Tried and Couldn't

I am not a crafty person. Some people can take a few odds and ends and make something really neat and artistic out of it. Or they might see a knick-knack at a yard sale and use it to make an attractive display. I can never see the potential in stuff like that and wouldn't know what to do with it if I did have it. When I see how they did it I think I could do that, but I just don't have the ideas myself. I can never envision the finished product and don't know until it's done if it looks right or not. And mostly my stuff is in the NOT category; looks like I tried and couldn't quite pull it off.

One of the latest fads is Pintrest where all kinds of neat ideas can be found. I never joined it because I know I wouldn't make the stuff anyway. But once in awhile someone posts something that looks simple enough for the likes of me to try it.

Last week I saw a candy cane vase and decided I could do that one. All I needed was an empty jar and enough candy canes to surround it. Any simpleton could do that, I thought. Put a rubber band around a jar, stick candy canes inside the rubber band until the jar is surrounded, tie a ribbon over the rubber band, and stick flowers in the jar. Easy, cute, and edible.

So I bought two boxes of candy canes (only cost $2), came home, and set to work. Easy, huh? The candy canes leaned to the side and wouldn't stand up straight. After several attempts I put two rubber bands around the jar. That helped. But my candy canes were not all the exact same length like the ones in the picture. They did not form a perfect even circle around the jar. And I had two rubber bands to cover with ribbon instead of one. The curve of the candy canes was in the way to tie the top ribbon. Aaargh!! So I taped a plain strip of ribbon over each rubber band and stuck a pre-tied bow between them. The project improved somewhat when I stuck some silk poinsettias in the vase, but it was just not as elegant as the one in the picture that was filled with red roses.
I'm too tight to throw out two dozen candy canes so I'll make the best of my poor attempt to be crafty and let the thing set until Christmas. Then the grandchildren can have the candy canes and I'll go back to playing with words instead of trying to be crafty. I tried and couldn't.