mickey Mouse necklace.
My family just returned from a vacation to Walt Disney World, and we had been planning this vacation for months! As we prepared to leave, I ran across this craft idea on Pinterest.
So, with high hopes of making a darling necklace for Olivia to wear in Disney World, I headed to Michaels. I bought red leather cord, red jewelry wire, and some silver star beads. My dad already had the right size washers in his toolbox.
Me being me, I certainly couldn't follow the directions completely. Of course not. I had to "improvise." Although, I loved the look of the paper cutouts attached to the washers, I didn't have the tools to cut paper like that, and there was no way I was going to buy it, as I planned on this being a low-cost project. I decided I would paint the washers instead.
I gave all three washers two coats of black paint and later added white polka dots for a little something extra. I used tacky glue to attach the washers to each other, and once all of that was dry, I proceeded to wrap the jewelry wire around the washers.
Speed bump ahead!
I'm sure a truly crafty person would have seen this little issue looming in the distance, but not me! Not a chance.When I started to wrap the wire around the washer, the wire began to chip off the paint. I had a minor freak-out, but I pressed on, deciding I would fix it later.
After I finished wrapping the wire, I needed to touch-up the paint since I had scratched off a good portion of it in the process. Once my touch-ups had dried, the necklace almost looked as good as it had after my first paint job. Almost. If you look close enough, it's pretty easy to see my mistakes, but what's done is done.
I know just like me you're hoping that this is the end to my crafting trials, but alas, we still have to add the cord and the bead on. And this is when I realized that the cord I bought was too thick for the beads I bought. Naturally. So, at this point, I was getting frustrated, and I ditched the beads altogether. Let's just say I'm thankful I was making this for a 7-year-old and not for myself. Little Olivia is happy with just about anything. Bless her heart.
Here's the finished product.
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| Olivia modeling her necklace as we headed to Disney World |
So, the moral of the story is, do what you love, even if you're not the greatest at it. And if you're challenged when it comes to executing crafts (like myself), just think of it as your own little element of pizazz. Well, at least that's what makes me feel better.
