I have neglected to mention to all of you that a lot of my geekery is directed at crafting, and I don’t mean in a look-at-this-TARDIS-I-made kind of way but in an OH-MY-GOD-IS-THAT-A-NEW-MARTHA-STEWART-CRAFT-GLITTER-SET?!?! kind of way. I know the smell of Michaels and it’s comforting, I flip out over really nice paper, I have urges to buy every size crochet hook that exists and do a sampler quilt with the same stitch in different sizes. I’m in the craft fandom, and I’m in deep.
It should then come as no surprise that I have accepted Pinterest as my lord and savior, and I’m sure it’s had similar effects on all of you other craft geeks out there. The problem is, sometimes Pinterest lies to me. They’re not big lies, it’s just that sometimes things look cool but then don’t work or the images don’t link back to anything and I have to wing it and I scream and panic. I’m sure everyone has encountered this at some point, and I’m here to help. This is product testing for Pinterest, and today we’re looking at three separate DIY’s that involve those books you have that have seen better days (I’ll be using an unreadable paperback copy of Prisoner of Azkaban that comes apart in many little sections, I was apparently a very aggressive reader as a child.). They’ll each be rated on three criteria; ease, clarity of directions, and durability of the final product.
The first image is a really beautifully simple book bead from Smallestforest.net. Let’s dive right in.
Ease: 4/5, the only reason it isn’t 5/5 is because you do need a craft punch in order to do it correctly in a reasonable amount of time. Or you could spend hours cutting out tiny perfect flowers, your choice.
Clarity: 4/5, the pictures are fairly self explanatory, but a caption with a word about the amount of flowers per bead or the type of adhesive or recommended dry time would be helpful. The craft completion wasn’t inhibited by the lack of them. I used plain old Elmer’s glue and let them dry overnight to be safe.
Durability: 2/5, make sure you don’t wear these on rainy days or varnish them to waterproof the beads. The stiffness is also an issue that varnish would solve, the beads without it run the risk of getting completely flattened by a bump into something.
Overall: 3/5, easy and cute, with a few extra steps or different materials they could last a long time but the beads as they are at the end of the directions won’t last long with regular use.
Next is the fun book lantern that’s popped up on my feed too many times to count from Reduce, Reuse, Redecorate. They’d be really awesome as party decorations.
Ease: 3/5, this is easy as long as you have a circle cutter or large circular craft punch and are better at lining things up than I am. You can freehand the circles like the directions say, but I noticed too many variations in the overall shape of the circles when I did that.
Clarity: 4/5, the directions aren’t directions in a step by step sense. It’s all fairly common sense, someone could make this just by seeing the picture. Once again, a note on type of glue and dry time would be nice.
Durability: 2/5, probably best as party decorations and not permanent fixtures as the paper will gather dust and discolor depending on the light exposure and other environmental factors.
Overall: 3/5, fun for a small event, maybe too labor intensive to do enough for a large space, and definitely not for forever (how does one clean paper, exactly?). The delicate nature of the paper lantern also makes this not the best craft to have within reach of anyone under the age of 3, or active kids in general.
Last we have the book rose, used for decorating presents or just about anything else from Luvleescrappin on Youtube.
Ease: 5/5, can you trace a circle? Can you draw a spiral? Are you capable of using scissors and cutting along a line? Can you roll up paper. Good, then you can do this craft.
Clarity: 5/5, the video is maybe a bit long, but everything you’d need to know is stated.
Durability: 3/5, for their stated purpose, decorating a wrapped gift, they work great as long as you don’t put another gift on top. For any other purpose you’d need to stiffen and waterproof these or use a different material.
Overall: 4/5, it’s easy and cost effective, and it makes your gifts look extra fancy The skill can also be translated onto different materials to make fabric roses for hair clips or pretty pastel card stick roses for Easter napkin rings. If you’ve got some extra paper around, give it a shot.
I hope this was informative, and I’d love to see any Pinterest crafts you’d like me to test out in the future before you go making a mess for a bad craft (or, if you’ve been tricked by a craft in the past I’d love to hear the story). Leave me a link below!
