Poor acorn wreath & cactus. Two FAILS in one post, lucky you.
I saw this wreath over on MADE several months back.
It was love at first sight. And I don’t know about where you’re from, but in these here Texas parts, we have acorns coming out the wazoo.
So I paid my kids to gather acorns. And boy did they come through for me! I could have made 10 of these huge wreaths!
I followed Dana’s tutorial. I washed them all, then I baked them.
And then they cooled off and were ready to glue!
So I glued, and glued, and glued. And then I glued some more. Next time, {there won’t be a next time!} I’ll use a wreath that isn’t the size of an 18-wheeler tire.
By something that can only be described as a “Miracle” I actually finished gluing all 12,436 acorns (an estimate. I did not waste my time counting acorns.) on the Monster Truck tire.
And, though I didn’t know it at the time, I was making Mistake #1. The hugest mistake of the project. (Hot glue likes to just pop right off of plastic wrap.)
And it weighed about 30 lbs. Seriously, this thing was like a freaking Cinder Block on a ribbon.
The ribbon looks horrible with the wreath. I should be shot for that one.
A little yellow spray paint later… Call off the firing squad. I redeemed myself.
And now starts the beginning of the end of poor yellow acorn wreath….
I got lazy. I could have taken the 20 steps to the garage to get the staple gun, but nope. The paper stapler was right there. “I’ll just put 4-5 staples into the ribbon and wall. That should secure it just.fine.”
The plan was to staple the ribbon on the wall, then hold the wreath away from the wall as I put my big huge mirror back. That way it would look like the wreath was attached to the back of the mirror…
But when I tried to put the mirror back (by myself – Mistake #3!), let’s just say the poor yellow acorn wreath died a slow and painful death. And I never even had a chance to name him!
Oh, “bleep-itty bleepin’ bleepster” is right. He never even saw it coming.
In all honesty, I did try to repair him. And he was looking pretty good. But that dang hot glue and plastic wrap! Every single time I picked the wreath up, at least 2-3 acorns would pop off.
So I said “screw it” and I scraped all the acorns off and threw them away. And now I have a semi yellow wreath that I’m going to be using for a different project, hopefully soon.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and call this craft project a
HUGE FAT FUGLY
FAIL!
And on that note, let me leave you with an equally horrible FAIL project that happened last week.
My itty bitty Pier 1 cactus fell off my shelf and shattered. I cried. I loved this little guy. And now my shelf looks wonky with just two cacti instead of 3.
So I got out the Super Glue. Yup. It was horrible. I knew going into it I shouldn’t even bother. But I was determined.
Now I have just the little cactus plant with no container. I’m going to find a cute tiny little planter for it if it kills me.
My secret is out. Allison at House of Hepworths has horrilbe craft days. I can’t win them all. I try, but there are times when I have to just throw down a red flag, call a foul, and get ejected from the craft project.
So, have you had any FAILS lately? Do tell! I’ll feel more normal if I know you have bad craft days too.
UPDATE! The cactus has been saved! Find out how I used him here.
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Welcome to House of Hepworths! HoH is primarily a Home Blog that specializes in DIY projects and renovations, crafts, and decorating. My name is Allison. My family and I live in Austin, Texas. I'm married to Ben and have two children, a 10 year old son and an almost-8 year old daughter. To find out more or to contact me click 
I had 2 miserable FAILS myself this week! Glad to know we’re all human. You just have the balls to actually show yours to the world! Maybe I’ll get the nerve to show mine too! LOL
Thanks for sharing
OMG Allison! I actually laughed so hard I snorted!
So sorry for your wreath fail….such a cute idea. If it makes you feel better, I wouldn’t have thought of the weight, and the plastic, and the staple idea AT ALL!
More power to you!
Keep it up!
I now am the proud owner of two spray painted hula hoops filled with drill holes in my garage from a failed clock project.
I feel your pain.
Love the way you word things. Makes me laugh. Done my fails , and just didn’t feel about telling others about it. So thanks for sharing! Did look very cute … till they fell…
YES! Although I haven’t given up yet. (I will be blogging about this shortly — thanks for the confidence)
All I wanted to do was make shaky eggs for my toddler. She has them at school and everyone loves them. Long story short I’ve tried crazy glue, goop, PVC glue (weird I know)… NOTHING works. Stupid eggs are too flimsy and the glue breaks when I squeeze the seam. And I don’t want to use electric tape or attempt fabric casings.
Oh Allison. I am so sorry about this–I actually made one of these {see it here: http://littlethingsbringsmiles.blogspot.com/2010/11/acorn-wreath.html} after seeing Dana’s and I completely understand how long and tedious this was to make. It took me 3 nights because I simply had to “walk away” on numerous occasions. I am pretty certain I would have cried if this happened to mine..really..I am so sorry. It was beautiful and looking on the bright side, it was documented before..(you know)..!!!! The yellow was brilliant and looked amazing! Thank you for the inspiration and for sharing your fail..it happens to ALL OF US!! I had some major fails with my textured letter project and I just about gave up. It happens ALL THE TIME! Better luck with your next task, and as always, I look forward to seeing it!
I love that you cried when you broke your cactus. My daughter accidentally broke a ceramic pear that I LOVED and I BAWLED for a ridiculous amount of time. LOL.
For what it’s worth, I really liked your yellow wreath. I think you should name her Jaune (like french for Yellow). It’s good for the healing of your crafting heart.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE that you post about failures. You ROCK!
Love your honesty! It did look good….even if only for a short while!
Allison!
First, sorry that your wreath shattered.
Second, Bah ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing;)
You’re so lucky to have acorns so available to you. I have to drive 1 1/2 hours to get to any. I’m so sorry your wreath took so long to make and then broke. I loved the yellow though.
It was a bad crafting week…I had 2 back-to-back fails last night actually! I didn’t post as in depth or as entertainingly as you did about them, though!
compulsivediy.blogspot.com
I don’t think those are fails! They look good (until it fell and busted!) I made an acorn wreath a few years ago and it was so heavy, I couldn’t hang it. I ended up throwing it away because of the weight and acorns popping off! Looks like you and I have something in common!
Ah ha ha…girl you crack me up! I love that wreath idea! cute!
oh, so sad! But it’s also sad that I liked seeing this spiral downward…for some reason it helps to know that I’m not the only one who does stuff like this!! Thanks for being honest and making all of us feel better
I am so sorry about your poor little acorn wreath. But, OMG, your account of it is hilarious. I was (still am) laughing so hard my stomach hurt.
I have been there! I seem to have a lot of sewing fails… you learn from fails though and because you document them so well with pictures others do too! Thanks for being a great teacher!
You are so darn cute and funny! What a great craft post.
I’m really excited to have found you! I was searching for other Austin bloggers on that “Location Central” blog, and that’s how I came across you! Nice to mee ya. 
I live in Austin too!
Hope you have a wonderful day!!
@ Stevie, I use childproof old medication containers filled with rice or beans. They are the perfect size for little hands, and most kids are more interested in shaking them then figuring out how to open them (if they can). The kids can decorate them. I keep lots on hand, and when friends come over, the kids can have a dance party, and take home their shaker.
awww, poor little acorn wreath! It was beautiful while it lasted! Maybe you could wrap the wreath in strips of cloth before hot gluing? I can imagine you don’t really want to go there again, though, huh?! As for the cactus, I’m sure you will figure out an even purdier pot for it!
Oh noooooooo! Rats!
Bless your heart for sharing this. I needed this chuckle this a.m. And I can’t believe someone all the way in Texas (I’m in Calif
knows what ‘fugly’ is! That used to be our saying in the craft store, in the . . . {wait for it} . . . floral department!
And, yes, I have ‘fails’ all the time. When Eat,Pray,Love came out, I figured I’d paint 3 paintings and market them all over the place. For Pray, I wanted to paint a Buddha – knowing it might upset some Christians, but, hey, that was the book/movie, right?
Well, my Buddha looked like some poor excuse for a cartoon. It was horrible. HORRIBLE!!! I quickly painted over him and did something else. Every time I see a buddha, I have to giggle now – especially when people tell me, Your So Talented! Ha! If they only knew how many fails it takes to get one success!
Thanks so much for sharing!
I had a huge fail the other week. I was trying to fix up a lamp shade. I didn’t like the way the embellishments looked on it (it looked really bad lol) so I tried fixing that and the entire lamp shade crumbled! FAIL!
I had painted all the metal decorations inside my house a flat black, the butterflies, leaves, flowers. It looks like a haunted house now! Grrrr
I give you credit for trying and for making it to the part where you actually get to hang it up!
As soon as you said you had to bake something I lost interest in trying for myself.
Target has some cute little Easter pastel cans with ribbons (dollar section) you could shove the cactus in until you find a more suitable home for it.
Hang in there it will get better. A few crafts down the road and you will have almost forgotten the whole acorn incident. Just don’t forget completely or you might want to try again.
My cork wreath (worked on it FOREVER) fell and broke. This guy at my mom’s party slammed the door to hard. WREATH MURDERER!! I didn’t cry, I only pouted a little.
Fails? LOTS!! But I don’t take pictures because I try to forget
Fail? Why yes! I spray painted a pair of shoes and was so proud of them…how could anyone not love these barely worn $5 Goodwill Gap flats? Well, let’s just say I wore them to work and within a couple of hours the paint started to crack and the shoes hurt like hell! Chalk one up for you little miss barely-worn-shoe donator…you got me!
I think you might appreciate one of my blog posts from today!
http://randerings.blogspot.com/2011/03/randering-through-proverbs-good-side-of.html
LOVED this post! I have fails all the time…so happy to know I am not alone! I am especially guilty of being lazy and not going to get the tool I really need…so I had to chuckle at using the regular stapler rather than the staple gun. SO something I would do. Thank you so much for sharing and giving me a smile!
I made a heart wreath by hot gluing red glass stones on a fabric wrapped form. I tried hanging it on the magnetic hook on my front door. It stayed for about 2 seconds before sloooooooooowly falling down the door under the weight. Fortunately I was able to save it in time.
I had to hang it on the door with an over the door wreath hook thingie (which I don’t like.)
Hey, Allison! Here is a secret that I learned from my mother, that she learned from her mother, and that I’ve taught my daughter. Sometimes, on certain types of pottery, if the planets are all aligned, you can use canned, evaporated milk to glue it back together! Seriously. I’ve glued lots of crap together with it canned milk. Then made a casserole so as not to waste the rest of the milk. I have no idea why this works, but I think it has something to do with magic.
~Amanda
I hate to admit it, but I’m glad you are human too. J/K I laughed till I cried but felt bad for you and the acorns while doing it. lol
Every day is a fail for me but life goes on. I forgot to mail the books for my paperback book swap. Now I knew I had to mail them but I kept on putting it off. I just got an email from the person who hadn’t gotten their book yet…so I hurried and got it out today and then emailed the customer to say I was sorry and it was on it’s way. Then I looked at the 2nd book and realized that I hadn’t put stamps on the packages. So I ran to the mail box got the book and created stamps for both books. Whew! I was glad to see my “to be mailed” chair empty. That is where I line up my ebay stuff too. Recently Dora Mermaid and some type of Barbie lived there.
So my fails usually have to do with procrastinating, but I have craft fails too. I’m still working on my clipboard for my kitchen (for the past 6 months)….
So sorry your pretty wreath fell. I gasped when I saw the picture. I am so glad you posted this because it helps to save all of us from future fails (like glue gun and plastic). Perhaps all of us should start doing the same because we can learn just as much from mistakes as we can from triumphs. Thanks for keeping it real.
ruh roh!! everyone who does crafts of any kind, has a “fail” once in a while!
I tried to make a lampshade once (well, a cover to put over a lamp shade, like I had seen on blogs)…BIG fail!