Craft-tastic!

Ever wonder what to do with all those tiny plastic liners in your coke bottle caps? Sure you do. Why not hot glue them into a bowl? That's what this resourceful crafter did and as you can see, the results are awesome.

There's some kind of crazy craft resurgence going on. I used to make a lot of crafts with my mom in the 70s. She was very much into decoupage, the fancy French term for gluing paper onto objects, and she had all the special implements to do so, including Modge Podge (my collage glue of choice these days).

I remember a particular illustration of Don Quixote and Sancho Panzo on their steeds as tall, thin shadow figures posed against a dark mustard background. My mom filed down the edges of a big piece of wood to give it some indents all around, then stained it really dark brown, almost black. Then, once the giant image was glued on straight (a tension-filled process) she had herself some home-made Spanish Colonial wall decor to add to our Spanish Colonial living room. We were the only house in Concord, Calif. to have one of those (that I know of). At least it seemed that way because whenever people came over they always looked around and said, "Whoa, what's going on here?"

The couch was nearly 7 feet long and its fabric was covered in bright red and rust-red roses, giving it a cozy blood-cell feel. There were two wooden chairs that would have fit in at the Alhambra de Granada. The coffee tables were that almost-black stained wood with black wrought iron trim (still available in the garage, if I want them). Rembrandt's "Man with Golden Helmet" (a fake!) stared down at us while we sat on the couch. His daunting portrait was surrounded by bejeweled swords and giant gilt keys mounted on goldenrod velvet-upholstered plaques, studded all around with decorative tacks.

I'm not mocking my old living room. I LOVED that room. I fully expected the Spanish Inquisition to arrive at any moment and start chasing us down the hallway, yelling, "Heretics! Give us names and we may let you live!" The Spanish Inquisition had a torture policy very similar to our current government. Not to make light of the Spanish Inquisition, who were responsible for god-knows-how-many horrifying deaths, but my childhood fantasy world went something like this Monty Python sketch, as described in Wikipedia:

In the Monty Python comedy team's Spanish Inquisition sketch, the Inquisition repeatedly burst unexpectedly into scenes after someone utters the words "I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition", screaming "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" The Inquisition would then use forms of "torture" like a dish-drying rack, soft cushions, and the comfy chair.

And that's where crafting can lead you. Here are some craft links I found today. Happy crafting!
Extreme Craft
MAKE blog
ReadyMade blog
Craftzine.com blog

Decoupage THIS

source: zakka life