Not My Thing

A couple weeks ago when my dad was here he pointed to a Halloween block I had bought at Tai Pan and said, "Did you make that?" I laughed and said, "Of course not! I don't make things like that; I buy things like that!" Last night was Fabulous Friday at our church (Super Saturday except on Friday night. For those of you not members of our church it's a craft night for women.) I looked at all the cute things they had at church and signed up for a couple projects without putting any thought into the fact that I had to somehow make mine look cute. I had a great time chatting with friends at dinner but then it was time to pick up our kits and I remembered why I don't do crafts. They were giving us directions and I really started to stress out when they were using words like "mod podge" and I had no idea what that even was! I started thinking about when the last time was I actually attempted a craft activity. It took me a while to figure it out and then I remembered it was Bob.

This is Bob. He visits our house at Christmas time and my kids named him. He's magic and flies back to Santa every night to report on the kids' behavior and then finds a new spot to watch them for the next day. He can't be touched or he loses his magic. He goes back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve and then we don't see him until the next year. My kids adore Bob and I have to admit that I've become pretty fond of him too. It wasn't always that way though. Bob wouldn't even exist if it weren't for my mother-in-law. She is extremely creative and talented. I think she can make anything with a sewing machine and I've never seen anything she made that didn't turn out perfect. She had four boys before her youngest was finally a girl. Now that her daughter is grown and she has several daughters-in-law she loves to find fun crafts to do for girls' day. The only problem is that the fun things she can whip up in a few hours take me days or weeks. Last year she found a pattern for these elves. It sounded cute enough until I started. I had no idea how to turn a bunch of fabric into a stuffed doll. It of course involved several hours of sewing (and unpicking because that's how sewing works for me.) Then we got to the point where we had to turn a ball of fabric and stuffing into an elf's head. For me this was like trying to turn straw into gold. Luckily, I had the help of my mother-in-law and I enjoyed spending the time with her and my sisters-in-law. Thanks to them I think Bob turned out adorable but don't look too close because he's certainly not perfect.

Last night actually turned out better than I thought-especially when I found out Mod Podge is a whole lot like Elmer's glue! Luckily it was all wood and paper so there were no sewing machines involved and I had a great time visiting with my friends while I worked. It took several hours and again, don't look too close, but here's what I came up with.

So for all my creative friends out there. If you want to share your crafty ideas, call it a girls night and let me know. I can always use a night out with my friends and in the end I always like the finished product. If it's left up to me, the next time I want something cute for my house I'll be heading to Tai Pan.