I consider myself a crafty person — in all senses of the word.
But recently I was upstaged. Bamboozled. Perplexed.
By an iron on elephant.
A friend of mine, Sierra, commended offhandedly that she would love to have an elephant. (I believe this was after taking her nephews to the circus as she does not normally state wildlife related desires flippantly.)
I was at Hobby Lobby, where I spotted a cute iron on elephant. I bought it, hoping to make Sierra’s day. I came home and heated up the iron, read the directions and set up the items. I was going to iron the elephant, whom I had lovingly named Ellie, onto a tote bag. Stylish and functional — the best combination!
I ironed for the recommended amount of time. Slowly removed the iron and cloth and found the elephant mobile without any adhesion to the bag. I replaced items and started again, leaving the iron on for double the amount of time.
No stick.
Repeat with five times the recommended ironing time and increased iron temperature.
Nada.
Re-read directions while iron sitting for 15 minutes on bag. Noting the “Skill level one: Beginner” branding in the corner.
Partial stick.
At least we’re getting somewhere!
I repeated the process for almost an hour until I finally coaxed Ellie from her comfortable place on the plastic sheet to her new home on the canvas bag.
Voila!
It took an hour (sixty times the time recommended on the packaging mind you!) But I finished it. During that hour I had a lot of time to think about what I was doing. I was spending an excessive amount of time trying to surprise a friend and make her smile. I was doing something unexpected and special that required forethought. I was giving more than a fun little bag, I was showing a friend that she was in my thoughts and that I listened to her random wildlife longings. Although Ellie the Elephant almost defeated me with her non-adhering ways, all was being done in love for a friend.
And that is always time well spent.