I Gave Barb Money and Sent Her to Hobby Lobby… What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Previously on Bead Dynasty…

There were beads.

There were questionable Amazon purchases.

There was one completely useless green bead.

There were cherries, butterflies, bracelets and more than one moment when I wondered exactly how my craft room had turned into its own 1980s prime-time soap opera.

But nothing — and I mean nothing — has prepared us for this.

I have given Barb money and sent her to Hobby Lobby.

Yes.

Craft Room Barb.

The same Barb who can walk into the craft room, look directly at whatever perfectly normal craft supply I happen to be using and ask:

“What is that for?”

That Barb.

And apparently I have decided that this is the person who should be responsible for September’s bracelet-making supplies.

Lord love a duck.

It Started With a Simple Request

Barb is heading off on a trip, and part of that trip will take her into the United States.

Which means she has access to something I do not:

Hobby Lobby.

Naturally, my first thought was that I should send her with a little shopping list.

Maybe some beads.

Maybe some charms.

Maybe something interesting that I can't easily find here.

Perfectly reasonable.

Except I couldn't decide what I wanted.

And that's when things took a turn.

Instead of making a list like a responsible adult, I gave Barb an allowance and said:

“You pick.”

I KNOW.

I don't know what came over me either.

This Is Apparently How Much I Trust Our Friendship

There are different levels of trust in a friendship.

There's I'll tell you a secret trust.

There's I'll leave you alone in my house trust.

There's I'll let you see what my craft room really looks like when I haven't cleaned it for photos trust.

And then apparently there is:

Here's some money. Go into Hobby Lobby and choose my bracelet-making supplies for September.

That's not stepping outside my comfort zone.

That's taking a running leap off the deep end and hoping somebody remembered to put water in the cement pond.

Because there are no instructions.

No colour palette.

No theme.

No carefully curated Pinterest board.

No list of acceptable charms.

Nothing.

Just Barb, an allowance and Hobby Lobby.

Godspeed.

Hit or Miss. There Is No Second Base Here.

I don't see this being an average haul.

I don't think Barb is coming home with six perfectly sensible packages of beads and we're all going to nod politely and carry on with our lives.

No.

I feel like this is going one of two ways.

Either she's going to come back with things I absolutely LOVE and I will have to admit that perhaps all those years of standing in my craft room asking “What is that for?” were actually intensive research...

OR

she is going to hand me a bag and I am going to stare into it for a very long time.

There is no second base here.

We're either hitting this one out of the park or the ball is going through somebody's windshield in the parking lot.

And Here Is Where This Gets Interesting

Whatever Barb buys...

I have to use it.

Because otherwise, where is the fun in this?

September's bracelets are officially in Barb's hands.

Whatever colours she chooses.

Whatever beads she finds.

Whatever ridiculous little charms happen to catch her eye.

I'm going to take her Hobby Lobby haul back into the craft room and see what I can make from it.

And THAT is where this little experiment might actually become useful.

Because sometimes we get so comfortable choosing the same colours, the same styles and the same supplies that we don't realize we're designing inside our own little creative bubble.

Handing the shopping over to someone else means I may end up working with something I never would have chosen myself.

And maybe that's exactly the point.

Sometimes creativity needs a little shove.

Apparently mine needed Barb, a passport and an allowance.

So Now We Wait...

Barb hasn't even left yet and I'm already nervous.

What section will she wander into?

Will she remember we're making bracelets?

Will she buy beads?

Will she buy things that are technically not beads but that she believes could become beads?

Will she stand in the middle of Hobby Lobby holding something and hear my voice in her head saying, “BARB. PUT THAT DOWN.”

We simply don't know.

But when she gets back, there will absolutely be a Hobby Lobby Haul.

We're opening that bag together.

We're seeing what she bought.

And then we're figuring out exactly what September's Bead Dynasty is going to look like.

So stay tuned.

Because I have willingly surrendered creative control to Craft Room Barb.

And I have to admit...

I'm pretty nervous.

Previously on Bead Dynasty, we worried about one green bead.

Those were simpler times.