My Craft Failures: A Reminder to Keep Trying New Things

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For several months I have been really bad about writing blog posts. But, I have still been crafting with my kids. So, the pictures and ideas have piled up. To motivate myself and not let these crafts go to waste, I set myself a challenge. I wanted to post 20 different crafts this month. Well, this is my 20th post and I want to do something different. Instead of some in depth or super cool craft, I want to write about some of my craft failures.

My main goal when starting this blog was to teach my kids how to craft. But, I also hope they are learning how to try things that might not work. We have had a lot of really cool and successful crafts. But of course, they haven’t all worked out. I want to show you some of the things that have really not worked along the way. And by no means are these the only craft failures I have had. They are just the ones I have pictures of and that I didn’t immediately rework.

Craft Failures:

Reverse Sticker Chart

I have made space, train, and zoo themed sticker charts for my daughter. They all are slightly different, but they are all put a sticker on a piece of paper. So, I wanted to make a sticker chart that was slightly different. My great idea was to start with a page filled with stickers. Then, my daughter could take a sticker off when she did whatever we were working on. The picture underneath would slowly get revealed and she would get a sticker each time.

I colored a nice bird picture, laminated it, and covered it with a variety of stickers. After hanging it up on the wall, I was so excited for my daughter to give it a try. Unfortunately, even the easiest stickers were still too hard for her to pull off. And some of the stickers even my husband and I couldn’t get off.

I still think this idea has some potential. I don’t know if I need to make the paper less stickable, the stickers less sticky, or both. But, I am eventually going to give this one another try.

Crunched Leaf Thank You Cards

Last fall, we made a lot of fun and successful crafts like gratitude bracelets, painted zucchinis, and a thankfulness tree. Another craft we tried to make were cute Thanksgiving thank you cards. To keep with the theme of the season, I thought we could glue crunched up leaf bits in the shape of a leaf. To start, we placed a leaf shaped cookie cutter on a piece of paper. Then, we filled it with glue and a layer of crunched up leaf bits.

It was all going according to plan until we lifted up the cookie cutters. There was absolutely no leaf shape at all. We had made a leaf crumble lump card. Needless to say, my daughter didn’t hand out any cute Thanksgiving thank you cards.

This is another craft failure that I want to try again. I think we could try smaller leaf pieces. Or go the opposite route and use bigger pieces but glue them individually. Either way, we will be doing some experimenting this fall.

Personal Jello Aquariums

One of the snacks for my daughter’s under the sea themed party was a huge fail. I had seen several really cute Jello aquariums. They had filled cups with nerds, blue Jello, and Swedish fish. I wanted to do the same thing, but not use cups. So, I spread Nerds on the bottom of a pan and fill it with blue Jello. Once it hardened a bit, I added the Swedish fish. I figured that after the Jello set completely, I could cut it into little cubes and have little freestanding aquariums.

That’s not at all what happened. I went to cut it and realized that I could no longer see where I put my fish. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the least of my problems. Once I cut into it, all the Swedish Fish slid right out. They were no longer red, but a strange white color and completely inedible. I also realized all the Nerds had disappeared.

It’s safe to say that I had a few problems. My best guess is that the Nerds all dissolved while the Jello was setting. The added Nerd juice made the Jello not set correctly. Since it didn’t set, the Swedish Fish soaked up too much moisture and did whatever gross thing they did. And all of this added up to quite the failure.

But, I didn’t want it to go to waste. The Jello itself still tasted fine, just extra sugary. So, I picked out all the gross fish and put the Jello in a bowl. I still had a few leftover Swedish Fish that I placed on top. It definitely didn’t turn out how I wanted, but it worked OK. Although most people didn’t even try it, one person told me it was the best Jello they had ever had.

While I want to try my previous two craft failures again, I don’t think I will be trying this one again.

Outcome of My Craft Failures

Revisiting these three craft failures has made me laugh. The outcome of each was truly bad. But even at the time, I just laughed and moved on. The whole purpose of crafting is to be creative and do new things. Failure is going to happen. But that shouldn’t stop us from trying new (and maybe a bit crazy) ideas.

I also want to point out that these craft failures had nothing to do with my kid’s ability. If a two year old doesn’t color in the lines, that is two year old art not in any way a failure. So keep crafting for and with your kids and try those ideas even if you know there is a high chance they won’t work. Have you had any funny craft failures?