FAILURE

If I had to choose one word that summarized my crafting the last couple of weeks it would be this word...

FAIL.

Now let us start the procession of pictures, shall we?

Failure #1

I bought an Epic Letterpress with my leftover birthday money (and 40% off coupons from H. Lob.) I had looked into it twice before but didn't because of  the reviews on it.  Then I saw all these blog posts about it and I thought well this is the third time I have wanted it so it must be something that I would find useful.  Trial and error regarding the right amount of ink is something that I can get used to, no big deal and I have gotten it almost perfect (the pic above is from my very first attempt).  But every letterpress plate I have used has cracked and you can see the indentation lines from the edges of the printing plates.  The dilemma is that I want it. I want what it says it will do.  Now I am just mad and frustrated. FAIL.

Failure #2

I did a shirt refashion for myself out of two different shades of grey t-shirts.  In my mind it was going to be so cute.  Everything started off great until I decided that I wanted more ruffles.  So I sewed on more. Then I wanted more so I sewed on even more.  When I finally attached the big long ruffle to the shirt it just looked like a big snuffleupagus.  FAIL.

Failure #3

As part of the baby gift for my best friend, I wanted to do a burp cloth with a crocheted border.  Not overly hard.  The problem came in a key choice that I made regarding the thread color.  The main problem was that I chose to serge the edges of the burp cloth with cream colored thread.  It looked alright from the front but I used a brown flannel on the back so the cream thread is a total eyesore.  It bugs bad.  The thing that bugs me even more than the thread is throwing in the towel.  I hate giving up on a project. I spent two nights of my precious time in the evenings working on this for nothing!  FAIL.

Failure #4

By far my most annoying failure.  I have never etched on glass before and so was going to give it a go and make a personalized casserole dish for an upcoming wedding.  I bought the dish from Ikea and bought my Armour Etch cream.  I cut out the design in vinyl and placed it on.  Waited my alotted time and took it off to reveal...NOTHING! What the? Ok. Let's try again.  New design, different location.  Nothing. Arrrg. Let's give it a go one more time. I let it sit for like 20 minutes.  Still nothing.  I emailed the Armour Etch company and they responded back that saying that it was the baking dish.  Etch cream apparently doesn't work on Pyrex (or Ikea glass dishes I guess) but some people have had success with the Anchor Hocking glass.  I was determined to succeed.

I had too many failures this past week to let another one get me.  I got an Anchor Hocking glass bowl from Wal-Mart and gave it another go.  It worked...but... a tiny bit seeped out in two spots.  Not too noticeable but now my success was tainted.  NOOOOOO!! Yet again, FAIL!

Now wasn't that super dramatic! Maybe now I can break my failure streak and start producing some quality products!! What say ye people!