DIY

I've always imagined myself to be quite creative, and figured that the reason some of my DIY attempts that would come off perfectly when I imagined them in my head left me with 3rd degree hot glue gun burns on my hands, a tornado of glitter around my house, and nothing to show for it but a twisted heap of gnarled cloth instead of the beautiful avante garde wall piece to complete my living room decor was because I simply lacked the time and patience to properly read directions, or make sure I had all of the correct supplies before launching head first into a project. It is possible I secretly believe that I am something of an creative genius, and that my true inner talent will somehow emerge during the artistic process.

While I do lack patience, it can never be said that I lack enthusiasm, and I often dive right into a project the second the idea strikes me, and worry trivial things like the fact that I don't know how to use power tools, and in fact was promised a B in my wood working class with the singular condition that I never step foot in the shop again, later. I believe my most commonly used phrase during one of these fits of creativity is "I'm sure it will work just as well if I do it like this instead...right?"

There have been a few successes, like the time I made matching tie-dyed shirts for me and That One Guy, but to be fair it is very difficult to mess up tie dye, even if the colours in my final product did verge a little bit closer to brown than I'd have liked.

I'd given up on my little craft projects a bit in recent months, after I spent $60 to make myself a necklace that was A) heavy and unattractive and B) something I could have bought for about $5 at Forever 21. But lately, probably because of a little site called Pinterest, I've been feeling quite crafty. I have hundreds of mason jars left over from my wedding, and tons of ideas. Recently I made this little beauty:

A mason jar vase covered in gold glitter and I am in love with it! I have my wedding bouquet in it, and while it does have a few bare patches, and a long fingernail swipe on the right side, I am so proud of it, and feel quite like Martha Stewart. Of course it was very easy to make, it took me about 15 minutes, and I was drinking wine, eating chocolate and watching Love Actually at the same time, but still.

Inspired by my recent success, I have undertaken the endeavor of making myself a Halloween costume. I fear that my years of dressing up ridiculously will be beyond me before I know it, and soon I will be at home passing out candy, or taking some little monsters of my own out and then stealing their candy, so I decided to go big this year. I've always wanted to dress up as a peacock for Halloween, but in years past I always felt that it was a bit too much (which when you look back at my costumes from years passed, I hardly think any of them were much better) but since my motto lately seems to be, "Screw it I'll do what I want" I decided that this is the year.
 

Once this incredibly important decision was made, I started looking online and found some really cute costumes... for $200. I decided to employ my own creative skills and make myself a costume using a tutu and corset that I already had and:

Hot Glue

Peacock Feathers (I bought them on Ebay, $20 for 100)

Some Ribbon

Some Elastic

Needle and Thread

and some glitter (obviously... although come to think of it, I don't know when I last saw a glittery peacock in the wild)

And here is the top, finished:

I have no idea how sturdy this is going to be, and for all I know all my feathers could be blown off immediately by the first gust of San Francisco wind, but you can't have everything in life.