Is it the thought that counts? |
During this interval, I've tried with varying degrees of success to beg off
gift exchanges with hubby, but was likely only successful every other year. Or
every other occasion... or something like that; I don't really remember. (Is
that a reflection on the actual gifting that's been done?)
This past year, I had anticipated that he might insist on Christmas presents
again, so I smartly held back a couple of items from his birthday to fulfill
my side of the exchange.
I had raised it up a notch for his birthday, commissioning a custom caricature of him. It was based on the sample shown below, purchased from a site called Photolamus (just for your information; I have no affiliation). You can also get them to draw what you want and they will give you a price.
image courtesy of Photolamus... |
I requested the addition of his vintage muscle car, as well as a custom background using a photo of the mountains
and lake from the place where we used to have our vacation home. I subsequently edited the drawing to add some more custom bits and then
had the whole thing blown up into a 3' x 2' peel and stick wallpaper roll
from Spoonflower.
Custom mousepad... |
The JPG file that you get is yours to do with what you wish, so it can
potentially be several gifts in one. (Especially so if you're handy with
computer graphics; I added different elements to the big wallpaper roll as
opposed to the mousepad shown here.) The mousepad was what I held back to give
him for Christmas.
Another item that I ultimately saved for Christmas was a
sling bag
similar to (but of a lesser quality than) the Swiss Wenger that he's
been carrying. I've decided that there are probably sufficient parts from the
original bag and the one that he's using to cobble together a replacement at
some point in time. When I get around to remaking it, however, he'll need to
have something else to cart his stuff, hence the "temporary" bag.
In my admittedly biased estimation, these two items were well thought out. (The reason for the mousepad being that the one he has is worn out and faded.)
I'll admit that it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I opened my
gifts, and it did not start off well. In my beloved's desire to give me more
than one, two, or even three packages to open, he threw in an unusual item.
I'm not even going to say what it is, just that when I opened it, it made me
wonder, "what the actual...". If the point of a gift is to have it not
be "guessable", it scored an A+++. As something that I — or most people, for
that matter — wanted, needed, or ever wished to have, however, it scored on
the opposite end of that scale. But no more on that. (It got returned.)
Done and it works! |
I've casually mentioned over the past few years that I'm intrigued by 3D
puzzles. He apparently has been paying attention. While I have not been
spending any more time on jigsaw puzzles — of which hubby gifted me with two
at Christmas 2020 — this was something that had the potential to be fun for
the both of us to attempt together. (Which we did, although it seemed to me
like most of the time we were doing it "together", it was mostly him doing
it! I managed to steal a couple of hours to work on it by myself one day while he was out.)
First bits of progress made between Christmas and New Year's Day... |
Sometimes that's the whole point of a thoughtful gift between friends or partners: what can we do together? (My main gift to him was a book on indoor gardening, since he started one a few months ago as his winter hobby and — of course — I've been yanked in to help with it.)
Now we come to my final two packages... and the part that has to do with the topic of this blog.
Although I just recently
passed the ten year mark of starting up sewing again, it's taken this long
for the other half to gift me with anything to pursue my hobby. (Of course, I was further surprised later on when he presented me with a moving dolly that he had intended to transform into an extension table for my sewing machine... until my much less complicated method was fully explained to him.)
Fabric... of sorts! |
My last two packages revealed bundles of burlap. My first reaction was "what am I going to do with burlap?" but as I inspected the material, I began to appreciate the thought behind them. (I was particularly impressed by the second one that featured a Paris print; he knew I would like that.) And while I had no idea what I was going to make out of burlap — which means, of course, that you can expect to see it as the subject of an upcoming post ಠ‿ಠ — it would obviously be a new challenge.
These are all lovely gift ideas....I'm stealing the mousepad one for my fisher-son, the clockwork for my grandson, and I'll give my left pinky nail for that burlap!! My SIL made curtains for the whole house (on a farm) with finely woven burlap. It looked lovely and really suited their cottage. Looking forward to what you will make with it!
ReplyDeleteWell, my friend, if you didn't live so far away, I'd send you some of that burlap and you wouldn't have to give up your pinky nail!
DeleteA tip to pass along about the ROKR owl clock: there is a set of four videos on YouTube that was extremely helpful for us. Instructions in the box were lacking.
Awww that is such a lovely thing to say! <3 Thank you from my heart!<3 I will tell my g/son about the links. ;) Remember the pictures!
DeleteFor fun, I did a check on how much it would cost to send a bundle of the burlap from me to you and the lowest price I see is $31.86... which is actually lower than I expected. However, the cost of the burlap itself is only $4! :-)
DeleteTen years ago I would have snapped it up ....but not now...... The exchange rate kills the desire😢 Even just 5 meters would cost more than a R1000.00 here. And then I still have to pay import taxes🤢
DeleteBut thank you for taking the time to check. You are very kind🌷🌷🌷Now it's bedtime😴Goodnight💤💤💤💤
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