I’m not above a little kitsch

In small, measured doses, that is. 😉 Tonight is the start of a new season of Project Runway and I have really been looking forward to it!

When we returned to the States after living in France for three years, we stayed with some friends for a few weeks until Mr. Gren got a job and we had a place to live. During those weeks with not much to do, we caught up on American television and I found reruns of the first couple seasons of Project Runway. I couldn’t wait to find my sewing machine and try making some of my own clothes. Project Runway still gives me little bursts of inspiration and, if it didn’t end so late, I’d run right up to my sewing room and make something after every episode. So, in honor of tonight’s premiere, I decoupaged a pencil box with images of the always-classy Tim Gunn.

Does anyone else remember those cardboard boxes that used to be a standard on school supply lists? I haven’t seen one in years; I guess plastic has taken over. Man, I loved those things. Choosing my new pencil box each fall was one of the highlights of back-to-school shopping (of course, getting new crayons, pencils, and glue still makes me all giddy with joy). One of my favorites had flags of the world all over it. Apparently, these are relics of my childhood (which I really didn’t think was all that long ago). I was poking around in Michael’s yesterday and found plain white pencil boxes!! Forget the little brown papier mache box I had been reluctantly carrying around; this white pencil box unleashed a flood of warm, fuzzy memories. It had been way too long since I’d had a new pencil box.

Oh beautiful, little white box, what possibilities you hold.

I didn’t want another box around the house just to have a box. It needs to serve a purpose. Last night as I was falling asleep, I had my epiphany: Lately, since I have been smocking the girls’ nightgowns, I’ve had an assortment of crafting stuff roaming around the secretary that is next to our couch. Easy access for me to work on things while watching TV in the evening. Unfortunately, it’s also easy access for small hands and easily lost among the papers and books that have a way of piling up there. Losing a spool of thread: annoying. Losing a needle: dangerous. So I decided to employ this box as my mobile crafting unit.

Hot glue Gunn. ... Ok, that was lame.

My glue gun skills are not hm, shall we say, professional. (Is there a such thing as a professional hot gluer? Do they carry holsters? Is there a league? Or maybe just a union). At any rate, consider yourselves lucky that this isn’t a close-up. That poor, violated ribbon. I should have had a practice session because my gluing did improve as I went along. Up until the box flipped upside-down and, in my surprise, I shot a glob of glue all over the bottom of the box. I think I got most of it off without ripping the tissue paper that I had already glued to it. With decoupage glue, not hot glue. I’m much more adept with a little pot of glue and a paint brush.

Tim says I can put stuff IN or take stuff OUT.

Tim Thumb hides in the bottom of my box with an approving look.

Tim doesn’t mind wallowing in craft supplies.

Makes me just as happy as if it had been filled with pencils and crayons. Also, somebody tell me to stop buying embroidery floss.

And then, the very best part of all is the top of the box!

Well-done! Bravo!

What better way to start off some crafting than with applause from Tim Gunn? My living room already looks classier.