I went to the Dollar Tree today and found some crafty fun.  I’m excited to try to do a Styrofoam wreath, although how, I have no idea.  I don’t look at Pinterest.  I’m not sure why, but it feels like cheating when you steal someone else’s idea.  Weird, I know.  I’m willing to do it for a diy project, but not for crafts.  I try to be a little different, quirky, if you will.  I know that there are a million ideas out there, but somehow, I want mine to be a million and one.  Then again, just because it isn’t on the internet doesn’t mean someone else hasn’t created the exact thing I am making.  For now, we’ll just assume that no one in the history of the world has ever even mildly considered one of my crafts, unless of course, they saw it on my You Tube page and then they can make it all they want.

And what happens when there’s no inspiration or clue?  It’s too early to think about that.  For now, I’ll continue on in my oblivion of the perfect craft (that I’ll never see) on Pinterest.

Life is back to normal today and I couldn’t be happier.  I made two videos and transformed into my alter ego, MacGyver.  I know it’s hard to believe, but sometimes I even scare myself with the ideas I come up with.  First of all, if you know anything about me, you know I have a fondness for ribbon.  I don’t have any preferences, no that’s not true.  I absolutely love ribbon that is wide, sheer and feels like heaven.  But I digress.  I was making a card that was navy blue and had silver glittery paper on it and it called for navy blue glittery ribbon, naturally!  I thought I had some, come on, I had to have some, I but couldn’t find it..  I know it’s hard to believe.  After all, if you saw my craft room video, you know I am the neatest of crafters.  (That room has never been that clean before that day or since, to be perfectly honest.)  So I had a very large ball of embroidery thread or tatting yarn, I don’t really know what it’s called, but it was beige.  So I pulled out my trusty Night of Navy ink pad and found an old baggy in the garbage and pulled the thread/yarn whatever, through it.  Then I put a dollop (yes, I used the word dollop) of glitter glue into the same baggy and dragged the thread/yarn back through it and now I have navy blue glitter thread/yarn for my card.   I know you’re amazed, me too!  Of all the craft tricks I’ve tried, about 90% fail, so I was really surprised and thrilled it worked.   I have to say, after a craft success like that one, MacGyver needs to take a break, it’s only fair.

In twenty-five years in banking, I never told anyone anything about my health, other than I was scheduled for surgery.  I don’t talk about my health and only did it on the tour of the room to ensure people knew where I was coming from.  It’s not that I am ashamed of my disease, it’s more that if I ignore it, others will as well.  I know it’s a foolish thought when basically all you see are my hands, but I am more than my disease.  Unfortunately, today I’m in pain.  Not the normal kind that I can easily ignore, but the kind that all the narcotics and steroids in the world can’t erase.  I know a lot of you know what I am talking about.  When you have a day like this, you wonder if you’ll be able to take it.  But you will.  We were made to experience pain.  We were also made to experience everything else the world has to offer.   So we have to look to tomorrow, in hopes that the medications will work, or the weather will change, or we will just get some slight reprieve.  There’s always tomorrow.  I’m counting on it, and so should you.

Since Sunday is the day for football, I’ll use some football terminology to describe my day.  I tackled a glittery card and the glitter broke the tackle and went ALL THE WAY!  What does that mean in craft terms?  It means the glitter ended up on me, the counter, the floor, the dog and a little bit on the card and in the trash.  Use a coffee filter to catch the glitter?  Sure, I did that.  The glitter found its way into the filter as well.  I’m not sure how glitter gets where it does, but if it was a quarterback, it would be extremely well paid.  Maybe a Hall of Famer.   The glitter appeared in stamp pads that weren’t even open when I did the project.  That’s some pretty tricky glitter.  Let’s just stop and ponder where else that glitter could be, or maybe not.  We probably don’t  really want to know.

Today, I decided to make a card with Gelatos.  Not the wonderful creamy dessert, but more the crayon-Satan-type  product.  It’s not right to use a dessert’s name in vain like that.  This demon stick performs like wax or runny muck, depending on how much water is used.  It is a seemingly simple concept.  You shove some waxy pigmented yuck into a Chapstick style container and you convince people it’s the greatest thing since, well Gelato.  It’s supposed to perform somewhere between a watercolor and a crayon–whose kidding who?  It performed like watered down wax or waxy water And so I looked at the cards produced using them on You Tube and I have to say, my card stacked right up there with the others I saw.  So after trying them for, oh five hours, I gave up.  I strongly believe they should be shelved for another day, or year.  I really thought it was just me, until I saw what other people have produced.  Demon Stick!

Finally, a tag.  Not just one, but four.

I watched the video today where the tag stuck to my thumb and I think Rich might have edited it out.  At least I couldn’t see it, so maybe you didn’t either.  Don’t worry, there will be plenty of chances to see me burn, cut, staple, or impale myself on video.  I can see why there is a television show for horrible things people do to themselves (mostly not on purpose) when being videotaped.  There’s a certain anxiety that happens when the red light goes on.  I’m normally not self conscious about speaking or appearing in public, since I had to do it at the bank, but crafting on video has an additional level of stress associated with it.  What if this looks like crap?  What if it takes an hour to make?  What if someone decides to give it a thumbs down?  PS That already happened on a product review and recommendation.  Why a thumbs down for that? Didn’t you like the product or didn’t you like that I liked the product?  Maybe you own one and hate it.  If that’s the case, why not add a comment to tell me all about it, and why you hate it. Maybe you couldn’t tell if the thumb was up or down and you clicked the wrong one?  Let’s go with that.

I bought a couple Styrofoam tree-shaped forms at (where else?) the Dollar Tree.  I started watching some tutorials on what other people have used them for.  Here’s a weird off-topic moment for you. Every time I typed Styrofoam, this website capitalized it.  Is Styrofoam worthy of a Capital “S”?  I’m not sure what the deal is with that, but I just thought I’d ponder it for a moment.  Yes, I did try to change it and every time I did, it changed it back to “S”.  Odd?  Maybe it’s a city somewhere.  No, I checked Wikipedia and they also capitalized it.  Here are some scary facts from Wikipedia about Styrofoam.  It is 96% air–so why is it so hard to cut then?  Is the other 4% steel?  And isn’t that crazy, they don’t capitalize steel?  Back to Styrofoam.  It’s considered a possible carcinogen, but really, what isn’t anymore?  Then there is this little nugget that is so absurd, I had to copy and paste it.

Styrofoam-eating worms[edit]

Recently, researches discovered that mealworms, the larvae form of the darkling beetle, could digest and subsist healthily on a diet of Styrofoam.^[12] About 100 mealworms could consume between 34 and 39 milligrams of Styrofoam in a day. The droppings of mealworm were found to be safe for use as soil for crops.

So now I’m asking myself, do I have too much time on my hands?  And why didn’t McDonalds just invest in a bunch of worms instead of getting rid of their Styrofoam?  Maybe the mealworms don’t like McDonalds or are worried about gaining weight?  But I digress…What was I talking about?  Oh, those trees.  Yes, those projects looked like I’d burn my hands off and we know I’m not interested in doing that, Again!

I know I should have had the camera closer to the snow globe, but didn’t.  I guess I never thought about how small the project was in relationship to the screen.  I’ll work on that.