The lowest form of crafting BUT I WANT ONE.

Bad Crafts: Bedazzling

Okay, I'll cop to it. This is a terrible craft, but my inner eight year old has always wanted one. I don't know what I would Bedazzle, exactly. I'm looking around at the objects I have at hand as I write this. There is a tea towel sitting on my desk. Bedazzle it! I'm wearing a hoodie. Bedazzle it! Can you Bedazzle hard plastic stuff, like a laptop case? Don't know! Would like to try!

Bedazzling is one of those things that only barely qualifies as a craft. It's the lowest form of crafting. You take a thing and stick sparkly fake plastic gems to it. Is that really a craft? I expect a little more effort and transformative action happening in something that gets called a "craft." Bedazzling may be more like a hobby. A really dumb hobby.

But…. Sparkly!

The Bedazzler must be one of the most famous As Seen On TV items. I'm pretty sure Bedazzler ads have been off the air for years, but ask anyone (particularly women, not that guys didn't notice the Bedazzler too) who was watching television in the 80s and you will be guaranteed to get a smirk.

"You can Bedazzle a hat, a shirt, a belt, a scarf or a sweater!" proclaims the ad copy. You CAN, certainly. But I'm not sure that you SHOULD. The answer is almost certainly "No," and yet… and yet, I am a grown-ass woman, and I want one. I suspect I'm not the only grown-ass woman who wants one, either.

I see that they also sell a miniature hand-held Bedazzler these days. It's small, pocket-sized, and inconspicuous. You could carry it around with you and Bedazzle stuff at random, and no one would be the wiser. Add some spangles to the chairs in your dentist's waiting room! Splash a little color on the shirt tails of the person in line at the grocery store ahead of you! Boring OSHA workplace regulations poster hanging in your company break room? Liven it up! The sky's the limit!

Image courtesy Flickr/kristykay22