Caution...Long Blog Post!!! LOL!
Driving home tonight, (a hour commute) I was thinking about my blog post today. I knew I wanted to share a few tips on broken things…my mind went immediately to things, which I have broken that I fixed or at least tried to cover up! Thinking about these CRAZY stunts, I became tickled and began to literally go into outright laughter, the kind that brings tears to your eyes! So, I thought I would share.
Many moons ago, when I was thinner and had more hair, or shall I say when I could bend over and actually tie my shoe without the assistance of a chair… I decorated houses for the holiday season. I was honored to have decorated some of the finest houses, businesses and shopping centers in Austin.
There once was a beautiful lady, which owned a beautiful house on a beautiful hill. Being in the eye of the social set, this lady always did Christmas in a BIG way! Anyway, I was called in to over-wrap her already lit tree. She wanted to be able to see it from miles away!
Hand wrapping a tree with thousands of lights is a LONG LONG process and can literally take a full 8 hours with two people!! So, I over-wrapped this 9-foot artificial tree and it did indeed shine like a Christmas spotlight across the city!
The next morning I received a call from this fine lady, who in discussion with her daughter, had decided the tree had TOO MANY LIGHTS! (I could have told her that!!!) She asked that I come back to the manse and change out every other clear light with a colored one! Being codependent or a good businessman, I wanted to please her! I arrived, looked at the colored lights SHE HAD PURCHASED and immediately knew that these WERE NOT from the same manufacturer as the lights I had purchased to originally wrap the tree. But whatever she wanted, I was just trying to FIX the situation…Just as I thought, these bulbs WOULD NOT fit properly into the sockets of the originals. I had to force them in! Ok, this is heavy, so sit down…did you know… that when a light… that is not meant to go into a socket for which it’s designed…gets warm, it pops out like popcorn from a kettle? Did I also mention that this lady was a BIG ENTERTAINER! I must have gone over to her house 6 times that season looking for bulb-less sockets! Never Again!!….
Or there was the time when I was staging houses…I’m one of those people who must have every picture straight on the wall or it completely throws life out of balance! Yep that’s me! Back to the tale…these folks had a pool table in their dining room! Not exactly my cup of tea, but whatever floats your boat! Also, in this room was a VERY HEAVY knotty pine china cabinet dating back to the 70’s! These two pieces were obviously the main focal points in the room and were totally out of alignment causing the room to be completely off! So, I had to fix it. By the grace of God these folks were out of town giving me the opportunity to move these pieces into a better “feng shui" situation. Alone, I struggled to move the massive china cabinet. Not getting the torque I needed, I wedged myself in between the wall and the cabinet pushing my tail feathers into the wall thus forcing the cabinet to move. Well, it worked… however, my butt went completely through the sheetrock!!! You may have no idea, whatsoever, how to tape and float drywall, but trust me, when you have a hole the size of watermelon in a house that’s not yours, you learn real quick!
Ok, tales over on with the tips:
One of my true loves is hand blown figural Christmas ornaments! I love ‘em! Seriously…LOVE them! So when one of these objet d’art breaks it’s a pretty serious crime in my house!!! LOL! Here’s a tip or two to help save these cherished jewels!
Broken Ornaments…
Note this will only work with ornaments that have holes in them. If they are completely shattered, do what I do and bury them in a cigar box in the back yard!
With your hot glue gun, glue generously around the cracked edge. This will stop it from cracking further.
Next, cut some artificial greens from an old wreath or garland that preferably match your tree. Just a sprig will do.
Apply glue to the sprig and set it inside the hole filling the hole completely.
When you place the ornament back on the tree, the hole is completely disguised by the sprig, the crack is mended and no one would know the difference.
Do You Have Legless Bird Ornaments?
If you have lost the original legs or clips to one of your ornaments simply bend a pipe cleaner in half and glue it to the missing area. The pipe cleaners hold the ornament perfectly in place. If you need added support twist the ends around the branch.
I hope this helps! Give it a try! Save those ornaments!
And To All A Good Night...
Jim
The Gentleman Crafter
Men Do Scrap Too!
Too Funny! I can see why you started laughing on the way home. I am amazed to see the pictures of the ornaments and how your camouflage worked so well. Amazing.
Oh! BTW love the pictures of your studio. Excellent and so well organized!
Posted by: Ruby C | 11/28/2011 at 10:50 PM
Great stories! And thanks for the tips on fixing the ornaments.
PS: I'm still envious of your studio. Damn. I want one of those. ;-)
Posted by: Mike | 11/29/2011 at 04:29 AM
Thanks Ruth and Mike!
Ruth, Thanks to you I had to buy some of that Foil to add to my stash! I loved Tim's pumpkin but really loved how you used it in your cards! Drat! another thing to do!!!
Mike, I think your tree looks perfectly spectacular! Matt did a Great job! Tell him Congrats! He's hired over here at my house next year!
Thanks Again Y'all!
Jim
Posted by: Jim... TheGentlemanCrafter/MenDoScrapToo | 11/29/2011 at 06:26 AM
Great stories and awesome tips! Loving the blog, thanks so much for sharing!
Posted by: Fran | 11/29/2011 at 09:57 PM
What a great idea! I just might have to unbury some of my less than perfect ornaments this year and bring them back to life. A Christmas tree can't have enough ornaments, misfits & all!
Posted by: LoriC | 11/30/2011 at 07:05 AM
Lori..Today I was in a shop and I handed the sweet lady an ornament that I was going to purchase and she accidentally dropped it . I knew exactly how she felt. I purchased another and she gave me the broken one too! No prob! Ill fix it!
Give it a shot and let me know how it went!
Jim
The Gentleman Crafter
MenDoScrapToo!
Posted by: The Gentleman Crafter | 11/30/2011 at 09:47 PM
Hey Jim, We decided not to do the "pretty" tree (hundreds of C. Radko ornaments I collected pre-son years and employed)this year. My son wanted to do the "fun" tree (the post-son years hundreds of Hallmark Disney and lots of handmade ornaments from when my baby was little who is almost 13. So I will have to wait until next year to look for some ornaments to fix, but I won't forget!Love your mama story. Boys love their mamas forever.
Posted by: LoriC | 12/04/2011 at 07:39 AM
Lori-
Im having the hardest time getting my big tree done this year! Its killing me! Ive just been talking my time getting this up! I would normally have had this done mid November! Yesh! Better get with it! Its finally feeling like Christmas here in Texas. Overcast and cold! Just the way I like it! Especially for decorating the house. It just seems to make it more cozy. Coffee brewing, candles burning, White Christmas and Holiday Inn on the television. Yup! My kind of day!
Thanks!
Jim
The Gentleman Crafter
MenDoDcrapToo!
Posted by: The Gentleman Crafter | 12/04/2011 at 07:50 AM
The first thing on my Christmas to do list this year was "Enjoy Christmas" and so I gave myself less than one week to get decorations up.(I used to decorate from T-day up until Christmas!) If it wasn't done by yesterday, then it wasn't going to happen.No one will notice anyway! I am feeling refreshed and ready to to enjoy. So don't work so hard and enjoy the Season!
Posted by: LoriC | 12/06/2011 at 07:20 AM
Lori-
Thanks for the advice! Well Taken!
Jim
The Gentleman Crafter
MenDoScrapToo
Posted by: The Gentleman Crafter | 12/06/2011 at 08:36 PM