Oh to be Crafty....

Here's the thing. I want to be artistic, creative, and crafty. I really do. For some people it seems to come so easily, my mother for example. She has made lamps, she use to make pottery, she can paint and her latest endeavor involves etching on wine bottles and then turning them into wind-chimes, lights and various other things. The irritating thing is she is actually good at these things. When she made pottery it was sold in stores. She has had numerous requests from people and businesses to make them something from wine bottles.

It isn't as though I haven't tried over the years to learn how to do crafty, creative things. Before the internet, I didn't really research things. I just decided I was going to do something and then went about spending a ton of money on the supplies I would need to create my masterpieces. I think it began  with painting. I was never any good at drawing, so I don't know why I thought I would be any good at painting, unless it was abstract. Of course, I don't care for abstract. So I bought all the supplies needed to begin my life-long artistic journey in water-colors. Had I done, even a little research I would have learned that water-colors are one of the more difficult painting mediums. My life-long journey ended after three weeks.

Next came crochet, yet another thing my mother can do. The only thing I can make is one long string that continues until I have used up all of the yarn. Next came cake decorating. I should have known this wouldn't work as I do not like to cook or bake. That didn't stop me from purchasing the pans and supplies though. That one may have only lasted two weeks. I really don't like to bake.

All of those things were a long time ago. I am older and wiser and now have Pinterest. Some recent forays back into the arts has shown me that being older and wiser doesn't mean you are any more artistic than when you were young and stupid. I recently had an evening out with some girlfriends at a local place called Paint Therapy Uncorked. It is a neat concept. You pay and byob, they supply all the art supplies and you leave with a painting of your very own. I was very excited. I was the first to get there. You see, you pic out one of their paintings and reproduce it. I wanted to have the full selection to choose from. Anyone that knows me knows my favorite music group is Heart, and I found a great painting of a heart. Perfect! Yeah...no. I was so frustrated that mine was not turning out like the original I was near tears. I have seen photos of our group painting away. Everyone is smiling except me. I will show you the end result and you may think it looks okay. I would like you to keep in mind that the "helpers" that worked there had to pretty much outline everything for me and fix my screw ups as best they could. If you look at it you will figure out my screw ups. I wish I had taken a photo of the original so you would have something to compare it to.

Next I thought okay, maybe decoupage. I bought a cheap small glue gun and some Mod Podge. I mean isn't that all you need? Now I have "collected" stamps for the past few years and by collected I mean I see a pretty or cool one and I will save it. To me they are like fun stickers. So what I did next will make true stamp collectors cringe. I decided I would decoupage my stamp book with, you guessed it, stamps!  Here is the end result of this stroke of genius.

This last one is were I burned myself with the glue gun within the first hour of using it. Now maybe the book doesn't look too bad, but no matter how many coats of Mod Podge I put on it, it isn't smooth. Maybe I need shellac. Anyway, I do not have any photos to share of my brilliant idea to glue pebbles to an old LP. Lets just say it sounds much cooler than it looked. I would like to mention I am also pursuing my life long dream of learning to play guitar. While, that is great, I don't anticipate writing my own songs. I just want to be able to play other people's songs. So my itch for some sort of creative outlet is still there, when I attempt something else I will be sure and share it with you, but in the mean time, this is going to have to do.