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.
