Feeling Crafty

Considering how brisk and autumnal it was today, it felt right to get back into my Christmas hype a little. Don't worry, I'm not clicking through my Christmas playlist yet, but since I'm organising a craft workshop over the next two months, I had to start researching the Christmas craft I'm going to teach, as well as getting to work on a prototype. What did I decide on? Why these little beauties, of course.

via, Flea Market Style

Yes, I technically already had 5 that I'd finished with a literary theme, but I figured I could improve on those to make them more time-constraint-friendly since I'll be teaching this in about a 45-minute window to a group of ladies. Plus, I wasn't as enamored of the silver glitter spray as I had been, so after a trip to the craft store today, I thought that testing out coarse and fine embossing glitter in mod podge would be a good idea.

Consensus? It looks much closer to the baubles in the photo. That combination of fine and coarse iridescent glitter really does make a world of difference. I even got 5 metres of the nice brown-rope string she's used in the picture. Of course, my decoupaging could still use some work - my bauble is nowhere near as smooth and sleek as those ones - but it's getting better, and with another practise or two I'll have it down. (And if that means I have to hang a few more ornaments on my tree, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make!)

My version of vintage paper came from a book again. Since this project is for Relief Society, we'll end up using paper with the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke printed on it. I snagged a £1 hymnal and ripped out all of the Christmas hymns for my prototype. While it's awesome, and reminds you of all the great Christmas hymns when you look at it, I have been singing random snatches of "Once in Royal David's City" and "In the Bleak Midwinter" all day.

much better than before

Of course, goodness knows what will happen when I move on to testing out my next Pinterest-inspired prototype. Lots of pins have suggested getting cheap Dollar Store mugs or cheap ceramic plates, drawing or writing on them with Sharpie marker, and then baking them in the oven to set the writing permanently.

My activities committee agreed with me that this would be a fun craft to do - especially because the end result is beautiful and useful: the epitome of a good idea. Though since none of us knew for a certainty that the idea would actually work, it's up to me to test that one out as well.

via, the Phobia