Thought Provoking Thursday – Hobby Lobby

For this installment of Thought Provoking Thursday I’m going to give you a play by play of some of the random thoughts that knocked around in my brain the last time I went to Hobby Lobby – the land of vintage pricing guns and understocked shelves.

Upon entering the store and seeing an employee stocking shelves with fake plastic pumpkins and fall leaf garlands:
“Whoa, hold on. It’s June right? Have I just entered some sort of time warp or maybe this is an alternate universe? If so am I skinny in this alternate reality?” looks down at body, “Damn, guess not.”

While trying to navigate the main aisle which is crammed full of square display pedestals overloaded with breakable merchandise that is teetering on the edges.
“Dear God, don’t let my children knock over any of those awful ceramic pitchers in the shape of farm animals because then I’d have to run out of this store and never come back. I’d rather boycott this place than to have to pay even a dime towards a rabid looking pig that you can pour lemonade out of – especially if it’s broken.”

After being lured into a clearance aisle in the hopes of unbelievable bargains:
“Why is this end table missing the drawer knob? Look at that huge scratch on the side. I bet if I picked it up that entire leg would fall off. Good lord they’re still asking $40 for this thing. Do people buy this cheap foreign crap at full price?”

After locating the item I came to purchase and finding they only have one of them in stock and I need 3:
“@#$%#$^#$%@@&^*$^&!!! Why do they only carry one of everything? $$%@$^##&%@$%@$%!”

While standing for 30 minutes at the only open checkout lane watching the poor employee search for price stickers, manually input each price and then scour the printed ad in front of her to see if it’s on sale:
“This is why this store is closed on Sunday. The employees need time to go to church and pray that the owners will at some point enter the 21st century.”

Now don’t get me wrong. I adore Hobby Lobby. Okay, well maybe “adore” is an exaggeration. I shop there because they’re the best location for certain craft supplies in my area (that is, if you only need one of each item). They usually have really good sales too…but that’s where my adoration ends and my frustration begins.

Tell me your thoughts about Hobby Lobby, or about your favorite or least favorite craft store.

Super Hero Photo Backdrop

My best friend's little boy had a birthday last month. He's into all things super hero and so naturally his paty was super hero themed. The invitations encouraged all of the guests to arrive in costume and we also supplied some generic masks and capes too and we wanted to have some back drops available for the kids to take pictures in front of with their costumes.

I thought I'd share with you the quick and east photo backdrop idea we came up with in case you're planning a super hero party of your own, or if you like masks and spandex yourself - heyI don't judge!

We started off with a king size blue sheet we got from our local thrift store for $2. Just lay it on a flat surface (the driveway works well) grab some black spray paint and free hand a city skyline. Then fill in the buildings with the black spray paint.

Get a sponge and cut it into rectangle shapes, dip it in white acrylic craft paint and dab on the windows. We used these sponges to outline the cloud shapes as well. (I actually didn't have a sponge - this is some leftover craft foam from a project, but it worked just as well)


And in no time at all you've got a city skyline for your little superheroes to pose in front of.
Here's my little guy testing it out before the party.

We had a white sheet too and a plethora of cheap spray paint so we free handed a starburst/tie dyed effect.

We had to explain what a Charlie's Angels pose was to my son - kid's these days! You'd think I would have taught him better.

Both backdrops were a great success at the party.