The Monday Night Show Asks: What’s the craftiest thing you’ve ever come up with?

Covered a Lazt Susan with wine bottle corks.

Thank you, Adam for a great topic!

I am a member of local charitable club and we participate in "Wellsprings Living" program called "Creations from Donations". People donate – whatever – and we make crafty projects out of virtually throw-away things to sell in a goodwill-type  boutique, very inexpensively. We operate on volunteers only. All our stuff is hand-made. The most fun project of mine was making a heart applique from broken jewelry and beads donated by people. The trick is we invest no money at all in our projects and  all proceeds go to charity. We make decorative boxes, picture frames, jewelry, bookmarks, scarves and hats… out of stuff that cannot be re-sold and would be in a trash can otherwise. I mean, ROSES out of torn, stained t-shirts! Life gives you lemons- make lemonade. Here are a few of my creations :smileywink:

I made a wedding cake out of towels.  The couple had registered for towels, purchased and made a cake out of them by rolling them and pinning them together.  that topped the package the rest of the towels came in.

HI THERE ADAM:) I set up and create fundraisers this was part of my last one, PANCAKE BREAKFAST, FOR PANCREATIC CANCER, Our family has lost 5 of close family members to Pancreatic, it’s a silent killer. Just lost my baby brother to this disease.

I crocheted a crucifixion scene scene using filet crochet stitches.  It took a little over 2 years to complete.  If I had known how slowly that project would progress, I never would have started it.  I gave it to my mum and she loved it for the rest of her life.  Another family member has it now.  I no longer do filet crochet but still make lots of needle projects.  These days, slouchy hats and texting gloves are my most requested homemade items.

With the embassy shredder, I place a plastic bag inside and when it’s time to empty, it’s already in

the bag. No muss, no fuss.      

                                             thank you. Pearl.

**** Edited by HSN – Removed Personal Information ****

When I was a teenager I saw an advertizement for a knock-your-socks off beautiful "little black dress".  It was very expensive, I sure couldn’t afford it, but I couldn’t stop thinking about that dress!  It was made of black velvet with strings of rhinestone spaghetti straps!  It was mini length, with an empire waist.  The bodice front was in an X pattern, with a row of rhinestones across the bottom of the bodice.

I was just a young teenager, with no money, and no place to even wear such a glamorous dress, so it would have to remain a dream for me.  About a year later, I was shopping in a thrift store and happened to see an old dress that was made of black velvet.  It was floor length with a gathered waist, so LOTS of black velvet fabric!!  I bought that dress for one dollar, then went to a fabric store and bought a couple yards of rhinestones.  Using my mom’s Singer sewing machine, I made myself an exact replica of that fabulous little black dress I had wanted and dreamed of!!

My granmother taught me how to sew when I was 7 years old, so I was able to create my dream dress in less than a day, and I didn’t even use a pattern.  I was so proud of myself!

My I Dream of Jeannie costume. I made my own pattern for the bolero jacket and pantaloons. I covered the bra for the bustier. I dyed the shoes and tassles. I used a plastic butter carton and covered it for the head piece. The best part is that I won the contest with back in 1985 and it still fits today.

The craftiest project I made was making my own water color paints with gum arabic and mica powders.  I must have at least 15 palettes made up.

Craftiest project I have ever made was a set of 3 origami paper birds that I donated to benefit a local charity. It sold for $50!!!!! :smileywink::heart: So sad, I have no picture of it… I really hope to make a set for myself someday! it is a lot of work.

My creative craft is the t shirt I made for one of my American Girl Dolls. I make doll clothes for the

American Girl Doll. I sell my doll clothes on Etsy and Ebay. The flip flops look like they are on sticks, this was ironed on to the t shirt.

Being a Den Mom for a pack of Cub Scouts, I had to come up with a craft project for Mother’s Day. It had to be inexpensive, but more importantly, something the boys would want to make. I took the boys on a nature walk to collect twigs. They glued tiny pieces of paper to the twigs to look like flower buds. Some glued twigs to white card stock and made a vase with beads, while others made a twig bouquet wrapped with ribbon. The boys were so proud of their creativity. I was proud of myself for being so crafty!

When I was little, my brother got an assignment from his junior high Science teacher:
take home a frog they’d been dissecting in class, and sew it up.  She gave no details

on how to do this.  Mom wasn’t home when my brother came home, so he said to me,

"Hey, let’s figure out how to use the sewing machine and sew this frog up!"  And we did!

It wasn’t easy!  LOL    Talk about a nutty "arts & crafts" project!

Needless to say, Mom threw a fit when she found out what we’d done!  And as for

my brother’s grade on his project–he passed, but the teacher held up his frog in

front of the class and said, "I’m going to use this as an example of how NOT to do this

project in the future!"   But honestly, if you want students to learn how to do the project

correctly (sew it by hand and stuff the frog with cotton), you’ve got to explain it to them, TEACHER!!!

I make my own holiday cards using those "put in your own photo" boxed x-mas cards.  I cut out cute or funny photos from magazines and insert them where photo should go. Quick, fun and easy to make! See photo below…

My grandmother taught me how to make birds & fish out of ribbon. I was the only grandchild to share this special crafting gift with my grandmother.