A Very Cool Idea I Wish I'd Had.....

I almost used the title "The Coolest Thing EVER," but then I didn't want to be one of those people who declare something is "the most beautiful I've EVER seen!!" or "that is the most delicious cake EVER!!" or "that movie was the best EVER!!" Not that some things aren't worthy of exclamation (exclamation POINTS even), but if I declare something is the coolest thing EVER today, I'm pretty much removing from contention any and all cool things I may see/do/hear/taste/experience in the future, near and distant.

There. Now that we've got THAT out of the way.

Another disclaimer (if that's what we want to call the foolishness in the first paragraph, and I do, because it sounds so much better to say "disclaimer" than "I'm an idiot"):

Almost every time I've ever exclaimed over something cool I've seen/done/heard/tasted/experienced in my life, I've later learned that nearly every other person on the planet had already seen/done/heard/tasted/experienced it and I was late to the party. That may very well be the case this time as well.

First, do you recognize this item?

Of course it's a bowl, but it's no ordinary bowl.

Katydid and I saw these at a crafts booth while we were on BRAG this year, and she bought one for her granddaughter.

Sweet Girl bought this one for me (at the Arts Market?) and brought it to me when we had our family reunion. It is indeed a bowl, but it is made out of an old LP. Album. Record. Whatever.

(I apologize for the glare. I have yet to heed Pioneer Woman's instructions about not using the flash and instead using natural light.)

It may be a little difficult to tell due to the glare, but this one isn't made from just ANY album. It's "52nd Street" by Billy Joel. This album didn't produce as many chart-topping singles, but it's got one of my all-time favorites on it, "Stiletto."

Who in the world would have thought to do this with all those old albums? I've only got about a jillion of them, and Hubby has a gazillion of his own. At $5-10 a pop, we could almost pay the bar tab on our upcoming cruise.

I mean, most of us found out the hard way that the albums would MELT, but who thought to do it on purpose? And I wonder how he or she formed that shape?

Even the album cover gets in on the action. It's laminated and formed into a gift bag. How clever is THAT?

What a very special gift. I'm afraid I didn't exclaim enough over the gift when Sweet Girl gave it to me, but I hope she'll read this and realize how much I appreciate it.

Now to decide what I can display in the "bowl" without detracting from its coolness.