Crafting. Of sorts.

I love crafty ideas.  Scrapbookery, home DIYs, all that stuff.  But... I don't have/make time for a lot of things, so if I'm going to be crafty, there must be a purpose.  So when VBS came a while ago, and our theme was "Springtime in Paris," our colors were hot pink and black, and I was relegated to making some decorations, I decided that I would attempt a project I saw on Pinterest.

(Okay, I promise I'm not as obsessed as I've been sounding these last few days, but I only just now got around to posting for the first time in a long time, and a lot of what I had to catch up on had roots in Pinterest.  So...  cough.  This is awkward.)

Anyhow, what I saw a was a cute party decoration idea using Christmas lights and Dixie cups.  The lady took scrapbook paper and made some festive cups, and took some well-lit photos.

Personally, I don't take charming, well-lit photos.  Nor do I have time to cut out that much scrapbook paper.  Nor do I have a desire to cut out that much scrapbook paper.

So I thought about it, because I do so like lights, and figured I'd just spray paint the cups.  I mean, spray paint looks good too, right?

So I got some spray paint, and some Dixie cups, and set to work.  Turns out, Dixie cups aren't very heavy.  And spray paint is sort of forceful.  I would spray a cup and it would blow away.  Huh.  So I used a little brain power to come up with this solution.

I got some magnets (I LOVE magnets.  There is nothing I love half so well as finding a good use for a strong magnet.  The only time I wasn't a fan was several years ago when my brother took some of my strong magnets and brought them to the breakfast table, and held them underneath the wooden table to move my spoon.  I wasn't really okay with the whole "morning" thing at the time, so it took me a long time to get over being freaked out when my spoon just started sliding away from me as I stared at it helplessly.  It's funny now, but it was sort of unnerving that morning...) and put said magnets in a cup opposite a regular table knife, as shown.  The knife is wrapped in masking tape, because I didn't want to ruin the knife.  After all, it's my mom's knife, not mine.  So I just masking taped it up and viola, a metal thing to hold on to, that was nicely attracted to my magnets.

I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say it was a string of 100 lights, though I only put cups on every other bulb, per the suggestion of my family.  I did every other cup black or pink.  Anyhow, it didn't look super professional, but I never get super professional at VBS, so I didn't worry about that.  At all, in fact.

In other news, spray paint doesn't really look that awesome, after all.  I tried.

After VBS I inherited the string of lights, which I didn't know what to do with.  I strung it up in my room, because, after all, I had gone to all the effort of thinking of a clever use for magnets, but I needed something else to clutter my room about as much as I need reading lessons.  Which is to say, not really at all.

But I have them.  For now.  They actually provide quite a bit of light, and I enjoy plugging them in at night.

But... I can't imagine I'll keep them long.  Would anybody like some painted Dixie cups on a string of lights?  Up for grabs!  : )