Once I'm done...I'll find it...

I always seem to run into the obstacle during my projects that the very thing that I want or need to complete my idea seems impossible to find.

Take for instance the baby wreath I'm currently working on: I am trying to find a little cat stuffed animal.  Think Beenie-baby size.  I don't even care about the color.

How naive to think that was possible!  They do NOT exist.  Walmart, Target, Goodwill, ToysRUs.  Nope, nada, niet.

Sure there are stuffed cats but none of them are simple.  I found stuffed toys larger than myself, cats smaller than my pinkie, even some that sing and light up.  Not what I need.

But this is nothing new.  This has always been an element of my projects and, to be fair, sometimes my compromises create a better outcome.

Exhibit A:
My Dorothy costume

Waaaaaaaay back when this picture was taken, there weren't red sparkly shoes available.  So my Mom and I made some.   We took an old pair of dress shoes, sprayed them red and once that dried, dabbed on some white glue and covered that with red glitter.  I promise you, Dorothy Gale's shoes weren't as nice as mine!

Now I swear they show up every October...

But I really wouldn't have appreciated my costume as much if my Mom would have just bought the shoes.

So while I hope that I don't have to sew my own cat toy, I may think of something better by the time I'm done.

It starts young...Update...

Ha, Ha!  I found it!

There is the 'Horse Shoe Toss' booth complete with cardboard horse-shoes, billows & damaged wagon wheels.

'Well crafted' Mom!

P.S. -
My Mom thinks I'm crazy for posting this!

It starts young

Seeing as how today the temperature dropped a merciful 2 degrees I find myself daydreaming about one of my earliest craft memories.

Picture if you will an early October day.  My family is heading to school, on a Saturday.  The parents are busy on a committee.  They're planning the school Carnival and everyone is there to help, kids too.

On the way my sister and I score a happy meal.  The usual colorful box has been festively replaced with an orange pumpkin grinning at the chance to show off it's insides...which happened to be a blissfully greasy kids' meal.

In my third grade sized world the school Carnival was only third to Christmas and Summer vacation.  I was excited to be a part of the commotion.  The fun has always been being a part of the buzz of getting ready.  I still feel that way, I'm better at setting the party up than being a guest.  The fun is in figuring it all out and making things work with whatever you have on hand followed by the pride of making that last minute Hail-Mary pass the actual thing everyone liked the most.

Each class had to help with a booth and each booth was a certain game: the ping-pong ball toss, speed throw and face-painting.  The booths were simple wooden frames, the walls were made of heavy-duty paper and each was decorated colorfully.

That year my class had the horse shoe toss booth. I helped my Mom as she painted two horses looking back as if whomever was tossing the horse-shoes was in the stable.  The stable 'doors' created the toss line.  The whole Carnival was a massive creative effort.  

It was magical watching strings of bare-bulb lights and bunches of balloons transform our school parking lot.  The idea that you could make almost anything work with a screw gun, duct tape, acrylic paint and imagination became a part of my very being in those afternoons.

So as fall flirts with its real arrival I'm reminded I should keep that glue gun handy.

Sure Thing...

I've often thought while elbow deep in a friend's gift the night before I had to hand it over - it was either really bold or really stupid to make a gift for someone.

God forbid I mess up or I make something they hate...

I have seen the aftermath of hideous crafting bestowed on a recipient too kind or too practiced to recoil.  (To be fair -gasp- I'm sure I must have been the bearer of such a present!)

Speaking of being on the verge of yet another gift being given an honorary space in the back of someone's hall closet: It was my Mamacita's b-day this weekend.  Since I was at a loss of what to get her, I decided to go with a sure thing.

Halloween.

Oh yeah - Halloween.

My Mom loves Halloween as much as I do.  So a Halloween themed gift is as close to a safe bet as I could get.

So of course I ignored common sense and made her something.

Well honestly, I only made a part of it.  I found a panel with a Halloween apron printed on it which really spurred the theme.

The directions were sparse to be honest...so I improvised.

The material was a bit thin so I doubled it and made the straps thinner but more sturdy.

I ran the straps along the curved edges at the top of the apron since I knew the stitches would be visible.  Also I hoped it would be sturdier than simply stitching the edges.

I think she liked it...I'll know once I check the hall closet!