Crafting disasters and other joys of daily life

[wiseheart]

Since I've finished all pages of the baby album yesterday, I planned to make the cover today. Not the whole thing, just the basics, so that I'd have the rest of the weekend for the embellishments.

Well... as the title says, it didn't happen that way.

First I realized that not even the 30cmx30cm scrapbook paper is large enough for a full cover. I needed 34 cm in the length. So, after having posed on the obligatory farewell photo on two eight-grade classes, I ran off to the craft shop to buy some paper. Then I ran back to school for choir practice. That was about today morning - oh, and before the whole running to and fro, I prepared lunch, so that we'd have something to eat when I got home.

By the end of choir practice I was so tired I didn't go to the travel agency to book our rooms for Vienna. The place we usually stayed (some 7 or so years ago) was booked out, and I didn't feel up to the challenge to experiment with unknown hotels via internet. But, as I said, I was too flattened to go to the travel agency; instead I came home and collapsed for an hour or so.

After lunch (and having fallen asleep in front of the telly again) I gave the journal cover a try. Usually, I use cereal boxes for such journals, because if you cut out one of the narrow sides, you get a ready-made book cover. You just have to hide it behind some pretty paper. And since these boxes are a tiny bit rigid, double-sided tape works best holding them and the embellishments together.

Unfortunately, I've got a serious problem with gluing on things straight. Plus, this time I even managed to fold one side of the cover in the wrong direction, so I practically butchered it. Double-sided tapes are practically not removable. I tried it nonetheless, and ended up with several pieces of would-be cover.

That was bad enough. But I had another cereal box, so I thought I would try it again. It went well enough, until the point where I realized that the second box was some 3 cm narrower, so the pages would hang out of it like clothes on a washing line. So I tried to add pieces to the cover, hoping that the embellishments would hide it and people would think it's part of the original design. It might even have worked, when the crooked eyesight hit again. I managed to fix the added piece just 3 millimetres higher than where they were supposed to come. With the unremovable double-sided tape.

I was seriously close to screaming. But there was nothing I could do - I can't give a gift the pieces of which hang off in a weird angle. So I tore up the second cover (well, cut up, actually, as you just can't tear up carton pieces fixed with double-sized tape, unless you are Arnold Schwarzenegger or the Bionic Woman) and tried to find a solution that wouldn't have me go out tomorrow again to buy some cereals we don't need, just to have a box to work with.

I failed.

So, tomorrow I'll have to get dressed, go out and get back before our guest arrives. That means getting up earlier than usual, as she tends to arrive early. (She's Mum's oldest friend). I'll have to take a ruler with me and turn Lidl upside down to find a box the narrow side of which is at least 6 centimetres thick, or else the pages wouldn't fit in.

I am NOT HAPPY!!!

Other than that, I've got a cheesecake in the oven for tomorrow and feel like crawling into a corner and crying. *sigh*

Comments

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you had to struggle so much with this. After all that you did, you should have caught a break with the cover. I hope that you will be able to find what you want and that the cheesecake came out perfectly.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thanks. *sigh* The cheesecake is okay, although just a tad dry. Perhaps it was too long in the oven. Not the best one I've ever made, but we'll eat it nonetheless. It's funny, you can bake the same thing dozens of times and it turns out differently every single time.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have several recipes like that myself, mostly because I will do some substituting along the way, but not write it down.

I'm sorry it didn't come out to your liking. Better luck today.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I think the main problem was that I forgot to reduce the amount of sugar when making it with blueberries. I usually make this cake with apricots, apples or raspberries, all of which develop a pleasantly sour taste while baking. Blueberries are just too sweet, and something in the taste gets missing. We'll still eat it, though. *g*

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. I'm glad it won't go to waste. :D

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

No cake has ever gone to waste in our house. *g*

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Good woman!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you are having so much hassle.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, it isn't a tragedy, just frustrating like hell. Thanks for the compassion, though. *hugs*

[meathiel]

Sorry about the crafting disaster ...

Hope the cheesecake turned out. Mine always rip on the top and look awful - but the family recipe is just too good not to bake it even if it does ... *lol*

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

As I said above, the cheesecake wasn't the best I ever made, either. Blueberries just don't give it the taste less sweet fruits will do. This is a quick and lazy recipe, without a bottom, one just mixes everything together and puts it into the oven for 60-70 minutes, but the balance of the ingredients can change everything.

[mirasaui.livejournal.com]

It happens to the best of us. My son and I made a bracelet for a friend of his and it took us almost 8 tries to get the length correct. However, once you try again and again and it finally comes out perfect, it is so worth the effort *smiles". Your baby book cover will be one of those projects.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, God, 8 tries! I've been fortunate that my third attempt was more or less successful.

[elmey.livejournal.com]

How frustrating! But you put so much work into the pages, I can see why you want the cover to be perfect. There's no other easy option besides cereal boxes for the cover?

I think a piece of cheesecake will should cheer you up ;)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Cereal boxes are the easiest. You can make the cover from heavy cardboard, but it's much more complicated and has twice as many chances to cut and glue on parts in a crooked way.

A piece of cheesecake is always very comforting. ;)