make a craft with me!

Tomorrow is my friend's birthday and I was looking up gift ideas for her earlier this week, because, you know, lifetime procrastinator over here. She works as our door person at the food bank, which means she is the very first face our clients come in contact with. I don't have the extroverted personality to be the door person, but Stacy was born for that job.

I found these mustard seed necklaces, as in if you have faith the size of a mustard seed you will move mountains, and I thought that is something she would like, but they looked a young for a 52 year old woman. Although who am I to really talk, because people often tell me I'm dressed like a teenager, and I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not. So I'm not always sure what is considered age appropriate or not, as long as its not obvious like a romper. There should be an age limit with that one.

I think maybe it was the chain that made it look young. I think the pendant itself is cute. Anyway, I kept scrolling and saw this one:

But it was Monday night, and her birthday is Friday, and even though all of these items were marked as prime, none of them were coming in until after her birthday. So I decided I could make it instead, and bought empty pendant balls and some jewelry chain. We also had some mustard seeds left in the container of pickling spice we bought last summer when I jarred all of our banana peppers from the garden. So big win there.

I am pretty pleased with how it came out, plus I have 9 more bulbs lots more jewelry wire and clasps, so I can make more. I also plan to make a pair of glitter ball earrings like I had years ago and never replaced after one of them broke in the floor of Firehouse Subs. 

I wore it around the house yesterday to make sure it was held together well (and to make sure I didn't look or feel like I was wearing a lightbulb or fishbowl.) It was, and it didn't. Stacy is always sharing her faith with our clients and I thought this might make a great conversation starter. 

I used to make jewelry all the time. Maybe this sparked some kind of reawakening. Maybe not, who even knows when it comes to my brain anymore. It always feels good to make something with your hands though. Considering I am rarely inspired to create anything anymore (other than original songs in my head,) it was nice to do something that old me used to enjoy.

This would be a great bulk gift idea. You could even do keychains or rear view mirror charms instead of necklaces. I don't know about you, but I have a troll, a diamond, a stretchy unicorn, a clay heart and a button pin that says "Its ok not to be ok" hanging from my rear view mirror. I promise it's not as bulky as it sounds, and it helps me spot my car in a sea of black cars on days when my brain processing seems to be slower than normal.

I cannot believe I used to put together very unprofessional how-to blog posts. My brain is incapable of linear 1,2,3 anymore. I mean, I can. But how boring, how tedious. Let's not and just say we did.

I was thinking yesterday about how the only thing I've ever taken care of before the very last minute was my spiritual life, and even then, I don't know how much credit I can even take for that. But really, I've had a lifetime of waiting until the very last minute to do anything and everything. Some things about you don't change even after the entropic rulers of the world biochemically lobotomize you.