how to be crafty when you're not really crafty.

tip 1. start small. I want to sew things. Two problems: 1) a sewing machine doesn't fit in our budget right now, and 2) I don't technically know how to use a sewing machine. So I decided to start small and work my way up. Carly has a few cute flower headbands all given to us by others. So I decided to try to make one with a slightly smaller flower since Chris isn't a fan of the massive flowers.


tip 2. cheap supplies. Remember how a sewing machine isn't in our budget? Well, neither are craft supplies. So I went looking around what we already had. Carly had this headband, but whenever I put it on her she looked like Olivia Newton John singing "Let's Get Physical" so she didn't get much use out of it. I then journeyed to JoAnn's and found fake flowers on sale, so I got some pink daisies for a dollar. I just popped the back off and had layers of petals.

tip 3. strategize. I was making it up as I went along, so I decided to hot glue the petals together and then sew the flower onto the headband. mistake #1.

tip 4. don't be afraid to learn new things. I found out that dried hot glue is very hard to push a needle through. After many holes in my finger tips and a bent needle, I finally got TWO stitches through. I called it good.
tip 5. know your materials. The final cute accent was to be a white button in the middle of the flower. So I once again manned my hot-glue gun and fired. Turns out hot glue is hotter and runnier and stickier than I prepared for. My punctured fingers were soon covered in a layer of burning glue. And the button meant for the headband ended up glued to my finger instead.

tip 6. have extra supplies. That was my only button. And it was now covered with unremovable dried hot glue. I went searching through my random messy storage containers and found some fake pearls that I used at New Beginning last year. Perfect.

tip 7. take pride in your work. Consider finding a better place to show off the final product than your husband's Aaronic Priesthood manual.tip 8. the customer is always right. Comfy adorable headband without petals that hang in her face? Yes, indeed.