Always Something Missing
Besides being a full-time accountant, a mother of two and an Avon lady, I love to make things. I like to tell people that I use all of my brain, not just the left side or right side. My profession as an accountant uses the left side of the brain. My creativity and artistic ability uses the right side of the brain. I don't think you want to know how to be accountant so instead, I want to tell you about some of the crafts I do and all I have to go through to complete them because there is always a piece or ingredient that I can't find in order to complete the project.
Let me start with the latest project, a baby shower cake for my niece. She loves elephants so I flipped
through the pages of my stack of cake books. Oh look, there's an elephant cake! Perfect! I turned to the internet to see if I can order the pan. Of course not, the pan was discontinued. OK, well let's see if I can find something else. I looked around and saw another baby elephant cake that's made from the teddy bear pan. Great! I saw that pan at Michaels (the closest craft store). Not a problem, we'll stop over there. No teddy bear pan and the employees said they remembered seeing one of these pans at some point but it wasn't there. I know I've seen this pan before because it's a popular pan and I remember thinking to myself, I probably should have that pan because there are many different cakes you can make out of it besides terry bears. That weekend we were headed to Baltimore for a school field trip so I thought I could find it at a store there. I visited two more craft stores but no teddy bear pan. I really had my heart set on making this cake so in the morning, we searched the internet for a cake supply store in the Baltimore area. I was in luck, we found one that was located on our way home. I couldn't believe it when she said that she had both the elephant pan that was discontinued and the teddy bear pan. We found the tiny store packed full of cake and candy supplies. The owner was the nicest lady and extremely helpful. After all this, we found a new place to visit and met a wonderful lady. The finished cake was perfect and tasty! Worst case scenario, I could have just made a sheet cake and cut the elephant shape out but the cake would not have looked as dimensional as this one. It seems that once I have it in my head that this is what I want to do, I can't let go.
For the same niece, I had to finish the baby blanket before the shower but ran out of yarn. I started the blanket way back in August and searched stores in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia but couldn't find the yarn I needed. You might ask, did you really travel to these states just in search of yarn? No, we just happened to visit these places during this time. I could have ordered the yarn online but the shipping costs made it so much more expensive. I already have over $45 tied up in the blanket plus my time so far. My husband was going to a gun show with his brother in Virginia Beach so he took one of the wrappers from the yarn skein to see if he could find it while he was there. He went to the store that I originally purchased the first bunches of yarn. What a sight to see - two burly guys wondering around the yarn store! No luck though. I ended up signing up to a website's email newsletter and waited for a coupon to show up in my inbox. I paid more for the yarn anyway but was extremely pleased with the finished product and so was my niece.
Every Christmas, I make a little ornament or some crafty item for my in-laws and nieces. This year I crocheted stockings with bells on them and of course, could not find the size bells mentioned in the pattern
but I went with what I could find. Last year, my daughter brought home this adorable Elf on a Shelf that she made at school. It was made from felt and a one of those little wooden ABC block for babies. We just have to make these, I thought. Off I went in search of tiny wooden baby blocks. I couldn't find them anywhere. I found the normal size and tiny plastic ones but they weren't going to work. Instead, I found a better block. I used plain, small wooden blocks found out the craft store and then we wrote each person's initials on them. So sometimes by improvising, a craft can turn out a little better than originally planned.
Not every project gets finished though. I'm still in search of a red, teardrop shaped bead for a doily I was going to give to my mother-in-law for her birthday next month. I've been to every store I can think of to find these particular beads. I found the beads online but it would cost over $35. That's outrageous just to make a doily. So this is as far as I got. I'm going to finish it without the beads. I just don't think it will be as pretty as the one pictured in the pattern book.
You would think that I would give up or get discouraged but I just keep at it until I find what I'm missing or substitute something else to make it work. Good thing is that I think that all this effort improves my problem solving skills, don't you think? So now I'm off to start the next project and see what I'm missing!
Let me start with the latest project, a baby shower cake for my niece. She loves elephants so I flipped
through the pages of my stack of cake books. Oh look, there's an elephant cake! Perfect! I turned to the internet to see if I can order the pan. Of course not, the pan was discontinued. OK, well let's see if I can find something else. I looked around and saw another baby elephant cake that's made from the teddy bear pan. Great! I saw that pan at Michaels (the closest craft store). Not a problem, we'll stop over there. No teddy bear pan and the employees said they remembered seeing one of these pans at some point but it wasn't there. I know I've seen this pan before because it's a popular pan and I remember thinking to myself, I probably should have that pan because there are many different cakes you can make out of it besides terry bears. That weekend we were headed to Baltimore for a school field trip so I thought I could find it at a store there. I visited two more craft stores but no teddy bear pan. I really had my heart set on making this cake so in the morning, we searched the internet for a cake supply store in the Baltimore area. I was in luck, we found one that was located on our way home. I couldn't believe it when she said that she had both the elephant pan that was discontinued and the teddy bear pan. We found the tiny store packed full of cake and candy supplies. The owner was the nicest lady and extremely helpful. After all this, we found a new place to visit and met a wonderful lady. The finished cake was perfect and tasty! Worst case scenario, I could have just made a sheet cake and cut the elephant shape out but the cake would not have looked as dimensional as this one. It seems that once I have it in my head that this is what I want to do, I can't let go.For the same niece, I had to finish the baby blanket before the shower but ran out of yarn. I started the blanket way back in August and searched stores in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia but couldn't find the yarn I needed. You might ask, did you really travel to these states just in search of yarn? No, we just happened to visit these places during this time. I could have ordered the yarn online but the shipping costs made it so much more expensive. I already have over $45 tied up in the blanket plus my time so far. My husband was going to a gun show with his brother in Virginia Beach so he took one of the wrappers from the yarn skein to see if he could find it while he was there. He went to the store that I originally purchased the first bunches of yarn. What a sight to see - two burly guys wondering around the yarn store! No luck though. I ended up signing up to a website's email newsletter and waited for a coupon to show up in my inbox. I paid more for the yarn anyway but was extremely pleased with the finished product and so was my niece. Every Christmas, I make a little ornament or some crafty item for my in-laws and nieces. This year I crocheted stockings with bells on them and of course, could not find the size bells mentioned in the pattern
Not every project gets finished though. I'm still in search of a red, teardrop shaped bead for a doily I was going to give to my mother-in-law for her birthday next month. I've been to every store I can think of to find these particular beads. I found the beads online but it would cost over $35. That's outrageous just to make a doily. So this is as far as I got. I'm going to finish it without the beads. I just don't think it will be as pretty as the one pictured in the pattern book. You would think that I would give up or get discouraged but I just keep at it until I find what I'm missing or substitute something else to make it work. Good thing is that I think that all this effort improves my problem solving skills, don't you think? So now I'm off to start the next project and see what I'm missing!
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