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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Valentine's Flowers....and failing.

I love finding great things in Pinterest to try; both crafts and recipes. Normally I see things and think "Hey! I could do that! Psh! Easy!"

Then I try said craft/recipe/project and when I'm finished the end result is not quiiiiite what I was hoping for. Then I try it again and make changes until it's pleasing to me- and that is what you lovely people see here on the blog. Well, today I will share both the fails and the successes...just so you can get a good laugh in for the day (at my expense, of course).

Let's start at the beginning, shall we? I saw this bouquet on Pinterest:
(from MarthaStewart.com)
     Fun idea for Valentine's, right? Fill up your vase with red candies- festive and sweet (literally)! I thought "Heck yeah! This is gonna be great! I can do that!" I ran out to Trader Joe's for some flowers and bought a bunch of Red Hots at Target and sat down with a vase to get cookin'. Then I realized the issue:

1. Flowers need water to survive.
   and
2. If you fill the vase with water and candy, the candy will bleed and become a gooey sticky redish mess.

Huh. Then how the hell did that little scoundrel Martha do it? I swear that woman is magic. I came to two ideas, either:

1. The flowers in the picture are fake, thus not in need of water
  or
2. There is another, smaller vase with water holding the flowers and the candy is surrounding it.

Dang. I didn't think of that when I planned this seemingly easy decoration. This my friends, was Fail #1.
I realized- WAIT!!! If I just go to marthastewart.com I can find out! I did and of course, it's two nesting vases (see it here).Well, I didn't have two vases that nested together, so it was time to problem solve. 

This brings us to Fail #2. I thought,  "Well, I have glitter and a heart punch and ribbon, how about I just throw it all together in a jar and it will be rustic and whimsical and cute at the same time!" Man, never try to mix rustic,whimsical, and cute. Or at least think it through. This is why:
I think the major part of Fail #2 was adding the glitter. It's like a unicorn threw up in my makeshift vase. Bummer.

What did I learn from these 2 fails?

1. Sometimes, it's better to actually read the directions when you see something you like.
     and
2. Red Hots are delicious.

This story doesn't end in a fail my dears. I was too annoyed at this point that I was ruining a perfectly good bouquet of flowers so I grabbed one of my trusty blue Mason jars and got to making it Valentine's worthy. I had punched out a bunch of hearts from some stock paper, so I simply glued them back to back around a little bit of fishing line!

 Here's the before- which looks perfectly lovely without hearts...
 ...but just a little bit better with the simple heart garland, right?

 Here's how it looks a little further back...and with some candles too! (You'll see those in a post to come)
 So there you have it. I guess 3rd time is the charm. Dang Martha and her nesting vases...Trickery I tell ya.

What do you think of the final product? Are you lucky (smart) enough to read the directions before you jump into a project? I need to rename my blog  "The Impatient Crafter". Seriously.


P.S.*On another note---are there any Richmond bloggers that will be going to the Richmond Comedy Coalition "Richmond Famous" Show tomorrow night? Fellow RVA bloggers Sherry and John from Young House Love are featured, and I'm going for a night of great improv comedy! PLEASE leave a comment or email me if you are, I'd love to meet you! You can find more on the event here.

Point of View: A Creative Collaboration,a creative collaboration,point of view,point of view a creative collaboration
oh, and i totally forgot to link up on monday with brassy apple, so this will just be a "make it thursday"

14 comments:

  1. That just cracked me up! Love your persistence and the beautiful result! :)

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  2. Oh my gosh Laura that's too funny! I give you credit for even trying, as I would have definitely wimped out I know! That's hysterical, but it turned out lovely! I love roses in a mason jar...may definitely steal that idea from you! Love it girl!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much for the compliment Susan!! Hope you do make some beautiful bouquets.. post them if you do!!!!

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  3. This is hilarious! Sounds just like me! I love how the jar with hearts came out. I may have to give that one a whirl. So glad I came across your blog. I am your newest follower! Cheers!
    http://www.becauseshannasaidso.blogspot.com
    Shanna

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    Replies
    1. So glad you found the blog, thank you so much for following, can't wait to check out yours!

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  4. the "Impatient Crafter" cracked me up! That is totally me! It ended up beautiful. Way to not give up. I'm afraid I'm more of a quitter than you. :)

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  5. I love everything about this because even if I were crafting with you, I think the exact same things would have happened...and then some. Finally project is b-e-a-utiful! Such a dainty, beautiful garland.

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  6. SOOO cute, I LOVE the heart garland!! This is hilarious - I've been cursing Martha myself - I've worked part-time retail @ Staples since I was 16 (never stopped being a student!) - and we just got new Martha Stewart Home Office products. That woman is FUSSY I tell you. You don't even want me to get into it. Good job working around her though! And thanks for your comment on my blog - the brick wall you liked is actually the backside of our fireplace!! xo

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  7. I love the look of the flowers in the blue mason jar. And the heart bunting is too cute! I love it. Thanks for linking up with POV. I will be featuring your project on my blog. Feel free to stop by and grab a featured button!

    Jonie

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    Replies
    1. You are so sweet! Can't wait to see the feature, I'll be sure to grab a button! xo
      laura

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  8. Ahhahaha story of my life!! Especially Martha Stewart, she is a sneaky one. Once I bought her paper roses kit at Walmart that I thought would be a fun project, turns out it was so hard and my roses looked NOTHING like they were supposed to. Throwing the glitter in the water is totally something I would have done. I love how it turned out though! The heart garland is adorable and the flowers are beautiful!

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  9. What a lovely flower arrangements! Simple yet elegant! I really love it. =)

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