Crafty Time

If you looked up the word procrastination in the dictionary.  Well, wait a minute does anyone even use the dictionary anymore?  I guess I should say if you googled the word procrastination you would see my picture pop up.  I guess I like the adrenaline rush of doing things last minute or something.  Or maybe its just I don't like doing things that I don't like doing.  For instance putting pictures in albums, dusting, cleaning out the coat closet, or buying socks (see previous post).  But give me a crafty project and I can't wait to start.  Over the last month I have had a couple of opportunities to put my crafty-ness to work and I loved it!! And even better these projects were basically free.  My first idea came from some old sweaters I was about to take to Goodwill.  I was sick of staring at the basket of clothes that I intended to take to Goodwill for weeks.  Again I was procrastinating so it had been sitting in my dining room but all that staring gave me an idea.  I could use the sleeves of the sweaters to make a cool covering for a vase.  The cable-knit would look very Fallish and cozy.  One problem: the vases were in the basement which I only enter if there is an emergency.  So far the only emergency has been to grab a spare bottle of ketchup from the fridge down there and even that caused full body shivering that lasted well after I had shut the door back and checked my hair for spiders.  These vases were no where near that level of necessity.  "Dip dip" is crucial in this house.  Vases not so much.  Turns out I had three empty soup cans sitting on my counter that would work perfectly.  I added a little ribbon and voila...cute Fall vases and a cute (if I do say so myself) way to display some photos.  Oliver happily collected some branches from our yard and I simply clipped the pictures and a little note to them.

My first project was for a special opportunity I get every few months.  I volunteer at a great place here that houses young girls and their babies.  It offers these girls a place to live and assistance while they go to school and get on their feet.  The girls are all under 18 and would not otherwise have a stable environment to raise their kids.  I just kind of stumbled across this place and immediately felt like I wanted to do something to volunteer.  Even though our lives couldn't be more different, at the end of the day we are all moms and I can't imagine doing that job without the help of a husband or just having basic necessities.  I tried to think of something out of the ordinary that they wouldn't normally have and to me that was having pictures of your kids.  So now I go and just take casual fun pictures since I am NOT a professional and they get to have little keepsakes.  So my cheap-y vase project was the perfect way to gift them their pictures.

*dust bunnies not included

My next project was to crate some kind of cute center piece for my brother-in-law's rehearsal dinner.  I just re-vamped this idea and it was all still pretty much free.  I got a roll of burlap ($3) and covered some wine bottles (supplied by my in-laws) and again raided the yard for branches.  They were a fun, easy personal touch that night!

BONUS: I kept the wine bottles for a cool Thanksgiving centerpiece!

My last project has been really fun.  I originally made them for a birthday brunch for my mom and oldest sister.  I cut scrapbook paper into rectangles, glued it to cardboard (that I had from two UPS deliveries that week) and then glued questions on the card.  The questions were things like "My favorite thing about you is..." or "When I think of you the word that comes to mind is..." and other fun things that were all about the birthday girls.   It was a great way to make the day all about them!  I re-used this idea at the rehearsal dinner and made the question about the happy couple.  The answers ranged from sentimental to hilarious to downright racy.  The perfect combination for a wedding weekend if you ask me!  Oh, and most importantly I placed a box (purchased for cheap at Homegoods) at the guests of honors seats.  The cards were placed in there so that they can read them anytime they want a stroll down memory lane.  Unfortunately I can't find my pics from the bday but you get the idea...