The Chaos of Crafting

/ Quirky Girl

Making memories?

Priceless.

Creating memorabilia from memorable moments?

Pricey.

And time-consuming.

But fun.

And also kind of stressful, come to think of it.

Remember my recent adventure in ocean snatching?

Well, guess what?

I finally did something productive with all those seashells, ocean water, and sand.

My masterpieces are finally done!

What can I say?

My creative streaks ebb and flow.

(Just like the tides of an ocean!)

It took me a few weeks to envision exactly what I wanted to create with all my awesome ocean loot.

All I knew was that I wanted to recreate a beach scene.

But how, exactly?

I’ve got my very own tropical island oasis right here at home, with a beachy island-themed office room that I’d designed myself.

Complete with an inflatable palm tree.

Yet, figuring out the best way to recreate the ocean at home with real ocean parts is no small feat.

Don’t get me wrong.

I love crafting.

I love making memories.

And I especially love the beach.

It’s a dangerous combination.

Forget all the money spent on the vacation itself…

If you truly want to preserve your memories, you’d best be prepared to shell out even more money with a trip to Hobby Lobby.

But first, let’s talk about glue.

One year, my brother gave my boys a cool sock puppet kit for Christmas.

But there was an awful lot of sewing involved to assemble and accessorize those puppets, and I am not a big fan of sewing.

Why sew when super glue is so much faster?

As glue oozed like a spewing volcano out of the tube, I discovered the sock puppet had become glued shut.

With my hand still inside.

Glue and I clearly have a complicated history.

And so there were all these little factors I had to take into account for my ocean project.

Like how to glue sand and seashells without having shells permanently attached to my fingertips.

And how to ensure ample air ventilation to avoid passing out from toxic glue fumes.

At any rate…

On a burst of creative energy, I was finally ready to turn my collection of goodies from the ocean into a work of art.

Or four.

One combining most of my prized loot into a display:

(A shadow box with a layer of beach sand as the backdrop for my Atlantic seashells, along with a little heart-shaped jar for the ocean water.)

Another for a more sensory-filled experience:

(My little sandy beach jar, with some of the smaller seashells. If sand beneath my feet isn’t an option, then I’ll settle for sand in my hands. Ooh, that rhymes!)

A stress-relief meditation jar:

(No, the glitter and pink water are not from ocean. And it’s also not technically a “jar”. But the seashells on top are indeed from the beach. Besides, it’s something to shake and throttle. What’s not to love?)

And another heart-shaped vial of ocean water:

(Because it seemed wrong to dump the leftover Atlantic Ocean water after all the trouble we went through to collect it. And drinking it just didn’t seem like a very good idea.)

Trying to capture the magnificence of a real beach is damn near impossible.

But if you’re going to steal from the beach, you might as well do something awesome with your loot, right?

Oh, and as for all the glue I used for my projects?

No matter how many times I scrubbed my hands afterward, they were still stickier than a pot of Winnie the Pooh’s honey.

I had to wear cotton socks to bed that night.

On my hands.

Because I was terrified I’d wake up glued to the sheets.

Or somehow stuck to the wall.

Or worse, with my hands permanently attached to my face, like that kid from Home Alone.

Whenever I use glue, I truly seem to have the whole world in my hands.

In the most literal sense possible.

Anyway…

I finally have something to show for my moment of blissful ocean kleptomania!

And yet, I still have 493 pictures from my trip to sort through, organize, and arrange into a scrapbook.

So much for the stress relief of crafting.

Where’s that !&#$ meditation jar when I need it?

~Happy Saturday, friends! Have a great weekend!~

48 thoughts on “The Chaos of Crafting”

  6. Your creative skills far exceed mine. My construct would have included (1) shell in my pocket, (1) small vile of sand (in the other pocket, (1) water bottle strapped to my belt. I would entitle my masterpiece, “the travelling ocean.” See, told you your creativity far exceeds mine! 😀

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    • Your travelling ocean sounds much like my ocean loots of the past, minus the water bottle. I would always grab as many seashells as I could possibly cram into my pockets. As for the sand, well, when you travel with kids, they’re bound to unintentionally bring half the beach back with them, anyway. 😛

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  7. Super glue sticks to everything except what you want it to bond together, it’s a proven fact…

    And just think, now you’ll never have to go to the beach again! You can just dip your toes in that sandy box and uncork and sniff the ocean water when you need a fix!

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    • Isn’t that true? I can glue and reglue things that I desperately want to fix to no avail. Yet throw a hand or two into the equation, and bam! Suddenly glue remembers what it’s meant to do, albeit at the wrong moment.

      I know! Now I can feel sand any time I want! Now I just need to find a way to recreate those ocean waves at home… 😀

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  8. I came in here right away and what a beautiful piece of art. Trust me it was worth all the effort and the gluing complications. I will be partial to that first one, it is simply amazing. I hope to mimic that someday. Actually, I have a problem with anything that is remotely to do with art or craft. It is more of a stress than a stress buster, so may be it will take a whole ten years for mine to get that sort of perfection.

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    • The first one was actually my entire original project concept, until I realized I’d still have plenty of sand and shells left over. So naturally, I had to keep going and create more! More fun, more mess, more chaos! 😛

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  11. Hahaha…I had an image of Clark Griswold from Christmas Vacation, hands covered in sap, sticking to everything. 😆 Great end result, though!

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  13. Your crafts are stunning and yes, your post has left me smiling once again! I have some golden sand from a disappearing beach that we loved to visit in Mexico (nature apparently wanted it back!) tucked into a small glass case and it brings back lovely memories each time I walk by it! And a walk on a hipster street here in Vancouver yielded a crafty idea from a beautiful store window…folding white doilies in half over a long length of twine to create a pennant banner…so off I went to our local dollar store to purchase said doilies so I can make a banner for myself and one for a neighbour who is turning 100 at the end of the month! I don’t craft often but love it when I do…

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    • Creativity in all forms is therapeutic, and I suppose that’s why crafting has as much appeal to me as does writing. And while both take time, effort, and some level of planning, writing requires nothing more than a pen and paper. Every other activity seems to involve clearing out the local craft store. 😛

      Your pennant banner idea sounds very cool! Have you made them yet? 😀

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  14. lol most creative use of your loot … I had a full wall mural done by an artist friend that included shells, sand, coral, etc stuck to her painting of my favourite beach … people still travel from far and wide to see it 🙂

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    • Thank you! The ocean water was far harder to capture than I would’ve imagined! But that empty Gatorade bottle sure came in handy, otherwise I would’ve been forced to somehow get even more creative with means of “bottling” it up. 😛

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  16. Nice job, Quirky! Stick your hand in that sand jar whenever you need a quick pick-me-up. 493 photos? Sounds like a trip to Hobby Lobby’s scrapbooking aisle is in order. Loved the glue substitution that resulted in hand permanently stuck inside the hand puppet. My experience with glue has been the opposite, I use it once (like two drops to mend a coffee cup handle), put the cap on as tightly as possible, and the next time I need some, I find that “chemistry fairies” have magically turned the liquid into a solid. 🙂

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    • Thanks! This time around, I tried my luck with an extra strength spray adhesive. It was essentially tacky glue in a can, only a billion times stickier. Good times. 😛

      Yes, 493 photos! Granted, probably half of them are beach images that are all so beautiful, yet similar. But not similar enough where I can afford to delete a single one, apparently. Augh! 😛

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    • Thank you! 😀

      What’s the fun of crafting if there’s no danger involved, right? Just kidding! But I do seriously have a knack for finding myself in interesting predicaments. How many other people worry about waking up glued to the wall? 😛

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