Last Christmas I got the bright idea to make snow globe type ornaments. Making things is good for my brain. Chemically it boosts my serotonin levels. Practically I just enjoy it. I enjoy working with my hands, taking things that by themselves aren't necessarily pretty, and putting them all together so they are. Sometimes they're a hit. Sometimes they're a miss. But it's about the journey, right?
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So. I started looking at my local craft store for those foam balls you buy in a bag, the ones that kinda look like snow balls. When I found them I did the math and ounce per ounce they were way cheaper on Amazon. So I ordered what I thought was a reasonable bag for way less than what I would have paid locally and waited.
Y'all... When it arrived... It came in a box almost as large at the box my dogs' 24 pound dog food bags come in. That was the first indicator this might be excessive. As I opened the box and pulled the brown craft paper away I realized a horrible mistake had been made. You have to be careful ordering online, if you don't have a concrete concept of how large your item is, you can guess WAY off. And I did. I should have pulled out a ruler or tape measure and looked at the package measurements for reference. But I didn't. I thought, "It's fine! Everything's fine!" This is what I ordered, thinking it would be about the size of a quart of milk...
Photo credit: Amazon.com
Looks harmless, right? Just some small "micro" size beads to put into clear ornaments to look like snow. No big deal. You see that notation on the bottom left of the package? The one that says "8 LITERS"? Yeah, I didn't either. Think for a minute... You know what size a two liter of soda is, right? A three liter is even larger... This bag's volume was FOUR of those two liters worth!
It was at least three times the size of my head! Maybe four times! It was as wide as my chest, which is saying something. I now had more micro foam bead fill than I could ever need for my lifetime and my kids and grandkids lifetimes! Oh, and did I mention I forgot that little foam balls stick EVERYWHERE through the magic of static electricity? They were everywhere! They were on the floor, they were on our clothes, they were on the dogs, they were everywhere! And the more we tried to brush them off, the more they multiplied!
My momma didn't raise no quitter so I shouldered on. Undaunted, I made my ornaments, one slow pour at a time. It was painstakingly slow because the foam balls were so dense the ones that actually fell into the spout of the funnel and didn't static cling to the upper bowl clogged the spout at times. And heaven forbid I loose my grip on the eight liter bag of micro snow balls. Then they spilled all over heaven's half acre! These ornaments were meant to be fun, they ended up being an exercise in patience and sticktoitiveness.
I did finally get the ornaments made I wanted to and was able to simply close the bag of micro foam tightly and set it aside. I decided I never, ever wanted to make a craft that required micro foam balls ever again.
So today's lesson kids is to always pay attention to volumes and sizes when purchasing online. And don't be afraid to laugh at yourself when you make a mistake. Tell me about a funny one you have made. Did it all work out okay? Did it end hilariously? I want to know!
Be well, y'all.
If you want to live dangerously and play with micro foam beads, you can find the ones I bought here: https://amzn.to/3zCgEMd
Also, use at your own risk. The author of this blog disavows all responsibility or participation in an craft projects that may include this product due to this post.