It's a Wrap

I had a long day yesterday.  I spent most of the day sitting in doctor waiting rooms while my teenage son was x-rayed, examined and x-rayed some more.  It seems that his dirtbike accident on Friday caused more problems than we initially thought.  He crushed several bones in his right wrist and will have surgery this Friday.


As I sat in one waiting room after another, I looked at and drooled over many of my favorite magazines...Country Living, House Beautiful and Southern Living.  The decorating and crafting ideas were numerous and I thought my head would explode with ideas.  I usually look at Pinterest for inspiration and ideas but a day with printed magazine pictures was wonderful and kept my mind off of what was going on with my son.  I was so tempted to rip pictures out of those magazines to bring home to my inspiration board.  Instead, I wrote down ideas and website addresses. 


When I got home I was still anxious about the day's events and decided to make something I'd seen in a magazine to keep my hands busy.  When I get stressed, I can't sit still and it helps to keep my hands busy doing something.


I had saved a few empty beer bottles from our weekend of entertaining guests so I decided to cover them somehow and use them as cheap vases.  One of the things I saw in the magazines were bottles covered with everything from rubber bands to ribbons.  They turned out so cute and were displayed with a single flower in them.  So simple.


I've had this obsession with ruffles lately so I decided to cover a bottle with ruffles.   I saw a picture on pinterest of a ruffled streamer made out of a cheap plastic tablecloth (usually used to cover tables at parties).  I cut 1 inch strips of plastic from a white plastic tablecloth from the dollar store. 


 I ruffled one edge of the strip by pulling it with my fingers...each set of fingers (about 1 in. apart) holding the edge.  The end result was a "lettuce edge" ruffle.  This is really hard to photograph (I need a third hand) but the idea is that thin plastic tends to "ruffle" when stretched.


After "ruffling" one edge of each strip.  I glued the straight, un-stretched edge in circular layers around the outside of the bottle.  I used Elmer's white glue to do this.  

I also decided to wrap a bottle with some jute twine that I got at the dollar store.  This took a little longer since it was thin.  It was easy, though, and I did it while watching an episode of Hawaii 5-0.

I may have messed up a little at the end of the hour when Alex O'Loughlin (who plays Steve McGarrett) took of his shirt for a few scenes.  My attention was not 100% on the twine wrapping at that point.  You'll understand if you watch last night's episode (on CBS.com).  It wasn't my fault.

Linking to:

Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesdays

Primp Your Stuff Wednesday Linky Party

Faded Charm White Wednesday

Handy Man, Crafty Woman Wicked Awesome Wednesdays

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy me Thursday

The 36th Avenue