It's no secret that even good crafts come to end. They break. They fall apart. They go to craft heaven. Sometimes they are loved to death, other times they were simply too ephemeral for this world, and some crafts are perhaps, let's be brutally honest here; were not that well made. It's sad, but it's a fact of life we crafters must come to terms with... and the best way to chase those boo-hoos away? Upcycle!
A while ago I posted about how to make playtime makeup for your children using dollar store nail polish. My daughters have had a great time using theirs in their hair salon, especially when Daddy agrees to have his eyelids 'painted' blue. Well, when I was packing the salon away the other day I picked up the tray of 'makeup' and noticed that one of the paint-disks had popped up. When I investigated closer, I realised that a slight twist of the lightweight plastic tray popped all the disks out. Hmmm. One disk of nail polish broke almost instantly, it was amazingly brittle, but the others were quite strong, and although they would surely snap had I applied any real pressure, they were weirdly like taffy or toffee and had a nice silky feel to them.
Rather than bin them I laid them on the counter and asked myself; what do they look like? You of course will probably look at the picture and scream a dozen different answers at your computer; and I hope you do - there's nothing more amusing for your children than to see their parents yelling (obscenity-free) things at their screens! I however, decided they looked like wax seals fit for a princess party invitation.
As my eldest daughter Mimi has decided that she wants a 'fairytale' themed party for her fifth birthday at the end of the year ("the boys won't come if we call it a princess party" - that's my party-plannin' gal!) I reused the tray to make a whole batch of dark red 'seals'. I made them slightly thicker this time, so they're going to take a while to set. (Always be sure to place some kitchen towel under your plastic tray in case the chemicals in nail polish cause the plastic to fail and the nail polish pours out onto your table before it has a chance to set hard.) The initial ones look as if they'll stick down to an envelope pretty easily with a sticky-dot, so all's good.
Here's three cheers for giving broken things the royal treatment and a new re-crafted life!
(And if you're loved ones want a fairytale party - look for inspiration in either of our fairy or princess themed party craft ebooks - I will be!)
