Crafting, Little by Little

When it comes to events, I am an anti-procrastinator.  I learned as a florist to order vases, supplies, and flowers way ahead of time in case something was out of stock and I needed time to hunt for other options. I didn't want to be sued.  I'm not even kidding- I once was straight up fired by a couple because I couldn't provide them with the exact same vase they saw in a magazine.  3 years later, I'm still a little stunned by what happened, but you better bet it taught me a lesson:  Events are important, emotional, and (sometimes) a little chaotic, and therefore you need to prep everything you possibly can ahead of time so you have the time and energy to deal with any last minute stuff that comes up.

Angel's shower wasn't stressful at all, thanks to her wonderful assistants Anna and Michelle who planned everything to perfection.  All I had to do was make it look pretty, which was easy in such a lovely restaurant.   But I still applied my anti-procrastination tactics and started working on the decor over a month ahead of time just to be sure I finished everything. Now that I'm a full time mom, I can really only work during Sisi's naps and after I've put her to bed for the night. 

Here are some of the projects I'm so glad I started early:

Half of these pots I already had at home in my garden from Home Depot, and half I painted with spray paint to compliment them for 1/5 the cost. Simply tape off the tops of the pots and paint several coats until you get the glazed look you're going for.  I  will spray them again with some glossy water seal so I can use them for an herb garden I'm dreaming up (when it comes to gardening, I'm most definitely a procrastinator). 

These thumb tack balls are so fun and easy, but SUUPPERR time consuming.  I could finish 1 or 2 per episode of Felicity, not even counting the time it took to paint them with primer and then a few layers of spray paint.  I wanted at least 25 to make a statement on the tables. Do the math- that's a lot of Felicity episodes.  Had I left these until last minute, I would have made 5 and quit, with 2 billion thumb tacks left over.  The fabric balls were a much cheaper and easier project- I could make 5 or 6 per episode of Felicity.

 These faux craspedia were a little harder than I imagined.  I wrapped 100 wires with stretchy floral tape.  Then I had to use a sharp wire to poke a hole in each wool ball.  I then dotted the tip of each wrapped wire with a little glue, and inserted them into the holes in the balls.  Definitely cute, and it cut down on the number of fresh flowers I needed to buy. Quite tedious though.

 I made 3 pretty pillows for Angel's nursery, and did 1 per day.  It took a few episodes of Felicity to finish each one. 

 It took a few days to cut various shapes for her felt mobiles.  Awesomely, they only took about 10 minutes to sew together.  Simply feed the shapes under the presser foot one by one, overlapping a bit. 

Now you all think I'm a Felicity freak, don't you?  The show definitely went downhill once she cut her hair off, but I wanted to get through the whole entire show on netflix.  I've moved on to Wonder Years and Scrubs.  Anyway, hopefully this inspires you to do a little crafting!