We were meeting some friends for dinner when there was unexpectedly a third couple whom we had never met invited to join us. I was informed just prior to the official introductions that this new couple was quite well off. The husband hand inherited a family business and they were quote unquote "well to do."
So of course when asked by the wife "What do you do?" I completely froze. In some previous private moment I had determined to describe my profession as a crafter, blogger, ebay seller, waitress, but faced with these real life muckity mucks I buckled under the weight of my ridicules and shameful, made up job description and resorted to the non answer of "well I don't do anything because I recently broke my foot and........awkward silence... pause......and then the blessed subject change.
I am 51 and I should be mature enough to own up to my life and the way I live it but I am still not always able to be openly and authentically me. I joke that I will some day have purple hair and not care a wink what other people think but perhaps I will never really be that eccentric. Which is why later that night I stealth-fully tucked my drinking straws away in my purse careful not to draw any attention to my strange behavior. Just what kind of crazy would it make me if I were caught stuffing the trash from the table into my purse? Imagine the awkward silence that followed my non answer to what do you do, and quadruple it with stupefied looks as I announce that I need the straws for a dress I am making. (see dress here)
I could be wrong but something makes me think that folks that drive BMW's, live in big fancy houses and travel the world might not understand my propensity for playing with trash. Of course I don't know anything about these new people, the house they live in or where they have traveled. I just made certain assumptions about them based on the little information I had been given. It is actually possible that they would have been interested to hear about my dress made from trash. I guess I will never know.
I am happy to let you know that since that evening I have been able to unashamedly ask my friends to save their straws for me because I needed them for a dress. Most of them complied without even giving me any weird looks. I am also planning to bestow on some of my girlfriends, my little made from trash gift baskets as Christmas gifts. I guess it is time to let a little more of my closeted blogging and crafting life out into the real world, especially if this is true......
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My Trashy Christmas Tree and Upcycled Wine Cork Ornament DIY
I guess the idea to decorate my Christmas tree with trash started as a challenge to see if I could come up with anything remotely attractive. It ended with the added benefit of being a cat friendly tree. I haven't put up a tree for the last several years mainly because of our feline house mates. But this year none of the made from trash ornaments are breakable and therefore they are quite safe and double as great cat toys.
Here is the re-cap of my "Trashy Tree"
5) Plastic bag stitched ornaments
6) And today's project painted wine cork ornaments.
To make cork ornaments
Step 1 - Cut corks into slices (I cut mine into four sections)
Step 2 - Use E6000 glue to make desired shape
Step 3 - Paint and embellish as desired
Step 4 - Screw eye bolt into the top of ornament and hang
Happy Upcycling,