Today on I Love to Create, I’m going to tell my most recent story (all crafters & artists, even us professionals have many of these moments) of “when bad crafts, happen to good people.” No, things in the crafty world aren’t always bright and shiny with creative brilliance, even if you’re working with the best of tools. Alas.
First off, since this was intended to be a holiday project I feel that I should apologize to Jesus, Goddess Ostara, the Easter Bunny and anyone else associated with the season. My Peeps Tree wasn’t intended to mock you, I promise. It’s just ugly. It can’t help it. Let me explain.
It started off as a nice bit of crafting time with my son, Tanner. We’re talking; we’re bonding; we’re painting. See? Look at the joy in his eyes.
We’re big on decorative holiday trees in our house: Party Trees for birthdays, Spooky Trees for Halloween, Shamrock Trees for St. Patty’s Day, etc. I had a couple of undecorated, paper trees left-over from Christmas–they looked all sad and abandoned sitting there on the shelf– so, there seemed like no time like the present to turn them into Easter Trees!
Poor little guys, didn’t know that my crafty plans would be the beginning of their demise.
It started off fine. These cute cones are the right shape and size for a modern take on a traditional holiday. We busted into our Little Chica Paint Pack, grabbed a sponge brush and covered the trees in a nice, unassuming white. So far so good.
Now let’s pause for nice shot of some malted eggs, sitting on my new Jay McCarroll fabric. Ahhhh, pretty. Ok, moving on.
Once the paint dried, we added a layer of Glitter Bond in uneven strokes for a textured effect. Next, while still wet, we sprinkled copious amounts of Chunky Glitter (in Frida’s Fuchsia & Sunset Pink) all over the trees. Still relatively unoffensive in their sparkliness, right? I mean come on, every thing’s better with glitter!
Take a look. Take a moment, even. This is the last time the trees were even remotely redeemable.
In my mind, the next step in the process would transform these trees into kitschy pieces of nostalgic goodness. Oh though, how I was wrong! With glue-gun in hand, I started attaching chick Peeps in a spiral pattern. The result was at best, lackluster. So I added more. I saw it was going badly but still felt compelled to keep going…and going.
So I’m standing there (my pregnant stomach acting as an unfortunate, glitter catch-all ), with sticky fingers and marshmallow goo running down my wrists thinking, “Ok, I can still save this. How can I save this? I know, add more candy!” Then came the malted eggs.
I don’t know if you’ve ever used candy-coated eggs as a craft medium before but let me tell you, they are not the friend of hot glue. If I had been pouring hot lava onto chocolate bars, I would’ve gotten a better result! I did manage though, to get a few eggs on my little-tree-of-horrors which of course, made it top-heavy—the weight, more than the 1″ stump holding it up could bear. It was then, that I came to grips with the fact that this was going to be one hideous holiday project and bid it adieu. My poor Peeps.
I could tell by the look in my husband’s eyes that he thought this was some kind of karmic punishment for the fact that we’re vegetarians, but I was still using a gelatin-based product for a project. He’s not a Peeps-le person, I suppose. He prefers live animals. Really though, I just think it was a bad craft day. It happens to the best of us.
…And now, I’ll be stepping away from the glue gun and going back to my knitting needles for the day.
Had any craftastrophes of your own? Help a sister out, post ’em here!
Dear community,
The majority share of the knitting, crochet, and crafts industries, and the community that supports them, are women and non-binary folk with uteruses. After yesterday's devastating supreme court decision, essentially removing women's constitutional rights over our own bodies, need to support one another. We need to love each other enough to not give up. I see you. My heart is with you.
Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be on a Zoom action-meeting run by a major women's healthcare organization. We feel powerless, but one of the suggestions they gave for things we can do is to donate to grass-root organizations that focus on women's healthcare clinics.
𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗻, 𝟭𝟬𝟬% 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱-𝗻𝗲𝘄, 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗬𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗬𝗔𝗬! 𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗼 𝗯𝗮𝗴𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 @keepourclinics It'𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆.
(Go to the link I’m my @vickiehowell bio to shop).
With love,
Vickie
#yarnyay #roevwade #1973 #womensupportingwomen...
If any women or non-binary people with a uterus who are attending @hhamericas and need emotional support after today’s devastating Supreme Court ruling, meet-up at the seating section on the show floor next to the stage, after the Indie Magazine Panel at 1pm. 💗 #roevwade...
YarnYAY! Design Team member Chris Bahls has done it again — he created another gorgeous palette of our A-Frame Shawl! We love it so much, we’ve made it a kit. See this one, and our other shade options (featuring VH Montoya Merino Light) in the YarnYAY! Shop (link in bio) at www.YarnYAY.com