Oh For a Pipecleaner or Two or Three

Last year, I participated in an exchange of Valentines organized by the "owner" of one of the blogs I read, listed to the right. It was great fun and I came up with what I thought was a clever handmade Valentine.

She's at it again and I have until Saturday to decide if I want in or not. I got two unique Valentines (I was supposed to get three.). I just marvel at how clever and crafty some people are.

I was thinking about this exchange two weeks ago, while sitting in the Jeep reading as I was waiting for the right time to go to my next appointment. Frankly, the idea of crafting Valentines leaves me kind of weak. But it was a lot of fun.

The area where I was had a JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts and I wandered in there during a rather long break. I lack any kind of door decoration for Valentine's Day except for a very small sisal heart Carole made for me in grade school. While I adore the heart, I wanted something bigger. Fortunately, there was a sale. (When is there not a sale at JoAnn?) After wandering about the store, I settled on this.

It's unusual, which I like. It's sturdy, which is very good. It's sort of visible from the sidewalk, which is also a plus. But, it lacks something. The heart is puffy. There's a good amount of space in the center, space I could fill with something. I'm not sure what. It will come to me and then I will modify this and it will be perfect for me.

Having this hanging on my door tugs at me that I could craft Valentines. I could participate in the exchange. As a pack rat, I have all sorts of things which could be used for Valentines. When you let your mind wander, it suddenly hits you. Those! Of course! I could make something light weight to mail out of those. I still have one Valentine from last year's piece of sparkly paper so I just need to assemble it. The search of the craft drawers yielded "those" but the one thing I think I need, pipe cleaners, is missing. I could have sworn I had a bag of them. Didn't I use them to make the legs on the styrofoam spiders from a couple years ago?

There they are to the right. Nope, they weren't pipe cleaners. They were called "chenille sticks". Sigh. Well, there is a coupon on the fridge for JoAnn. I guess I can head to the local store and see if they have chenille sticks in red or pink or white. I found the glue gun, which I'm going to need. I told myself that I shouldn't sign up unless I had the Valentine's made, but I'm thinking I could sign up as long as I have them started.

I'm still on the fence. Can you tell? I'll let you know at the end of the week what I decide.

Beverage:  Darjeeling Tea

Deb